A Garden Update!

Let me start by saying that we have not been trying to neglect the family blog. We also have not stopped going on adventures. We did, however, forget to take our camera on our camping trip to Bandon,Oregon. This was such a disappointment when we realized what we had done! We did buy disposable cameras and handed them out to each of the kids. We got cd's of the pictures, so I will figure out how to post them soon. Also, Brian had a great time fishing in Alaska! I am trying to get him to blog about it, but he has been busy. We will get to those projects soon!

For now here are some pictures from our garden. This spider has been living in the top of our tomato plants all summer. We have been watching him, amazed, for at least a month now. It is the largest spider I have ever seen in my own yard, at least 2full inches. I am so glad he has chosen the top of the plant to spin his web and live, because I like knowing exactly where he is... before I reach in to grab tomatoes! Brian and the kids have fed it by catching insects to put in its web. What a daddy thing to do!!

This is just a cool picture of one of the many helpful insects in our garden!
Here is Isaac with our crop of red onions. This isn't all of them, because we have been raiding the garden to eat them!
This is the sifter Brian made earlier when we made the raised beds. It is now converted to a drying rack for the onions. The kids really love helping with all of this!
Soon we will post pictures of our new fall plantings. We have started lettuces, carrots, Swiss chard, broccoli, with more on the way!

Camille's First Fish!!

Camille caught her first fish! We took the boat out to a new spot on the delta, and Camille got lucky! Not only was this the first fish of the day, it was her first fish ever!!!

Brian was very patient as he held the pole and Camille wound in the fish!


Of course she had to touch it!!
Elise caught the biggest fish of the day!
The kids named it Carl even though we decided to keep this one to grill for dinner. When we got home and Brian got the fish out to clean, Isaac happily asked if it was Carl. I guess they are OK with eating things they have named!

Isaac also caught a fish! We had such a great time!
Aidan won the prize for the smallest fish of the day!!

The kids just to love to fish, as long as we catch something!

Aidan is always so helpful!
Here he is helping Camille wind in another catch.

Another successful day on the water.

After fishing the kids went for a swim.

What a perfect day!!

4th of July in Berkeley, CA

This 4th of July we decided to get out of the heat and go have some fun. We looked online for things to do, and found a festival at the Berkeley Marina. Brian fishes out of this marina and we love to walk on the pier there, so we made reservations at the Double Tree Inn for a couple of nights. Our room overlooked a bike path, the Marina and the boats. We had a balcony where we spent a lot of time people watching, boat dreaming and waving at the dragon boat (the local dragon boat club was offering free rides at the festival and we were on the route)! The festival was fun. The kids did several blow-up jump house activities, we walked alot, and ate fun food! We had Tibetan Momo (which is like dim sum), actual dim sum, knishes, and El Salvadorian stuffed corn cakes. It was all delicious!!

During the afternoon, we also went to the Adventure Playground at the Marina. It is a creative "sandlot" type of place. We decided that it was the most scary, dangerous, exciting and fun place we have ever let the kids play. The playground is ever-changing as kids use hammers, nails and paint to transform it daily.

Camille had fun climbing on the rope web!Elise and Isaac are on one of the many ships at the playground!Daddy and Camille are on a look-out tower!What a crazy slide!!I was very proud to see Elise do the trolley, she is so brave sometimes! Aidan didn't want to do it with her, so she did it alone. SHE HAD A BLAST!!

(and did it about a dozen times!!)Isaac had fun hammering real nails with a real hammer! This is something we just don't get out to play with at home. On Saturday we went to the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. We have never been there before, and it was a great museum!
Camille and daddy!
Isaac and Camille flying in a space capsule!!

We all took turns looking through a telescope!
Isaac doing a space puzzle!
Learning about the effects of wind on a comet's tail(or something like that!) I think they just had fun blowing on small pieces of dry ice!!
Camille and I went into the Discovery Lab while everyone else went to planetarium. It was a hands on activity center for younger kids.

She looked at rocks, bones and shells with a magnifying glass.
She also pretended to be an astronaut and flew in a space ship!
On Sunday before we went home, we HAD to go to the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. It is the kids' favorite museum of all time!! We had a great time as always! And, the view is always so amazing!

Isaac and Camille in a mirrored triangle! We almost lost Isaac in the blocks!
Aidan and Isaac raced boats propelled by rubber bands!Elise working on math skills during the summer (her teachers would be so proud)!
Aidan and Brian had so much fun using dams to divert the water flow at the pond.

You never get too old to play in the water!!Elise and Isaac experiencing first hand the shifting of tectonic plates!On the whale in front of the museum.We had so much fun on our trip! We look forward to doing it again next year!

Harsha's Visit!!

The Harsha family came for a visit in June. The kids all had a blast playing together, and Traci helped out after Grandma T.'s surgery. It was so great to see them!!Traci and Ben!Grandma and Papa T. with all the kids!!

This was such a great day, we took a picnic to the park and Grandma felt well enough to come along!!

What a great looking bunch!!!

We also went to Fairy Tale Town! This was especially fun for the little kids, but we all had a good time!
Aidan, Ben and Isaac!!
Hannah, Elise and Camille!!
Cheesy!!! But very cute!!
We will miss the cousins, and can't wait to get together again!