What happened to July?

We've been busy and the time is flying by...

Pool Playdate with the PHS kiddos

See what happens when you let the kids loose with the underwater camera

Lots of backyard play time

And our garden continues to GrOw

We spent time at the beach with Gma and Gpa

And ate a lot of oranges

Picnic at Lake Poway

A few science experiments Painted Logan's tiki to now guard the secret garden

Went to the Grease-sing-along

Enjoyed free slurpees at 7/11 on 7/11

Ate great BBQ @ Famous Phil's

Did some hiking

More pool time, this time with Diego, Mitch and Vinnie More beach time, with Ally and Zoe (I wish this pic was in focus...Lo and Al were having so much fun jumping waves!) More pool time, Caden discovered the joy of drinking fruity drinks poolside

Logan read A LOT! He completed 4 summer reading lists so far

Fed the neighborhood horses a few times

Caden usually eats the carrots and apples along the way

A trip to the Natural History Museum uncovered that some man named Harold Van Pelt carved a skeleton out of glass...Logan loved that!

The gem and mineral exhibit was really good. Logan and I loved it, Caden couldn't escape fast enough.

Woosh! That was most of mid-July...still so much to catch up on.

more plum craziness

I experimented a little more this year, since we had plums breaking limbs off the tree, we couldn't pick them fast enough.

I tried a plum jalapeno salsa...it was interesting. I'm not a big fan of jalapenos, but I liked it with chips. Shawn liked it too but after a day or two in the fridge, it was done. This is a salsa that needs to be eaten the same day it is made.

I also made Upside-down plum blueberry cupcakes...so delish! I adapted this recipe. I will DEFINITELY make this again and again and again! I wish I could make another batch but I don't dare buy plums from the store, they just don't taste the same! I also made homemade turnovers using frozen puff pastry...super easy and super yummy. I just put about a tablespoon of jam in a square of dough, egg washed the sides and top and baked according to directions. So super yummy!

Logan's love for Legos is starting to rub off

Caden's First Solo Lego creation...that is a milestone in the VP house!

Influenced by big brother Logan...here are two of his recent creations...

Happy Birthday America

We started our 4th of July celebration with an extra special breakfast treat..mmmm...and then off to the annual Rancho Bernardo Spirit of the Fourth Parade. Both boys loved the marching bands, fire trucks and military machinery. Caden especially loved waving to all the soldiers and shouting "Thank You!"

After the parade we enjoyed some backyard fun and a bar-b-que

followed by some plum-blueberry jam over ice cream...mmmm again

To top off our celebration, we watched the fireworks from both PHS and RB from the front yard. Caden had his own fireworks commentary "That's a big one. AWESOME." quickly followed by "It's cold. I'm tired." then finally his overtired ramblings "Where's Bob the Builder? I want a cup. Nigh-Nigh" He was tucked in bed about 45 seconds after the last burst and probably asleep about 3 seconds after that. It's tough work celebrating America's Birthday!