Peachy Keen

Today marks our 10th anniversary of living on Raleigh Court. Isn't that peachy? We moved into our new house on August 20, 1999. Time has flown! We are blessed with a great place to live, wonderful neighbors, good friends, and a very prolific Early Elberta peach tree!

When life gives peaches... share them with neighbors & friends. ;-)

Liesey picked over 100 peaches -- after all, it is "her" tree.

I placed all of the peaches on the table so I could take the above photo. Moments later, as I walked through the kitchen, I saw that my youngest daughter had rearranged the fruit into a more interesting design. I guess she loves peaches, too!

Tut & Tutus: A weekend in SF

This past weekend Mr. Smith & I took Millie, Liesey, Ruth, and Naomi to San Francisco to see the "King Tut & the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit at the de Young museum. Although I had seen the Tut tour thirty years ago, I was not disappointed the 2nd time around.

M. was not able to go with us to SF, due to a prior commitment, so this marked the first time we left our teenage son home, ALONE, for the whole weekend. Are we nuts? No, just trusting parents. FYI, the neighbors reported that all was quiet on Raleigh Court. :-)

YIKES!

It was a picture perfect day -- 70 degrees & no fog!

Miss Millie took this photo from the back seat of the car -- while we were moving. Nice work! I liked it, so I am adding it to my blog. (Clarification: I'm referring to the above picture, not the one below!)

Now when he was a young man

He never thought he'd see

People stand in line

To see the boy king (King Tut)

How'd you get so funky? (Funky Tut)...

Oh, but stand in line we did. I took a picture of the girls waiting in line. I had to use my phone's camera, so it's grainy. I didn't even attempt top take my real camera into the museum, as I knew a curse would befall those who attempted to flash the boy king. Tutankhamen detests paparazzi.Omar Sharif was our audio tour guide.

The girls are hanging on his every word...

After a tasty lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, we went to view the GG Bridge from the Marin Headlands in Sausalito. We took LOTS of pictures of our girls in various dancer poses. (I think the total number of photos from our weekend was somewhere around 250 images.)

Ruth's arabesque spans the GGB!

A flexible trio...

Next stop: Embassy Suites in Burlingame.
We were treated to an incredible sunset as we took a walk around the SF Bay.

God is good!


Despite the fact that the sun was quickly setting, the girls posed for more photos.

How great is our God!

What's this picture doing in here? It's not a ballet pose.

This photo was taken from the hotel's balcony. We thought it was interesting how the lights looked like ballerinas dancing en pointe. The "ballerinas" are even wearing tutus. Can you see it?

After a pillow fight & general silliness, we finally got some sleep in preparation for Sunday's trek to Stern Grove in SF, where we got to see the San Francisco Ballet perform several pieces. And it was FREE!

Thanks to Cousin Linda, we had a primo location for viewing the performance.

2nd Act of Swan Lake -- Lovely!

Farewell, City by the Bay.

As soon as we were across the Bay Bridge, the girls fell asleep. Thankfully, our driver stayed awake. :-)

School days, school daze...

I can think of three good reasons to home school -- May, June, & July! And you thought that those three reasons were named M., Liesey, and Millie! ;-)

Seriously, I can think of LOTS of other reasons to home school other than a L-O-N-G summer vacation.

It's August. The textbooks have all arrived. It's hot, hot, hot, soooo it's time to start school. That also means it's time for Smith Christian Academy to smile for the camera. Of course, we have to take the "traditional" back to school poses. My all-time favorite? The "on-the-floor" shot.

What's so funny?

Our 6th, 10th, & 12th grade students
Ages: 10, 14, and 16

Will Rogers once said, "Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects."

Too true...

I am always amazed at how much I relearn each year. I'm just thankful that I don't have to take all of those exams. (I do have to grade 'em!)

Here's another favorite quotation that is appropriate as we begin the school year:

"I forgot what I was taught. I only remember what I have learned." -Patrick White

My goal for this new academic year is that we all LEARN much & keep smiling as we realize just how ignorant we really are!

Fruits of our labor

We ventured out on another blackberry hunting & gathering mission; however, this outing was not as fruitful as the last. :-( We still had enough berries to share with neighbors on Raleigh Court, so it was worth the 15 minute drive to pick the free fruit.Along with the ripe berry goodness, we all collected a few thorns, scratches, and stained fingertips. Really, we had fun, despite the pain. We did learn that berry stains & blood look very similar. Somehow everyone still managed to smile for the camera. ;-)


The one thing that did not make Miss Millie smile was finding a tick in her ear. She felt something tickling her ear. Upon closer inspection, I found this:

Millie squealed & screamed as I removed the ectoparasitic fiend. (Not FRIEND!) It hadn't even attached itself to her, but the thought of it biting her made her REALLY uncomfortable. She's such a girly-girl!

After the TICK-lish incident, we picked up strawberries from the local farmer's market. At the market, we saw small containers of blackberries for sale for $3.00 each. I am certain the fruit we picked for FREE would garner at least $20 on the black(berry) market...

While in a fruity frame of mind, we also collected some beautiful peaches from our tree in our backyard. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few?! There is no shortage of taste-testers, that's for sure.

More flags. More fun.

M., Greg, and Gabe headed to Six Flags for the day. The real question is whether the drive to & from the theme park was more exhilarating than riding the roller coasters. Hmmm...

Greg ended up leaving the park without seeing much around him -- he was in a presbyopic (farsighted) state as a result of one too many roller coaster rides. His glasses got knocked off on Roar, thanks to M's elbow. Ooops. Too bad they didn't meet up with "Mr. Six." They could have borrowed his specs. I am sure his Rx would have allowed Greg to see clearly, and those black frames are soooo stylish.

Sonora Sojourn

M. enjoyed a day trip to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, during his recent visit to AZ. It's easy to get INTO Mexico, as they do not check identification to get across the border. It's getting back into the US that requires one to have the proper paperwork. Since M. is a minor, he only needed his driver's license & a copy of his birth certificate -- and he needed to be traveling with an adult who had a current passport. (UJ and Robin provided the proper credentials on that one.)

M's travel pics tell the tale of his Mexican adventures:

"On the border"

Look at the total of the bill for brunch -- $705.27?!!! I knew that my boy could eat a lot of food, but that's a bit much. (Wait! That's pesos, not US dollars... FYI, $705 MXN= approx. $54USD)

Mexican mall? Where's Nordies?!!!!
(This doesn't look much like shopping in Roseville, does it?)

My son got a few lessons in the art of negotiating on price, thanks to Robin's shrewd skills in this area. Despite the fact that the shop keeper supposedly "didn't make any money on the transaction," he is all smiles as he posed with the two savvy shoppers.