San Diego and 70'

Despite the gloom and cool temperatures, and maybe because of them, we had a great 4th of July week in San Diego.  I know it sounds odd, and somewhat pathetic, but coming from our neck of the country, 65' F sounds scary in July!  It sounds like pajamas with socks, sweatshirts and chill bumps, and really, it sounds scary.  I only packed one pair of shorts, and that was for our first night in Palm Springs because really, it's not much cooler in that neck of the woods, than it is here.  But it was sure fun to see some more cousins and eat, and swim, and eat, and sleep, and go to the beach (in San Diego) with them!

Cupping and dragging, Eli is going through some alternative therapy for his knee, and one of them leaves these round bruises on his leg, which we photographed on our way to San Diego.  It looks crazy, but so far it's been the most helpful procedure he's had done!

Beach time as a family is the best!

 Nathaniel found an oyster/clam and barbecued it later on Papa's grill, and thanks to Uncle Ian, we now know we need to "burp" it next time, so it will be edible next time.  Because of all the sand it still had inside of it wasn't edible.

 Our kids braved the weather and played in the surf with their cousins.

 Digging and building in the sand is always one of our favorite beach activities.

 From the side I just see so much Lacy!  And for some reason the younger Ian?:)  She's so beautiful to me!

Mila would hardly talk to me, but as you can see here she loves uncle Ryon.

 It took us a while to decide exactly where we should spend 4th of July as a great big happy family, but finally we decided on Byron's and we all had fun eating, swimming, and talking around the fire...and I think we saw a firework or two, Nana was pretty sligh on that one, "O.K. I think that's it, that was fun, we'll see more as we drive!!!"

 All the boys and dads pitched in the assembled Papa's trampoline in a matter of minutes, and the kids played on it all day!

 Thanks to Ian, here's a photo of me from the 4th! :)

 On the 5th of July cousins' camp began, and we took off to Newport Beach, where we had a fun time together, while our children had an awesome time with Nana and Papa.  So much can happen in just a few days, 2 of our kids lost teeth (Kirk was it really your doing?), they painted themselves black with gunk off the beach,

 We looked through little shops and read all of the signs.  I liked these two the most. " There has never been a day when I have not been proud of you.  I said to my daughter, though some days I'm louder about other stuff so it's easy to miss that."

 We saw things we thought our kids would love, these reminded us of Nathaniel.

And we saw hundreds of beautiful miniature yards like this one, that made me want to hire or become a landscaper...ahhh...I don't foresee that happening in the near future.  All in all it was fun to wear a sweatshirt and not sweat, and to ride our bikes for hours on end without having to go any where in particular.  It was a great vacation!