Happy Birthday Todd (AND OUR YARD!)

For those of you that read this blog, you have probably seen various states of our yard.  Dirt, grass, mud, half-grass, weeds, rocks, grass again.... I won’t bore you with all the details of our yard debacle but when we bought our house we ripped out the previous landscaping and as far as projects went with remodeling this place, the yard was low on the totem pole. Then one winter, grass appeared out of nowhere. Then it died.  Then Todd started to landscape the yard (slowly).  Then we hired someone.  That didn't work out and the grass that started to grow died.... And since no magic grass decided to appear on its own again, Todd was hired once more, however this time he's been working a little faster.  ;) 

On July 8th, Todd turned 30 again, (amazing, right?) and we gave him the gift of time.  The kids and I left him alone so he could complete his project.

We tried our best to stay out of his way although Thatcher could not resist playing in the bag of fertilizer.  Such a boy!

All flattened, fertilized, seeded and watered.   A rainbow appeared which I took as a good sign.

And now we wait....

And we also are being very, VERY careful not to let anyone walk on it except for Lollipop who is exempt. :)

Todd couldn't get rid of us the whole time.  Later that day we headed down to the harbor to have dinner at Brophy's.

While we waited for our table we headed next store to Endless Summer for some drinks and to listen to music.

When Samantha started making bracelets with her red onions at Brophy's, we knew it was time to go.

The birthday boy kids requested Yogurtland for our last stop.

Happy Birthday Toddy!

And look-y here, the best birthday present appeared 2 weeks later!

We've still got a few more weeks to go but so far so good!

Now on to the rest of the yard......

More Swim Lessons (Week 3)

On Sam's third lesson she added goggles to her routine.  You've got to look the part, right?

Thatcher, on the other hand, is going for a different look.

She's still got the noodle wrapped around her but a big step is that she is more than a foot away from the teacher.  That's a big deal for Sam. 

4th of July

Unfortunately this year's 4th of July was gloomy and COLD!  The days leading up to it were sunny and warm and then all of a sudden it was freezing.  Between the weather and the holiday landing on a Wednesday this year, it seemed a bit of a downer.  Oh well, it can't always be perfect....

We basically didn't get our holiday plans started until much later in the day.  At around 5 PM we decided to finally venture out and meet up with some friends who were barbecuing at the beach.  It's of course colder as you get closer to the beach and it was windy.  Todd and I were ready to go as soon as we arrived, but as per usual, the kids have built-in heaters that keep them energized and moving and shaking nonstop.   

After about an hour, the BBQ was moved to the Ziets home.  The kids and I warmed up in the car while the rest of the crew had to carry a crazy amount of stuff back to their cars. 

Much better now! 

Between the hot tub and the trampoline, the kids were happy (warm) campers and the adults sat around the fire pit, eating and drinking (also warm). 

When it got dark, we walked a block down to Shoreline drive on the Mesa and watched the fireworks.

And what were the chances that we bumped into Connor (and Chris), in the dark, with the thousands of others along Shoreline drive watching fireworks?!  Okay, Santa Barbara is a pretty small town but still we felt really lucky.  What a great way to end the evening!

Carousel and Park Date

 

Dinner and a Movie

I love our family date nights.

Dinner at Carlitos

Samantha rushed through dinner in anticipation of going across the street to the Arlington Theater.

Off to see Brave!

Thatch thought he was seeing Spider-Man

Really, Thatch thought he was seeing Spider-Man.

Samantha loved the movie.  Thatcher sat still for most of it, the other half he ran around the theater.  Thankfully we were virtually the only people there.  I doubt he would sit through Spider-Man either.....