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Personal Scriptures

I went into the boy’s room to wake them up for school, and came upon this scene. Scout had already beat me to the punch, with his teeth brushed, face washed, and two chapters into the Book of Mormon. What a good boy…and a great surprise.

FYI…

Navy wasn’t amused when I filled out her teacher’s “Get To Know Navy” information page. They asked where she might need more help, and wrote, “Her resting face is a bit crabby”.

First Day of School

After a whirlwind of a summer…it is back to school time!

(Enter crying face emoji!)

I am FOR SURE the saddest!

Partly because I am sending Scout to his first year of middle school which makes me a bit sick. But more partly….because I have three different schools with three different schedules. (Enter crying face emoji!)

Scout and Dash are sporting their BYU backpacks. And the girls got backpacks from Brett this year!

These two are solo this year at Bergeson. It was kind of a sad sight.

But then they met up with tons of their good friends at school, and it became a happy and good sight.

Scout was stopped by his beloved Mrs. Komine for a quick hug. Scout is not going on in Mandarin, but will be tutored on Tuesday nights with a group of ex-peers in Mandarin. He is excited about an all-English school, and that he will still see some of his old buddies from Bergeson.

After dropping off the Bergeson kids, I dropped Scout off at “walking group”. This walking group is saving us this year! It is a bunch of kids who live within walking distance of Niguel, and they all meet up and walk to school together. I know most of them, and really like them, so I am glad that Scout has a crew of kids he will at least recognize at his new school.

Pippi and I went to her T.K.’s orientation…and as soon as we were done, we headed to pick ups.

First was picking up Navy…where Pippi ran right to Navy’s line and hung out.

And then we finished our day picking up Scout, where Dash ran out to tell Scout every detail of his day.

This year we will wake up at 6:30, and drive into the house at just before 4:00….where we will then start in on homework.

I already miss summer.

Church Duds

How cute are my kids for church!

Especially with summer super-long-since-last-boy-haircut hair!

Even if they only get to sit on the couch in the foyer for the first 15 minutes, because we are our regular 5 minutes late.

Pippi’s Deep Questions

Pippi came in asking all sorts of questions about death today. She has asked many in the past while, and it must be a topic on her mind as of lately. She also must be concerned about Nonnie, because she constantly invites Nonnie to take walks with her around the neighborhood to keep her healthy. (Nonnie declines and tells me to stop Pippi from asking. I tell Pippi to keep asking!) Today, she wanted to know about me, and how long I will live. I told her when she is an old granny, I will still be around to be her mom. That answer must have worked, because then she played baby with Navy.

Ure Ritual

Every time Seth’s family comes…it is bagels in the morning, beach in the afternoon, Golden Spoon in the early evening, Jacuzzi at night.

And that is the ritual.

Today was a little different, because baby beach isn’t usually the beach of choice…but that’s where we went.

And that’s where the boys got in trouble for pier jumping by a crabby old man.

Then…it was Golden Spoon.

Where each kid gets a small of their choice — but toppings aren’t in the cards for them.

Leave it to my kids to bring their own individual cups of all sorts of toppings — free of charge to Seth!

Nice solving of your problem kids!

World of Make Believe

Pippi was amazing on our CYOA. She literally hung with all of the big kids effortlessly. She was rad. But every few days or so, she did ask when we would be home. She really missed the comfort of her home with her things. So now that we are back…she started where she left.

Welcome to the world of Make Believe. Where Pippi reigns, and her stuffed animals are her loyal servants.

Middle School

And so it begins.

Scout helped me volunteer at registration to see what it is all about, and he was awesome. But when we were passing out packets to little boys, and huge men all in the same grade, I got sick to my stomach. Scout…rock it. Remember who you are, and act well thy part.

CYOA (10) - Fort Bragg, CA

When we realized that we were down to no time left on our vacation before we had to have Scout back for middle school registration, we knew there was only one place we HAD to stop in California. Fort Bragg is known for their sea glass, which is why we reserved three hours for sea glass hunting on our last full-day morning. Well, three hours turned into five hours, and the rest is illegal history!

When we got there, it was amazing. In every handful of mini rocks and sand, there were about 20 pieces of sea glass.

We were so excited, and hunted for a few hours.

The sea glass was amazing.

We each had water bottles we were filling with our share of glass. As we looked, a girl told us that she had been two coves down, and it was even better. We wrapped up, and headed over.

You had to climb down the hill to get to the “better” cove.

So know, every handful contained 50 pieces of sea glass! It was magical. It was insane. It was perfect.

We hunted for another few hours.

When we filled our bottles, Navy started filling her swimsuit.

Then Scout removed his sweatshirt with a great idea. He always takes a summer treat home to Seth and Cade, so he decided a sweatshirt filled with sea glass they could pick through would be the perfect gift! After he filled it, Micah took it up to the car. On his way, there were a few people inquiring Scout about his bottle filled with glass. Scout played dumb (we kind of were at that point). Then Micah (who had walked really far to the car with a very heavy load) said, “Scout…just get in and let’s get out of here!

He then called me to come, and as I was walking out, I discovered why the people were questioning Scout:

“Leave glass at sea glass beach”.

Uh Oh!

We all jammed up there so quickly, and we got the heck out of dodge. We weren’t totally against returning the sea glass, but the walk made it prohibitive, and the glaring eyes exasperated the idea of taking that guilty walk.

For the first time ever, we didn’t make the kids clean up before getting in the car, and we jammed straight to a spray car wash.

The kids for the second time on this vacation thought we were being followed by the police, and got a clean getaway. (Remember the Goonies house?) After cleaning up and hopping in the car, Micah showed off his two hearts he found, and I thought I trumped him with my one bigger and better heart.

Mine is the top, he has the bottom two. We all know mine is better, but the rarity of his light lavender one on the right, sold the kids to vote it as number one. (His convincing speech swayed them too.)

All in all…Fort Bragg was a blast.

And its Pippi Longstalking shop was a secret surprise o our way out!

—

Now…in one day, it is time for us to be at home.

How sad to call this trip to a close.

Who knew it would be such an amazing trip?

Who knew it would rank with our all-time favorite trips?

All because my dad was sick…and we had to solve our own vacation problems.

If this isn’t making lemonade out of lemons…I don’t know what is!

Many moons ago, I had the idea of Choosing Our Own Adventure (although Micah tries to claim it was somehow his idea?!)… but it wasn’t in the cards for this summer. I am SO GRATEFUL that instead of going back east for a trip, we decided to road trip our final days of this summer. Beyond being dirty, and wiped out….we are all closer and happier as a family.

And that’s what it’s all about.

CYOA (9) - Neptune Beach and Sand Boarding

I think I say this every single day, but today was my FAVORITE day of our Choose Your Own Adventure trip!

The day started out where we picked to sleep last night. We drove and drove until he finally stopped at a place called Neptune Beach. We camped in our car in the parking lot, and Micah and I woke up at first light. Micah went and scouted the place, and realized it was awesome. After he and I explored it a bit, we got the fearless foursome.

And we were all headed to the best tide pools of our lives. Maybe EVER!

Need I say more?

There were thousands of bright emerald green sea anemones that were as big as salad plates. There were also hundreds of huge red or purple Starfish, that were as big as any I have ever seen.

When we finished exploring the tidepools, we found a pile of rocks.

To a naked eye, it just looked like a pile of rocks. But not to our eyes.

This was a pile of rocks brought up from the ocean alongside agate!!!

We mined for the next three hours! We would have mined for the next three days, but the tide came up, and we narrowly escaped disaster by staying as long as we did!

In our exploring, Micah found the rock that is now next to our front door!

Pretty rad.

When we finally left the tide pools and agate, we drove on to see a crazy scene.

This car was filled with bashed up people who were drunk and driving the winding road.

Our next 30 minutes of conversation with our kids was all about drunk driving, and the poor choices people make. I guess there is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes.

YUCK!

Our final stop of the day equaled our Neptune Beach experience. Which would have been hard to do….

…but the sand dunes in Oregon did!

Dash dominated!

Scout schooled!

Pippi persevered.

And Micah Monopolized…catching air and all.

Navy, on the other hand, got PMS or something, and just wanted to stay in the car. After a while we got her out, and she went down once…but didn’t want to do it again. I assume all of the action has caught up with her, but for a girl who would have loved this the most, it was definitely a missed opportunity! Oh well…maybe next time — if there ever is a next time!

Meanwhile…..