Miossi Open Space Hike

Today we went on a hike with Scarlett's Girl Scout troop in the new-ish Miossi Open Space in San Luis Obispo. Such beautiful views that will hopefully turn lush and green in the coming weeks with pending rainfall. 💚 

Our troop leader always comes up with the best adventures for our girls! 

Thanksgiving California Style

Every day, we are grateful we get to live on the Central Coast of California (despite the ridiculous politics in this state)! San Luis Obispo County is absolute perfection! For Thanksgiving, we made a spontaneous decision to go to Pismo Beach and it was perfect weather! We are thankful for several beautiful beaches that are only 1/2 hour away from our house. California dreamin'!

Christian is FIFTEEN!!

 

Yesterday Christian turned 15! Wow! When they say, "The nights are long, but the years are short," they aren't lying!

Funny quote of the day came from Scarlett (10): "Christian, next year for your 16th birthday, you'll have a car and then you can take me to school!"

I had to break the news to the two of them that Christian is not getting a car for his 16th birthday.

Halloween 2022

 Halloween is shifting a bit for Christian:

• He and Scarlett both want a super scary decorated house, but I still want it cute and sweet because we have a lot of young kids who come by.
• He was super excited to get his Halloween costume.  He started out with a super tight Spiderman costume, but the zipper was messed up and by the time we returned it, there wasn't another Spiderman costume available.  So we went with another Marvel hero, Black Panther that had BIG muscles (and a chest that resembled big boobs - ha!).  He was excited when he tried it on, but when he wore it to a "Trunk or Treat" event, he had peeled off his costume and mask within a few minutes and was already ready to go home. 
• Christian didn't want to wear his costume to school, and I said, "Do you think maybe you've outgrown Halloween?" He said, "Yeah, I think maybe I have."
• Christian only went out Trick or Treating with Jonathan and Scarlett for a short period of time and then came home by himself with just a bit of candy.  

It's fun to watch kids grow, but then kind of sad when they "outgrow" some of the best parts of childhood. 

And something hilarious I did was to put a single red balloon out in the drainage thing in front of our house.  Got lots of kudos from that funny little prank.  LOL!  Told people that I haven't actually seen the movie, so I don't know the story behind that red balloon, other than it's creepy as hell because of a clown in the drain in "It." 

The Pumpkin Patch

 

Admittedly, a visit to the Pumpkin Patch isn't as excited for older kids.  Most activities are geared towards younger kids.  Scarlett got a kick out of playing around, though ... so that was nice.  And Christian really just wanted to go home - as per usual. HA!

The Air BNB Experience in L.A.

Since moving to California in 2018, we've had few opportunities to travel because Chloe doesn't board well.  We finally decided to go the AirBNB route so we can take Chloe with us.  This is our second time doing an AirBNB with her and she's done GREAT both times! 

We loved this little house in the Atwater Village neighborhood of L.A.! And I think the best part was that there was only one TV and it was small and in a bedroom.  

This is a home the owner stays in when they visit L.A . with their 6 year old daughter, so there were plenty of non-tech kid things to do.  While Christian was pretty bored, Scarlett embraced all the activities that aren't in our own home.  It was so cute!

 

Universal Studios 2020

This weekend we took a trip to L.A. for the first time since moving here.  And so we had our first-ever trip to Universal Studios ... during a terrible heatwave.  Whoooo ... it was hot!  But a fun time was had by one and all! :)