JULIAN, CALIFORNIA

We went for a drive yesterday out to Julian, California.......

It is an "historic gold mining town located approximately an hour east of San Diego. It is the premier mountain retreat in the county and is unique in that it has four seasons." It is in the beautiful Cuyamaca mountains and "at 4,235 feet, Julian’s high elevation provides clean air, blue skies and four distinct seasons." (Didn't they already mention that???)

Also, it's "famous for apples and superb apple pie".

SO, we decided to go get some of those famous apples for ourselves.....

How's it taste, Maleah?

Must be good - Maleah wants more!!!

Cameron is in charge of the bag.........while he does some taste-testing!

And, of course, Rena had a bag and did A LOT of her own taste-testing also!

Good pickin' - time for a rest in some shade!

We were at the "Raven Hill Orchard" so everyone wanted their picture taken with the Raven.....

First, Jeff and Maleah

Then, Jeff & Rena

Finally, Jeff and Cameron

This Orchard had some "interesting" art - Jeff decided to take a rest on some of it!

After picking some apples we headed in to town to walk around and see the sites.....

It was a fun place to visit and I'm sure we'll be going back this fall for more apples..........and for another one of their "superb" apple pies!! It was yummy!! :)

THE SKATE PARK

Cameron has really been having fun on his new skateboard and has especially been having fun over at the skateboard park right near our home. He's still just learning so he is sticking with the little "pool", but as you can see it is a very popular place for all levels.

Here's Cameron in the little pool.....

The girls do their best to stay entertained while Cameron is skating. On this night Rena is playing a game on Jeff's cell phone......

.....and Maleah is just happy if I have my camera with me and am taking pictures of her. She loves the "silly" poses and usually has her tongue sticking out!

AN UNWANTED VISITOR

One day last week we had a little unwanted visitor in the house. This silly bird came in through the dining room doors and couldn't find his way back out. The poor little guy was trying to fly through those big living room windows, but unfortunately they were shut and locked......and I was such a wimp that I couldn't get myself over to the door to unlock them. The kids thought that the whole thing was hilarious and kept suggesting that I feed the bird (not to get it out just in case it was hungry!). In the end Cameron went outside and when the bird saw him he got scared, flew the opposite direction and went straight out the front door.

This is one visitor that I hope doesn't come back anytime soon........at least not indoors! :)

TAMI'S VISIT

Tami was here visiting for the past couple of days and we managed to have A LOT of fun with little effort!!!!

We spent Day #1 at the beach. We tried a new beach, Moonlight, which is about 15 minutes from our house. It was a good one!

The kids, of course, did a little bit of playing, digging and building in the sand.....

To play, dig and build, though, they needed wet sand. Here is Cameron, Maleah, Tami and Rena making one of many trips to the ocean to bring back buckets of water.....

Rena's got the one little yellow bucket while Tami is hauling back the big blue and red buckets....(and Maleah & Cameron are just watching Tami & Rena do all the work ).....

At one point during the day Rena decided that she needed to rest by herself. That is her laying down on her towel half way up the hill. Cameron had a close eye on her for us - he's the one standing in the back watching......

Tami's the only one that ventured into the water past our knees. She didn't go out too far, but she did get knocked over a time or two. She's headed back in here ready for some more relaxing on the beach.....

Tami's second day here was just as rough as the first - only difference was that we spent it at the pool instead of the beach!! :)

The kids had a great time with Tami and she was a great sport going along with all of their games......

and fixing the girls hair.....

Here are the final fancy hair-dos! Notice Rena's pink fingernails also - Tami found time to do fingers and toe nails......

We did some hanging-out "catching up" in the backyard also.....

And then, unfortunately, it was time for her to leave............

We are hoping that she will be back again SOON!

RENA LOST A TOOTH

Rena lost her first tooth this morning!!! She was so excited about it being "wiggly" last night that she couldn't keep her tongue or her fingers off of it. She wiggled it until it fell out!!!

Here she is showing off her little tooth. She was so excited when it came out that she had to immediately call Jeff and tell him all about it and when cousin Tami called she had to tell her all about it and when she saw the neighbors in the back yard she had to tell them all about it and now she hasn't stopped talking about it for hours!! She is also almost as excited to show it off to Jeff and Tami (who is on her way to visit as I type) tonight as she is for the tooth fairy to come.

Anyone that wants to hear the whole story straight from Rena's mouth just has to call -- I'm sure as soon as the phone rings she'll be asking to talk! :)

CAMERON'S LAST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

We celebrated Cameron's 7th Birthday for the last time last night. We had a few families over from the neighborhood and had a barbeque.

Gabby, Jacinda and Maleah eating hot dogs.

Rena is patiently waiting for her burger to put inside that bun!

Time to break-open Darth Vader.....

The birthday boy got to take the first "whack"......

then it was Jacinda's turn.....

then Greyson's turn.....

then Rena's.....

then Gabby's.....

then Maleah's.....

then Meagan's.....

and even Benjamin got a turn (with a little bit of help from Meagan).....

Everyone got one turn, Cameron got two more swings and then Jacinda broke it open on her next turn.

Everyone filled their bags full of candy!!

Greyson's dad, Jason, and little brother, Decklen taking a turn on the swings.

Tim and Meagan

The "7" candle got one more use. We couldn't find any Star Wars cupcake things so Cameron chose some Wall-E decorations.

Cameron, Maleah and Gabby loved the cupcakes and the ice-cream!

.....and so did Jacinda and Rena

.....and so did Greyson!

Cameron, Maleah, Meagan, Benjamin, Gabby, Jacinda, Greyson & Rena

Jeff, Cameron and Maleah resting after all of the sugar!

Time for presents!!!

Cameron got some really cool Transformer Walkie Talkie's, a cool Tony Hawk skateboard shirt, some cash and a gift certificate to Toys R Us. Everyone was WAY TOO thoughtful and Cameron is WAY TOO excited to make a trip to pick something out at the toy store!!!

In between all of the "planned activities" the kids did lots of playing. They were swinging, climbing, sliding, running.........and just having FUN!

After a full week I think we are officially done celebrating Cameron's 7th birthday. We all had a great time around here and are already looking forward to birthday #8!