Happy Is As Happy Does...

flickr photo by mindluge

Thought I'd share a little something sent to me by my little sister- so perfect for the middle of the week. 64 Awesome Facts that Will Make You Feel Incredibly Happy made the "hump" in hump-day easier to get over.  It's the super-sized version of a similar list that went around some time ago. Flamboyance? Prickle? I shared most of the animal facts on the list with Em who laughed with delight-she's a big fan of quirky words and animal facts so this was right up her alley. 

Summer In Santa Cruz

Every summer we spend a week at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, CA. And this year it was our first trip of the summer, beginning even before school officially let out ( see prior post). It's not too far of a drive from home, and seems to have the right combo of sun, fun, sand & surf for the whole family.  In between the fun of the boardwalk and beach there are those fleeting quiet moments at twilight on the patio I relish...

Some of our favorite to-dos during the week: walking out to Stegnaro's on the Wharf for dinner (sand dabs are oh so fresh and delish), then picking up a little something sweet from Marini's to nibble as we visit with the barking resident sea lions on our stroll back to the hotel;  A full day out at the Boardwalk, fortified with tasty and healthy eats from The Picnic Basket, which is a good antidote to the deep frieds and sweetie sweets that beckon between the exciting rides and games; and of course lots of time together out on the beach and in the pool.

It's not a very far away getaway, but it is very effective. It's nice to know you don't always have to travel far in order to come home happy, relaxed, and with a few more happy memories to add to the summer memory bank.

Celebrate the Sun

We love to celebrate, whether its big look-forward-to-all-year-long days like birthdays and Halloween or smaller lesser known days like summer solstice or National Banana Split Day. Spending time together, having fun, good eats, good times... This weekend we spent time together enjoying the longest day of the year with a late afternoon mini hike along the bay.  It also involved gathering little bits of nature for our solstice project:

Em was particularly thrilled with finding the teeny crab leg.  We got to work arranging the treasures on the sun photo paper:

Two minutes outside, and the sun takes the photo onto the paper for us:

The magic of the paper inspired all sorts of creative arrangements:

Punched some holes, wove some ribbon, and we had ourselves a fine summer sun photo banner to hang in the tree.  This was a super easy and fun project, we hope to do it again next year.

Get the Sun Photo Paper here.

Happy Summer Solstice!

While today is the first official day of summer, around our home, summer seems to start the moment school lets out.  Which means this year it began prematurely because in a classic B+ parenting moment, I somehow got the last day of school wrong. Completely wrong. By 3 whole days wrong.  This wouldn't have been a big dealio except we booked a week vacation months ago based on my harried-working-mom-sleep-deprived brain misfire.  So much to my second grader's delight, we went ahead and began summer "early..."