Why We've Loved Summer 2013:

+ Beach days with pals -- we've actually gone so much it makes me feel like we're getting our money's worth (mas o menos) with California's hellish cost of living.

+ Breezes cooling off the house in the evening.

+ Hopping over to the pools.

+ Hopping over even more to the park.  Sunscreen was slathered, scooters brought along, moms sat under a tree on a blanket or stood in the shade of the park structure, and the kids were adorable.  Jude has really gotten gutsy and independent and the park is not a chore to me anymore (most days).  He doesn't need me to escort him up and down the structures like he used to, he goes up and down the ladders, steps, slides, and I just make sure he is playing nicely and not pushing anyone out of his way, and then I clap and get excited for him when he goes down the "wee" or slide.

+ Jude sleeping in just his diaper, and Graham sleeping in his sleeveless blanket-sleeping bag.

And now I'm ready to be done :).  Sand in my car, sand in the stroller, sand in the shoes.  Sweaty all the time and concerned about sunburns on the boys and Jude's ear tubes.  I'll be excited again about summer next time it rolls around, but for now I welcome the break.  Now Fall just needs to actually arrive.....

And now some mem'ries in photo version:

A hug for Dad after playing in a fountain at an outdoor mall.

Woop woop!

I'm sweating like a toasted cheeser!

Jude and his red scooter

Jude still has a belly button, FYI.

Brothers

His idea to hold my hand while riding his scoot scoot to the park.  Swooooooooon

Plotting all sort of mischievous deeds, one can only assume.

Pizza party to kick off summer in the neighborhood. 

Love em both

Sometimes he holds my hand while I read him books.  Honestly, it fills my heart with immeasurable joy. 

Graham and Lyla's little brother Eli.  I think these two are going to have a great time together, but for now they just sort of grab each other's faces.

Graham, the sunburn possibilities on your porcelain skin scare me a little.

My turn to wear Jude's hat.  This hat got lost somewhere this summer.

2 Merzy feet and 1 Jeff foot

There's the omnipresent scooter + Beckham

As recent as last Christmas Jude would NE-VER have touched this slide with a 10 foot pole.  Now it's his oyster.

4th of July at Baby Beach

Mom -- LET ME OUT!

Shocker -- they found trucks on another blanket and stole them.

Apples and tomatoes on the counter

Getting to work lining up cars and trucks, OCD style

I love him.

I love him too.

We started solids, much to Graham's delight.

It was all we could do to keep him from climbing in through an open window.

Dance Central with Cam and Kacie

Meeting BFF and Cousin Rower

$1 smoothies at Jamba Juice.  I know being a kid can be rough, but really, I don't see any of it here.

Graham thinks Jude is 100% entertainment.  Jude could sneeze and it would have his little brother in hysterical, gleeful laughter.  They just love each other.

Thanks, summer!  You've been good to us!  Now it's time for "pumpkin everything" season.

Saturday

We loved last Saturday.

Jeff's coworker recently had a baby girl, and per their Jewish custom, had a naming ceremony.  This particular one took place in San Diego.  It was something fun and out of the norm for us.  Jeff forgot his yarmulke.  :)  The Rabbi opened the outdoor ceremony by saying, "Shabat Shalom!" which was awesome because I totally knew our cue was to then give a hearty echo!  Thanks, Ben Stiller/Rabbi Schram from Keeping the Faith!  (One of those movies that wasn't a big box office hit, but was totally hilarious and adorable, in my opinion.  Now that I've remembered it I'm stashing it on the Netflix queue, because I don't think Jeff has seen it.)  The baby was tiny and sweet, the food was good, and Jude almost behaved (he started machine-gun laughing at all the quiet, solemn moments to Jeff had to scoop him up and gather some distance).

After the party we started home.  We had brought beach gear just in case we could hit the beach and it worked out.  We only had enough change for about a half hour in the parking meter, but since it was getting late in the afternoon that was fine.  Sometimes in theory excursions like the beach + baby sound difficult but in execution this trip was awesome.  Jude was happy and snuggly, the beach was beautiful, and Jeff was a hunk.  If you follow me on Instagram, a couple of these will be repeats.

We switched Jude to cow milk about a week before his birthday because I ran out of formula and didn't want to buy more.  Buying formula is the worst.  It smells bad, mixing it usually results in a dusting of formula powder on the counter, it's expensive, blech.  Jude LOVES whole milk and I am loving it for him.

I am so bringing this hat to Hawaii because my face won't have elastic skin forever and I care not for tanning.

I don't think there's ever been a time where seeing Jeff with Jude hasn't been cute.

I love his "vintage" swim outfit from cousin Sammy Lewis.

He's still a little indifferent to salt water splashes.

This is a rare sight that made me totally jealous.  

Just eat it up, Jeff.

We're so lucky to live here!!

Heaven or Hana? You decide.

Most days I wish I were just back in Maui.

I didn't think I'd do a honeymoon post, because who wants a honeymoon post? But after developing the pictures (almost 3 months later!) I thought I'd share.

We had 7 days on the Hana Estate, which is infinitely better photographed here, and is infinitely more amazing than that in 3-D. We felt like The King and Queen of Sheba at Robert and Erica's Hawaii Home. Especially since I had a jacuzi on a balcony with a view for all that time, no other will ever suffice. I am hot tub ruined. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We spent 3 days in Wailea, on the other side o' the island, which was busier and bustlier, but also something I could never argue with.

As I look back at these pictures I ask myself, "Did that really happen? Did we really go on a trip so perfect?"

Here are the visuals.

Venus Pools. Turquoise water.

At the Red Sand Beach -- be careful, there are nudies there, 3 of them like neked Santa Claus men who thought they were David Hasselhoff.

We hiked to the Red Sand beach, and on the way, we met a little seal on the shore who didn't like us very much. He'd bark and growl at me the closer I got, but I knew I was a lot faster on land than he, (she?) so I didn't worry about getting a LITTLE closer for a photo.

There was a day too rainy to do too much outside, so we drove the Hana Highway with all the notable stops. The uninterrupted journey will take about an hour, but we took the whole day to cruise it, stopping for all the delights. The delights were spontaneous bits of nature, like:

Tadaaaaaa!

At the Haleakala Crater, we saw our wedding sister friends! They were wearing t-shirts that said they got married the same day we did. Lovely. Now whenever we clink crystal glasses of Martinellis on future January 23s, we can assume (hope?) that 2 more people somewhere in China are also celebrating.

v

This image reminded me of "THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!!"

Sorry you read this post now? Or were you already remorseful?

Too bad the fellow hiker who took this picture had jiggly hands -- that was the coolest tree I've ever seen!

SNORKEL! We loooooved this. I felt like I was watching Finding Nemo up close and personal except we weren't breaking up any happy fishy homes.

And this is what I'd look like if I went the way of Anne Boleyn.

And this is what I'd look like if I ate 5,000 cadbury eggs over a 3 week period. Maybe 2 weeks.

Religion + honeymooning

I never knew the sand at the black sand beaches was actually black!

Anyway, we obviously loved it. We were extremely fortunate, and I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Thank you, and goodnight.