Nice to meet you kitty

Conversation between the kids:

Elisa: (in a kind of motherly, teachy way) "Jonathan, this is Hello Kitty. Can you say Hello Kitty?"

Jonathan: "Hi Kitty"

Elisa: (a little exasperated) "No, no, not hi Kitty. It's Hello Kitty."

Jonathan: "Hi Kitty"

Elisa: (now speaking slowly and enunciating each syllable) "No, it's Hel-lo Kit-ty"

and the conversation went on that way for awhile.

Water play

My friend Becca, knowing that Greg was going to be gone a lot in July, put together a little water-play kit for the kids. She wanted me to have something to get out for them that I didn't have to generate myself. She bought a big aluminum turkey roasting pan, a silver goblet and tray, a copper kettle, a bunch of pretty glass and natural stones, and some little plastic water animals. I got it out the other day and the kids had so much fun! Elisa played with it first... before long she had taken off all of her clothes so that she could play freely without worrying about getting her clothes wet. I think she really wanted to climb right in herself... but I assured her that she wouldn't fit. Jonathan played with it next. He had so much fun, pouring and scooping rocks. I think another option might be to use it outside... maybe in our little blow-up pool. Then they could really get into it, literally.

San Diego

I haven't blogged very much at all lately. And thinking back over the highlights of the last month makes me want to post some pictures of our San Diego trip.

Greg and I wanted to go somewhere special for our tenth anniversary. My parents had graciously agreed to watch the kids, and we had enough frequent flyer miles for both of us to get free tickets. So we decided we wanted to go to a warm beach. We didn't want to use up two whole days traveling. We chose San Diego thinking that this would be our best bet for a warm beach within a short flight.

Well, little did we know that June in San Diego is notorious for "June gloom." Which is just what we encountered. The weather was gray and gloomy, actually a lot like it is here, maybe a few degrees warmer, but not warm enough to justify the shorts and tank tops that I had packed.

We made the best of it, and actually did get some good weather when we drove away from where we were staying. It was like there was a pocket of clouds that just stayed over Pacific Beach, whenever we left we got a little more sun. And we did some really fun things: we ate lots of good food, rented bikes, went sea kayaking (and saw dolphins), went boogie boarding, explored Balboa park, and did a lot of relaxing. It was great. Here are some of the pics:

The Botanical Building at Balboa Park

Eating a huge bacon cheeseburger at Hodad's (featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives)

Getting ready to go Boogie boarding - so much fun!

Sea kayaking

(we never capsized, though I was afraid we were going to when we came back in over the surf)