Cleaning

I needed to clean today because we are having a soccer parent meeting at our house tonight.  Yikes!  Nothing like having people over to light a fire under me to clean up the house!  Now if I would just. keep. up. with. it!

First, some before pics.

 Dirty kitchen table.

 Kitchen island.

 Kitchen counter otherwise known as "Place Where Homeless Items Go To Rest Part 1."

 Sink area.

 Stove.

 Formal dining room table otherwise known as "Place Where Homeless Items Go To Rest Part 2."

 Because one angle of that mess just wasn't enough.

 Piano.  The bench, apparently, is a storage shelf.  Sigh.

And now for some after shots.  I didn't replicate the photos exactly, but you get the idea that progress was made today!

 Family room vacuumed, table wiped down, laundry put away.

 Kitchen table cleared and wiped down.  I see crumbs.  I think Hudson needs to go back over that.

 Hey look!  There's a counter under there!

 And the table!  It's still there!

 One of my favorite decorative areas of our house.

 I need to wash my bedspread.  The soft blanket will do for now.

 The boys worked hard and did a great job cleaning their playroom.

Bathroom is clean.  People are allowed to pee.

I still need to mop, throw a bit of trash out, and clear off the island, but the house looks much nicer.  Amazing how peaceful it feels when it's clean.  I know, it's not rocket science!

Beach Day

 Oh Monterey!  I love you so much!  We were there two weeks ago and jipped the kids out of being able to spend quality time playing on the beach.  So we decided to come back with nothing but a beach day in mind.  This is not something we usually do, so it was different for us.

 We left town before 7 and were on the beach by 10.  We packed our towels, blankets, dome tent, chairs, and ice chest so we had everything we needed for the day.

 The weather was perfect.  The kids had fun.  I was relaxed and happy.

 Oh my tan babies.

 No bathing suit for me.  I wasn't ever hot.  In fact, I got cold later in the afternoon.

 Wish I could live here.

 We camped out at Asilomar State Beach.  Very pretty place.  It was pretty empty in the morning and started getting a bit more crowded by the afternoon.

 The kids are buried under there!  Their faces are under the towel!

 They had so much fun with me burying them in sand!

 Evan can't stop laughing.

 Hudson was hysterically laughing!

 Sun in his eyes.

 Hudson lifted himself from the sand and attacked his helpless brother!

 And then laid on top of him!

 Needless to say, sand was everywhere!

 Evan wasn't thrilled with his brother.

 Hudson and I took a walk to explore the beach.

 He liked the rocks.

 He gets to keep his mohawk for only three more weeks.

 Not sure what he found,  but he seemed pretty interested in whatever it was.

 Those rocks hurt my feet.

 It was fun watching the waves come in and out of the crevices in the rocks.

 So handsome.

 I sprayed us all down with sunscreen, but apparently my lily white legs needed more than one coat.  I burned the backs of my legs pretty badly.  While the kids were swimming in the hotel pool, Eric went to get me aloe.  Oh the burn.  Not pretty.

My friend from childhood was able to meet us at the beach for a bit.  We talked for a while and then agreed to meet for dinner later.  We like to go to a restaurant called Gianni's Pizza.  Good food.  We went early because the place gets packed, especially on a Saturday night.  It was fun eating and talking with Amanda.

This morning we packed up and left the hotel to go to Em Le's in Carmel.  It is this tiny little restaurant where they serve amazing french toast that tastes like funnel cake.  Oh my this stuff is good!

And we are now home.  Back to 105 degree heat.  Hate the heat.  Want to live by the ocean.

Life

Life and summer are just moving forward full force.  Here's a mixture of the various things we've been up to.

 Faustino (the goalie on our soccer team) had a surprise birthday party.  They had a pool with a very tall slide.  The kids LOVED it.

 Hudson has become a much better swimmer this summer.

 I'm still working out and taking way more photos of myself than I ever have!

 Trying to eat healthy.

 It was my turn to get new shoes!  I got two pairs.  I actually like the orange ones better than the black ones, but they are both new and cute.

 I've gotten some good reading titles from the junior high kids in math camp.  They even let me borrow their books!  Hudson learned a lot about ocean animals.  The yellow thing is an octopus.  I thought it was a ghost!  The toilet paper tube thing is a jellyfish!  Hudson insisted on taking the jellyfish to the beach.  I don't think it lasted long in the water and wind!

 Still working out.  I finished Week 5 in P90X3.  This is my favorite workout shirt.  Soft and long.

 Last summer school field trip to the bowling alley.

 I beat both Coach and Mr. Dodd in my first game.  Scored 132!

 Fake throw to get a photo!

 Evan getting ready.

 Release.

 Bummed with a gutter ball.

Just say no to candy.  It's hard not to stock up on candy for trips to the ocean.

We just got back from an overnight beach stay in Monterey.  I'll post pics in another post.