Levi's Silly Sound

Levi is starting to do things with much more intention--for example, this is one of his favorite things to do. He will copy us if we do it, but he usually starts it first :) I think he thinks it's pretty funny...he's right.

Back Yard Progress

Major progress has been made in the back yard! Some of the changes are small and might not be noticed by many, but other changes are much bigger. Dee and Lisa have been a huge help with weeding, pulling out plants, trimming back the neighbor's encroaching jungle, chopping down the bottle brush tree, and putting a layer of stain on the entire fence surrounding the yard--I never could have accomplished any of these things without their help. I've also cleaned and repainted all of the metal outdoor furniture (and the chiminea), rearranged things, reduced a lot of the potted plants, and cleaned up the potting bench. We are about halfway done building the new paver wall for the planting bed along the back of the house, then we can start planting a nice garden in there. There are lots of other backyard jobs lined up in the dreams pipeline, we'll see what we can get to before we run out of steam! 

Losing Levi's Toothy Grin

The tooth fairy came way too early for Levi. He had an accident last weekend and had to have his two (incredibly adorable) front teeth pulled by our pediatric dentist. Needless to say, it was traumatizing for all of us in many ways, and we are still coming to terms with the loss of his goofy big-toothed baby smile. He is feeling great, though, and recovered so quickly. Kids are so delicate yet so resilient at the same time. He shouldn't have any problems due to the missing teeth, but will just have a big toothless smile until about first grade or so when his adult teeth grow in. That seems like an incredibly long time to wait, but I'm sure we will all get used to his new look. Anyone who knows Levi knows that his huge, happy, light-up smiles are a gift that he gives generously, and that hasn't changed. We love him and his smile, with or without those big front teeth. We love you, Levi!

Sunday in the Sandbox

Peek-a-boo

Going Aloft

My friend Calder, his wife Starr, and their two-year old daughter, Stella came out from Utah to visit us this weekend. Calder and I have been friends since about elementary school, and have managed to keep in touch all these years. He went sailing to Mexico years ago, and is currently rebuilding a Bristol Channel Cutter that is stored in his barn, so when we got Prudence he seemed like the perfect person to come aboard and help Jared with some small projects. Jared has been wanting to climb the mast and check things out, and since he's also a rock climber Calder brought along one of his climbing harnesses and winched Jared right up to the top of the mast. I love how Jared looks like he's clutching on to the mast in these photos :) Our anchor light isn't working, so he's going to have to get back up there one of these days and get to work. We had a great time with the Stratfords, beautiful sailing weather, and Stella and Parker played really well together. It was a fun visit, hopefully we'll all be back out on the water together again some day!

Our Montana Adventure

We had a great time visiting my family in Northwestern Montana last month--I took so many pictures that I'm just now getting around to going through them and getting "some" up on the blog! Jared was able to join us for two days before he left for the East Coast for a work trip. We had beautiful, warm weather, and it was great getting to spend time with everyone. We loved getting to know cousin Forest better--all three cousins had lots of chances to spend time together and really did play and interact with one another. It will be so fun watching them all grow up together. Parker and Levi got lots of quality Grammy and Grampy time, and they definitely had lots of fun growing experiences on the Ranch and in the Montana mountains. Thank you to everyone for a wonderful trip!

Boating on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park

Grampy and Lee Lee 

The Prindles, while Jared was with us

Happy boy

Cousins! Forest loves to share with everyone :)

Grammy got a water table for Levi and Parker, it was a great thing for both of them to play with at the same time, and the perfect height for Levi to stand up at. It even had one side for each boy for the times when it's hard to share :)

All of the boys love the ATVs!

Going for an ATV ride with Grampy

Grammy and Lee Lee

Ian, Krista, and Forest's amazing cabin in the woods 

S'more time! This is becoming a tradition for us :)

SO yummy!!

We love you, Forest!

Auntie Krista and Lee Lee--blondies :)

Uncle Ian and Lee Lee

Levi got to join Parker for the traditional photo-with-the-bear

Smiley, dirty boy at Seeley Lake

Mama and her boys at Seeley Lake

Parker really wanted me to take a picture of him on this log...

Brothers. Love the expressions on both of them...

Parker really wanted me to take a picture of him and Rainbow Fishy

You'd be amazed how many pictures I have of Parker making this exact face...

Trying to get a picture of all three cousins with the bear...it was a challenge!

Paige, Parker, Levi, Ian, Krista, and Forest!

Heading back home to San Diego. Yes, he wore this cowboy hat the whole way home...he got lots of compliments in the airport and while making his way down the aisle in the airplanes :) He was so excited about it (although you certainly can't tell by the expression on his face).

Back to School

Parker started his new year of preschool yesterday. He is in the 4-year olds' class this year--his last year of preschool before he starts kindergarten...what??!! That's crazy. We love his school, so we are pretty excited about the upcoming year. He has a new teacher, is in a new classroom, and has a new class pet--this time it's a turtle (last year it was a fish, and his summer school classroom had a tarantula named Rosie...). I can't wait until he starts bringing his school projects home again! I hope this year holds lots of fun growing and learning experiences for Parker. And I hope he enjoys his time on his own, getting out of the house and getting a chance to be independent from his parents and his little brother.

Back on the horse

We had to get back on Prudence and when we did we were rewarded with a beautiful sail and unlimited hungry mackerel.



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Levi's First Airplane Ride

After saying goodbye to Em, Peter, Josie, and Chiara, we drove to the airport and headed to Montana to spend two weeks with my family. Jared was able to join us for our journey up there and vacationed with us for two days before heading to the East Coast for two weeks for work. This was Levi's first airplane ride, so we were curious to see how he would handle things, and how it would be flying with both kids! 


I must say that at this age, Parker now seems like a breeze to travel with. He was super excited about the flights and happily packed his own backpack with some snacks, toys, and games--and even carried and took care of his backpack himself the whole time. He loved the turbulence on our approach to Salt Lake City, asking us if we could do that again! 


Levi was totally excited about the whole scene as soon as we sat down in our seats on the first flight. He loved all of the new things to explore and flirted with everyone around us. He was so active the entire time, clambering over all of us to get a look out the window. By the time we finally landed in Montana, I felt like I had been wrestling an alligator all afternoon!

A Sailing Adventure

We got to take everyone out for a sail one afternoon, although we had pretty cold, grey weather. We had our usual Prudence luck, though, and saw a bunch of dolphins, which was exciting for the kids (well, probably for all of us)--we even saw a couple of baby dolphins! Unsurprisingly, Parker and Josie both eventually fell asleep! All of the kids were great little sailors, Chiara included--she was so sweet and mellow the whole time.