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I just love a good outdoor shower, don’t you?

This is our new shower, circa 1998. It has hot and cold water, a curtain, hooks for your towels and a nice wooden enclosure with walls, roof and door, of course we could hire the contractors at http://www.oceansevenroofing.com/sherman-oaks-spray-foam-insulation/ to create a nicer roof in the future!

Prior to the big 1998 renovation it was a pipe with a nozzle at the top that was attached to the side of the house. Cold water only and bathing suits were a necessity. We’ve come up in the world!

My favorite time to shower is during a heavy rainstorm- the sound of the rain on the roof paired with a nice warm shower inside…perfect!

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Naturalist Esme gives us the low down on moon jellies, holding the one she caught as a visual aid.

Did you know that Aurelia aurita are almost totally translucent? If you click the photo above and then click the x3 link from the little boxes in bottom right corner you can zoom in to see the gelatinous thing in her hand. But even then you’ll have to look closely!

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This trio of wheeled contraptions has served us well over the past two weeks and I imagine they will continue to be well used in the coming month.

With Catherine and I riding our own bikes and Esme pulling up the rear in the trailer we have biked to the beach, to the playground, to nature class, and all around the neighborhood.

Today’s bike outing was to the MV Airport for a picnic lunch, some playground playing, some dog petting and a whole lot of airplane watching. A very pleasant destination, indeed. It seems like no matter how hot and humid the weather, the airport and the state forest always tend to have a breeze!

We are all having a wonderful time out on the trails- Catherine’s skill and confidence levels have skyrocketed, I’m thankful for the fresh air and activity and (judging from the pleasant singing coming from her shady, screened, rolling palace) Esme is enjoying the scenery as we roll along!

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Esme shows us how to eat watermelon—with gusto!

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After two weeks apart, Esme and her Papa settle in for a good snug-snug.

two hundred and six

Agenda:
Return library books
Buy a white t-shirt for tye-dyeing at Jr Campmeeting tomorrow
Lunch from La Choza, eat at a local picnic table

What happened:
Library- Returned books, renewed Zoboomafoo DVD, ran in to friend Morgan and played computer games for a while, checked out books, played chess.

Found a thrift store- poked around for a white t-shirt, browsed the rest of the store, became enamored with Garfield in the book section, realized the shirt didn’t have a tag, breathed a sigh of relief when the woman told us it was $1 (exactly what I had in change in my pocket!)

Went to La Choza, ordered, saw the rain and parked in a scenic location for a car lunch, Catherine saw that the forgot the cheese on hers, but she ate it anyway!

Super nice date!

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We had a short, crazy, wonderful, sandy, sunny visit today with Joanna, a college roommate of mine, and her family! This is only the third time we’ve been together since graduation in 2001, but we fell right back into place as soon as she stepped off the ferry.

It was great to meet her kiddos and to watch all our kids tumble in the ocean together! Let’s not wait another seven years, okay?

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Our girls haven’t seen many full length movies. Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Tangled are the exceptions to the rule, and even those don’t often get watched the whole way through.

Having seen Ratatouille myself a few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have considered showing it to the girls any time soon- the plot themes are a bit adult (heirs, wills, mean food critics, illegitimate sons…) and there is quite a bit of violence (old lady with the gun, for one) for our liking.

But there it was, showing at the Tabernacle on family movie night, so we went.

Catherine seemed to enjoy it. There was plenty of physical comedy to keep her interest. I think she followed the plot fairly well.

Esme, on the other hand, spent the entire movie asking, “what’s happening now?”. The whole movie was way above her and although she made it through to the end, I doubt she really enjoyed it. She moved around from seat to seat and bench to bench and didn’t focus much at all on the movie.

All of this leads me to wonder- If I knew that the movie wouldn’t be to our liking, yet they really wanted to go…was going the right decision or would we have all been better off getting to bed on time with a nice story?

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