Mia swims!

This fall we enrolled Mia in swimming lessons at AVAC.  Luke has been taking lessons there for a while, and consistently for the past year.  He has grown immensely as a swimmer, and Mia has been a great sport about tagging along and watching big brother's lessons.

However, she has made it very clear that she is DONE watching, and that she was ready to get in and do it herself (by the way, this behavior also occurs now when we drop Luke off at school and Mia does not get to stay).  So, for this session Luke has his lessons at 11:15, and Mia's class starts just 15 minutes later.

We are about 4 weeks in and she loves it!  I was so grateful when one of the other moms who is often there taking pictures offered to take a few of Mia and send them to me.  They really show how much Mia loves the water.  She is already very comfortable in the water and is happy to do all of the activities.

Jumping in!

"Big breath"

The boys (Luke with his good friend Vidyut) hanging out while they wait for the other lesson to end

Backfloating with Mr. Anthony

Tahoe with Friends

My girlfriends from college - I am so incredibly lucky to have each and every one of them.  We were friends then ... but we are REALLY friends now.  For those of your who are women older than 30, you know what I mean.  A good girlfriend is hard to find.  Six good girlfriends is pretty unheard of.  Now try 6 girlfriends who ALL get along.

So, these 6 grew into 12 as husbands were added.  And now, well now our group consists of 12 adults and 12 children.  We like to make crazy attempts to get ourselves together and "have fun."  Don't get me wrong, our times together are always good times ... but 12 kids is just, well, chaos.

This year we rented 2 houses in Tahoe in order to accomodate everyone.  It worked as well as we could have hoped.  I think we would all agree that we would have preferred to all be together in one house, but that is simply no longer possible without renting a mansion.

Without further ado, here are some of the photos from our fun/chaotic/family/friends reunion in Tahoe.

Our weekend started out like this:  Snow in the beginning of October(?)

Mia quickly fell in love with Baby Gavin.  I think she might have thought he was one of her dolls

Lunch for 24 at Rubicon's....

...followed by a tour at the Northstar Firehouse

Luke and Mia quickly learned that they are ipad deprived

Park play time

Hudson & Baileys' Dragon and Princess birthday party



And, what's a good party weekend without a little topless dancing at the end?

At the end of the day, how many girls can say that they have 6 good girlfriends?  I am so blessed to be able to say just that ... and having our husbands and kids form friendships, well that's just the icing on the cake :)

Kitty Cat Love

Linus is a pretty amazing cat considering all he puts up with.  He is pretty tolerant with the kids, and even seems to really enjoy being around them, especially Mia.  On this morning the kids were playing on the floor and Linus was snoozing in the rocking chair .... but once Mia saw him there, she rocked him for a bit, and then they both jumped in to join Linus.

A few minutes later....Linus had enough!

Fall has arrived

Not only are the Fall decorations out in the house, but so are the new slippers!

Thank you Auntie Chris for our cozy slippers - we love them!

Happy Birthday, Mommy

We had a really nice birthday celebration with some of my most favorite people last weekend.  Grandma and Papa were in town, as well as Todd and Michelle.  Michael made an amazing Italian feast, and my mom (and dad) hosted everyone at their house.

Luke with Great-Grammy and Papa

The beautiful cake made out of a delicious assortment from Icing on the Cake

Singing

Make a wish!

San Diego Part 2: Balboa Park

We spent our second full day in San Diego just hanging out, walking to breakfast, and playing in the sand on the beach.  Luke loved playing in the sand and ended up with sand in every crevice imaginable.  This doesn't surprise me as he typically comes home with several pounds of sand in his shoes from the sandbox at school.  Mia on the other hand wanted nothing, and I mean NOTHING, to do with the sand.  She didn't even want to walk in it ... with her shoes on!  Oh well, there is always next time!

On our last day we went to check out Balboa Park.  We didn't get an early enough start to go to the zoo, but that is definitely on my list for our next visit to SD.  I was shocked to find how large Balboa Park is aside from the zoo, and how much there is to do there for us and kids.  We had lunch at a lovely outdoor cafe, strolled the art exhibits, wandered through the Botanical Gardens, Luke and Daddy checked out the model railroad museum, and we all rode the carousel and the minature railroad.  What a treasure!

Mia at lunchtime

Beautiful museums and gardens

Daddy and Mia on the Carousel

Riding the miniature railroad

Wild times on the choo choo!

Beautiful sunset from the condo