Summertime, and the Livin' Is Easy...

Oh, how I love summer.  It is a time for relaxing outdoors, long days, late nights, outdoor grilling, eating yummy fruits and fresh veggies until your belly aches and having nothing but fun.

This summer we have been keeping ourselves very busy doing a lot of little things around here...as well as a few mini-getaways too.

Clare has officially received her first haircut, ever.  

We love the final product. 

The girls and I have enjoyed days at the beach with friends (where the kids played all day and I proceeded to get extraordinarily sunburned despite my best efforts.  Argh!).  We have enjoyed leisurely lunches with friends, shopping trips with friends, swim dates with friends, dollar movies, hot afternoons running through the sprinkler, lots of yard work (ahem, "gardening"...) and some home improvement projects...that actually improved the home and didn't end in the typical DIY disaster that my efforts seem to produce.

Jonathan spent a week in Dana Point for work, so we took advantage of the close proximity to home and made a trek down to the pool at his resort.  Jonathan tries to tell me that these trips are tough because they are work trips, but we've joined him on enough of these things to know that he is seriously living the life.  He may "work" hard, but who wouldn't when they are being sent to really great places with nice pools and wonderful all-expense paid meals, golf, spa treatments, cocktail hours, and the sort?

I had the opportunity to head to the Midwest to visit my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece, as well as my dearest college dorm-mate, Torrie and her family.  My mom and I went out together and had a great time.  The trip was way too short since there were so many other college friends I would have loved to have seen and I never seem to get enough time with my brother and his family.  Even though the time seemed to fly while was back there, I missed the girls and Jonathan a ton, so I was very happy to come home to see their sweet faces.

Jonathan, the girls and I also did our annual summer weekend in Santa Barbara, and were reminded of why we like to get up there once or twice per year.  The weather was PERFECT, the pool was warm and inviting, the long walks along the ocean didn't disappoint and we all left feeling rested and relaxed.

Coming up...

Jonathan heads to San Francisco for work, followed immediately by an overnighter in Denver.  The girls and I are going to take some time to head to my mom's for a few days while Jonathan is gone.  We will go swimming, run around the desert at night enjoying the stars and the cool air and celebrate a dear friends retirement.  I'm looking forward to some good mom time, too.

Then we are off to Catalina with Jonathan's parents and my mom.  Clare can hardly wait for the boat trip across (my least favorite part considering my ability to get motion sick if I sit in a swing, let alone ride on a boat...).  I can't wait to kayak, snorkel and walk around the island with the family.  I love Catalina, it's a great way to feel like you are in a whole new world while only being 26 miles from home.

After that we are off to to the Hotel Del Coronado where Jonathan will be "working" and the girls and I will be relaxing.  I am seriously looking forward to a few nights of Clare and Laurel time...away from home where we can just be girls.  Jonathan always has dinners and events to attend, so I usually get to go to dinner with my two favorite members of the 4 and under club and then we cuddle up and do some major girl talk and spa treatments while Jonathan peeks in whenever he has a chance to get away.  I love it!

We sure hope your summer has been as fun filled and relaxing as ours.