Labor Day Weekend with A & G

We had the wonderful opportunity to play with Aubrey and Garrett over Labor Day weekend. Grandpa was busy helping Casa upgrade the computer server so I went on adventures with them.

Ocean Institute with all new discoveries.

Dissecting a squid...quite the process.

Stopped at Plant Depot to buy Milkweed. They have an awesome pond with fish and turtles.

And, Linda Lane, the park at the beach. New equipment and so much fun!

New Milkweed plants set in my garden, waiting to go home with them. We spotted a Monarch laying eggs on their plant!

New aspiring scientists looking at things from the garden through the microscope.

They had so much fun with water balloons. Aubrey made bird nests in the trees with garden trimmings and the eggs were water balloons...so creative.

Bare foot Aubrey and Garrett found many nails poking up through the deck. We gave them each a hammer and they took care of that problem!

A visit to the Casa and Garrett found and brought home Monarch caterpillars for their new butterfly habitat and Milkweed plants.

Dolphins were giving us all a show while visiting Casa. Kids have binoculars but you could see them better without.

Gathering more caterpillars to take home to their new Butterfly garden.

Playing in my garden, making a fort and 'store' to sell fishing gear. We set up fishing poles with bobbers to 'fish' in the fountain.

Precious memories for Grandma...

Siena and Tegan's weekend visit

Tegan embracing her baby in the car seat.

The girls joined me at a neighbors house for a garden club propagation workshop. They were having fun with the magnifying glasses and bug box.

Then, they watered all the plants we were potting up.

Back home for a milk and cookies break taking turns on the swing.

And washing 'Bob' (the fountain nick name) -a favorite activity.

Playing in the garden.

Siena singing with a 'mushroom' mic. Really into it...

We all ate fresh peas straight from the garden!

And, grandma has a compost pile that is a must activity-I scoop a fork of compost out on a little table and they put all the worms and bugs they can find into the bug box.

Ocean Institute

We Joined the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. As Grandparents you can take all your grandchildren unlimited times. They are the perfect age to start enjoying this great learning opportunity.

Garrett operating an under sea remote control robot.

Out in the rocks, searching for sea urchins, crabs and all the other creatures that live at the shoreline.

Aubrey learning how echolocation works.
Next time Aubrey is going to dissect a squid.

Then when Siena and Tegan came for an overnighter, off to the Ocean Institute we went! Got our money's worth is just a couple of weekends. The touching tanks had Skate's, sea urchins, star fish, sea cucumber and more.

Schools of fish swimming in an impressive tank going round and around.

This day the tide was to high to be able to walk on the rocks so we sat from the steps and watched.

All the children loved this 'fish eye'. They said that from inside the bubble everyone looked really small.

Aubrey and Garrett's weekend visit

Cousin Tanner came to visit. It is always fun to see the toys older cousin have.

The hammock boat...they have such creative minds

Aubrey is good at catching lizards.

Haley is the dog icon in front of a local restaurant, made famous in a children's book. We have to read the book every time the children are here and stop by to 'pet' him when we drive down Del Mar-San Clemente's main street downtown.

On a butterfly hunt at the Casa.

And found some worms in the native garden at Casa.

I took A & G on a train trip from San Clemente to Solano Beach. Well, we almost missed the train...we were on time, the train just decided to stop at the pier, not North Beach...quite a story.

Made it to Solano Beach. Walked quaint Cedros Avenue then walked a couple blocks to the beach.

Climbing rocks at the beach is a favorite activity.

And, so proud of their Lego creations!

Tegan's 2 and more grandchildren fun

Derek brought Dustin and Joseph to OC for a fun weekend. They spent the nights here and were playing hacky sack on the deck when one went over the side...brave boys climbed down the canyon and found it!

We delivered Tegan's birthday gifts from the family a bit late but at 2 any day could be a birthday. They wanted a compost pile so I set them up...little girls with worms and roly polys...such a sight.

Tegan getting directions from big sister on opening her gifts.

My Mom's place is a good meeting spot between Nicole's family and us. So we met there to bring Aubrey and Garrett home for the weekend. Here they are playing with the monkey collection.

And, most fun is venturing out in the orchard. Apples were ripe and they were eating them right off the tree.