Glad That's Over!

Last week was a little tough.  It was my first full week of school, my first week of softball practice AND dad was out of town for work all week.  On the plus side of that, my coach from spring ball is also coaching my fall team and I've been playing for her for years.  My pitching is looking a little better and I got a new bat so I'm knocking the snot off the ball so that's good.

My teacher this year seems pretty awesome.  She has high expectations of us but leaves it up to us to figure out how to meet them so I have lots of freedom to succeed (or fail) in my own way.  That's a good thing.  Mom met with her during Parent/Teacher conference on Wednesday and really liked her as well.  Then, my school had curriculum night on Thursday. Here are all the parents, sitting at attention, because that's what you do when Ms. Hayward talks.  Mom is sitting at my desk in the way back on the right.

Friday was National Dog Day so I hope everyone hugged their pooches.  Here's our Ginger without her socks.  Her feet are almost all better.  Mom found some dog booties at REI for her but they were $80.00.  Ginger is not getting $80 booties so she can run around the pool, no matter how much we like her.

So, since we're all tired and a little crabby from a long week, here are a few pictures to meditate on.  Our mountains are so green lately because of all the rain we've had and they are gorgeous.

This is hole #8, right by our house after another recent rain storm.

And here's a random cowboy riding his horse down our street.  You know, just another average day in the hood.

Back To It

Sigh and deep sadness.  Summer is officially over for me.  I had a pretty good week to end it all though.  On Monday, Grandma Sue graciously offered to spend her day off with my so I did't have to in to work with mom.  I dodged a bullet on that one, eh?  We went out to breakfast, watched the olympics, went to a movie and did a little shopping.  Waaaay better than putting stickers on charge sheets and filing charts.  Plus, mom makes me take the stairs at work- that stinks.

On Tuesday, I went to horse camp for a day at Tanque Verde Ranch.  I met a really nice girl from Germany and spent the afternoon telling her and her mom about how my mom and dad abandoned me two years ago to go to Germany by themselves and how I really want to go there.  

Wednesday and Thursday, I had a nanny come stay with me and both of them were super fun.  The first one played games all day, went swimming and played with Ginger.  We didn't turn the TV on once- score for her!  On Thursday, with the other nanny, we made cookies and played games but then I started to not feel well.  I had been fighting a cold all week and it finally took over on Thursday and then my kind of loose tooth really started to hurt.  She took super good care of me, making me a smoothie because it hurt too much to eat and just generally being really nice.  Mom managed to get off work a little early and made it home to check things out.  My sore tooth definitely concerned her so she made a call to the dentist and they had me come in right away.  On the drive there, mom was especially proud of herself because usually she and dad wait until midnight to decide I need medical intervention and then we end up in the ER at 2 in the morning for bad constipation.  But I digress.  Anyway, I ended up getting my tooth pulled because the dentist said there was an infection starting.  It wasn't that bad because the tooth was loose anyway.  And then mom told him I wasn't really flossing my teeth anymore.  Busted.  I did feel better after that though.

Friday was the day of reckoning.  It was the first day of 5th grade.  I still didn't feel very good but mom made me go to school anyway and I'm kind of glad she did.  It ended up being a good day and I like my teacher.  One of my two best friends is in my class so that worked out well.

While I was feverishly slaving away in school, mom and dad were living it up.  Dad was out playing golf with Uncle Brian and then mom met them both at Prep and Pastry for brunch.  Uncle Brian is an investor in the restaurant so he treated so it was even better.  They make amazing cocktails and really good food.  This is dad enjoying a Thai Fighter and mom enjoying a mimosa.  It was a sleepy afternoon for all of us.....

On Saturday, my friend Madeline had her party for her 10th birthday.  We've known each other since before we were born!  Crazy, huh?  I had a fabulous time there and was kind of pushing for a sleepover even though I still didn't feel great.  Buzz kill mom put the kabash on that.

Sunday was another busy day.  Grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue came over for breakfast and then they took me out to play miniature golf.
Dad is heading out to Boston for work for the week tomorrow so it's just mom and I holding down the fort.  Wishing everyone a great week!

Lovin' Summer!

 We have crammed a whole lot of summer into the last few weeks.  We just aren't read for it to end which is a bit of a change.  Usually, mom is ready to send me on my way with a smile and  a wave but it's been a good few months.  This weekend was super busy with last minute playdates etc.  We started Thursday with an invite to my friend Alexa's house for dinner with another St. Michael's family, the Leytons.  They had just gotten back from a 2 month vacation to Chile, where Mr. Leyton is from and they had tons of interesting stories to tell and even made the adults some Pisco Sours which were fabulous.
On Friday, I had my friend Ella over for a sleep-over which was super fun and we didn't want it to end.  So it didn't.  Dad took Ella home on Saturday and her mom invited me to stay the night because Ella's little brother was having a friend over as well and Ella need some moral support.  I was more than happy to oblige.  Mom and dad once again realized what losers they are because they had no idea what to do without me.  So they went out to dinner and started planning activities for when I'm gone. They managed to plan my Spring Break that is coming up in February so I guess that's something.  On Sunday, I was exhausted but my friend Claire wanted to get together for fro-yo.  How could I refuse that??  So off we went.  I was kind of done after that so now I'm home being crabby.

The week before, we went on our summer vacation in our new RV.  It turned out to be a pretty awesome little ride.

 This is where I sleep- dad's bed folds down and makes a cave for me.  It's pretty sweet even if it's really just the floor.  During the day it becomes storage for the cases of beer dad bought on the trip.

Of course we hit Disneyland but we also broadened our horizons a bit on this trip and gave Universal Studios a run.

We were mostly excited about Harry Potter World and it did not disappoint!  I got a wizarding wand which actually made things move, we heard Moaning Myrtle in the restroom, drank butterbeer, ate chocolate frogs and rode the Harry Potter ride.  I loved, loved that ride but it made mom and dad both nauseated so we only rode it once.

We got to meet mom's favorite cartoon characters- Scooby Doo.  As you can see, Scooby loved me and I loved him!

Then we made a visit to Homer Simpson Land and got a four pack of donuts from Lard Lad Donuts.  So Good!  As you can see, we had no trouble polishing those off.

All in all, we liked Universal Studios but Disney still wins!

After Universal, we headed north to Santa Barbara with a side trip to Paso Robles to go to mom and dad's favorite brewery- Firestone Walker.  We had lunch, took a quick look back in the brewery itself and bought several bombers of beer.  It was more fun for mom and dad than me but when you're not payin' you aint sayin' much!

After lunch we found a new beach that was kind of cool with a railroad trestle and abandoned pier.  We hung out there for a few hours before heading back to our RV park.

On Tuesday, I was supposed to have supposed to have surf lessons but mom screwed up the location so we just spent the day hanging out at Santa Clause beach, catching some smaller waves.  Dad was once again but boogie board buddy.

We also built Cairo, Egypt out of sand.....

And finally, I finished the brand new Harry Potter book mom bought me at Harry Potter world a day and half before.  It was that good.

Wednesday, I finally had my surf lessons and it. was. awesome!!  This is my instructor Ian and he was super patient and super nice.  I didn't spend a whole lot of time actually on the board (and I had the kelp in my hair to prove it) but it was still great fun!

The RV park that we stayed at had some hiking trails on property so we headed out for a few evening hikes.  There had been a big fire that came through in June so it was pretty desolate and kind of eerie but kind of cool too.

 So that was our awesome summer vaca- we love our little Sprinter and have name him Clark.  We can't wait to head out again!





 This is our poor Ginger puppy.  She LOVES to run around the pool when we are in it.  She's actually kind of psychotic about it.  She ends up tearing up the pads of feet so badly she can't walk.  So mom put socks on her this morning and she hobbles a little bit better but it's still kind of pathetic.  We're ordering booties for her.

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My first day of school is this Friday- insert sad face emoji here....