Clean Teeth!

 HeaBug took her first official trip to the dentist! She's gone to see Dr. Mimi before but has only had her teeth counted. This time she got to have a few x-rays and get her teeth cleaned and polished! Things are looking great! I'm so glad we have such an amazing dentist who is kind and gentle. I remember my childhood dentist, Dr. Arthur... grr. I blame my dental anxiety on him. Boo. Thankfully, Dr. Mimi cranks up the oldies music and will even put a towel over my eyes. We love her!

Rock Steady Juniors

 We work for ourselves and spend a lot of time at our shop in Artesia. Many days, especially during the summer, when they aren't at their various activities... our little munchkins spend quite a lot of time there too. They are generally free to help and build and paint and work and play on computers and under tables... I feel so blessed to have such awesome people working with us. People that put aside scraps for my kids to build with and people that cut swords, planes and other toys out of random materials for them to play with. Working at Rock Steady is awesome!

Kid Pitch Fall Ball

We decided to switch baseball leagues this year. We're trying out ELB Pony. It's kid pitch, which is exciting but scary at the same time... they throw all over the place sometimes. At our last league, it would have been another three years before JT would see pitches from another kid. Between baseball and gymnastics, JT keeps seriously active. He hits at the cages with Mr. B and once a week, he meets up with another coach to work on fielding. It might seem a little excessive but he really enjoys his time playing baseball and even after team practice or individual practice, he still want to play catch in the yard. We figure as long as he digs it, we'll let him run with it. Fall Ball is supposedly more laid back and about the fundamentals... and this league is much more competitive come the Spring season. We'll be playing with several of the boys that we played with last season in our old league. If we can get them really comfortable playing with each other this young... Williamsport, here we come :)

Lobsterfest with GG

Grandma GG came to visit and wanted to take the great grandkids and grandgirls out for lunch and playtime at the park. Never wanting to miss out on time spent with GG, Mr. B and myself joined them for a day of fun.

After time at Cinderella Park where they all played to their hearts content, GG came with us to LA Ports O Call for Lobsterfest!

 Music, food trucks, booths, and whole Maine Lobster dinners for under $20. It  was definitely an interesting and yummy experience. We parked in a lot and caught one of the free buses to the entrance. After grubbing down on three lobsters (shared by all of us) and googling whether or not you are supposed to eat the "green poop looking" stuff on the inside, we tasted a little chowder from the lobster truck and some seafood gumbo. JT likes gumbo but didn't care for the seafood variation of it.

Before calling it a night and catching the bus back to the car, we bought some blackberry cobbler and some banana pudding. It was all SO delicious! Can't wait til next year. We were so glad that GG was able to spend the WHOLE day with us! JT and HeaBug especially love their Great Grandma Booth!

LA County Fair Day

We anxiously await the LA County fair each year. Lucky us, we spotted a Groupon that was good for 2 fair admissions plus excellent parking for $25. We utilized it opening weekend and did more than our fair share of walking, shopping and of course eating.

I tried fried avocado and to be honest wasn't that impressed. Although we've made a lot of changes in our eating habits as well as our general health so our tummies weren't as excited by the glutenous offerings of the fair as in years past... Interesting... We did enjoy lots of roasted corn, kabobs and lemonade!

JT and HeaBug enjoyed a pony ride after dark and wandering through looking at all of the animals and plants in the garden. They rode the sky ride and got mini cupcakes too. HeaBug loved the Dinosaurs the most! It was a great day!

Cosmic Bowling for Ms K

 

We went to a birthday party for one of JT's little friends, Ms K. who's been our pal since Kinder. HeaBug especially LOVES seeing Ms. K and her mommy when we are walking JT to class. The party was fantastic Cosmic bowling for rock stars! Such a good time, we were glad to be a part of her special day.

1st day of 1st grade

JT began another year at the Charter School the we LOVE. His new teacher, Mrs. G is a long term substitute for his teacher that is out on maternity leave, Mrs. K. He's really enjoying Mrs. G and has a few kids in his class that he went to kinder with.

We love the school and are adjusting to the new administration. The whole district got a might shuffle over the summer and our old principal retired at the end of last year. It's an amazingly strong school though with a great parent presence.

Part of the charter agreement is that each family agrees to donate a minimum of 25 hours of service. Long Beach also offers School of Choice which means you can apply to attend any school in the district and a lottery (most of the time) determines whether or not you get in. There is no transportation or bussing system provided so getting to and from school is your own responsibility. Once accepted to the school you need not reapply each year.

I'm doing PTA this year and serving on the board as the Historian. I had to attend several board meetings over the summer. It's been fun getting to know other parents and being so involved. It's a plus knowing all the great activities being planned for the year! And man are there a lot! We are looking forward to another year as an Eagle!

The Happiest Place

After 4 years, we gave up our Disney Ultimate passes after JT's 6th birthday celebration at The Disney Parks last year. We've definitely missed it but with JT in school and work we weren't able to make it out nearly as often as before so we decided not to renew.

One of our guys at Rock Steady, Klaus, was kind enough to sign in our family. We went the whole day from 9am-11pm. We hit the park like tourists and had a total blast!

Finally got to see World of Color and ride the new mermaid ride. We played in both Disneyland and California Adventure on what had to have been one of the hottest days of the summer!

Ready for Little Mermaid!

See him feeling sick?

Poor Mr. B started feeling sick toward the end of the night and I wasn't nearly as sympathetic as I should have been considering he spent the next 5 days seriously ill (So much that we spent time in urgent care!) I forced him to suck it up so that we could stand in line for more than an hour to see World of Color. Love you babe... and sorry again!

Our Dier Friends

Mr B and Mr Dier have been friends since the beginning of time. Best Men at each other's weddings, always in touch regardless of where in the world Airman Dier was stationed, we try to catch up as often as possible when we're in a 200 mile radius. They spent the last three years in Germany and while there, expanded their family by two sweet peas. We were so excited to finally get a chance to meet them while they were in-between moving from Germany to Colorado. Mr and Mrs Dier are the kind of amazing friends that when we get together, it feels like no time has passed at all. We count ourselves so lucky to be able to love this family <3

Sweet Tori

Little Man Will

Pals even before they were born

Riss and Mr B

Little Monkies

Hea Bug, JT, and Miss Riss