July 2013 – Moision Madness

Grand Park

July 31, 2013 by Christy

Cari and I took the kids on a Metro ride to Grand Park earlier this month. There’s a huge water fountain and splash area and the kids had a blast.

I also discovered that they have little libraries there. Cari hadn’t noticed them when she was there a month or so before, and they weren’t very well stocked so I’m assuming they are new. And super cute!

After the park festivities, we decided we’d make dinner easy on ourselves and went to La Grande Orange. The best part, in my opinion, was this pair of glasses Finn and I made with the Wikki Sticks they give out.

He even fell asleep with them on during the car ride home.

Archery

July 31, 2013 by Christy

Ezra has been talking about getting a bow and arrow for some time. He wanted a real one, not the toy one we got at the Elves’ Faire a couple of years ago. Obviously he cannot just shoot real arrows in the backyard, but we are lucky enough to live in Pasadena which has an archery range and offers lessons! He had his first lesson at the end of June. I wasn’t there but thankfully Bruce took a couple of pictures.

He loves it and is continuing to take lessons.

Aquarium Trip

July 31, 2013 by Christy

The boys and I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in late June, mainly because they have Magellanic Penguins there and we are all — thanks to Ezra — obsessed with penguins. Here are the boys looking for them.

They were (as you can see) up on the rocks and there weren’t very many of them out that day. The boys were content for the moment to pose with the fake ones at the display.

Later in the day when we came back to the penguin area, the birds were in the water, much to the delight of two little boys.

Ezra couldn’t get close enough. He would jump in there with them if he could.

We saw lots of other sea animals and spent some time in the Lorikeet Forest. Ezra fed the birds.

Finn wasn’t too happy in there — the birds kept swooping down around us and it freaked him out.

We just found out there are two baby penguins now, so we’ll be making a return trip soon.

Palm Springs Tram

July 31, 2013 by Christy

In June we went out to see Jamma for a weekend and decided to beat the heat with a trip up the tram. It was an excellent idea (thanks to Janice) and a great way to spend the day.

Waiting for the tram to come into the station.

Where we’re headed.

Where we’d been.

Once we got to the top and through the visitors center, we had a nice picnic lunch and the boys climbed on rocks.

It’s really lovely up there.

The boys love the big boulders to climb on. I get a little worried about what’s hiding in between the cracks …

And here’s our cheesy photograph from the visitors center.

Not too terrible and a fun comparison to this one from 2007!

June Clubhouse Update

July 31, 2013 by Christy

Clubhouse progress has been slow lately, but we did have something significant in June — we got a door (and a lovely threshold)! And it’s a doozy. Here are some shots of installation.

Voila!

Laguna in June

July 31, 2013 by Christy

The boys and I joined Cari and the kids at the beach during the week after school let out. We spent a lot of time enjoying the ocean and the sand. The “pool” was really full one of the days — we hit the tide just right — which was a constant source of entertainment (for the kids and for me as the photographer).

I tried desperately to get good video, but this is the best I could do.

One day we took a trip to the Fun Zone in Balboa. Ezra, as it turns out, is a clown shooting savant.

Cari and I rented bikes and we took a nice long ride along the beach. Super fun.

I love this set of shots from Finn, Ruby and Ezra building in the sand.

And I took a couple of shots of the boys which I Instagrammed into black and white.

A great start to the summer! The rest of my photos are here.

Father’s Day 2013

July 8, 2013 by Christy

Father’s Day was a low key affair around here; in fact, I can’t even remember what we did that day. I think Bruce had to work some of the day. I do remember that there was bacon for breakfast, which made all Moision boys happy. Here are pictures of the cards the boys made for Bruce.

Ezra’s had an Epic theme because he and I had seen the movie the day before.

Just before everyone dug into breakfast, I snapped this picture. What a bunch of cuties.

4th of July Library

July 8, 2013 by Christy

Last month we felt like dressing up our Little Free Library, so we decided to do a new decoration for the 4th of July (in mid-June). After finding a picture we liked of a wavy American flag, Bruce set about doing his magic.

Of course, as usual we had some side projects going on at the same time.

Bruce decided this time to paint the whole flag and then cut out the middle for the library. Measure twice, cut once.

After a few touch-ups it was ready to go. Finn helped with the mounting.

Here’s the finished product.