Catalina

We took an awesome weekend camping trip to Catalina--it was a total success! Parker really wanted to make the crossing with Jared in his boat, and it worked out great--he didn't complain a single bit, and was really excited to cross back the next day. Levi and I took the ferry from Long Beach and met the boys in Avalon. Then we made our way up the island a little bit to our boat-in campsite. There were two other groups camping on the beach as well, but everybody was really nice and we felt like we had plenty of space to ourselves. We had fun swimming, collecting rocks, and snorkeling a little bit. The weather was beautiful and we all had fun--we'll definitely be going back again sometime this year!

Getting ready to board the ferry in Long Beach

Can you spot both kids? They love floating in the raft. 

Collecting pretty rocks and shells

Our beach and campsite 

Boating up to the Isthmus for ice cream sandwiches

Levi fell asleep right away!

Levi at the helm (with ice cream sandwich all over his face)

Dinnertime at camp

The tent makes a great fort/wrestling ring

Parker was so tired--he was asking to go to bed by about 4pm!

Parker literally shouted with excitement the first time he looked in the water with a mask on! We saw calico bass and garibaldis. 

Levi was our motor

We snorkeled a little bit off of this nearby beach

We think that these were whale bones underwater

Parker's been getting a lot of use out of his wetsuit!

Starting to head back to Avalon--still in his wetsuit!

Jared and Parker getting ready to make the crossing back to Long Beach from Avalon. 

Waiting to board our ferry back to Long Beach--still in trunks and swim shirt!

Reading!!!

In the past six months or so, Parker's reading skills have accelerated like crazy. I started taking him to the local library at the beginning of the school year, and he is happy to go there as often as we can. He's been blasting through several series of kids' books, with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series being a big favorite. He's also on Book Two of the Harry Potter series now--he read Book One in under a week! (On a side note, I'm currently on Book Five...never thought I'd be reading Harry Potter books, but I'm enjoying them!) It makes me so happy to see Parker sitting down, totally engaged in reading a book for long stretches of time, totally by choice. He often stays up late at night reading in bed with a reading lamp. He is the definition of an "avid reader" and the embodiment of someone who "always has his nose in a book"! He'll even brush his teeth entirely while reading. 

Levi was super excited to get his own first library card recently! He always picks out several books to check out, and has mastered the computerized check-out process all by himself. 

Library card, or prison inmate ID #?? (photo courtesy of the library...)

Even More Fishing...

And Even More Pool Time...

We've pretty much been swimming every single day...

Swim Team

Pool Party!

Levi is even more comfortable in the pool with the floaties on than when I shot this video--I'm going to have to bring the waterproof camera with me now so I can get video of him jumping in and splashing and swimming like crazy! Now I think the only problem is he might not completely understand that he can't actually swim or float without the floaties on...I feel like there's a good chance he could just walk right in the pool without realizing it!

Last Day of School!