The Pacific is Officially open!

While Dan worked and Reed was off at Scout camp us girls hit the beach today. Perfect weather, perfect waves, perfect water temp!

AHOY!

As best quoted by Bill Murray in "What about Bob?"

"Ahoy, Doctor Marvin... I'm Sailing.. the wind in the wind the sail in the sails... Ahoy!"

On Friday we went to the Los Alamitos Yacht Club for a day of sailing with Jeff Turner. He treated us to lunch at the club and then took us sailing all afternoon. It was tons of fun. Jeff built his catamaran boat in 2001 with his own two hands (I was impressed.. it took the concept of craft projects to a whole new level for me.) The kids loved hanging their legs and arms off of the trampolines catching the water. And Reed was able to actually put his three years of sailing lessons to work and manned the jib. I too hung my legs off the sides, but not without the thought of some fish, sea lion, or.... heavens forbid.... a shark mistaking them for bait. Although the more Heidi demanded to go faster I eased up on my apprehensions thinking certainly, no sea animal could swim this fast. P.S. We have had a ton on great white shark sightings recently:{

Palomar Mountain Camping

Palomar Observatory (200" lens) one of the largest in the country.Emily Fishing

Well we went camping this weekend between here and San Diego in a place called Palomar Mountain. We went with Dan's brother Mark, Julie- sis in law, and Marshall & Addy (cousins). As camping goes, the campground is nice and it feels "sequoia-ish". But... I have a few things to say about California Camping. When we were first married Dan & I would pack a few things in the Trans Am, throw the bikes on the back and find some remote place to hang out for the weekend. Fun. When the kids were babies we would throw strollers, playpens, play yards, babas, and the custom baby sleeping bag I made in the mini van and camp for the weekend. Fun, but alot of work. I love the outdoors, I love nature, hiking, stars, etc... But I am done with camping. Its dirty, dusty, and it takes too much time to set everything up. There are strange people in the campground, there are mountain lions waiting to snatch up your children the second you are fewer than 10 feet away from them. There is always the threat that you are going to be trapped in a forest fire and assume the fate of thousands of deer and coyotes. I don't know if I have gotten spoiled from renting RV's the last few years or staying in cabins, but it seems that you can enjoy the outdoors more by sleeping indoors. You have more time for hikes and exploring.

Don't get me started on mosquitos!

No speedos for Lisa!

Gone are my hopes of having a buff, speedo-clad, german foreign exchange student named "Sven or Hans" to help net out the pool. We are getting a girl. She is 17 and speaks fairly good english. She is bringing us the chocolate that I overdosed on while on vacation there last year! I guess, although when worn by the right person they are ok, I didn't like speedos much anyways:{

Security

Being the paranoid parents we are, we changed the security settings on this blog because we got some unknown readers. So..hopefully you can still access it easily.

Klein SPLASH 2008

Today marked the annual Splash 2008. This years Splash was done in two segments. The first was Ashley and Emily's friends and included only girls. They were mild mannered.... and besides alot of sticky concrete from sno cone syrup they did no real damage. Emily fully took advantage of the situation by telling her friends at school that since she is not having a "friend" birthday party this year, they could bring her presents with them to this party . Her birthday is not for a month and a half. Sure enough... her friends came with birthday gifts. Next came Reed's friends. There was an instant battle ensuing in the pool and the noise level went up about 6 decibels. Reed got stung by a bee...but other than that they had alot of fun.

Being true to their California roots, and accustomed to days at the spa, Ashley and her friend put cucumbers on their eyes as they sunbathed.

I will spend the rest of today and tomorrow cleaning up, hosing down sticky syrup, and picking up spilled popcorn off of the fake lawn (I'm hoping Ruckus will eat the popcorn and save me the effort.)

Mail order Vacation

Since we are not going to Germany this summer we decided to bring the country to us and host a foreign exchange student. Dan is getting far enough in his german language studies to where it would be good to have someone to talk to, and I don't have near enough laundry to do. I don't think we are going to help this poor soul get a good grasp of what a typical American family is like.... they will be entertained at least. We are taking votes as to whether to host a boy or a girl.

Brownie Camp

This weekend the girls and Dan took off for "My guy and me" camp. They enjoyed two days of hiking, canoeing, archery and crafts. Emily is crazed for bows and arrows and carried around two sticks the entire time trying to shoot one off of the other (with no string to aid in the shooting process...resulting in a toss of the other stick). They had a blast with the exception of some annoying girls in their cabin at night. The older girls were fighting and upset Ashley so much that she walked from her cabin to Dan's cabin (approx 100 yards away) in the black of night...in her baggy sleeper. Accompanied by the ever faithful Emily... of course. This freaked me out because an animal could have gotten them (or some sicko dad) or they could have gotten lost. Evidently they are braver than I thought. I won't even walk to the bathroom at night when we camp. Other than that they had a blast and Dan won't stop singing the camp songs he learned there. I watched their video they brought home and laughed my head off at one thing Emily said while on a hike. She stooped down to pick up a pinecone and said "This is so pokey of a pinecone".

The toothfairy is coming to Emily tonight!

After years of asking me if she had a loose tooth, and forcing me to check, Emily has lost her first tooth. She is so excited and can't wait to tell her teacher tomorrow. She is also a little cash poor right now and word on the street is that the Tooth Fairy pays a pretty penny for your first tooth. She is so proud of that tiny gap in the bottom of her mouth. And I swear she has aged 2 years today. She talks totally different.

Check out my Zuchinni & Carrots!

When it comes to gardening.... Size does matter!

Do Starfish Have Feelings?

Dan took some photos of his saltwater tank for a contest. (No one ever wins contests, but I think he is desperate for someone to enjoy his tank as much as he does.) So I thought I would post them. Tank Update: We had a shark egg (called a mermaid's purse) and it actually hatched. We now have a little bamboo shark that lives under a cave-like rock. He only comes out at night but fortunatley the rock is in front of the tank so we can watch him sleep. So far he has not eaten any of his roommates. I wish I could say the same for a little crab we bought. We got him because we are getting a bunch of genetically mutated starfish on the sides of the tank and allegedly he eats them. Well... we had a pair of large sand starfish that were in love with one another and gave eachother piggy back rides constantly. Unfortunately, the crab ate one of them and now the other one is forlorn and we think a little cranky.