Point Lobos Field Trip

A little over a week ago, Addison's class took a field trip to Point Lobos. We have been there a few times, but have only gone on one or two of the trails. It was fun to be with his class because his teacher knew so much about the area.

This is in front of the Whaler's Cabin.

Inside the cabin. Cool harpoons and tools.

On one of the trails.

What a good student. Listening so attentively. His teacher is in the background with her hands up in the air telling us about how the whales travel south to have their babies in warm water.
This is where we had lunch.

We walked down to that beach below. It's called Gibson Beach. Can you believe this is where Addison gets to go on his school field trips!?

There were houses that surrounded this beach with their own pathways down to it. The whole area was only about 200 yards wide and really secluded. Can you imagine having this as your backyard?

I have a confession...

Everything I am about to say is true - not a joke, not sarcasm. These are my honest and true (and a little bit pathetic) feelings.

I love High School Musical. I love it in very close to the same way I love Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful. Believe it. For a while I tried to pass it off as supporting my son, who is also not in the general demographic of HSM fans. I pretended to have to let Addison stay up late on Monday nights to watch High School Musical: Get in The Picture. I acted like I only knew all the words to all of the songs from both HSM 1 and HSM 2 because we had to listen to it in the car. But, really I'm just a High School Musical fan who is so into it that I don't just type HSM, sometimes I say it - as in, "Have you seen H.S.M. 3, yet? You don't know what that is? It stands for High School Musical. I'm just really trying to cut back on my syllables.".

I guess it's not too surprising. I've always loved musicals and high school movies and this really is choreographed teen angst at its sticky-sweet best. But the truth is, this movie is just good entertainment to me. Ryan is my favorite character. He's such a funny background guy. He has some seriously funny, overlooked moments - kind of like when Angela stops, drops, and rolls in the bat episode of The Office. You're not really even supposed to be paying attention to her, but if you are, it makes the scene worth watching at least 14 more times. Same with Ryan. When he's in a scene, keep your eyes peeled. I also have to admit a big time (and slightly creepy, I know) crush on Zac Efron. That scene in HSM 3 where he and Chad are dancing in the car junkyard... Man, he's a cutie. I'll stop. I'm even creeping myself out.

I'll admit, there are some parts that are even too much for me. That scene where Troy is dancing on the walls that keep turning? Yikes. Kenny Ortega should stay away from artsy and stick to bubblegum. But, all in all, I love it, and I'll keep coming back for more.

Someday, I am sure, I am going to have to take responsibility for my own obsession. Addison and my interests grow more and more different as he gets older. I cannot understand his Star Wars language, and his poop jokes are not even close to funny. But, tonight when Addison couldn't stop talking about how cool it was that we both thought Ryan was the funniest character, and asking me if I thought Troy was really that good of a basketball player, and then, after shifting around in an uncomfortable seat, asking if he could sit on my lap, I realized, I'm going to hang on to this for as long as I can. I know it's not going to be long before sharing opinions with his mother is not top on his list. While it is though, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.

As we were leaving tonight, we walked out of the theater behind a dad with his 3 little girls. I'm pretty sure he really was dragged there. As he held the door open for us, I looked at his pink clad crew and said, "You're a good daddy." He smiled and told me he was outnumbered, and then gave me a look as if to say, "You know how it is. You got dragged here, too."

I eye-rolled and nodded back, trying to give off my best "the things we do for our kids" look, and hoping not to blow my cover, because my little date was letting me hold his hand...

And I'm not ready to let go.

Monterey Sports Car Championship

So, I think it is really funny that I am the only mom that drops off at Addison's bus stop. It's all dads. Really nice dads, but dads nonetheless. There is a lot of tree climbing, sitting in dirt, and attempts at hair combing as we wait for the bus and I'm always wondering how these dads got bus duty. We make a lot of small talk, but I don't know enough about them to know how their wives found these bus duty dads. Anyway, one of the bus duty dads is totally in the know about what is going on around here. A few weeks ago when the airshow was in Salinas, cool bus duty dad told me how it is a total waste of money to go into the air show and that there was a much better place to watch the planes if we drove out to Spreckels and watched it from this industrial parking lot. Good idea!

This weekend at Laguna Seca, there is a big race called the Monterey Sports Car Championship (you can hear the race cars from my house, they are so LOUD!). Cool bus duty dad told me that on Thursday, they let locals in for free to watch the race cars practice and you could check out the pits and walk around the arena. I called some friends and Tom brought a pizza and we watched race cars all night. I told Tom I thought I could totally get into race cars. I think he likes me a little less.

When we first got there, we went down to where these guys were working on the cars. It was crazy to see them whip the tops off these cars and start working on them.
We were the only ones in the stands. I think it's funny that Wendy is on the phone because we could hardly talk to each other, let alone try to talk on the phone, even though we all tried. It was so loud. You can see Beckam was not so excited about the noise.

Wendy's cute 2 oldest kids, and Addison.

These boys were so funny. The cars were so loud and they were pretending they were under attack. Every time a car came by, they would duck and cover.

We forgot earplugs, so Kasey and Addison made due with the Crazy Bread (or Crazy Sticks if you're Wendy)!

When the cars stopped racing, we walked down to where they were coming off the track.

Addison decided that the cars with TDI were his favorite. I'm not sure why or what TDI is, but he loved them.

Best Breakfast Ever (Always)

As everyone who's ever been will agree, First Awakenings has the best breakfasts ever! Even Shellie, who is SO dedicated to eating healthy and has SO MUCH WILLPOWER couldn't resist the coconut granola peach pancakes. They have awesome hot chocolate, omelettes, and everything else. Come visit me and we will go there...

This is to show Cortney that we ate at a Rachel Ray approved restaurant.
Cameron, you are so goofy...
I have to mention here, that we are not at our cutest in these pictures because, in preparation for digesting many, many, many calories, we went to the gym before breakfast. I should also mention that I made Shellie run up Toro Road which is a huge hill near the gym and she was AWESOME!
After breakfast, we went to Asilomar.
Shellie caught the sea glass collecting bug. She and Amy will have to come back together!

More on visits...

On Saturday, we had talked about going to San Francisco, but it was raining (not that it isn't usually raining in San Francisco), so we decided to go the aquarium instead. We love going to the aquarium. It was really crowded, but still fun.

Cam, Addison, and Grandma in the wave tunnel.
Outside the aquarium.

Sunday was fun and relaxing. We watched conference, played games, and ate a lot of food. On Monday, we went out to Garrapata for a picnic. It was pretty windy, but the weather was great.

Eating on the beach.

Grandma and Shellie. I love this picture.

Snuggling on the beach.

Tough guys!

This is the best. My crazy mom and Cam got in the freezing cold water to tempt the waves. Over course, they got more than they bargained for when they underestimated one of them. I love their faces!

This is so typical of Cam... coming to the rescue!

Addison misses Cam!!

He's so handsome.

I love visitors...

Mom, Shellie, and Cameron came to stay for a week and I was so happy. I love having a house full of people, and noise, and fun. I usually spend my days (until Addison gets home) at home quietly working by myself... boring. It was so much fun to show them around the place I'm calling home.

They arrived late Thursday night. Addison stayed up until they got here and went to bed at about 11:30. He woke up at 6:30 (of course) and went to school. We had decided to go to Carmel, but didn't think we could be back in time to get Addison from school, so I checked him out early. In typical Addison fashion, he was worried that he was missing his first art class, rather than being excited about missing school. He got over it pretty quick after a few minutes of hanging out with Cam. Cam was such a good sport. I think anybody who knows him would say they wish they could have him around all the time. He is so easygoing and is always looking for ways to help. When Cam is around, you never have to carry luggage, worry about your kids, or run to the store for milk. I don't know what Shellie is going to do without him when he leaves for Colombia! We went to Hula's for dinner.
Addison and Cam.
We love Hula's!

... more to come

Conference Sunday

I love Conference weekend... big breakfasts, knitting projects, staying in my pajamas all day, afternoon naps, and of course, being edified by our prophet and leaders. I was so excited to have family in town this weekend to share it all with. We also had friends from the ward over who came over before the first session on Sunday and made us aebleskivers (Danish pancakes), which were awesome!

Grandma working on her conference crocheting project (dishcloths) and Addison and Cam working on Addison's Conference Packet. I don't know how we would survive Conference without those things.
Edward and Meridth - our breakfast cooks and delightful guests.
Shellie - multitasking. She's really good at it.
An after conference game of Clue.
This was my Conference knitting project - Addison's slippers (colors chosen by Addison). Why are his feet are at such an odd angle? Because, after felting the slippers (washing them in really hot water so they shrink) they have to be shaped to the feet. I didn't want Addison wearing wet slippers through the house all day, so I put them on him while he was sleeping (and then took a picture). Yes, he is a deep sleeper. Yes, I realize he will wake up with wrinkled feet. Yes, that's the kind of mother I am.

Narnia

Our stake put on a production of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe a few weeks ago that was amazing! There is a lady in our ward who runs a children's theater in Salinas, and she provided the costumes and sets and directed the play. Addison was a dwarf and had a blast. It was an awesome experience for him. There were months of practices and late nights, but it was worth it in the end. They did 3 performances and hundreds of people attended. Addison was excited to share the play and its message with some of his friends from school.

Addison and Seth, the dwarves.
More dwarves.
The whole cast.


Aslan, Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy.
Singing Cair Paravel.

You can't really tell in this picture, but on the song "Joy for Joy" they did a little dance where Addison was in the middle of a circle with kids dancing around him. It was so cute. I wish I could have videoed it, but the play was copyrighted and we weren't allowed to.

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. Both of them are in our ward and did an awesome job.