pop's day

 

 

so this pop missed out on breakfast (even coffee) in bed... a minor oversight... but sweet gabel picked up the slack with his crafty "DADDY" banner, his scavenger hunt for a shiny, new "KING FOR THE DAY" crown (which was donned all blessed day) and his homemade storybook gift.  we then raced to church as usual... making a drive by this time at a new donut shop with promising ginormous ham and cheese croissants.  strike two, they were on the doughy side leaving something, like more oven-time, to be desired.  after church prosciutto, fontina, & roasted pepper paninis sizzled out of thin air... i was so impressed with my masterpiece i willed myself into making others at a later date.  daddy approved with a 'now we just need a glass of beaujolais." (which note to self he doesn't exactly like, but was referring to some red wine out there he does.)  we then head out for a destination we may come to know well, the very awesome sycamore canyon cove complete with fire pits and dogs and very laid back park rangers who according to frank our new beach bud and sycamore cove aficionado can be bribed with brew.  fire pit fajitas and roasted corn on the cob from the roadside stand filled our bellays; s'mores followed... happy place, population 4... oh plus frank and his kids.  back at the ranch, a boys bath ensued and story time with the author and his homemade creation wrapped up the night and a most beautiful, windswept pop's day.

sock bun revalation

pirate grub

chocolate cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting... yum matey.

when in doubt bbq

pork chops, peaches, shrimp-onion-mushroom-----skeweres---->  we do not discriminate.

our mvp

love at first slide

sun shinin' so cal, slip n' slide (thee original), corn dog kinda day.  thanks jackson family for the introduction into The Joy's of Slip N' Sliding!

author in the making

our shining star made a book!  what a nifty little idea i stumbled across in a blog of: things to do with your tot.  we photographed images of gabel and his cast of stuffed animals, printed and pasted them in a book format then printed the story too!  he gave it to his pop for pops-day and it was a hit!  we're so proud of our creative lil' man... watch out world... this kid is goin' places!

pirate turns 4

plundered the fun!!!

balboa park @ balboa pier... a long lost location... a childhood memory brought back to life with sunday's pirate party.  our gabel transformed into "jake" the pirate and he and his cousins partook in a treasure hunt complete with an old map and a good ol' pirate's trunk chock-full of candy!  they played hot canon ball (like hot potato, except with small plastic bowling ball) and steal the booty (a captain is blindfolded... kids sneak up to steal his trunk)!  good pirate fun was had.  once again grandpa created an amazing birthday cake and into the late afternoon there were s'mores at the pits for all.  it doesn't get much better than that. 

side note: the ER visit from midnight to 3am that morning with inconclusive tests for an inconsolable baby was uncool... but by God's grace we pulled off the kid's party of a lifetime.  as an aside, hand-foot-mouth disease is going around so be on your guard matey. 

in memory...

on the farm

oh what a night

pork roast, roasted beets, sauteed beet tops, green beans, and broccoli rice... no occasion just the typical good eats at the guards.

sweet child of mine

pindicted

so this thing called pinterest came about.  it took me by utmost surprise.  i surely did not stand a chance of passing it by for it swept me up in the most enchanted way.  i was and am under the pinterest spell.  there is no remedy... there is no cure it seems.  i am a victim... i am blissfully unaware of being anything else.