Blueberries=Summer

On July 29, an incredibly HOT day in our incredibly HOT summer might -I- add, we decided to make a trip to the blueberry fields in Buellton. The blueberries were worth the effort because they were HUGE and super sweet- where I don't know about you but sometimes blueberries can taste bitter to me.

After blueberry picking we continued the journey on up to Solvang for a picnic in the park.

I love summer

Violet Mae turns 9 months!

(You'll have to forgive me for posting this so late but I am quite behind on my summer blogging.) Eeek!

On July 16th Violet Mae turned 9 months old. Crazy.

She is getting too big way tooo fast- someone tell this kid to please slow down.

She has been very busy this past month: she pulled up to stand for the first time, fed herself for the first time and started clapping her hands. So cute.

So you will see a lot of pictures of her stuffing her face because this was the month of eating for violet mae. She even got to try chocolate chip pancakes (a luxury her big sis had to wait much longer for)- ah the perks of being the second child!

Congrats Violet Mae on growing so well, now slow down please.

unless she's tired or hungry she's usually doing this :)

Violet could play with her toys all day if we let her

She's quite taken with the kitchen

did I mention she likes to eat cell phones?

first time pulling up to stand
8 months, 22 days old

first time eating watermelon

concerts in the park 

trying to eat Nana

feeding herself for the first time
the cheerios were quite popular
8 months, 24 days old

Smokey the Bear

Back in June Penelope's school had a visit from a very important guest, Mr. Smokey the bear.

The kids got a chance to learn all about how to prevent forest fires. Smokey gave out hugs and all the kids got a chance to hold the fire hose, and were even given special goodie bags from Smokey, complete with a comic book that tells you all about the origin of smokey. This book was interesting for me because I actually didn't know how he came about. The book though is pretty long--and quite detailed in convo-- so I had to learn to skip some pages during bedtime. 

No biggie though Pen was none the wiser. ha ha ha

now when it came time to do the hose Pen originally chickened out- it wasn't until they were packing up and she was in her car seat and we were about to drive off that she decided she wanted to do it. I said "do you really want to Penelope?" and she was very convinced that she was. So we hopped out real quick and I had to yell over to the guys and they were nice enough to oblige us. Whew! She almost missed the opportunity of a lifetime! tee-hee ;)

such a brave bunny ;)

um yeah that's def not P, there was nooooo way she would set foot near old smokey, but sure loved to talk about him like they were BFFs. "smokey's nice, he's a nice bear" she says.

Summer Fun-Natural history museum

Last week I took my lovely ladies to see the butterfly and dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum.

These exhibits are so awesome and I love the outdoor area.

I have a feeling we're going to be spending a lot of time there this summer. :)

this guy startled me! I wasn't expecting to round the corner and see him. He sent Penelope running off in tears, but she eventually learned to keep him in check... "quiet dinosaur!"

Happy Birthday America!

This year our Fourth of July was super fun. I just wish the weather was sunnier! It must have been the coldest day I can remember here in Santa Barbara in a long time- funny too that the rest of the country was having record breaking heat! The weekend before was picture perfect, but alas our fourth was quite dreary. Sooo we had to forgo our original plans of having a poolside bbq all day. Instead we took the girls to see the movie Brave. Super cute movie and I do recommend. When we got out of the movies the parade had started on State Street so we stayed to check that out for a while. Then we headed back so the girls could get a nap because we knew they would be up late to watch the fireworks. We spent the evening with my family here in Santa Barbara. A few months a go my parents moved in with my aunt to take care of her full time. She has an incredible view of the riviera and oceanfront. We've always said it would be the perfect house to watch the fireworks. It was so nice not to have to pay to watch them this year or fight with all the traffic. We had a great time bbq'ing, making smores and opening gifts that my parents got for us from their recent trip to NYC. We also got to celebrate my sister-in-law Linda's bday. I made her a bag that she had been wanting and I think she loves it!

Happy Birthday Linda and Happy Birthday America!

Woo-hoo!

James having coffee waiting for the fireworks

Violet Mae with Linda's mom

my parents with Lilja

Linda and Lilja, so cute!

my little niece!

Linda's bag- cute right?

parade watching