Create-Celebrate-Explore

Project 366: Week Three

 

 

January 15: Los Angeles - We took another drive along the coast up north to Los Angeles and enjoyed a lovely dinner with good friends. We were driving at sunset on a drizzly evening and I love the colors in the sky in this shot.

January 16: Decorating - Marisol loves her room.  It's almost finished.  We added decals to her walls, turning her light into a flower and adding mushrooms and grass to the base of it while her wise old owl looked on.

January 17: Taco Tuesday - Do you celebrate this each week too? We love Taco Tuesday.  Sometimes I'll make tacos and quesadillas at home, other weeks we will go out to eat, or pick up take out at our favorite little place Cotixan.

January 18: Reading - I have started reading again in the evenings.  It is on my 40 by 40 list to read 5 books in the next 6 months.  I finished my first book already, Special Delivery by Zoe Barnes.

January 19: Field Trip - We went on a field trip with the Kinder class to Souplantation, where the children were all encouraged to try a new vegetable, learned about the benefits of eating fruit and veggies, and made yummy pizzas (which had to include veggies) for lunch.

January 20: Walking - A friend started a little walking group for a few of us.  Our goal is to take 10,000 steps a day.  I'm not doing so well.   It's only been a week though so I won't be too hard on myself. 

January 21: My fortune - I was styling a table setting for Chinese New Year.  We ate a lot of fortune cookies.  This was my favorite message.  I would like a vacation.

Documenting our day.  For 366 days.

Photographs taken with a combination of Camera+ and Instagram iPhone apps.

You can view full-size images and keep up with my Project 366 on Flickr

A moment of joy!

My birthday celebration!

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and well, not much of a celebration was planned, so after a lot of pouting, my husband gave me a do-over. A whole day where everyone would do whatever I wanted. Even Jay came along after I dragged him out of bed.

So, we went to The Pacifica Restaurant for an early lunch, then, while I caught up with friends for a glass of champagne, my husband took the kids to the beach for an hour before picking me up so we could continue with my birthday celebration. Next up was 18 holes of mini golf at Pelly's, which was followed by a little window shopping in Encinitas, and a whole lot of standing around at a train station waiting for trains to arrive for our train obsessed little man (who saw 3) before we enjoyed a lovely dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Siamese Basil.

It was a fabulous day!

I’d like to hear about your moment of joy! Share your story and upload a photo (optional), and in return Shutterfly will gift you $5 off your next photo book to commemorate life’s joyous moments, and you"ll be entered for a chance to win a $200 Shutterfly Gift card.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Shutterfly. The opinions and text are all mine. Offer valid for $5 off one photo book order and valid for one-time redemption per member. Taxes, shipping and handling will apply. BlogFrog hosted gift card contest live from June 17th to July 14th. A winner will be randomly chosen and announced on July 18th. All participants remain the copyright holder of their photos.

I had a picnic and you can too

UPDATE:  This giveaway has ended and the 3 winners have been notified.  Thank you so much to everyone who visited each of the blogs and entered this fun Dairy Hunt.

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Last weekend I packed a picnic lunch and headed to Lake Miramar with the family.  We enjoyed a lovely picnic by the water and then went on a 5 mile walk around the lake.

For lunch I packed up pita pockets filled with American cheese and turkey for the twins and Swiss cheese, turkey, cucumber and lettuce for the hubby and I.  We also enjoyed some Sun Chips, a big tub of cherries, yogurt drinks, and of course packed water bottles for our long walk.

We even saw a snake on our walk.  The kids were thrilled, and honestly I was a little too, I haven't come across a snake on our walks before.

Here is how you can enjoy a picnic too:

IT’S A DAIRY HUNT!

It’s National Dairy Month and Safeway are celebrating with a fantastic contest at PackYourPicnic.com where you have a chance to win a trip for a family of 4 to a National Park of your choice.

Well, I am also hosting an exciting contest for you.

You see there are 10 amazing National Dairy Month Ambassadors working very hard on this campaign.

• Julie: http://www.alittlebiteoflife.net
• Angie: http://www.sevenclowncircus.com
• Kailani: http://islandlife808.com
• Melanie: http://www.meladramaticmommy.com
• Shannon: http://www.themommy-files.com/
• Caryn: http://rockinmama.net
• Kristin: www.ourordinarylife.com
• Shannon: http://www.potamusprefers.com/
• Sara: http://www.momendeavors.com
• Aracely: http://daytrippingmom.com

They have come up with some fabulous recipes, taken their kids to meet cows and checked out a cheese factory, as well as enjoyed picnics at the park with their families.

Here is where the fun begins for you!

Find the answers to the following questions by clicking on the links, then leave a comment on the blog post or video to give the National Dairy Month Ambassadors a little love and so that I can verify that you have been there.

1. Where did Angie take her kids to celebrate National Dairy Month? Hint: National Dairy Month wouldn’t be complete without it.
2. What is Tillamook known for?  Hint: Kristin took her kids there.
3. What drinkable dairy product did Sara bring to her Zoo picnic?
4. Can you name two dairy products that Kailani’s girls enjoyed during their picnic?
5. What dairy product did Shannon use to make ‘dirt in a cup’?
6. What was the decadent chocolate treat that Melanie prepared for her beach picnic?
7. What kind of frosting did Julie make for her cupcakes?
8. What is one of the fun, yet healthy dairy snacks that Aracely gives her kids
9. What happened to Shannon’s milk when she got home from shopping?
10. What website did Caryn find her delicious recipes on?

Once you have all 10 answers submit them on this form:

https://spreadsheets3.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG1Jc2xLRzRYelUwU1pNQUs1Z1lKYmc6MQ

If your answers are correct, you will automatically go into a drawing to win one of these 3 fantastic prizes:

GRAND PRIZE - Worth up to $600! $350 Safeway Gift Card and a Williams-Sonoma Picnic Basket ($250)

2nd Place - Worth up to $300! $200 - Safeway Gift Card and a Williams-Sonoma Grill Tools Set with Case ($80)

 3rd Place - Worth up to $200! $100 Safeway Gift Card and a Williams-Sonoma Picnic Bag ($80)

3 winners will be drawn via random.org on Wednesday the 22nd of June at 10pm PST.  This contest is open to all residents of the US (incl Hawaii) over the age of 18.

Note:  Don’t have a Safeway store in your area?  How about one of their affiliate stores: Vons, Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randall’s, or Genuardi’s?  Still don’t have a store in your area? Then send your gift card to a friend or family member or donate it to a charity of your choice.

 

Disclosure:  As the Campaign Leader for National Dairy Month in Safeway stores for #CollectiveBias I am being compensated.  Follow #SafewayDairy on Twitter.

An Australian Christmas

For the first time since 2002 we spent Christmas in Australia with my family.  It has been wonderful having the cousins together and the grandparents doting on their grandchildren. 

On Christmas Eve my sister and my nephew had a sleepover with us.  We decorated cookies, the kids stirred the Christmas pudding mix and made their wishes, we had a barbeque, made our Christmas Day preparations, and watched the Christmas Carols while sipping hot chocolate and enjoying some snacks.  We decorated extra cookies for Santa and then put the children to bed so Santa could do his thing.

On Christmas Day the kids actually slept in just a little so I enjoyed some quiet time by myself reading and having my morning coffee.  Once the little ones were awake they tore into their gifts from Santa, we enjoyed a family breakfast of french toast and croissants and then were joined by my grandmother and my brother and his girlfriend for lunch.  

A couple of days after Christmas we had another celebration with extended family and one of my primary (elementary) school friends and her family.

It was a fun-filled few days with lots of family, very spoiled children and way too much food being consumed by all.

Isn't the nativity scene above beautiful.  My dad handmade it about 30 years ago using cane and mohair.

A few highlights for our children.  Flynn and the train stations he asked Santa for.  Marisol and her new baby (Baby Alive) that poops, pees and talks non-stop.  Jay getting his ears pierced and getting more iTunes gift cards than he ever expected (he's now in music heaven).

For those who celebrate Christmas, I hope it was wonderful one.

Much love to all of you for the new year.

A Tour Of My Parents Garden

Green thumbs are apparently not a hereditary trait.  Otherwise I wouldn't kill every plant that suffers through it's short life with me.  Instead my garden would look as beautiful as my parents does.

Full of:

Flowers

and birds

Kookaburras

King Parrots

Rosella's

Lorikeets

Magpies

and Butcher Birds

and sprinklings of my dad's hand-carved sculptures

The above sculpture was carved by dad and painted by me quite a few years ago for a local scultpure exhibition at a winery.

and other lovely things

Flynn enjoying a little quiet time by the frog pond

A Teddy Bear Tea Party

Over the weekend we took the twins to a Teddy Bear Tea Party.  If you've been reading here for a while, you may remember we went last year too.

It's such a wonderful morning for the kids.  They eat cookies, sip hot chocolate with marshmallows (not nearly as good as MY hot chocolate of course), they watch a puppet show, do a craft project, and run around with their friends, and then for the grand finale, they meet Santa.

And while we were celebrating all things festive with the children, above us, the elves were busily readying for the annual Grand Winter Ball which my husband and I attended later that evening.

 

Big Basin Redwoods State Park

North of Santa Cruz is the Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the oldest State Park in California and home to the magnificent redwoods.

It couldn't have been more perfect weather for hiking, although we only did a short 3.83 mile one along the Sequoia and Shadowbrook Trails.  The park is beautiful and the twins absolutely loved all of the bridges, the waterfall and the massive trees, especially the ones that they could walk through.

Happy 235th Birthday USMC

Halloween 2010

And it's over again for another year, but what a great day it was.

A belated Happy Halloween from us to you.  Are you on a sugar high yet?

We spent the day at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History for their Bats and Spiders event before Trick or Treating in our neighborhood.

My little daredevil held a tarantula.  A TARANTULA!

And seeing as there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY Marisol and I were going to hold the tarantula, we opted for some spider crafts instead.

This is one of those 'why didn't I think of that' moments.

A cobweb made using a hot glue gun.  

 
One more thing I want to share with you is this fabulous silhouette.

It's by Simply Silhouettes.  I won it during a Blog Frog #Halloween twitter party.

You can view more photographs from our trip to the Museum of Natural History here.

 

Family Photographs

Back in August we had new family photographs taken by Ryan Willis Photography.  Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

Last week we celebrated a beautiful little friends 6th birthday.  It was a great excuse to dress up.  I especially love this photo of Marisol and Flynn.  The expressions on their faces are priceless.

Their new favorite thing to do.  Racing down the hill on the skateboard.  {plucking out grey hairs}

And the twins have been busy working on craft projects they were given for their birthday.

You may recognize the bumble bee necklace below from Marisol's costume at the Fall Festival.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.  2 winners will each receive 2 crafts kits from Creativity For Kids.