Number Nine, Number Nine.....

Happy Birthday Trajan!

Trajan started out his birthday with a walk to the park and a picnic breakfast with his pal Lucas. Then back to our house for presents and more playing. The day was topped off by dinner at one of Trajan's favorite restaurants - Islands. There will be more celebrating at his party on Saturday.

Yeps on the Steps

Check out the steps Daddy made for the gravel path leading to the playset. They are the coolest steps ever! Now, if Macey would leave the gravel on the path, instead of using it for play food and dumping it into Trajan's reservoir....

Leo Party

Chillin' out in Cousin Sara's pool, at the annual Leo birthday party.

Uncle Pat's Pool

Here are Trajan and Uncle Pat having a breath-holding contest.

Old School Style

Here is the latest in toddler fashion - notice the retro portable cassette player, a must have for hip chicks this season.

Indiana Trajan

Part of Trajan's photo shoot for his birthday party invitations. The theme this year was "Raiders of The Lost Birthday Party" Notice the very cool whip provided by Gramma and the stylish fedora from Dad.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Our Next Kitchen Equipment Purchase

Trajan and I decided we would like to get one of these Hobarts for our kitchen so we can make quadruple batches of chocolate chip cookies - only our kitchen isn't as big as the one in Hearst Castle.....

Morro Bay

At the end of June, we took a trip to San Simeon, Hearst Castle, and Morro Bay. We took a couple of tours of the Castle, and spent some time at the beach. Here you can see Trajan with Uncle Pat in the cold water, and Macey playing horsey with whoever would gallop her across the sand.

Cat Woman

Macey learned a new trick the other day - I was in the kitchen, and I heard her calling from the living room "Mama! Nook! Nook!" (Look! Look!). So I went in and here is the sight that greeted me......

Sunset at the Beach

We are way behind on our blog entries, so we will be playing catch-up over the next few days.

We've been having unseasonably warm weather here for the past month - so we took advantage of the warm evening and went to the beach to watch the sun set. Macey and Trajan love going in the water, so Mama has to go, too.

A NOTE TO OUR VISITORS

Trajan and Macey love it when you leave comments for them on their blog. (OK - Macey really doesn't care about anything but the pictures - but Trajan loves to read the what you have to say (Thanks Aunt Mandy and Uncle Pat).)

It is easy to do - just click on the 0 comments at the end of any blog entry, next to the pencil. It will open up a comments window - add your comments, and then either choose Name/URL (fill in your name) or Anonymous and it will post your comment.

About viewing the photos - if you click on the photos, they will open in a large size in a separate window. Then you can just close the window when you want to move on.

You can view older posts that have scrolled off the page by pressing Older Posts at the bottom of the page, or by clicking on the links in the right side bar.

Swim!

We've been having a heat wave - it was 97 yesterday, and a cooler 95 today. Trajan and Macey enjoyed a dip in the wading pool.

Slumber Party!

Trajan had his first slumber party with a friend. His best buddy Lucas came over for a camp out in the backyard. The boys, under the close supervision of Mark and Macey (see photo) put up the tent. We had dinner outside, and the boys had a lot of fun playing Indiana Jones adventures in and outside the house. This morning, Trajan taught Lucas how to make buttermilk pancakes. - they were yummy! Mark took the boys on a hike in Palos Verdes as well. A fun way to celebrate the first weekend of summer vacation.

Alexandra!

Cousin Alex and Alexandra were here for a very(!) short visit. The kids had a lot of fun on Trajan and Macey's playset. Of course, Trajan swings the very highest, but Alexandra was a very near second. Macey loves to swing (she calls it Wheee!), but does not go as high as the big kids yet. She also tried out a Super Girl manuever down the slide - luckily Moma was right there to help her so she didn't do a face plant at the bottom! Alexandra later followed suit by leaping, without warning, out of her swing - right into a surprised Daddy's arms! Fortunately, Alex had his feet firmly planted, otherwise they both would have tumbled down the hill.

Watering the Lawn

No wonder Macey loves to help Mark water the lawn......

Father's Day II

Enjoying an al fresco breakfast.

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day by making Dad's favorite meals. Trajan whipped up some fabulous blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Lunch was grilled bratwurst, and dinner was grilled steak and potatoes, with steamed cauliflower. They also spent some time on garage projects. We ended the day with a walk down to Coldstone for an ice cream treat.

Show!

Macey loves to watch the movies of the children's plays that Mark has made this year. She especially loves "Bugz! The Musical" put on by the 1st Graders. She will shout "Show! Show!" This morning, she was watching "Show!" and it was very quiet in the living room. I went in to see what was happening and here she was, all snuggled in her swing with her baby.

Wolf!

After a lot of hard work, Trajan earned his Wolf Scout badge. This is his third year in the scouting program, and he is now working toward his Webelos Badge, which is a two-year endeavor. Going on camp outs is his favorite scouting activity. Way to go, T!

Power Breakfast

Macey loves talking on the phone - and a play phone won't do! I gave her my old cell phone, which she refers to as "Hayo" (Hello). She walks around with it, opens it up and puts it up to her ear "Hayo, deedee bi didi dah....~maniacal laughter~..debedebedah. Okay! Bye!" click.

Starbucks!

Here are Trajan and Macey testing out the new furniture at our local Starbucks. This was taken on Mother's Day morning.

Trajan's Got Talent!

With the return of The 60 Second Comedy Hour, Trajan and his friend Erin reprised their act in Riviera's Talent Show this year. Once again, they did a fabulous job! The theme this year was 50's - "Riviera Bandstand" was the setting. Watch the video clip here...

School Girl

Macey - on her way to Sylvia's this morning. She only has two more weeks of "school", then she gets to stay home with Mommy every day. She loves going to Sylvia's - there are lots of kids to play with and toys, too.

Trajan The Concert Pianist

Trajan celebrated the end of his first year of piano training through the Yamaha program by performing in a concert last Sunday at the Armstrong Theatre. He was very excited and a little bit nervous, but as we all expected, he did a fabulous job. They performed two numbers, "Popcorn" and "Soda Pop".

OK, that top picture is very dark, but if you click on it, it will bring up a larger image - I just wanted to show what Trajan looked like on stage. The other photo is after the performance, showing his medal of achievement. Yeah Trajan!

Trajan the Thespian

Trajan has become quite a performer this year - he played the lead of Hansel in his class play of Hansel and Gretel last December, and a few weeks ago he appeared as Mr. Arable in his class play of Charlotte's Web. Here he is with his classmates Julia (l) and Kimberly (c) from their first morning performance for the school.

Mommy's Little Helper

Macey always helps to load and unload the dishwasher. She takes the flatware and puts it in her special hiding place in the living room. Today, I convinced her to bring it back and put it where it belongs....she thinks that is very funny!

Girl Meets Grill

So, the past two Friday nights, Mark and Trajan have built a fire in the fire pit for us to roast marshmallows. The lid of the pit is a dome shape with a crosshatch pattern, and as you can imagine it gets very sooty from the smoke and fire flowing through it. The past two Saturdays, Macey has decided to get up close and personal with the lid - silly girl!

Visitors

Our cousins from Massachusetts came for a visit during April. It was so warm while they were here, we got to go to the beach!