family picture

The Fish Family

July 2008

day trip

Just before school ended for spring break, Libby was assigned the California mission that she is to do her report on this trimester. And the funny thing is, she is doing the same mission that Bailey did three years ago! It also happens to be the very same mission that all of the 4th graders will be visiting next month for their field trip.

The mission is La Purisima Concepcion, located in Lompoc, CA, right by Santa Maria [which is just above Santa Barbara]. So, with a full week of freedom stretched before us, we decided to take a day trip over and visit the mission as a family. Grammie was already staying over at the coast, so we picked her up on our way down so that she could join in the family fun. We had lots of fun learning and exploring, especially since La Purisima was a large and fully functioning mission back in its heyday.

Libby and Collin investigate the mission's irrigation system. There were extensive field crops to be watered at La Purisima, not to mention water to run the various chores inside the mission walls.

Libby peeks out from behind the doorway leading into the courtyard outside the main church building. It was previously used as a cemetery [insert spooky chills here] but they must have moved the bodies some time ago. There is now only one main headstone to memorialize those who were buried there in the past.

Here is our gang gathered together and perched on the edge of some ancient looking brickwork along the colonnade of the padres' residence building.

Bailey and Collin goofing around in one the courtyards of the shops and quarters buildings. I'm trying to remember what made me drop the camera to an angle when taking the shot.

Is it time for lunch yet? Collin was getting pretty hungry by the end of our tour! Julia as well-I kept reminding her of what I'd packed for our picnic to keep her motivated to stay with us. We lunched in the van, then headed back up the coast to Pismo. We stuck our toes in the sand and puttered through the shops until dinnertime, when we picked up Grandpa and headed into Morro Bay to find some killer garlic fries. After dinner, we changed the kids into their pj's and headed back home!

When Libby goes back with her class next month, the mission will be putting on its annual Mission Days. The docents dress up and show the kids what mission life was like, complete with candlemaking, weaving, livestock and such. That will definitely be lots of fun-hopefully I'll win a seat by lottery to be a chaperone and go with them. ; ) To see more pictures of the mission, check out my photos on flickr!

sugar sugar

My valentine bunny and See's Candy from Owen. Isn't that sweet? The bunny is from Build-a-Bear and was Libby's pick for me. Although it was Owen's idea to go there for my gift. I know! I'm pleasantly surprised as well. She's really soft and snuggly. Collin went with Owen to get it, and when it came time to name the bunny, he wanted to call her "Superman." The girl at the store cracked up over that! In the end, they decided to let me go in for the birth certificate myself so that I can name my own bunny. Maybe I'll go with "Supergirl."

Here are the kids having their Valentine's Day breakfast of chocolate and sugar. Why not? It's only once a year. Umm, except for Halloween, Easter, Christmas. . . OK, never mind. At least they don't have school today-they're off for this entire week.

what we did during vacation

A few of the fun things we did during vacation, in addition to reading [we always do lots of that], playing outside, and mastering the video games!

Libby stirs the fudge up to soft ball stage. Yes, it does take forever! Julia, Libby, and Aisha all took turns stirring. But the end result was so worth it!

Julia has fun with her paper doll set. Julia and Libby have since spent HOURS with these adorable paper dolls and their accessories. Good call, Grammie!

Bailey experiments with origami and makes a star box to show off. He's also made several different birds and a funky color wheel. Again, props to Grammie!

Knit one. . .purl what? Libby poring over this great Klutz knitting set I found on closeout for about $6 at a local educational toy shop. And since Libby has been asking for ages to learn how to knit, so I thought it would be a wise investment.

Collin bent over his coloring book. He takes his art very seriously!

Some things I have been working on:

• mastering My Word Coach for Nintendo DS. Insanely addictive, I love it. Because I love words.
• a couple of days before Christmas I got an early Christmas present from our ward primary-a change from nursery leader to primary secretary! I've spent much time over the last couple of weeks updating and organizing records, gathering information, and in general acclimating myself to the job. I think I can get used to not being in the nursery!
• new piano music! I used a gift card Owen and the kids gave me for my birthday to purchase some music from several of the Jane Austen films. Because I love to feed my Jane Austen addiction.

a merr-wii christmas

At last! Libby, Bailey, and Julia finally in possession of the coveted Wii! They were, in a word, excited. Bailey was the first one up Christmas morning at 5:00 am [not including when I told him to get back to bed after I heard him creaking down the stairs near midnight] and the rest were up at 6:00. They were allowed to explore their stocking fare, but the family rule is that we open gifts all together. Bailey and Libby had already scoped out a box that they thought might contain a Wii [we had told them we might not have it in time for Christmas, just to keep them in suspense]. Just as soon as it was opened, it was out of the box and Owen was getting it set up. They spent most of Christmas day taking turns playing the various games they had selected.

Here Libby practices along with High School Musical, with Julia wielding a Wii remote to perform the background percussion for her. She's getting pretty good at the songs now! I think I will have them all memorized myself before too much longer. Maybe when the kids go to bed I'll have to take over the mike and see how I fare. Actually, I will most likely have to wait until Owen beats the current Wii game he's playing. It was hard getting him to take his turns like everyone else yesterday! And when the kids went to bed he kept playing until bedtime. Fine by me-it finally gave me a chance to try out my new Nintendo DS [from Owen] with a really fun vocabulary builder game that Santa slipped into my stocking.