The making of a fairy garden

Most little girls love fairies and Penelope is no exception. Now that she is really into imaginative play I thought it would be fun to make a fairy garden with her. Since the girls are outside so much I am trying to make their outdoor space as fun and whimsical as I can. So back in June when we were visiting my parents in Cambria we paid the Cambria Pines Nursery a little visit. Lo and behold they had super cute fairy furniture! It was a sign- it was time for project fairy garden too commence. Because after all, if you want the fairies to visit you have to make them comfortable right?!
(We have since added many more seashells and even a seashell pond) :)

                   Check out those super cute garden tools!

Violet Mae all day!

I have been meaning to post this for a while now because violet Mae is growing and changing so fast that I feel I need to keep record of all her antics before I forget! Little "v" is such a joy to be around. She is so busy and happy and is a true little monkey. This kid has more words than I can count. She is already putting 3 word sentences together like "look a duck!" Speaking of ducks she is quite obsessed with them lately- same goes for any and all baby dolls and any kind of minky blanket with dots on it. She LOVES to sing- current favorite is "twinkle twinkle little star"-video coming soon of that one. She has some "stranger danger" going on- especially towards men! She doesn't understand why buddies like Sam and Connor don't live here all the time- frequently in the car she will ask "where's Sam?" Or "where's Connor?" She will even wake up from a nap and the first thing she says is either "where's sissy-where's Sam or where's Connor?" So silly! If there's one thing violet Mae is its silly. She loves dressing herself or the more correct description would be un-dressing herself. You can often hear her in her bed talking and singing to herself for ages. It seems she can't sit still (for me anyway) for more than two minutes-nope there is just too much to explore. And if you walk with her holding hands don't be surprised if she all of a sudden starts dragging her feet because she's expecting to be swung in the air. I share all these little tidbits of violet with you because life is just flying by too fast that it makes it too easy for me to under appreciate how special all these little daily milestones are. When I write all this down I can sit back later and remember or better yet print a beautiful book at the end of the year so that hopefully I will never forget how fun and unique all our experiences have been- even the "everyday" ones. So I blog to share, but the main person I'm sharing with is myself. I have a terrible memory so maybe one day my blog books will be my "Notebook." Hopefully it will never come to that but you get the idea. ;).

A Perfect Summer Day

I am so loving summer this year!

It seems like the past couple of summers I have either been hugely pregnant or had a teeny tiny baby strapped to me... oh wait that HAS been my last couple of summers! So this is the first summer in a long time that I have felt great and actually been able to enjoy! (no remodels, new babies etc)

We are trying to make the most of any free time we have. So a couple of weeks a go we decided to have a family "stay cation" right here in SB and enjoy all the fun things our lovely tourists get to do.

The kids had a blast and so did we!

It all started with a surrey ride!

the kids loved it!

followed by a pit stop at On the Alley for lunch

then some beach time at Leadbetters

the kids loved this idea!

Afterwards we stopped by parents house to dip in the pool and celebrate the kids Aunt Linda's birthday, but sadly I didn't take any pics there.

We left the kids with the sitter for the evening and headed straight to the funk zone for a little wine tasting

no better way to cool off after a hot summer day then with some cool crisp chardonnay!

we even had a chance to celebrate "grown up style" with Linda later that night at Milk and Honey
afterwards all four of us hit the World War Z movie---
(even though Linda couldn't quite stay awake for the whole thing)
he he

Big Bear Fireworks

The summer so far has been spectacular. 

We are very quickly checking many things off our "summer MUST do list"- (May-June recaps coming soon!)

4th of July was no exception- it was probably the best 4th I can remember!

Our friends the Beck Family, were nice enough to invite us along to Big Bear with them.

I had never spent time in Big Bear in the summer, but knowing how beautiful the lake is there figured it would probably be-- awesome. It did not disappoint.

But even better was the fun of hanging out with another family with kids the same age as ours (the oldest share birthdays!), and who have so many similar interests- and who are so totally... awesome. :)

The weekend was filled with beach time, SUP'ing, bbqs, hot-tubbing, lots of wine, making ice cream--- for the first time!, lakeside picnics, boat rides, street dancing and of course fireworks (the BEST fireworks I have ever seen by the way!)

Thanks so much Erin and Brian for including us!

You guys rule!!!

xoxoxo

Violet on her way to Big Bear- multi-tasking 

there was a lot of this going on

nothing like kid-friendly restaurants!
give these kids a stage and you've got a show

dancing!

so cute to watch the littles join in too

Swim Beach was so shallow it was kind of freaky to see the kids that far out in the water!

Boulder Bay

Sha-Bam!

and "boom goes the dynamite"