California

We got to Kim's place in the afternoon and walked to the beach. The beach was crowded but there weren't many people in the water (except the surfers), the Pacific Ocean is colder than the Atlantic.



The next day we toured the beach towns south of Newport Beach. We stopped for lunch in San Clemente where Rex had his first of 4 or 5 bowls of clam chowder. He decided to try a bowl whenever he could to see where it was the best. A restaurant in Monterey was the winner.



This picture was taken on the way inland to a vineyard.



Rex planned a trip up Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. Our first stop was the Hearst Castle.



Here's the Neptune pool, my favorite part of the estate.



Here's the main residence.



Rex was trying to remember where he had taken the pictures for his album cover several years ago on his first trip out here. The sky was cloudier than ideal but the scenery was still breathtaking.



We took a side road in Big Sur and found this hidden cove right before it got dark.



We took a couple of days to roam around the Sequoia National Forest. It was gorgeous and one of my favorite parts of the trip.



We hit LA during rush hour traffic on our way back to Kim's. Here's how Millie entertained herself.




I took this picture of Millie at one of the coffee shops we tried in Newport Beach.

Happy Fall Y'all

We spent the weekend at the festival that the Arts Council puts on in our county every year. It was so nice to be outside in the cooler sunny weather.

Update

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm still catching up after our trip to CA. And things are really picking up with homeschooling. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of things with this blog sometime soon!!!!

Piano Practice

This is Sylvia practicing the piano. For the second time in one day. Of her own free will! Hmmm...it might have to do with the piano chart I made her and the prize fairy that will visit her after a certain number of 15 minute piano sessions. But I wonder if just a little bit of it has to do with enjoyment.

Mac Daddy

I think it's time we had a break from the Millie pictures. Here's a couple of Gus all decked out in his cousin's shirt, size 18 months pj pants, and his "foot hat".


Here he's begging me to use the camera. I said, "No, only kids who do school and chores can use this." How's that for a little early incentive? In case you are wondering, he is carrying about 4 or 5 pencils around in the pink bag, "sky blue" pencils...his favorite.


Here he is showing off his signature break dance move.

First Day of Homeschooling School

Sylvia had her first day of Classical Conversations. She loved it, said it was even better than she expected, and can't wait to go back. She exceeded my expectations when giving her weekly presentation to her class. She showed and told everyone about the scarf she finger-knitted, answered questions about how she did it, and even started talking about unrelated, upcoming events. I guess I expected her to bow her head and refuse to talk when her turn came around. Shows how much I know!



Here's her fancy new book bag.



They learned a song for skip counting by 2's, another song about Christopher Columbus, some Latin, grammar, a verse from the Bible, and more. I got to sit in for about half the class but by then I had to leave the room and take Gus and Millie to the nursery.

Big News!

Millie was standing up in the family room so I ran to get the camera to take a picture. I sat down across the rug from her and lo and behold, she took me by surprise and WALKED right over to me! She's been taking a step here and there over the past couple of days but I wasn't expecting this. She must have known that since I had my camera it was a good time, and this way everyone could see her.













Yay Millie!

And Another Present

This tike bike is from her Auntie Carole.



The little balls make noise as she roams around the house.



She loved it right away (and so did Sylvia and Gus)!

Another Present

One of my sister-in-laws surprised us with a very special gift for Millie. It seems that in her maiden days, she had the same initials as Millie. That should of course been obvious but I didn't realize it until a few seconds after we opened her gift. It's a small brooch from her childhood.



Here they are together.