Summer Happenings...

August 31st.  We are running out of summer here pretty quickly.  I think our family can rest easy though knowing we gave our best effort to get the most of out of our given time off.  The past three months we have been blessed with the company of many friends, and then my kids great grandfather flew out for a bit, and then for six weeks straight, our fun and much loved aunt has been local giving us the opportunity to and privilege of sharing a daily sort of life with her.  Lauren called it the month of relatives!

Here you can see grandpa out to cheer his grandson on at a tennis match in Irvine.  Niko lost the match, but I saw his whole attitude toward the loss adjust due to my father's encouragement and advice.  I was having quite a challenge with my son and Dad flew out to lend a helping hand.  I will be forever grateful.  

Next, this is a picture of Niko's first time as a number 1 seed!  Very cool, but it scared him.  He was so intimidated carrying that title, he froze and lost the first match out.  Dad helped him see a lot of life is in all in our heads.

"Honey I Shrunk the Audience!"  This was a hoot!  Nena, my aunt, hadn't been to Disneyland in over 25 years (!) and we thought it would be great fun to take advantage of our yearly passes and see the park through her eyes--the yellow 3D glasses made the vision even more fun!

We got there around 1pm and stayed until 11pm.  It has been ages since we were there at night.The park was busy but we got on 16 rides and saw Fantasmic, the fireworks, a bit of a parade, downtown Disney, and soooo much more!  Nena is just great--she will jump right in and join the fun no matter what the ride.  It was the first time for Splash Mt and the kids and i were terrified but Nena just giggled and said, "Let's go!"  I must note:  Lauren was very brave--she later told me as we approached the big giant drop that she kept saying to herself, "I'm not gonna die-I'm not gonna die-I'm not gonna die!"  I cracked up!   

After our treat to Disney, Nena treated the twins to the local Rodeo here.  I snapped this photo just as they were off to hang with the cowboys.  Love it!

Last here (and just before my camera died) i took this of the girls at our schools Movie night.  they were enjoying the teeter-totter before the movie started.  

These are just a few moments of our very fun, easy, unexpectedly relaxed summer!