Jake's funtastic birthday!

8 Is Great!

On October 12th we celebrated Jake's 8th birthday. It was a great day full of fun! Jake had his cousins and a few friends with him for dinner and a sleep over. Our cousin drives a limo and was able to drive us to our dinner reservation. The kids had a great time calling Andy on the phone from the back, listening to the radio really loud and giggling a lot. Andy and I took 8 boys to Fenton's Creamery for dinner. That was an exciting experience for us all, I can't imagine what it would be like to have that many children. The kids loved the ice cream and what a fun time we had. Once we got home it was video game and Foosball central! We played a few games and finally settled down for Fantastic Four 2. By 12:30, I said lights out and I think they all fell asleep around 1 am! Of course this didn't last long as they were back to video games at 6:30 am. After a quick game of football, all the boys went home. It was a super great party for Jake and I have to admit, it really was fun!

Just for a laugh!

I am sure this song will sound familiar; either because you have said it all yourself, or heard it from YOUR beloved mother! So funny. Have a great week.

Tomales Bay and Dillon Beach

Beachcombers!

We had such a great time visiting the coast, we have all decided that we love being beachcombers! We camped at Lawson's Landing located just down from Dillon Beach. At some parts of the year, it is a cow pasture. Lucky for us, the cows are not returning to graze there until October 15th. Although I hear it is really something else when the fog rolls in, and out of the fog comes a huge cow. You just have to remember to bring your long handled shovel : )
We took a drive about 40 minutes or so to Point Reyes Station and visited The Cow Girl Creamery. I had read about them in Sunset Magazine and was so very happy to be there. So happy, in fact, I was driving the boys crazy talking about it. What is the best way to make mom happy? CHEESE! There was a glass wall, and you could watch the cheese being made. Andy and Jake thought it was so funny to see the man "cut the cheese". When we were there they were making "Mt Tam" a creamy cheese that tasted a lot like Brie. I picked up some things for a picnic while we were there; Mt Tam, White Cheddar and Pt. Reyes Blue cheese (all made locally), a rosemary and Meyer lemon sourdough round, Gypsy pepper salad, salami, an apple galette with lavender sugar and the most fantastic fresh (locally caught) tuna salad! It was the best lunch I have had in a long time! The boys also each got a huge Oreo type cookie made fresh there at the Creamery. If you ever get a chance to go, DO. On the way back to camp we stopped to get fresh oysters from the Tomales Bay Oyster Company. Everyone really enjoyed the oyster BBQ later that evening over our camp fire.
We spent the rest of the day playing on the beach with a a really fun trick kite we borrowed from Uncle Jerry. It has two strings and you operate it like a puppet. Jake and Luke had fun scooping jelly fish out of the water and examining them over the rocks. I had wanted to let the boys look at stars through the telescope that evening, but the moon was so bright and beautiful, the stars dulled by comparison. I must say, we were happy with the compromise nature impossed on us.
Before heading home, Andy, Jake and Luke climbed to the top of the hugest sand dune. You can see it in the slide show, it is the Dune farthest back behind our trailer. We enjoyed another great picnic on the beach, chased waves and flew another kite on our last day. The boys loved rolling down the smaller dunes at the beach and playing hide and go seek in the tall natural grasses there.
Please enjoy the slide show. If you click on the picture once, and then keep the cursor there, some pictures have a caption.