Summer Wrap-Up (2012)

Wow! I can't believe Stephen goes back to school on Monday as a middle schooler. The summer days flew by. Here's a recap of some of the fun things we did:

Beach Days

Mitzi took us to this great beach in Carpenteria.

 

 Stephen, Vinnie and I spent the day in Santa Barbara to escape the 105+ degree heat

        

Boogie Board injury

                             
             Vinnie is digging a hole to bury Stephen in

 Fun in the water:



                                         

                                                                           Being Silly

                

Spent lots of time with friends:

   

Swimming with Alex

                                 
                                                                   



                         



These 2 are hilarious when they are together.

We saw the weinermobile on our way to bowling-had to stop for a picture

 

We saw Ice Age 3, Spiderman, and Batman.

 Stephen spent a week with Grandma Kempe for VBS. Poor guy, still gets homesick. The biggest change for Stephen this summer..................................

BRACES

Stephen was excited to get braces. Weird, right? In another month, the bottom will be done and in 2 years he will have an awesome smile :)

Tears of joy and sadness

My little sister turned 25 this year. A few months ago she decided to take a train adventure across the country-by herself. She is one brave young lady. She fell in love with a little place called New Orleans. When you ask her, she will tell you it felt like home. She came back to Cali, saved her money, sold her belongings, packed her bare necessities, and moved to New Orleans. It was sad to see her go but I am so proud of her. Deep down I think she knew it was time for a change. Vinnie, Stephen, Paige and I took her to the train station. We sugared her up with cookies from Diddy Riese and sent her on her way. It wasn't easy and there were lots of tears, but we all know it was a smart choice.

Happy 4th of July

We went to the Santa Clarita hometown parade for the first time this year. We hung out with friends and had a great time.

I made these cookies in honor of the holiday. Cake batter cookies-absolutely delicious. Thank you Pinterest. 

Then we hung out with different friends to watch fireworks

                                                

Here's a random shot of my tired kids the next day

Summer Fun

Wow. It's been a busy summer so far. I finished a 5 week online class. Note to self-don't ever do that again. I passed the class with an A. Trust me, I was shocked. I have one class left and then I will receive my certification. I'm also in the process of trying to find a part-time job or at least some contract work for my business. In the midst of all that, we have been doing fun things.
We went to the Santa Barbara Zoo. Stephen and I went last year; however, we wanted to share the experience with Mike. It's a great zoo. My favorite part is feeding the giraffes:

Not a giraffe, but he's super cute. 

The past 2 summers we have participated in a great program-kids bowl free. Stephen can bowl 2 free games every day. All we pay for is the shoe rentals. Stephen joined the junior bowling league for the summer. Last week he bowled his highest game-101. He is having fun and each week his game is improving. 

We went with friends to see Madagascar 3

Scooter Jungle to burn off some energy

Swimming with friends

                     

Cherry Picking

And one Magic Mountain day. Whew! One month left before school starts. More adventures to follow. 

filing cabinet

So in the midst of all the craziness I am trying to organize my paperwork and set up a filing system for my potential clients. I saw some great ideas on pinterest-all I had to do was find an old filing cabinet. After numerous thrift store excursions, I finally scored one at a yard sale last weekend.

Before:

   

Stephen's Birthday, promotion and Disneyland

Stephen turned 11 this year. Gone are the days of big parties. He had a friend sleep over. I took the boys to Mountasia to burn off some energy. Laser Tag, bumper boats and video games.

Bumper Boats age 11

Bumper Boats age 5

I thought I would throw in some comparison pictures this time.

Stephen has a sudden fascination with Panda bears. I saw these cupcakes on Bakerella. Perfect for Stephen's birthday. They were relatively easy to make and super cute. 

Stephen was promoted from 5th grade to 6th grade. (When did they stop calling it 'graduation?). Grandpa Kempe drove up from Tustin to join in the celebration. 

Mitzi took this great family photo of us before we left for school. 

I am not one for having my picture taken. However, Mitzi always does an awesome job :)

Here are some promotion pictures:

Stephen has had this desire for pie. So off to Marie Calendar's we went. 

One happy boy-apple pie and ice cream.

I always worry about keeping Stephen busy over the summer. We are off to a running start. Sleep overs, bowling and... a special trip to Disneyland-and that's only in the first week of summer vacation. 

Stephen's grandpa invited us to Disneyland. Even though some of the lines were long, we were able to ride everything we wanted to. 

                         

Stephen age 5-first Disney experience

                                                                              

                                                                    Stephen current day

                                            

Last year when we went to Disneyland Stephen wasn't quite tall enough to ride Autopia alone. This year was an entirely different story.

More summer fun to come :)