Simple Fun

Yesterday, the kids wanted to ride their bikes so Hector hauled them out of the garage along with his bike and they went cruising around.




I told Josh to ride through the puddles and hold his legs up. After the first run, he did it over and over again. He had a nice splash mark on the back of his T-shirt from all his runs but he really enjoyed it. It funs to ride your bike and it's even more fun to ride it through puddles. :)








Oh, and Hector rode his bike too....

Being Neighborly

Last week flew by mainly because we were busy and Hector worked late 4 out of 5 days then added a Saturday shift so that contributed to our week.




I was knitting consistently  but have taken a small break to focus some more time on photography. I take my camera when I walk Josh to school and then I have a nice leisurely walk home while snapping away.





Well, on Friday my little routine changed. I was taking pictures of something and a lady popped out of her house to ask what I was photographing. We got to talking about various things (lots of topics) and she introduced herself as Ida. Before I knew it, it was 11:30am so we (mostly she) talked for 2.5 hours.  I took some pictures of her cat that I've seen.





I might have to switch my walk home a bit so I don't get corraled too long by her but she was very nice and friendly.

So here are some photos that I took last week....

New Things

Still dealing with the middle school adjustment period but meanwhile, I have some better things to share.

First, is my new Kelly Moore B-hobo bag in muted teal. It holds my DLSR body, 2 lenses and my wallet, cellphone & keys. Perfect for daily use since it looks like a purse and I will always have my camera handy. No excuses. :)



I'm in a shawl/ scarf kind of mood lately. Here is a project that I started a few days ago using the yarn I got on sale (yay) and it's moving alond well. It is a cream/ oatmeal color with a gold strand woven in.


I'm not sure if I'll keep it for myself because it has mohair in it so there are fuzzy bits coming off and I might not like that around my face.

I still have 2 more skeins so I can still make something else too. :)

Hit on Drew Doughty

Since my last post was a video, I'm gonna try linking the kids' Drew Doughty experience during Hockeyfest 2011.

Tyler's video.


Joshua's video.

 Warning: Just in case, don't eat or drink in front of the computer while watching Joshua's video. :)

Classic Oldie

I don't much to share...I have 2 back to school nights and I might be trying a fantasy hockey league with some knitters on Ravelry.

So I dug far back into my archives (ha) and pulled up a classic. Look at young my kids are....too cute.  As Joshua would say, back when they were young! :)

Kusha kusha scarf

Hallelujah! It's finally done!! I started this thing in May and did my best until I got bored with it and picked it up again in the last couple of weeks.

The journey was long and tiresome but the end result is very cool. A very light yet malleable scarf to bend, twist or smush into all sorts of interesting shapes. I'm supposed to felt it lightly in hot water but I'm afraid I will lose length and right now, it's perfect.

To add to this, I bought more of this kind of yarn/thread at a recent sale so I will be knitting this again. Torture into ectasy. Sigh.

Stray Cats

I'm not sure what is happening in our cul de sac but another mystery cat has appeared along with the earlier black kitty. I thought the black one was pretty big and yesterday Hector came in saying there was a HUGE cat over there. Grab your camera!

So that's what I did. We walked on the other side of the street since we didn't know how this cat would react to people and judging from the size of it, I don't think it was capable of running away. Maybe lumbering away but man, at first glance this cat was big. I knew it was a cat but I was thinking of a miniature lion with its orange fur.

The black kitty was sitting nearby too and as I approached the huge cat, it made this yowling sound then it hissed at me but was calm. I kept getting closer enough to take pictures and see that it had a large growth by its chin/jaw.

Pretty eyes and nice enough cat but dirty, scraggly and sick. I'm not sure what these 2 fat cats are eating but they're definitely well fed.

After the kids have left...

for school, I have some time to myself. This is the first full week of school but I've done some errands and shopping for more shorts for Tyler. I do need to have the Pilot's oil changed , get my hair cut and eyes examined but that will get done when I feel like it.

This morning I felt like a short mini-photowalk after taking Josh to school.

Hockeyfest 2011

Woohoo, hockey is almost here!! Hockeyfest is the event that the LA Kings present to kickstart the season with introductions to the players, coaches etc with fun events like a funzone for kids/adults, family skate on Staples Center ice and autograph sessions.

My kids are not huge hockey fans but they still had fun. Josh got to ice skate, both kids made fun videos with Drew Doughty and players card. There were several Q & A sessions with players, former and current but the best one was the kids press conference asking questions to 4 players. Very entertaining.

This event just gets us amped up for the season and training camp begins this Saturday!! :)

Hector in the penalty box. Two minutes for poking.

Tyler showing his support.

Go Kings!

Riding the wild snowboard.

Ice skating.

Relief

After almost a week of heat and humidity, our weather is nice and cool again.

The sky after the rain.

Pretty

This morning I woke to thunder and rain which was kind of nice. As I drank my coffee, another brief rain deluge came down and Josh was excited to go outside. By the time he got out, the rain had stopped and we were left with the just rained smell.
The clouds opened up just for a quick glimpse of sky and sun.

A glimpse of sky and sun.

Today was karate and instead of taking my usual knitting, I brought my camera and took some pics of the area.

school

It's really nice that both boys' schools start on Thursday which may seem odd at first but it gives the kids a chance to ease into school. Go to school for 2 days and hey, it's the weekend!! :)

Tyler had some stress and anxiety in the weeks leading into school but thankfully, the first 2 days were non-eventful. Middle school seemed like such a huge obstacle but Tyler and his friends made it thru unscathed (for now). I didn't take pics of Tyler because I didn't want him to feel self conscious

Josh enters the 3rd grade and had no issues either. The homework for both kids will amp up so I'll be busy too. :)

So here is Josh before entering school and he looks confident.

Sunning

Our last day of summer was yesterday so I thought since both kids enjoyed the ocean the day before, we could go swimming the next. They were all for it but after 40 minutes, Joshua had enough and was cold. He promptly asked for hot chocolate and mini marshmallows.

While I was preparing his hot chocolate, Josh found the the sunlight streaming in and lay right down to warm himself like a cat. :) I ran and got my camera to catch my little guy sunning himself. He's still so very adorable.

Photo Essay

I'm gonna try something a bit different today. I shot a series of photos of this kid on the beach because I liked how he positioned himself among these piles of seaweed.



His parents sat about 5 feet back and were talking with their friends so I don't think they were keeping a sharp eye on the guy but he was definitely close by.



I was watching him Ihis back was to his parents and he would pull a piece of seaweed off & put it in his mouth, then throw it away. I saw him do this several times so I finally alerted his parents that he might be putting seaweed in his mouth.



They were really nice and kind of laughed about it saying he likes to pop the seaweed between his fingers to get that salty sea water spray. They made sure he wasn't eating it and thanked me anyway.



This little boy reminded me of the curly headed toddler son in the movie Parenthood that he did silly things throughout the movie ie. spinning, putting a bucket on his head and butting the wall. :)

Hot Flash

After such a cool and nice Labor Day weekend, a heat wave descended upon us so I whisked the kids away to the beach. I noticed the temp gauge in the car was 83* and just a mere 3-4 miles later, it dropped to 77*. That made a big difference and it was a lovely day at the beach.



Perfect, actually with warm sun and a nice easy breeze to cool us down and the water was cool (at first) but great too. Josh usually can't last more than 30 minutes being wet but we stayed for 3 hours. :)

The kids romped in the waves while Tyler ventured out further into the waves to try his bodyboarding skills. They had a great time burrowing into the sand to make waterways, tunnels and bridges.

 Joshua caught a massive sand crab too.



Tyler found a long 8 foot piece of seaweed attached to a rock to haul around.



It was a great way to end our summer although we have one more day before school starts.