San Diego Botanic Gardens

We had so much fun playing in the childrens' gardens at Quail (I'm going to be hard pressed to remember to call it by its new name, "San Diego Botanic Gardens"!). We brought lunch and spent hours playing in both the Seeds of Wonder garden and the Hamilton Children's Garden. They are both such awesome places for kids, and Parker and Josie (and even Levi, too!) seemed to be endlessly entertained and had a great time exploring and playing together. Levi climbed right up his first flight of stairs--that boy sure is a climber.

The Morks Come to Visit!

Levi with Chiara, about three 1/2 months old

Levi and Chiara are only about six months apart!

Josie loved the swing! She and Parker are only about 7 months apart.

Such a fun, happy girl. She loved spinning on the swing.

Levi and Peter 

Em and Chiara

We were so happy to have the Mork Family come visit us for a few days during their San Diego vacation last month! We don't get to see them very often, and they are some of our best friends. Our kids are all pretty close in age, and it was especially fun this time to see how well Parker and Josie hit it off now that they are older--they played together like they were the best of friends, it was so sweet. Now it is Levi and Chiara's turn to buddy up :) We wish we could see you guys all the time--once a year just is NOT enough! Love and miss you.

Yard Work, Yard Work, Everywhere!

Parker being goofy as always

Levi LOVES playing in dirt! 

Jared beginning the process of building a planter bed wall

Dee in the midst of cutting down the bottle brush tree--it's finally gone!!

Parker working hard in his role as "supervisor"

The last month or so has found us inspired to clean up and improve our front and back yards, and thanks to Dee and Lisa's help, we've made a ton of progress! It's been fun getting into gardening and home improvement projects again, spending time dreaming about possibilities and spending nap times trying to get as much done as I can before Levi wakes up! So many more projects ahead...we're already enjoying meals out on the patio again now that it's nice and clean.

Not California

Visiting.
Lake McDonald, MT




Its how i roll now. MIA airport car reservation.




From Miami to Tampa to Jacksonville nonstop working and driving. Time for a well deserved midnight dinner and beer.


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Location:Atlantic Blvd,Neptune Beach,

Lil' Buddies

Nine Months Old

Happy August 9th--Levi turned nine months old today! He had his routine check up, and all is well. Here are his stats: 

Height: 30 inches, 94%

Weight: 19.12 pounds, 38%

Head: 47 cm, 90%

So, we have us a tall, skinny boy! We always say that it seems like 95% of each day, Levi is one happy boy. He is so generous with his smiles, he always gets lots of attention from strangers, especially women who oooh and aaahh over him--he just bursts with coy smiles when he is fawned over! Levi loves to explore--he no longer is content to just sit on a blanket on the grass in the yard and watch us, now he just gets right out into the dirt and gravel and scratchy grass and investigates it all. The only downside of his mobility and inquisitiveness is the fact that his first instinct is still to put everything in his mouth, so we have to keep a real close eye on him and his shenanigans. He seems to be starting to try to wave and to point at things and hold things up to show us. We've also caught him "dancing" in his chair a few times, and sometimes he loves to just bounce up and down while you hold him. Levi finally has caught on to the whole eating thing, and can be quite the piglet sometimes, patiently packing away pretty much anything you put on his tray, one little finger-pinch full at a time. Now, all we need is to conquer this whole "sleeping through the night" and "taking consistent and fulfilling naps" thing, and we're set!

Sailing With the Prindles

The "other" Prindle family--Nate, Lisa, and Alex--joined us for a fun-filled Saturday aboard Prudence this weekend. We lucked out with just perfect weather for a family day out--warm, sunny, clear, and just the right amount of wind to move along nicely while keeping the boat flat enough for everyone to lounge around up on deck while we were underway. This was Lisa's first time aboard a sailboat, so we wanted to make sure that she left with some good memories! True to form, Prudence took us right through a nice big pod of dolphins on their way to feed, so we all had that moment of excitement as we watched them all swim right past the bow of the boat. After sailing out and back for about two hours, we anchored in the harbor and enjoyed some snacks, music, swimming for the brave, and a dinghy ride for the boys. We tied the dinghy on back and Parker and Alex sat back there munching on pistachios for a while :) All in all, it was a perfect day, just the kind of thing that we were hoping to do with our family aboard Prudence.