The local Earth Festival has become an annual tradition despite Samuel's pro-carbon footprint tendancies!  We love the fun exhibits, quirky food samples, and of course, the animal show is always a hit!  Plus we scored four more fabric grocery sacks so I'm one happy eco-friendly lady!

 

Neighborhood Bocce Ball

One of our all-time favorite scores

at D.I....

Our bocce ball set!

There's a new park just down the way,

and it's a great pastime.

Before you know,

you have all kinds of people checking out the game

and wanting to play.

Talk about a great way to meet people!

This time,

it seemed like we attracted half the students

at the girls former elementary school.

It was great catch-up time with so many familiar faces,

and since I had a huge bag

of candy they all stuck around awhile.

I kind of felt like the crazy lady that lures

kids into keeping her company by offering lollipops!

{smile}

Free Museum Day: The Aerospace Museum of California

How can you not love an airshow?

It's as American as apple pie

-which ironically, I don't like very much!,

or say the hot dog

-which again, I don't like very much...

Hmmm...

but it's everything that I DO love about this country!

It's freedom, innovation, adrenaline...

Really, you can't go wrong!

And when free museum day rolled around,

we took advantage of saving big bucks on admission

and hit the road...

 

Grandpa Lopez flew

the Coast Guard "doggie-nose".

We still see it flying in the sky,

and always, always think of him.

We love you, Grandpa!

Ready for take-off!

Not exactly warp-speed...

but one-day,

I want to fly in one of these babies...

I love seeing my boys on the "tarmac". 

They look so small!

My girls in a fighter!

Did you know I almost joined the Air Force?

I was on board with the recruiters and

would depart after graduation to report

to Lackland Air Force base in Texas.

Thank goodness for a little thing called,

"The Book of Mormon",

which changed my life forever!

Big mouths...

Samuel giving his cheesiest

"dignitary" grin!

Yes,

out of all the amazing things to see and do,

leaves top Gabriel's list!

Demonstrating how to go,

when you,

you know,

have to go...

And the proper washing of hands!

Thanks, Bella!

Love the fan!

One of our favorite parts of the day,

standing near a roaring propeller!

We screamed and whooped and hollored

and you could not hear a thing over that engine!

This was a really great day!

Beautiful weather, beautiful planes!

And free!

This Never Gets Old...

We have a tradition of

Family Fun Fridays,

and the usual night consists

of homemade pizza-

pepperoni, olives, and pineapple for the kiddos,

gourmet masterpieces for mum and dad!-

and a movie.

This time,

I thought we'd mix things up and

get off the couch!

And where to but one of our family favorites,

The Fountains!

We all go nuts over the sourdough bread,

and all that chewing is best done watching

the awesome water shows!

The kiddos got in some playtime before

it became "officially" dark,

and I discovered, "Crazy 8's",

a kids clothing store that I will definitely

be visiting another time!

Happy Friday!

Balancing a Shopping Cart on Your Nose...

Sometimes,

as a mother of five,

I feel like I do just that!

But to see it actually happen,

pretty awesome!

We took advantage of the FREE Mommy Event

at the mall featuring a special performance

of the circus that came to town!

The kids were speechless as they watched

incredible balancing acts,

hoola-hoop tricks,

and of course,

crazy contortionist tricks!

It was fun...kind of weird...but fun!

And you can't beat free!

What a little white paint can do...

Going through the blogosphere

in search of how to make a zipper-less pillow cover,

I hit upon a great sight,

Vintage Revivals,

and fell in love with this mural tree tutorial!

I had a total

"I can do that!" moment,

and yes...

...within minutes I was on a ladder!

Check out the blog for details,

including how to project the image on the wall to

get the tree just right.

As for myself,

I'm a wing-it kind of gal

and chose to tackle the project free-hand style.

Either way,

the finished project is spectactular!

We added a few simple touches to personalize her space,

{ Don't you LOVE printers? }

and...

Ta-da!

Not bad for a few hours of work!

...

Now back to those pillow covers...

{ Smile }