Last hurrah of summer

As a last event for the summer we headed over to my parents house in Huntington Beach on Monday to spend a few days. It was a fun-filled few days and a great way to end the summer, which I'm just not ready to do yet. I still can't believe school starts on Monday. Where did the time go?! Anyway, Monday Kirk took the kids to the beach while I went to a photography class with my friend Allyson. We met them there at 6:00 and enjoyed a bonfire with our friend Colleen and her family. Of course I don't have any pictures because I had my camera for the class and then after the class my head was going to explode from the info I received and I couldn't bring myself to take my camera out of the car. But it was a fabulous time!

Tuesday we headed back to the beach for a few more hours. Devin had such a good time! It was so nice to have him happy and enjoying what he was doing for more than 5 minutes. Please just indulge me while I put a few pictures of him on here. It's very rare I can catch him long enough for a smile, so I am very excited to have gotten these pictures of him...

When we first got there he ran to the water only to be knocked down by a wave and then it scared him enough that he just wanted to stay up on the blanket or next to it for the rest of the time and play in the sand and eat Doritos. Justin and Avery had fun playing with the boogie boards and playing in the surf. It was a lot of fun.


That night Kirk went home so he could work the rest of the week and I went out to dinner with Allyson and Colleen and then went to their book club to discuss the last book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. Since it is the ward I grew up in I knew most people and it was a lot of fun catching up with everyone and talking up the book to death. After, we went to get a little dessert. Yum! Wednesday my mom treated us to a boat ride from one part of Long Beach over to the area by the Aquarium of the Pacific and by the Queen Mary (about a 40 minute ride 1 way). It's only $3 a person each way. Such a deal and the kids loved it!

Here is what our catamaran looked like. At the half-way mark we got off and walked around a little bit and my mom bought us drinks.


We decided to make our day a day of boats, so we then went over to the ferry in Newport Beach and took that over to Balboa Island and back. Such a thrill!

Thursday I took the kids to the park for a bit and then Target to look at toys (one of their favorite things to do). I didn't bring my camera on purpose. I thought they deserved a little break from my madness. Ha. Then later my mom took Justin and Avery for ice cream while my dad stayed behind with Devin while he napped and I headed over to some model homes in the area with Allyson to gawk and dream. For a mere 3 million dollars we could have a home with 4,000 sq ft, an ocean view, no front yard, but a decent backyard. That's just criminal! We headed home at traffic time, but didn't hit too much and made it home in great time. Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful 4 fun-filled days! We love you!