The Great San Diego Sendoff

California is host to only one of us now, as RBDIII is back on the east coast!  To celebrate the ending of an era working for the great U.S. of A. in the Navy and the beginning of another successful career beginning in Cambridge, the Coastal Brothers & Sisters, our parents, and the two little ones packed up and headed to San Diego for one last shin-dig in SoCal.  It was incredible.  Wonderful.  Exhausting.  As my brothers would say, effing awesome.

I'll try to let the pictures do the talking...


For starters, this is what the kids looked like at 6:45pm PST and they had been this way for 2 hours already.  Impossible to wake up - they were preparing for all the fun they were about to have when they woke up at 4am the next morning.  Good thing for us our hotel came with complimentary "choo-choo" train viewings every 10 minutes and a 24 coffee station.  Life is good.

We hit up the zoo first thing in the morning and took off on our adventure.  First up....the bears.  FT "the Grizz" D with the black bear / (or Grizzly, we are having a debate and I can't see well enough to determine), and I believe this is our own CMD with the sloth bear.  Fitting, right?  I kid, I kid.

This much fun and only the beginning!  Baby pandas, baby giraffes, elephants, lions, tigers, and ....!  Hilarious, I know.  

I think RBDIII and PDL might be panda watching here...can't really remember.  RBDIII had either his niece or nephew in his arms practically the entire trip.

You might think that this photo above would be the only obligatory group shot of the day...you would be wrong.  Besides, P clearly thinks we could all look a little happier since our only instructions were to respond with "cheese" to any of LTD's requests.  Stay tuned...

It's pretty safe to say that the polar bear exhibit was a family favorite despite the fact that there were no swimming performances by the bears.  I'd say we all more than made up for that lack of excitement with a little performance of our own...

Yep.  There we all are, in the polar bear den...made for kids only.  Except that our kid wouldn't go in, so we did for him.  Seriously claustrophobic.

Next up, La Jolla to see the seals.  Honestly, I wish I had a video of the great RBD Jr. aka. "Geendad" making seal noises to get P fired up to see the big guys... when asked what a seal sounded like P just ran to find RBD Jr. and made him perform.  It was incredible.

And then P and BML went swimming with the seals while we waited for lunch at a fantastic spot covered with huge abalone shells which aren't found anymore due to over fishing.  We craved fish tacos the entire time we were in SD, and then felt guilty because of stories like these.  It didn't keep us from eating - too delicious.

I think after this lunch we all went back to the hotel for our daily naps (everyone crashed for at least 2 hours every day) and then went our separate ways, the men to Torrey Pines, and everyone else over to Seaport Village and our first encounter with P's love for "horsies" on the carousel.

For those of you paying attention, yes, these pictures include the Judge who, according to me 5 seconds ago, is playing golf at Torrey Pines.   P loved the horsies so much we had to go back for seconds, thirds, and fourths.  I just couldn't resist posting these pictures of the Judge being a Granddad.  

On Friday our main event was the Padres baseball game that night, so while RBD Jr. and the III spent the morning packing, the rest of us decided to play on the beach in Coronado.  We took the ferry, walked the entire length of the island to our little spot on the beach but the sand was so hot that P wouldn't really play, and who could blame him?! So we wolfed down our food and hoofed it back to the ferry - we had some time to kill (barely) and P and L entertained us with their antics.

Not to worry friends (and bystanders watching this as it happened)....she always comes up smiling, sort of.

Next up, baseball!!  We had great seats to watch the Padres play (and lose, bummer) - and we waited with great anticipation for the fireworks at the end of the game - obviously we thought they were a tribute to RBDIII to thank him for his service, but he tells us they shoot off fireworks at least once a month.   P continues to think that baseball and fireworks go hand in hand.  How lucky for us when we watched The Sandlot this morning during the tropical storm there is a 4th of July party going on.  Baseball and fireworks. And family.  The great joys in life.

We also hit up the aquarium where BML (aka Daddy) was the star of the show at the water table...and then RBD III wanted to show off all he learned at the USNA in his dynamics class.  The kids were so impressed.

I'm finishing up quickly because I need to take P man to get his hair cut before school starts tomorrow.  Aunt T (FTD) just mentioned what if it is a bad one the day before school!!?? As if I need anything else to make me anxious.

So here we are at the science center and fountain in Balboa park.  And finally, the brothers take off on their cross country adventure.

 I know I missed some things, and was sort on others.  Hopefully my siblings will blog about our trip to the base to see helicopters, their golfing at Torrey Pines, and the cross country drive to name a few.

San Diego will miss you RBD III!  But we're glad to have you back, closer to us.  Happy first day of school!

A Grieving Celebration

A little while back FTD posted about Grandmother here.  You should go read it, it's incredible, but so very sad.  This post is no different and certainly won't be eloquent as I have no words to express now our "silent house."  Our grandmother, our mother's mother, passed away on July 14th surrounded by her incredible children, some grandchildren, and some great grand children.  We have all expressed our grief in various ways, still struggling to realize that while she as we knew her was gone a little while ago, Mary Royce Hogg is now among the angels, in her rightful place in Heaven.  The family gathered together from our respective coasts to attend the funeral and see our extended family.

It seems so much easier now to remember my grandmother before the Alzheimer's took hold - an incredible sense of humor and dry wit, a fantastic ability to convince each one of her 14 grandchildren that we in fact were her favorite one (and of course since we share the same name and my daughter, her great grand daughter shares a name with my grandmother's mother, basically I win. )  She was an extraordinary artist and tried to teach us all to paint china as she did (impossible) the kneelers at St. Francis that we all knelt on to grieve and celebrate her life were made by her (and some attempted by her grandchildren). She was a blessed woman.  But we are all the more blessed for having the privilege of knowing her, knowing her love for her family, and her love for Jesus.  We have no doubt that Grandmother has claimed her rightful inheritance in Heaven.  It doesn't make us miss her any less, but we'll wait for the day to sing with her again.

Honestly, I can't proof read and that is all I can write.  We'll forever miss her, but we should all remember to celebrate her, to love what she loved, and honor her memory by keeping the family close, by being fiercely loyal to one another, and love without judgement - always love.

Sunset: Pensacola Beach 2012

Hooray for the 4th of July!

As promised...a month ago...pictures from our 4th of July holiday extravaganza.  My bad for the red eye,  I'm on a time constraint.

  This is pretty much all of the parade and parade preparation.  Good times.

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July.  Love it.  I still always say it is far and away my favorite holiday, though with all of us being separated such a distance Thanksgiving and Christmas are catching up since that is when we all see each other.  Anyway, my memories growing up of the 4th are of big block parties, tons of kids running around way past our bedtimes, feeling pretty independent while closing the night with spectacular fireworks.  Then I spent several summers at camp CGA and learned to associate the day with lawn games, dressing up in as much red, white, and blue as possible, and finally jumping in the lake for a bath after shoving watermelon in the face of every person I came across in the great watermelon wash.

Boy have things changed.... not necessarily better, not worse, just different.  I'm the PARENT now!  Weird.  My boy stayed up way past HIS bedtime and while he had a blast, BML and I were exhausted!!  We started our day off with some good old fashioned crafting...I'm pretty sure this was an idea on pinterest.  P and I painted our hands and feet and made flags, he thought it was so much fun to be able to paint "mamu's" feet and made that request several times that day.  We both had paint all over us for the bulk of our celebratory day.

*side note: I'm attaching pictures at the end because they are just on my phone and its easier that way, so scroll down for the cuteness.

About 20 minutes later, Aunt T and Yay Yay came in from their 6am bike ride and watermelon 5k ( T will tell you all about that I am sure).  P showed off our drawings and we all got cleaned up to head out to brunch at KeKe's.  Have those of you who live here been to KeKe's???? It is incredible.  SO delicious, so clean, so fast, and kid friendly.   P loves to sit outside on the little chairs built especially for him and sweet L.  I think pancakes were the order of the day.  Aunt T is in the photo, not Mamu...some people get confused. :)

Next activity!  Make your own ice cream in a bag.  This one once again took about 10 minutes - 20 total if you count eating and clean up time.  Since P is constantly moving I do not know how he refuses a nap, its only 1pm and I can't wait for bed.  The ice cream turned out pretty great, just mix half and half, sugar, and vanilla in a small ziploc, then place it inside a large ziploc, layer with ice and rock salt, toss around for 10 minutes and magic!  Ice cream.  I was pretty impressed with us, it was delicious.  P had to wear oven mitts to throw the bags around, it got pretty cold.  Then, I melted some chocolate chips in some coconut oil for our very own homemade magic shell.  I know.  Amazing.

Next up - the neighborhood parade.  The only people who were definitely counting on were Grandad (Geendad, the Judge), LTD, Aunt T (FTD), P man, little L, LDL, BML, and Captain and Pax.  Thats a parade in itself!  We decorated L's radio flyer and put silly bows on the dogs, and dressed the family in their color appropriate outfits and went to set out around the lake....when the tv started screaming about a thunderstorm brewing that would spew hail and thunder and lightning and everyone should stay indoors.  Not us!  We amended our parade plans to just around the creek - there would be no rain on our parade! (Are you so proud of me Mom??)  Some of our new friends met us with their baby and 2 yr old and our neighbors came along too with their newborn with his precious 4th of July ballooned stroller and off we went.  It was quite a parade.  Watch out next year for an evite...or I'll class it up with a paperless post.

Are you tired yet?  I am.  Wrap up our parade with a delicious flag cake made by LTD and BML, FTD, me, and P man were off to the neighborhood 4th of July party!!! No pictures, it was incredible.  So fun to see all of our new friends in the area and all of their kiddos.  Our family left a little early so we could make it back to 1127 to watch fireworks with LTD and the Judge and so little L could go to sleep.  They were  amazing, but the most fun was watching the wonder in P mans eyes as each firework exploded above him.  Maybe that was why the 4th has always been my favorite, that at the end of the day, you are a hot, sticky, sweaty mess, but each moment was full of wonder, and independence, and a little bit of magic.  P finally had enough and put fingers in both ears saying "all done! all done!"  And we all passed out about the same time.  Happy.

* second side note: I have no pictures of our parade, the party, or fireworks.  But I bet someone else does...or I'll get them from yay yay and post soon.

Picture Change!

How sad is it that sweet little L, who will be 10 months tomorrow, is just now gracing our readers with her presence in our header picture?  It is so pathetic.  So, I finally changed it - and here we are!  The Sensational Siblings, as our friend Nitadee has dubbed us, are gathered around the Judge with P man and little L this past Easter.  I think there is one other picture of us all together, but P took it and I am cut off and it is crooked - maybe next year.  LTD was obviously behind the camera, as usual.  Stay tuned for more celebrations!!!!  The Judge turns 60 tomorrow!