Rachel has her own little language. We say she speaks Hawaiian.

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Our first cucumber from our garden.

 

Mike took the kids for a walk after work. They hiked a ways around Sweetwater Regional Park and found Hans & Harry's bakery on the other side. So Mike took the opportunity and got a few yummy treats for them all.






 

In the process of replacing the rocks in our fish tank, Rebekah accidentally spilled the little rocks all over the floor. It is amazing how far those little rocks will zoom across a tile floor.



 

What a fun day in the sun! Two of the groups with which we are involved at church sponsored a day at the beach. They chose Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. This was a very nice beach--the waves were great for body surfing and boogie boarding...and playing in the sand!










 

Leslie recently decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em; since our family has SO MANY Usborne books (mostly through our Sonlight homeschool curriculum), she decided to become an independent consultant.

In her starter pack, she got 5 books:
The Great Animal Search (which Rebekah promptly took off with!);
I Love You, Baby; a sweet little touch & feel book;
Internet-linked Mummies & Pyramids (which she had to hide from Elijah);
True Adventure Collection, a combined volume of adventure books; and
Who's Making That Mess?, a lift-the-flap book with a duck to find on each page

Here we are getting ready to open the box with our books! Leslie let each of the kids pick one thing out of the catalog, so they were all pretty excited to get something!

Elijah chose an Internet-linked books about Knights. Yes, we know that he needs a haircut. What we're actually doing is "not sweating the small stuff" and "choosing our battles". We're all about the cliches, baby.

Rebekah chose a "Kid Kit" about horses, with a neat book, stamps & paper for making the crafts. I guess she's trying to mimic a horse by making that face! :)

Joanna also chose a Kid Kit, but it's full of fairy craft ideas, and the supplies to make them. Our girls are so different from one another!

Rachel curled up with the Animals First Words Board Book, which is ful of lots of big colorful pictures--perfect for a toddler who's usually on the move!


Everyone was enthralled with our abundance of new books! (Ok, some of them were for other customers, but we had fun pretending that they were all for us!)

All this excitement is exhausting!

Oh, did I mention that all of our books were FREE, for hosting the Usborne party?!!! Yahoo!! Besides the books pictured, we also for (for free!):

1001 Things to Spot in Fairyland
Art Ideas (a really neat combined volume of art projects, skills & ideas)
Big Book of Things to Spot (another combined volume)
Complete Book of the Human Body (to supplement our science studies)
Dream Pony (a chapter book; it's a little beyond Rebekah's abilities, but she'll grow into it soon enough!)
Find the Duck (an adorable board book for little ones)
Great Castle Search (the "Great Search" series is one of my favorites; they're great for on-the-go);
Vietnam War (Elijah really likes nonfiction books, especially about war)

and for 1/2 off:

Illustrated Stories for Boys and Illustrated Stories for Girls (both of which were immediately grabbed by my kids!)

We love the Usborne Books!

 

Elijah was enjoying an evening with a friend while the rest of us went to a parking lot in our neighborhood to watch the fireworks with a friend.









 

Animals

Games and Rides

Amazing ride that none of us went on

See Rebekah among the fake spikes?

Joanna didn't go through them, but just the lower route.

Quite surprise Joanna went through with this ride. She is beginning to be more adventurous.

Rachel, on the other hand, was not wanting anything to do with the rides. Oh, that's not true. She loved to say she wanted to ride. She loved to wait in line. She loved to give the tickets. Rachel loathed riding. This is the only ride we actually got her on. Two other rides we tried, but she wouldn't go through with it.





 

Not really fruit, but it is from our garden.

The beans, not Joanna.