evening at the beach

I love this shot, but I hate how much older she looks in it . . stop growing baby girl! 

Oh, how I love this teeny little face! 

                    Mr. Handsome carrying little man <3

Seriously hard to get a shot of us with my Nikon (since we       hardly ever have a smartphone with us)

Marc thinks it's weird that I like going to the beach at night and just walking along the shore, listening to the waves and staring at the moon. But we use to go at night all the time growing up. I have so many memories of my brother and I singing "In the jungle the lion sleeps tonight" and giggling non-stop as our car would throw us side to side in the back seat as it traveled down windy Topanga Canyon to get to the beach. On this particular Saturday I talked him into it ;) It wasn't hard really, as long as we stopped to get some hot drinks from our favorite coffee shop on main street. Such a coffee lover that guy! 

Lately it seems like the days are running into each other. Especially since I started tutoring in the evenings. So when I look back at short family outings like this it make me want to go back and savor them just a little bit longer. 

ventura county fair and princess the horse

When the county fair rolled in this summer we could not wait to go with the littles. Marc found out that there was free transportation to the fair and that there was a pick-up spot right in the Riverpark Collections area which is walking distance for us. You better believe we were going to take that opportunity to avoid traffic drama and it was . . . free! Sign us up! Ha! It was Maci's first time on a school bus and it didn't take long for her to try getting up in her seat to look out the window. 

In fair tradition, we hit up the animal farm for Maci and as you can tell from the picture, she wasn't really into the cows. 
We made it to the fair just in time to watch the pig races which was pretty entertaining I must admit. I mean who doesn't want to see tiny little porkers (named after Harry Potter characters)run around a track and then jump over miniature size fences! 
We planned on only one ride for Maci and lunch for us so that we don't spend too much (which can easily happen when you're having fun). As soon as we passed the pony ride, we knew it was the ride for Maci. Whenever I think that Maci might get scared or hesitate to try something, she surprises me. She loved the horses and actually didn't want me to help her hold the reign from the moment she got on the horse! We also thought it was very fitting that the horse they put her on was named Princess. Marc had just taught her the word "princess" that week. 

Maci loved the horses she saw that day so much that every time we see one she points and says, "Maci wan hoose". Marc is a little worried we have to start saving for the pony fund. After the ride, we had a chance to walk through the agricultural booths and there they had a kids activity where Maci planted a seed and decorated her mini-pot to take home (it didn't last long by the way). 

It was a fun day. Tiring but in a good way. At the end it was great that we didn't have to drive, but who wants to walk a few blocks! Ay! 

Chalkboard Calendar Wall

I have been wanting to share our chalkboard wall on here for a while!!! But a couple of munchkins have been keeping me quite busy these last few weeks, along with work (yep, started tutoring again). 


When we moved in this summer, Marc and I were struggling to keep up with all events that make summer special like spending extra time with friends and family. Around the same time the lovely JenLovesKev shared her chalkboard wall tutorial. So of course the first thing I did was bug the husband about it! He actually liked the idea and wanted to get it done right away. We decided not to title the board since there wasn't much room up top anyways. Oh, and don't look too closely or you'll see pen markings! I love my hubs, but he isn't the crafter so he missed the memo about using pencil instead of pen on the wall! Ha! Oh, and if you do decide to try this in your home, make sure you use the quality painter's tape (at least the bleeding is consistent all around and most of our friends thought it was supposed to be that way ;)). 

I also ordered some amazing pencil style chalk that doesn't break and can be sharpened! It works great if you want to write smaller details and want your chalk to last.