Molly's last day of the 2011/2012 school year was in early June. As we looked back on a year of mornings packed full of activities created by college students who still have energy, we wondered what we would do with Molly for 3 whole summer months. For the most part we spent the cooler morning hours at different parks around Davis and the sweltering hot afternoons in the public pools. Would you believe I forgot to take a single picture of Mo at the pool :( Molly found a passion for the pool that is still going strong. The girl loves pools and takes to the water like a fish that doesn't know how to swim. Imagine a lot of gleeful splashing, sputtering, and gasping for air. There were a lot of summer groundhog days in which we park played, ate lunch, napped, pool played, ate dinner, slept, repeat...
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| Swinging the Day Away |
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| Feeding Our Chicken Littles |
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| Chicken Chasing was a Popular Activity |
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| As was Tomato Picking... |
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| And Hose Play |
But there were a few days that stood out and a few vacations/getaways that were memorable. The 4th of July was HOT but Matt was home (although I have no photographic proof) and we spent the day with good friends and good food. We lazed about, shooing those nasty Davis flies off food while kiddos played in the shade. After snacking and lazing we got Molly to bed before the fireworks' booms could frighten her. Luckily we could see the show from our driveway while she slept. Not a bad little driveway date night.
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| Grand Ole Flag |
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| Hey Friend |
We also drove to the coast to escape the heat and ended up tent camping at a lovely little place called Costanoa in Pescadero. The tent cabins were lovely, with electric blankets to keep you warm at night. It was a great way to ease Molly into the world of camping. There was lots of open space so Molly got to help Matt drive the car around the campground and we were able to enjoy a campfire dinner while she collected pine cones and chased birds around the tent cabin. At sunset we all went to bed together, warm and snug under the heated blankets. I love that you can go from sweltering hot to freezing cold in the span of a 2 hour California drive. And the best part was that the beach was right across the road and we were able to explore the sand and surf, and make sea-star discoveries. At this point Molly was not yet terrified of the ocean...more on that to come (Matt!). All in all it was a lovely little get away! And highly recommended!
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Don't Mind Me...Just Driving the Car
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| Our Tent Cabin Crew |
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| Cozy Huh? |
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| Headed for the Beach |
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| Sand... |
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| And Surf... |
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| And Sea Stars! |
Our big get away came in July when we got on a plane to visit Grammy, Poppy, and of course, Comicon. My mom and Brian spoiled us big time and got us a condo on the beach! It was really lovely and we would have spent all our time playing at the beach if Molly hadn't been ROLLED big time in the ocean night 1. Matt was wading with Molly in the surf and failed to notice a giant wave that took Molly down and rolled her around to the point of sand filled ears. I was just a little upset (just a teeny weeny bit) and of course Molly freaked out every time we tried to go to the beach from that point on. But we were able to sneak in a few trips and the ocean was amazingly alive. Day 2 I waded in and almost immediately felt something hefty brush up against my legs. I looked down and, in between waves, I could see giant silver fish and gorgeous leopard (I think) sharks. It was a really neat experience. And luckily our days were filled, with or without tons of time in the sand. Molly got to visit the San Diego zoo with Pearl (one of our most favorite people and my mom's high school Chemistry professor). And she got to see the sea life up close at the Birch Aquarium. We had a blast scooting around San Diego and Matt loved every minute of Comicon. He got to spend lots of time with good friends Jay, Mike and Deb and even got to do a zombie escape obstacle course. He loved it. I rolled my eyes. We loved our week in San Diego!
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| Molly Meeting Pearl |
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| San Diego Zoo Bus Ride |
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| Beginning of Bus Ride... |
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| End of Bus Ride |
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| Some Cheesiness |
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| What's in There? |
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| Oooh Sea Anemones! |
My mom followed us home from San Diego so that Matt could work overtime and Molly got some extended Grammy time, which she loved (and not just because Grammy brought her Ipad). We explored the farmers markets, brunched at High Hand Nursery and went to the California State Fair to pet the animals. And yes there was some pie pad (what Molly calls the iPad) time involved.
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| Pie Pad Time! |
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| Goat Love |
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| High Hand Brunch |
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| Feeding the Fish |
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| My Loves |
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| Farmers Market Bound |
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| Famers Market Escape Artists! |
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| Goofing Around with Patrick |
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| And More Pie Pad of Course! |
After Grammy left we went back to lazy summer life but we did make it to the UC Davis Band-Uh practice and had a blast drumming and kazooing and recordering along with the band.
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| See...Lazy! |
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| Our Summer Fairy |
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| Giant Pop! |
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| What to do...What to do? |
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| I'm Bored Mom... |
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| So Bored... |
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| See how Bored I am? |
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| So Bored I'm Going to Fake Pout! |
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| Rockin Out with the Band-Uh! |
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| Little Drummer Girl |
All in all it was a pretty lazy summer but it went by quickly, as seasons always do, and by the end we had most definitely made a change from an infant to a toddler child. I welcomed cooler weather and back to school with open arms but now that I am looking at the foggy, chilly weather outside and my cooped up/bouncing off the walls child inside, I am starting to appreciate Summer months more than I ever have before. Here's to future Summer adventures!
