Beach

Somehow it seems like a long time since we have been to the beach....and maybe we are a little out of practice as we all managed to catch a little too much sun.....but it was nice to feel the sand between your toes and listen to the crashing waves again....

The Happiest Place on Earth...

You might think that with four kids and having lived close-by to Disney world in Florida for a number of years, that we would have overcome our fear of big crowds and long lines enough to have taken our kids to some kind of Disney resort....but you would be sadly mistaken....none of my older kids have ever been particularly motivated (and would not even stand by Santa Claus at Christmas let alone chat with "Aladin" or hug a "princess") and so the years have gone by without venturing near any place that would cost hundreds of dollars to walk around, stand in line with hundreds of other crazy families and be fleeced every time someone needed a drink.....

But the peer pressure (of the youngest child) finally swayed us and we took the plunge and spent a day at Disneyland and I have to say on lots of counts I was suitably impressed.....

Haboob...

Having lived here over two years now, we have experienced a few of these dust storms now....some are worse than others (the dust can literally sandpaper your car's finish or the wind can cause mega damage)....

What's amazing to me is that you literally watch it coming.....

What's not amazing is when you have a tree fall down across your driveway....

What is amazing again is that it was only on the driveway....and that you have awesome friends and neighbors who come and help you move it out of the way...

Day at the Lake

It feels like we haven't been out on the lake in forever...and it has been a while (but probably not quite forever...) So Andrew took the day off work and we headed out to the lake...with a couple of the cousins in tow....
It was a fun afternoon and felt so good to be back on a boat....the water is warm enough (and the temp is hot enough)  that I even got in the water a few times (I know, I know,....breaking out of my comfort zone or what....)

And it's pretty out there too.....

Fireworks...

We have been doing a lot of Gecko events this year....

which has been fun and hard work at more or less the same time (ok sometimes it's just hard work....!)

...we had one planned for the 4th July,....but in some kind of tradition (happened last year too) it got cancelled on the day due to rain and thunderstorms.....so we ran to a couple of stores last minute to find the rubbish left over fireworks and let the kids have their own impromptu firework display in front of our house....

May not have been the most impressive display but I think they enjoyed themselves anyway:)

And the moon popped out of the clouds for an impressive display itself....

Happy 4th July!!