Westward Ho! ~ San Diego

This summer, after a jam-packed few days in June Lake celebrating Uncle Will’s wedding, our family made what turned out to be a very LOOOOONG trek south to my hometown…San Diego.

My happy place.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

But seriously, folks, this trip south was a doozy. We drove all day through wind and dust storm-laden deserts in a car that boasted untinted windows and a malfunctioning A/C.

We even had to resort to covering the side windows with black trash bags just to keep the car’s internal temperature mostly bearable. It was, shall we say, HOT.

But with a lot of cookies and a whole lot of iPad time, we made it.

Thank you, Jesus.

And thank you, Apple products.

We salute you.

With only 4 precious days of respite before our next journey, we filled up our time with super fun outings to Mission Bay...

To Pacific Beach…

(Let’s make America CUTE again)

(Kid zen)

(A rare cuddle with my Lil Mister Wiggler)

To our favorite parks…

And, of course, made many MANY trips to Mr. Frostie’s.

How much ice cream can a few kids in in just four days? Lemme tell you…A LOT.

And then on our final day we had the BEST surprise ever.

We went to another favorite spot, La Jolla Cove,

and got to spend the day with our best buddies, the Mugfords, who moved to San Diego just the day before!

What amazing timing!

For those of you who’ve followed our blog over the years, you’ll remember Cohen Mugford…the Little Missy’s First Ever and Most Bestest Friend. Sigh. We heart Cohen and his sweet family!

And the kiddos took up right where they left off…

After spending some time at the Cove we took the Mugfords up to Soledad Mountain so that they could bask in the beauty of their new dominion.

Not bad, eh?

Then we brought them back to the Plaxico family Homestead for a little R&R.

And by R&R I mean we let the kids rollick and be rowdy, of course. Cause that’s how we roll.

Especially this one.

And these two are pretty silly as well.

We love the Mugfords!!! And we’re so glad that they are Californians now!

And so with that, our peaceful and rejuvenating few days in San Diego came to an end. We packed up and headed out (in a rental, I’ll have you know, with lots of space and a fully functioning A/C…cause Mama ain’t crazy) for the our final leg of our Westward sojourn.

Our few days in San Diego were short…too short. But we had such a nice time.

And we’ll be back.

Homeschool Chronicles ~ Sept 2016

I’d like to call this

The Life and Chronicles of a Remarkably Flawed and Imperfect Homeschooling Family
(post 1…of many to come)

It’s not an easy path, but good golly is it filled with BEAUTY.

And sweet FAMILY TIME.

Math class: Teach a kid to count and she’ll…well…teach another kid to count. (Time for Mama’s coffee break!)

(FULL DISCLOSURE: It also includes plenty of not-so-sweet family time because, well, that’s just life. Particularly when your family includes some very spirited and opinionated children.)

And SPONTANEOUS FUN.

Because chocolate + fried dough + custard = YES

(and Mathematical Geniuses in the making)

And NEW DISCOVERIES.

Science: Zoo Class with our CC co-op

Science: Duke Lemur Center tour with the Girl Scouts
Learning to be Primatologists

Science & P.E.: Durham Life & Science Museum with buddies

I like to call this next one Lessons in Audiology and Cacophony, provided by none other than the Museum Train.

And ADVENTURE!

Science: Nature study and storytime at the Duke Gardens

Chicken feeding!

Making homemade bird feeders

Taking care of the garden

So there you have it…

Our first month of homeschooling in the books.

It’s not an easy life, for Mama at least.
(READ: Mike is becoming quite the accomplished late-night wine pourer and therapy provider)

But it sure is a GOOD LIFE.

And we are grateful.

Westward Ho! ~ Uncle Will’s Wedding

Each year our family journeys out west to the Plaxico family homeland – Southern California – so we can commune with our inner hippy and soak up some (humidity-free) surf and sun. This year’s trip was a little different because we had a very special event to celebrate…

You heard me right, folks! Uncle Willy got HITCHED! Hitched to the lovely (and patient) Laura Rose, that is. She’s pretty awesome. We’re all big fans.

Uncle Willy and LR decided to tie the knot on a mountain beside June Lake, CA, which I gotta tell you, is not the easiest destination to travel to (especially when Southwest Airlines decides to have all of its computers shut down and planes grounded on your travel day). But for this shaggy chap, whom we dearly love, we’ll endure anything.

After the 17 hours of travel (which included the Little Mister holding my head in his lap during an especially bumpy plane ride while I prayed to not lose my lunch), we finally made it to June Lake.

Let me just say…GORGEOUS.

We spent the next few days tooling around the lake with family. Beachin’, hikin’, climbin’, swimmin’, boatin’, polar bear plungin’…you name it, we did it. With Nena The Cruise Director at the helm, we’d expect nothing less. It was so much fun.

And then it was time for the main event! We snazzed ourselves up in our finest Willy-wants-this-wedding-to-be-laid-back-but-we-still-wanna-look-nice-and-not-get-sunburned-or-frozen-on-the-mountain attire. Yeah, not complicated (or stressful) at all.

But I think we pulled it off…and even managed to tuck in everyone’s shirts just in time to walk down the aisle.

Let me just take a pause here to savor this moment…it’s not often that I get to have my 3 Littles all dolled up in coordinating outfits AND not covered in dirt. Be still, my proud Mama heart!

Bow ties are magical.

Okay, I’m back.

Bedecked and bedazzled, we headed for the mountain!

Most of the guests took the chair-lift up, but pulling that off (safely) with this crazy crew felt like a stretch.

So we hopped in some 4-wheel-drive SUVs and enjoyed a less harrowing (i.e., non-heart attack inducing) trip up the mountain. Cause you know, I’m all for adventures, but this Mama/Aunt has got to keep her babies safe.

And we made it! Let me say again, GORGEOUS.

And that beautiful view was followed by this very sweet moment…

The kiddos were all super excited to have been included in Will and LR’s special day.

We laughed, we cried, we sweated, we bribed fidgety children with ring-pops.

And then we partied!

I snapped this photo around 8:30pm (11:30pm EST), when all of the kids were starting to come unhinged from fatigue (not pictured is the Little Mister hollering to Uncle Joe, “YOU’RE the pizza pie!” and giggling hysterically).

So the Daddies took the kids back to the condos to sleep. We ladies made it until 10pm before we keeled over, just in time to watch a very merry Pops (my dad) boogie and jive like it was 1965. Word even had it that after we left the Festive Fellow actually attempted to do The Worm on the dance floor…all to the delight and amazement of my brother’s pals. THE WORM, people. I have no words.

And so with that ridiculous image echoing through your minds I’ll wrap things up.

The first part of our family’s westward odyssey was great fun. We had such a sweet, hectic, lively few days in June Lake and were so glad to have been a part of Will and Laura Rose’s big day.

To Will and LR, we wish you two a lifetime FULL of love, laughter and adventure together.

And hopefully a wagon full of babies to come along for the ride (hint, hint)!

Built Wright & Co.

Raising the Littles One Adventure at a Time

Westward Ho! ~ San Diego

Homeschool Chronicles ~ Sept 2016

Westward Ho! ~ Uncle Will’s Wedding