Bonfire on the Beach

Since we have been here, I have been wanting to build a fire on the beach at night. There aren't a lot of beaches where you can have fires here, but just past the Carmel beach there are a few. Those beaches (which I didn't even know existed until about a month ago), have become some of my favorites. We went with our friends Cheryl and Micah and Sheila and Jayce. It was so warm out there that night (which never happens. It seems like it is always cold and windy at the beach). The kids had so much fun climbing on rocks, playing with kelp, and watching the huge waves. Of course, everything was much more exciting because it was dark. We'll have to do it again.

Climbing on the rocks. Super safe with pointy sticks in their hands, right?

Smoke in your eyes stinks.

Getting the perfect marshmallow.

What is it with boys and digging holes?

Micha and baby Asher.
Sheila and Tom roasting... something.

I think it's cute that he sticks his tongue out when he is thinking. I think it's even cuter that he's thinking so hard about getting that hot dog just right.

Hot dogs are good.

Piano Lessons

Addison started piano lessons about 2 months ago, and it has been so much fun to see how excited he is about it. I'm sure it can't last forever, but he still is really excited to practice and play everything he learns. As anyone who calls and talks to him can attest, he loves to set the phone down on top of the piano and play for the caller. I don't know how many times the grandmas have heard Darth Vader's theme in the last 2 months.

I love his teacher. She is the cutest little lady. She really wants him to enjoy playing, so she teaches him songs that he will be interested in. He has learned about every theme from Star Wars. She really takes her cues from the students as to how to approach their lessons and it makes for such a perfect learning environment. A few weeks ago Addison had been playing around on the piano and had figured out the beginning of a song from Star Wars (of course). He played it for her at his next lesson, and she used that theme for the basis of that week's lesson and taught him the rest of the song.

Look out John Williams.

Halloween

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. Addison wore his costume almost nonstop the week before Halloween. We went to the ward trunk-or-treat, his school's Halloween party, and trick-or-treating in two neighborhoods. I forgot my camera at most of these events, but trust me, we had fun. Addison studying his pumpkin to make sure it's scary enough.
Yep. Looks pretty scary.
This actually was pretty scary. This was just moments after Tom took the knife that I had given to Addison back into responsible hands. It seemed to me that Addison was old enough to do a little pumpkin carving of his own. I let him at it, and started pulling pumpkin seeds out of another pumpkin. Tom, however, was paying attention to the fact that Addison grabbed the handle of the knife at the very bottom, closest to the blade and when he stabbed the pumpkin, which was really thick, his hand slipped really quickly down the remaining handle almost onto the blade. ... I hadn't thought of that. I'm a good mom. Addison was happy to draw the scary face and let Tom carve it. So was I.
Addison has a blue tongue in this picture, and I'm hoping he didn't lick the pumpkin (he's 8 not 2), but he might have.
Safety supervisor, Tom.
We roasted the pumpkin seeds with olive oil and salt. They were so yummy.

Addison's scary pumpkin is on the left. Tom's is a happy pumpkin.
We first went trick-or-treating in Toro Park. That is the neighborhood where Addison's school is. It is perfect for trick-or-treaters - nice sidewalks, houses that are close together, well lit. EVERYONE goes there. If you live in Toro Park, you seriously have to stock up on the candy. They really get into it there, too. Some of the houses were like spook alleys just going up the walkways. There were so many people there. The kids had to wait in lines sometimes to get to doors. There were a lot of houses that had 20 or more people milling around on the lawns. Our new friends the Martinson's (who just moved into the ward and live near us) came with us. We met up with the Lamb's and Georgariou's and had a great time.

I wish I had taken pictures, but I completely forgot. We stopped by to trick-or-treat at Addison's friend's house who lives in Toro Park and I got a couple pictures of the two of them, and the cute, cute, cute little sister, but then put the camera away.

After Toro Park, we came back and everyone was out in our neighborhood, so we got out and trick-or-treated around here too. We were going to go to a neighborhood party, but were a little pooped by then. So, we came home, spread out the candy, and watched "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

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!