My Baby Turned Six!

We threw together a moderately last-minute party for Tusin-- but I think it came off quite nicely. My cake lady pulled through with an awesome Bey Blade cake. Friends and family came over, bearing too many gifts, as usual. The kids got to show their friends our trails down to the lake. Even our new neighbors came over to enjoy the pizza and cake, and meet their new neighbors' entire extended family (as everyone meets soon or later when the Tibbetts come around)!! It was a nice afternoon.

Party Pics

Party Pics

Party Pics

More Back Yard Nature!

Literally in our back yard this time! A California King snake. My Google research tells me it's a "harmless" king snake. My heart rate right now tells me it's THE most poisonous snake in the world! FREAKED me out, just about walked right over it when I was out gardening today. Got a great picture of that forked tongue though! :-)

Nature Walk: Part 1

I got home from work today. My first day at work since our move. (I took yesterday off to unpack some stuff. Six hours of unpacking and "organizing" and it still seems like I got nowhere. Yet, I know I did!) Chris and the boys weren't home, so I put on some walking clothes and shoes, stashed my camera in a satchel (hmmmm, have I ever used that word before: satchel? I'm not entirely sure.), and headed out the back door for a walk around the lake. What beautiful nature we have here. Sun shining, breezes blowing. I saw one of the two local osprey flying around again. I've heard they have a baby they are trying to nudge out of the nest for its first flight. Didn't see any signs of the baby in the nest though. Apparently SDG&E has gone out of its way to make this nest a bit more safe for the big family. They've installed special covers over voltage lines, and even built a platform up at the top for the nesting osprey to make a home each year. It's a pretty cool sight... just don't walk below! I saw another large bird in another large nest in a nearby tree as well. Couldn't quite tell what kind of bird though. Just a big one! Cute little finches... SO many birds everywhere!

l

Nature Walk: Part 2

I enjoyed all of the prickly plants as much as I enjoyed the feathered friends! There is just so much of everything, right here in our back yard. It's so wonderful. Flowers and plants of every color. Birds of every type and shape. In addition to the few birds shown in the pictures, I also saw red-wing black birds, mud ducks, a goose, doves, sparrows, a gray heron, egrets... you name it, it's out there!

Nature Walk: Part 3

I stood and watched these tiny little chipmunks/squirrels(?) for so long today! They were like Keegan and Tustin, and they were cracking me up. One would bat its paw at the other, then they'd wrestle a little, then run opposite directions, and go roll in the dirt. And after all that goofing off, they would come back for a sweet little moment of brotherhood hugs. And the rabbit, also very funny... like a mom, sitting 20 feet away, thoroughly annoyed, and pretending like she didn't know them!

Family Fun

Not only has our entire family been an incredible help to us during our move... before, during, and after.. we are starting to have family visitors us at our new pad as well! Cousins Mike & Mathew dropped by this weekend. We took the boys down to the shoreline to throw rocks, skip rocks across the water, and just be boys! Then a few Bey Blade battles after!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Nonny prepared a somewhat impromptu Cinco de Mayo celebration for us on Saturday night. It was a PERFECT evening-- warm and beautiful out; we had a wonderful taco dinner on our back patio! Thanks Mom, for making us feel at home, wherever we may be calling home!

Super Moon

We enjoyed our Cinco de Mayo celebration outside under the Super Moon! (It wasn't as "super" as I expected it to be... but with the darkness of the lake behind us, the moon and stars sure were bright!)

Tutty Was Sad to Say Goodbye to his Habitat

Poor Tustin-- he shed a few tears on his last night in his room. His home. His comfort zone. The only room he's known in his 5 (AND A HALF- can't forget the half) years of his precious little life! I promised him that once we cleared everything out, I would take some pictures, so we could make a little collage that he could keep forever!