With only a week to go before I leave my position at the City of Santa Paula and embark upon the new exciting world of county finance, Laura and I decided to take PJ on a trip with family and friends to the Lake Casitas Water Park. It was our first time at the park and well worth the wait. Once we got in and settled it was quite evident that Laura was the most excited of the bunch to be there. PJ was a closed second though.
The lazy river was perfect for Parker. She could travel without an inner tube (she was just tall enough to hop around) as well as she could practice her swimming (with a little help help from the current). Parents were even afforded the luxury of relaxation at times which is quite the rarity when there’s children and large bodies of water involved.
The temperature eclipsed a cool 104 at the park but that didn’t bother us too much. What was more annoying was that the only shade we could settle under was beneath a couple of trees where birds routinely dropped little tokens of their affections on our lawn chairs. Their aim was terrible but much like swine flu or Al-Qaeda, the fear factor drove some of us into a frenzy. A couple times we had to elevate the terror color scale from Yellow (“be on the lookout”) to Orange (“there sure are a lot of birds up there”) to Pinkish Red (“mommy, why are they all crouching and reading a newspaper??”) to Blood Red (“Aaaaggh run everyone run! - they’re recreating the bombing of Dresden”).
Luckily there was a lot of water available to wash off the bomb fragments.
After we spent most of the day at the water park we picked up grandma and Georgia and ventured off to Outback Steakhouse for daring attempt at a somewhat peaceful diner. Uncle Thor was working behind the bar and treated Laura and myself to several inventive cocktails. Gratefully Parker and Georgia acted incredibly civil throughout the entire meal. Who knew? After the first drink Grandma was immediately elected designated driver by a unanimous decision.
All in all it was a great day and a great way to celebrate the end of yet another employment cycle. Hopefully, the next celebration will be a retirement party…and soon!!
Georgia turned a bright and shiny one on June 26th. Parker wanted to have a big party for her but it just wasn’t going to happen. Georgia elected to celebrate by inducing and enduring her first set of fever spells throughout the day. With that said, her birthday party had to be cancelled and we had a little get-together with Grandpa and the Grandmas (sounds like the Mamas and Papas reunited tour). 
One of my favorite pictures...that thumb of hers gets a lot of work.
This is the only picture that exists where Parker actually projects that Mervyn's Catalog smile. I think solar esclipses occur more often than PJ putting out a smile like this.
More often than not we tend to over-plan activities for the kids(Disneyland, the zoo, Pump it Up, et al). Sometimes all it takes is a little body of water and releasing them into the backyard to devise their own playtime activity.
With only a week to go before I leave my position at the City of Santa Paula and embark upon the new exciting world of county finance, Laura and I decided to take PJ on a trip with family and friends to the Lake Casitas Water Park. It was our first time at the park and well worth the wait. Once we got in and settled it was quite evident that Laura was the most excited of the bunch to be there. PJ was a closed second though.
The lazy river was perfect for Parker. She could travel without an inner tube (she was just tall enough to hop around) as well as she could practice her swimming (with a little help help from the current). Parents were even afforded the luxury of relaxation at times which is quite the rarity when there’s children and large bodies of water involved.
The temperature eclipsed a cool 104 at the park but that didn’t bother us too much. What was more annoying was that the only shade we could settle under was beneath a couple of trees where birds routinely dropped little tokens of their affections on our lawn chairs. Their aim was terrible but much like swine flu or Al-Qaeda, the fear factor drove some of us into a frenzy. A couple times we had to elevate the terror color scale from Yellow (“be on the lookout”) to Orange (“there sure are a lot of birds up there”) to Pinkish Red (“mommy, why are they all crouching and reading a newspaper??”) to Blood Red (“Aaaaggh run everyone run! - they’re recreating the bombing of Dresden”).
