RIP Cute

Yesterday, the girls made a discovery in the backyard. A dead bird. Elle immediately named her Cutie and then shortened to Cute, simply because she was so cute (gross). I went out to inspect the bird just to make sure she really was dead...and she was. A few minutes later I looked outside only to find Elle and Wade with chairs right beside Cute.

Then Elle felt the need to draw a memoir of Cute, with the word sad, because it was so sad that Cute died.

Brandon didn't get to see Cute until this morning. He took the kids over to Grandpa's to get some shovels. It's nice to have a Grandpa close by that has shovels for EVERYONE.

Brandon shoveled up Cute to the front side of our house and they made a hole and put Cute in it. Elle and Bryn made Valentines for Cute that needed to be part of the burial.

And they sealed the deal with flowers.

Lots...

of flowers. RIP Cute. We don't know how you died, but you were loved because you died in our backyard and 2 girls found you there.

An Excellent Day For Adventure

The rain had stopped (at least for now) and my kids all seemed relatively healthy, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to head out to see the butterflies. And miraculously, Myriah had the day off...so I knew it was going to be a killer day.
I've been once before with Brandon before we had any kids. When I went last time, the butterflies weren't doing much moving but it was still cool to see all the clumps of butterflies all over the place. Today, they were flying EVERYWHERE, which was super cool. I felt like I was in some mysterious oasis butterfly land. Very cool. Of course pictures don't really do it justice.

I tried to support the butterflies by buying the kids a...coloring book...

and butterfly tattoos!

Proof we made it there, for real.

How could I resist the opportunity to hit up the beach? I couldn't. Some say I'm obsessed (yes, you Myriah) and I think I am. We hadn't been to Pismo's beach yet, so we HAD to go. And, the highlight...swings!

and the cool guy swinging by Elle.

and triangle benches...and palm trees!

Have you Ever Been

this tired?

Currently...

Unfortunately, this is NOT where the Freeze Family Reunion will be taking place this summer.

We went earlier this week to check out the waves again. The beach was almost completely gone because of the past week of storms we've had, so we sat on a bench.

And looked, from a very safe distance, at the ocean.

My old purse is entirely too...old. It is almost embarrassing to wear as it has torn parts and the main zipper occasionally decides to stop working. So, I've been in hot pursuit of a new cross-body purse. I found a most excellent one when we were in Las Vegas, but I couldn't bring myself to buy it because it was out of my price range. Since then I have yet to find a purse that comes close to the Vegas gem I found. In an attempt to get a purse, I ordered one online from Kohl's (with free shipping and 30% off of course!). It arrived on my doorstep Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, I returned the purse to Kohl's this morning. The color wasn't what I thought it was and it didn't quite fit everything right. So...it had to go back to Kohl's. The main thing holding me back from returning the purse was this:

It came with an enormous 'Elle' key chain (it was an Elle purse). Elle had been waiting to attach that Elle key chain to herself (or backpack) for school today. When I told her the news that the purse was not meant to be, she was distraught, but was happy to at least get a picture of the key chain. Thanks Elle, for understanding that the purse was not a keeper.

Big Waves

Earlier this week we headed to Morro Bay to check out the big waves. Apparently there was/is some storm that is making some super big waves along the coast. Myriah and Pops joined us for a most excellent picnic lunch. I didn't get any pictures of really big waves...sorry.

Later, we headed to the Cayucos Pier. We are at the end of the pier here so you can't really see any waves. But trust me, they were BIG. The end of the pier would shake when the waves came in. Elle and Bryn were fairly scared of the whole pier situation, so we didn't spend much time there.

Wade mostly just wanted to climb the railings on the pier. Thankfully, his very alert sisters freaked out any time he came close.

The waves are supposed to get even bigger this coming week, so we might head over there again, maybe after we check out the Monarch Butterflies in Pismo. I also read that we should be able to see whales right now. I guess it is migration time for them. There is so much to learn about this place!!!

New Years Eve

Early on New Years Eve, we went down to Morro Bay to meet up with Brandon after he was done work. We hiked up Black Hill to overlook Morro Bay and the ocean. Pretty sweet.

Is that Sharpay???

It was an amazingly beautiful sunny day....I could get used to this place!

Notice Bryn's new running shoes. She lost them the day after we bought them. Thankfully we found them New Years Eve morning. It was a New Years miracle.

Then we came home and watched G-Force (suprisingly funny) and celebrated the New Year at 7pm. After that we realized our fridge wasn't refrigerating anything. That was fun. Yeah for 2010!

Happy New Year!

We tried to make it to the annual Polar Bear dip at Cayucos, but we didn't make it time to get a parking spot, so we settled for a stroll on the beach down the coast a little. Elle wrote all the kids names in the sand.

Wade wouldn't stand by his name...this was the closest shot I could get of him.

Happy New Year everyone. I'll think of some resolutions soon enough...