Heading out!

 

Today we are heading out on our annual family trip to Oxnard near Ventura.  It is one of our favorite places.  Between this trip and going to Shaver, it's the favorite week for our family!

this and that

 This last week is the longest that we have been home between trips.  We have done a house project to fix water damage to our pergola base and we saw the new Indiana Jones movie and loved it.  We ate Mexican food at Avila's and have we have done most of our back to school shopping.  We have had movie nights and pancake mornings.  We have had friends over to watch the women's World Cup, we have had swim parties with dear friends that just moved around the corner. Lots of playdates with besties. We worked on our garden and are working to make a computer area for Ryder in the sun room. Dentists appointments have been checked off the list. Bunnies have been snuggled. There has been early morning coffee on our patio and books on tape that I have loved while sitting by the pool. I only got a few snapshots:

Kit and Ryder surprised me at work with coffee. I wanted to cry.

Tomorrow we head out on our annual trip to the beach... I really am so thankful for all that these days have held.  They remind me that the simple things really are the best.

new to us...

On our way to the airport to leave for Greece, our Sequoia died.  Like "smoking, stopped working, had to pull onto the shoulder of the 405" kind of breakdown.  Kit and I looked at each other.  We called AAA and our mechanic and had the car towed.  AAA would not be able to get to us until our plane was scheduled to leave.  So we made the decision to leave the keys in the car, have an Uber pick us up on the side of the freeway, and make our flight.  When we arrived in Greece, we got the call from our mechanic that the engine had overheated and cracked (Nothing on our dashboard alerted us until there was smoke...)  and it would cost between $4700-$5800 just to take it out and start work on it.  The car was worth about $7000.  We decided it was time for a new to us car and we found this little gem:

When you go from a 2006 to a 2019, the tiniest thing feels like huge bells and whistles!  We are so thankful and feel so grateful to have found this deal! So to our Highlander, get ready to attend lots of soccer practices and games and school events!

Albion Cup 2023

 This last weekend we had our first club tournament in Oceanside.  Ryder played so well!  He scored and had multiple assists and learned so much while playing at such a high level.  He rose to the top.  He came off the field of his first game, after they lost saying "You guys, I love soccer so much.  I absolutely love this game!"  

He is so thankful and grateful to be out there and I can't imagine him dong anything else!

Shaver 2023

 We got back last week from time with family at Shaver Lake.  We jumped into work for Gina and a soccer tournament for Ryder and Kit, and time in Redlands for Eden.  We have been doing a huge yard project and tackling things that have been neglected since we have been out of town so much!

The time at Shaver was so sweet.  We love this place so much.  We got time to visit favorite places, even though water levels were so high and rushing in places... Memories were made, traditions were kept and and there was deep connection in one of our favorite places.  Here were some favorite snapshots of the week:

Our cabin:

2016 and 2023

Dinkey Creek:

Time in town:

Time at the lake:

Time horseback riding:

Indian pools and lunch at Huntington Lake:

Pontoon Time:

Hiking as far as we could to the Burn:

Time at our pond and meadow:

Our time was incredibly special and I am so thankful for the memories that we were able to make together!