SIMPLIFY

Simple Spring afternoons.  Warm weather, gentle breeze, happy kids, crawling baby, content mother.  Suddenly life doesn't seem so crazy and stressful.

If I could just remember these feelings during the rest of the day.........

Perfect Beach Day

We had an insanely warm and beautiful day a few Saturdays ago and we, along with the rest of LA county, headed to the beach!  We spent the most incredible day playing volleyball, football, digging, jumping waves, running on the bike path, and soaking up the warmth.  Unfortunately, these are the 3 pictures I managed to take that whole glorious day.

 She didn't eat too much sand, but she sure loved touching it!

 Dig, dig dig!  Throw sand, fight, dig more!  Busy boys dug a whole city into that sand.

Wolf Man

Derek joined Cub Scouts when he turned 8 last year and has come to thoroughly enjoy the program.  He has been incredibly lucky to have two well-prepared, always early, enthusiastic and fun scouting leaders in the Ravitch couple.  Although there are very few Scouts in our Stake, Derek continues to go faithfully each week and enjoys learning everything that Scouts learn!  A few weeks ago he earned his Wolf Badge at the Blue and Gold dinner.  Here are his Scout leaders presenting him with his award.I guess this is a scouting tradition, to also award the mom, but quite frankly, I did NOTHING to help him with this, other than wash his uniform and hot glue the troop numbers on the side and give him an occasional ride to church.  I think I ought to be a little more involved in the future.  My bad.  Anyway- I was awarded in front of everyone, and of course, the moment I sat down I realized I was wearing a dirty sweater that had been previously slimed by Brooke:  ketchup on the sleeve, some unidentified substance down the front- it was great.

 Then Derek and his "troop"sang a really cute song they learned together.   These two boys represent all the wards in our stake except for one.  Sad.

The theme was Rodeo Round-up or something of the sort.  It was very cute and they had a rodeo pen set up in the middle of the floor for the boys to play some rodeo games, like roping a PVC pipe cow, tossing their hats on a cactus, etc.

They finished up with a relay between all the scouts that were present.  Derek's team won 3 times in a row!   We are so proud of Derek and his hard work.  Now it's on to the Pine Wood Derby!

And of course Brooke and Carissa were thrilled to be there!

Refugio, My Favorito

We spent three glorious, warm, sunny, laid back days at Refugio State Beach, just north of Santa Barbara, over President's Day Weekend.  After selling the pop-up last Spring, we opted to rent a motorhome for the trip and met up with Grandma and Grandpa for the trip.  

 Pancakes and hot chocolate in the trailer were a fun way to start each morning, of course!

Broke was even kind enough to let Grandpa hold her...briefly.

 The first day was warm and sunny, and we spent most of it out on the beach playing volleyball, football and digging.

 The Wilson boys came down for the day, too!  I have a feeling that the head dipping resulted from something Grayson did.  Silly boys!

 Kyle enjoyed bouncing the ball off of Derek's head.

 Later on we hit the bike trail which runs between Refugio and El Capitan State Beach, which is just a few miles north.  It runs along the coast and parallels the train tracks for an up and close sighting of the trains that run by.

 The kids were off like a shot and left this momma on roller blades in the dust.  Wasn't too long ago that we had to practically pull them along to finish any bike ride.  Now we have to holler for them to wait up!

 There may or may not have been a fair amount of screaming coming from the stroller.  She was tired and hungry and didn't want to sit in there!!

 El Capitan has lovely coastline, as well, and a little nature trail.  We found this cool tree in the midst of beautiful greenery.

 This bungee swing was struggling, though.

 I think Derek was in heaven the whole time.  Running, jumping, throwing, riding, climbing, sliding, etc. with Grayson following the whole time had him thrilled...and very exhausted each night.  Nothing like a tired and whining, dirty, sugared up 8 year old boy!

 El Capitan

 Brooke was more interested in chewing Lee's hat.

 The boys throwing rocks at stacks.  Pitching practice?

 Carissa jumping around the rocks.

 LAter that evening it was bath time in the motorhome, continuing in the tradition of kids being bathed in rvs.

 The 3 look-alikes on morning #2.

 After our pre-breakfast walk.

 Walking north along the beach.  We found lots of sea urchins and even rescued a starfish.

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Carissa on a retaining wall built in 1942 that has been partially washed away.

 That water is cold in February!  But it didn't stop ALL 3 kids from going under!

 Jumping waves

 Throwing and skipping rocks.  Grayson felt that his strength would enable  him to skip this boulder.  It was more of a skipping fail.

We all enjoyed the cozy campfires at night, with Grandpa telling stories about bears jumping in vans and past camping tips.

 And the ongoing Dodgers/Giants rivalry was strong as ever.

This about sums up what it's like to have Derek and Grayson along on a camping (or any) trip.  But they kept it lively and we can't wait to go back to Refugio!