Morro Bay 2012

 If you had peeked into my Freshman apartment at BYU back in 2000, you never would have thought that my roommate Emily and I would ever be friends.  I don't think we started to get along until March!  But those last two months of the year were a serious bonding blitz for our apartment that left me with plenty of wonderful memories and several dear-to-my-heart friends I'm still in touch with. 

When Emily moved to Southern California a few months ago, we planned a meet-in-the-middle weekend.  We joined up in beautiful Morro Bay with our husbands and kids this past weekend.

Honestly, the part I was most excited for was the Hazel/Amaryllis merge.  Both girls have massive imaginations and I had a feeling they would be fast friends.  (They were giggling together within 30 seconds.)

 (Amaryllis kissing Hazel out of a sleeping spell)

We stayed at a gorgeous, big house so we'd have room to hang out after the kids went to bed.  I'm still reeling from all the space - how do I survive in 1200 square feet?  It was lovely to spread out.  Jack was head over heels for the balcony.  He spent mounds of time out there pointing at the boats. 

We strolled the main drag, peeking into shops and sampling delicious pastries from the bakery, visited the teensy aquarium, and played at the local playground.  Emily took this photo.  I love Morro Rock in the background, and sweetie Jack pointing at something that interested him. 

 After naps we spent the afternoon at Spooner's Cove, climbing big rocks, collecting medium-sized rocks, and throwing little rocks in the water.  

 

Jake (Emily's husband) and Todd took Hazel up to the top of this enormous rock at the beach.  Todd said she was right on the edge of the cliff until she got sprayed by sea foam.  That girl is just about fearless.

 I love this family photo! 

 The next day we attended what may be THE LAMEST parade I have ever attended.  I am really bummed that we spent our time on it, actually, because we ended up not having time to check out the kite festival that was going on and I bet it was really cool.  But, maybe not?  Judging from the parade, maybe I was crediting this little town able to put on more of a party than it could.  (I'm telling myself that to try not to feel bad we missed it.)

The highlight of the day was throwing everyone into canoes to play on the water a bit. 

 

We were able to get up close and personal with these bad boys.  They spend all day sunning in the middle of the bay.  They barked a bit at us, but when a handful of sailboats went past, they all arched up as tall as they could get and really made a ruckus.  It was awesome.  

We took our canoes across the bay and played for a while in the sand dunes.  There was a fairly tall drop-off, maybe eight feet or so, and first thing when we got there, Todd said, "Hazel, you should run and jump," and off she went, not a seconds' hesitation.  Slam, into the sand halfway down, and she ran the rest of the way, balance intact.  I am so impressed with her courage.  (Surprised, no.  Todd is quite a daredevil himself, after all.  But definitely impressed.) 

Emily took this photo as well.  She's got a gift for photography.  Check her out here. 

 After canoeing, we snagged some lunch, then it was check-out time at the house and up we packed into the car for the drive home.  We had a great time. 

Hazel Achieved a Big Goal

 Hazel responds very well to rewards and sticker charts, so a couple of months ago, we whipped one up to help her stop sucking her thumb.  She has been busting her tail trying to kick her bad habit and has been very on-board with the whole process.  This weekend, she placed her final sticker on the chart and earned her grand finale reward.  We are very proud of her!  (This doesn't mean she never sucks her thumb, though, just that her chart is full, so don't judge if you see it pop in.  We still let her suck her thumb when she's in bed, and she has a hard time keeping it out when she's stressed or really tired.) 

If she lasted from morning to lunch without sucking her thumb, she could put a sticker on the chart.  If she lasted from lunch to bedtime, she earned another sticker.  Each time she completed a row of 10, she got a treat of her choice (a sucker or M&Ms).  And once the chart was full, we could go to the bakery at the grocery store and order a fancy cake.  This was a big deal to her, because she's long admired the cakes on display and always wants to look at them when we shop there.  (They have princess cakes, Tinkerbell, SpongeBob, Dora, etc. all in a display case and a book full of other options to glance through, too.) 

So on Friday we went to Lucky's and placed our order.  She turned page after page in the book until she came to the super-pink Barbie cake, and then was very definite that that was the one she wanted.  It was a very loooong, hard wait til Monday when the cake was ready to be picked up. 

We got it at lunchtime on Monday.  Everyone at the store asked if it was her birthday, and Hazel very proudly explained that it was for not sucking her thumb, and that she filled up her entire sticker chart, and that we were going to have cake for Family Home Evening treat!!!  Then she spent the whole afternoon admiring the cake and counting down the hours.  She gave me an enormous hug and when I kissed her on the cheek, she turned my face toward hers, straight on, and gave me a loooooong smooch on the lips!  Then she said, "I am in love with you, Mommy.  I want to marry you."  She was that happy! 

We had some friends over to share the cake with us Monday night, and when that didn't finish off even half of the cake, I decided to take it to the park the next day.  The moms with young children in my church congregation meet at a different area park every Tuesday morning, and today just happened to be the park next to us, so it was super easy to bring the cake over and tell everyone to eat up!  They finished it off, but the best part was all the additional acknowledgment Hazel received for her hard work.  She was bursting with pride from all the attention, and I'm hoping that'll hold her over and help her stick to her guns now that the reward chart is full. 

Santa Cruz Sillies

Todd and I had a great date night on Saturday. We drove down to Santa Cruz for dinner to check out a fun restaurant Todd heard about from a coworker. It's called Bocce's Cellar and has an actual bocce ball court for you to play on while you eat. Todd even looked up the official rules and made us play by them. We've got a bocce set and love to play with it at the park, but it was a whole different ball game on the court! Todd kicked my trash. (Surprise, surprise.)

I've been needing a swim skirt and thought we might find one there, since it's a beach town and all, so we headed into downtown to peek into a few stores. As we were looking for a place to park, we spotted quite a gem strolling down the lane. I kinda panicked about getting a picture, chasing her down from the opposite side of the street. I was so afraid she'd get away. But fear not - here she is!What in the world? I know, right? And then, bam, right after that, here comes this lady, long dreadlocks, pushing her dog in a bike stroller:And then across the street, there was this band playing music, so we stopped to listen and it turned into this massive people-watching expedition. (They're playing marimbas from Zimbabwee. It was a visual and an auditory feast. You should have seen the dancing in the crowd!)I kept my phone poised and ready and stole snapshots on the sly every couple of minutes. Santa Cruz is a landmine.

Baggy purple pants and purple hat to match:
Lovely white socks peeking out of the shoes. (And she was a great dancer, too.)
If only I could pull this one off. It looks so comfy:
Amazing mohawk, tight cut-off jean shorts, leather jacket. Welcome back, 1986!
I don't even know where to begin:
All of a sudden this monstrosity comes barreling down the street, and Todd was totally like, "Ang, run out there and get a good picture!" so I totally did. And what I saw made me laugh so hard I cried. Truly.
The guy driving this thing had muppets or stuffed animals or something sitting right up in the front of the truck with him. And they were dancing to the music!
Such as fun, fun date. PS I got bangs. The jury's still out on them. I think they look cute when my hair's pulled back, but not when it's all down, and they're hard to get used to, having the hair in my face and all.

Easter

Easter was super low-key this year. It was Saturday afternoon before we thought to color eggs. I didn't make a special holiday dinner. We went to our ward's egg hunt at a mini-golf course and that's all the egg hunting we did - no hidden baskets at home. Kind of sad. But I was working really hard to teach Hazel about the Jesus aspects of Easter and didn't feel like distracting her with the rest of it all. Maybe next year we'll get back into the fun of it all. We made Resurrection Rolls for breakfast on Sunday and I loved how as Hazel helped me make them, she was tangibly thinking about Jesus' body going in the tomb, and then no longer being there. I do think we were successful in having a spiritual Easter.

Hazel's first time mini-golfing. It was pretty awkward.

Cutie-pie Jack