Car's 1st road trip

The day after I bought Lucy, I went with Dom and Roxi for a little road trip up north to Santa Barbara. On our way, we stopped at a little farmer's market on the side of the road and bought dried mangos (my fav) and a few other treats. I read about some French festival, Bastille Fest?..at a park in Santa Barbara. Not impressed. It was smaller than I thought it would be, and just not that cool. We had bratwursts for lunch and shared a strawberry and nutella crepe..LOVE crepes :) Dom found some guy's wallet on the ground and luckily he lived about a block away so we walked it over to return it to him. What upstanding citizens we are. After that, we drove down the coast and saw an Art Walk down the boardwalk that we missed. SO BUMMED about that, there was some pretty amazing work on display. We checked out McGrath's campground, too for future campsites we'd want to book.

We pulled over at a beach in Ventura on the way home and enjoyed a sunset sky and a fetch playing dog :)This was such a great day! I loved all of it. We ended the evening with Sushi from my fav spot (Blue Fish) and a cuddle or two :)

I LOVE....lucy

Last week was the first week of teaching summer school. I'm teaching art to Kindergarten through the 3rd grade, and the 4th-7th grade is by sign-up only (46 students). I was pretty nervous leading up to this week, because I'm only used to teaching up to the 3rd grade. I've always been a little uncomfortable around the older kids, not sure of how to approach them. What was I so worried about, they're awesome! I'd SO trade jobs with their usual art teacher, any day (I'm taking her place for the first 3 weeks because she's on vacation in Thailand). They are amazing artists, and I don't have to waste class time constantly telling them to sit on their bottoms, don't touch this, quiet down, stay in your seat, the difference between left and right, how to stay in the lines when coloring, how to hold a paintbrush, etc.

The week was SUPER HOT!!! I think it was in the mid 90s..and my car of 10 years has no working air conditioning. I was dying in that car...I'd get out of it after a 5 minute drive and I'd have wet sweat spots on my clothes...yuck. I'd been saving (for not very long) to buy another car and I wanted to wait until the END of the year to have a larger down payment, but the heat got to me. I couldn't take it any longer. BIG THANKS to Dominic, for offering to head over to Carmax to check out their stock. If he hadn't been free, I would never have gone by myself. Well, I knew exactly what I wanted when we walked in, so we didn't browse the cars at all. We spent 5 minutes looking over the car, and about 4 hours going through the car buying process! Oh man, it took so long...but worth it in the end. I was approved, and found out I have GOOD credit! woohoo :) I'm responsible like that.
Ok, so here she is...meet Lucy (Dom's name suggestion). I got a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer...WITH air conditioning! I loooooove it. LOVE IT! I've been wanting a larger car for years. It better fits my outdoor loving lifestyle. I'll be able to fit all my camping gear..the dog (and MY future dog)...and my future babies ;) NO, I will NOT be driving around a minivan. Not gonna happen. Anyways, I'm so much happier now with Lucy. Every time I see her, I smile and/or giggle. Cool!

A family picnic...

Two weekends ago, Dominic's family had their annual picnic at a nearby park. Everyone was assigned an item or a dish to bring to provide enough food to eat. Pot Luck style is always the way to go :) It was a really nice day, Sunday, and the turnout was great. I got to meet quite a few members of his family that I haven't met before. I also got to spend time with a few of my favorites who I haven't seen since Easter, I think. They're such great people...and they like me :)

Dom made shish-kabobs..delicious. I made a non-traditional potato salad with a yogurt base, rather than mayo. It had asparagus, bacon, capers and artichoke hearts, too.

Dom's dad handed over his apron to Dom for the day. If the shoe fits...wear it.
I did my part to make sure the sausages and hot dogs didn't burn. I love my picnic blanket in the background. It's been in my family for years.

It's always a pleasure chatting with Dom's sister and brother-in-law.
A mother-daughter moment. A few minutes before, Kimmy told her mom the news...a baby is on the way :) I got a little misty-eyed.
Now for a Rick and Roxi moment.
The after-party nap back at Dom's was the $h*t ;)
No, really....we passed out. I was super tired, full and dehydrated after this and the long night before of preparing the food. Til next year...

to the falls we go

During the middle of last week, Dominic and I went on an afternoon hike to Sturtevant Falls in Santa Anita. We've done part of this hike before, but there are a few different trails to take. It was a really nice day and perfect weather for working up a little sweat.

I LOVE this sign. I really want these words somewhere in my home. The sign "gets" us :) I've got a handsome hiking partner ;)

girlfriends

We made it to the falls pretty easily. The hike is beautiful, and full of shade.

There was a pretty decent size group of people that were just sitting around the falls, enjoying the view. I accidentally slipped on a rock and fell in the creek. The whole left side of my butt and leg was soaked! Haaaaa what a dork.

There's a little "store" by the parking lot that we checked out after the hike, but it was closed. They had these guys right across from it, and up the hill we could see some donkeys...and hear them.

The hike (round trip) was 4 miles I think. We only did part of it, but the whole loop is 9 miles...which I want to go back and do soon.

Millerton Lake

I celebrated 4th of July weekend at the lake..in the sun..with good people, food and drinks ;) Dominic and I were invited to ride out and stay with Jon and Noelle (and baby Chase) in Jon's parents' motorhome. Their friend, Aron, joined the group, too. We got to our campsite pretty late on Thursday night and parked right next to more of their friends, Tim and Andrea and kids :) Little man Chase knew how to get the party started the next morning.

Chase fell asleep every time he stepped foot on the boat. Aron held onto him for a pretty long time that afternoon. Chase got a lot of cuddlin' that weekend :)

Kickin' back in the love boat.

Rock jumping was part of the agenda, of course.

A little word to the wise, DO NOT ride one of these things with 3 people. These kids WERE having fun, until the 2 on the left bonked heads and came into the boat sobbing. OUCH.

Noelle and I had a blast riding together. We rode it 4 times until we had enough. I'm not sure what we talked about, but we had some long conversation during the crazy bumpy ride. And when you can't throw your hands up in the air, your legs will do just fine.

Tim was trying to get the message across that his wifey was driving the boat too slow....until he flew off ;)

Tim and Aron were laughing hysterically on that thing until...BAM!

I was the first one to attempt wakeboarding. It was only my 3rd time in my life trying. My 2nd time, I got up for maybe 5 seconds...and this day, the same story. I was buzzing pretty good so that didn't help, and my wrist and hands were hurting. I get so frustrated when I don't do something well...but I'll get it one day, I know it :)

Jon didn't have a problem getting up, and made it look so easy (top left). Aaron (top right) did really well, too. Noelle (bottom left) got up a few times and mostly hung out in the wake, but ventured outside it a few times. Andrea (bottom right) did great, and finally has picture proof that she CAN wakeboard :)

Tim, on the other hand, owned it.

Don't underestimate the important job of "flag guy/girl"...we make it look good.

We like Eminem. Haaa :)

Dom's a pro "prop checker"...and handsome, too

Look at all that Moulden lovin'

He's so SWEET!

Friends, Carlos and Karen, cruised the lake with us (on the left) with some of their friends...and Tim & crew (on the right) are just plain sexy.

While the grown ups are away, the kids will play...dogs will fetch. Dom was nice enough to supervise the kids while everyone except us went on one last boat ride on Sunday.

Boys will be boys. Chase was thoroughly enjoying himself in some mud :)

Stairs are no match for this little guy. "Ball...ball...ball...ball..."

Oh the joys of motherhood. Poop-on-a-thumb :(

We all had a great time camping at the lake together, and made it home in the early evening. I had to rush home to get ready for my family's annual BBQ and Dom came over as soon as he helped unload and showered.

I had family (aunts and uncles) over and my stepdad made homemade gazpacho and jumbalaya and some fruit and cream dessert. Afterward, I cuddled up next to Dom and we all watched the fireworks in my backyard :) It was quite a special night. Happy 4th of July!