first day of school.

reality started to hit when I got this list from Brayden. He is a healthy one. 

then the night before school and they got their Father's blessings. 

Kosty wanted to be prepared so he wore his clothes and socks and shoes to bed. I had to take off the shoes at least, it was killing me. (Little did I know this would become his nightly routine-no more pjs, only school clothes to bed! :/)

he searched long and hard for his perfect backpack. 

HA. Only close up I could get. I still love it.

"NO MORE PICTURES!"

Brayden woke up that morning and said he felt like he was going to throw up. Then he started crying about missing the first day. I couldn't believe it either, out of all days!? Such a bummer! So I took Kosty outside and it was too bright hence the squinty eye pics, which are cute anyway so I had to put them up. I took Kosty to school and when I came home Brayden was looking alive again. He ended up being totally fine and started jumping up and down to 'prove' he wasn't nauseous anymore. That proved it for me, cause non nauseous person would ever jump up and down. So I took him to school late. What a weird morning. First day of school is always bittersweet! Brayden got the teacher he always wanted to have for 5th grade, but all but one of his friends are in the other class. Kosty got a lot of friends in his class, so he was happy about that. Kosty noticed backpacks when we were in CA and decided he had to have one with "real leather." He is more picky than any kid in the ever. So he asked me to google this particular backpack he wanted and then when he realized they were pricey, he said, "Ok, will you type in Herschel backpack clearance?" Little does he know I would have paid anything at that point hearing after hearing that. Love this picky bargain shopper. 

summer wrapped up.

coming back to laundry and unpacking is always a harsh reality

Kosty hand selected my outfit and in order to hurry me up,
it didn't take us long to take our woes to Sweeties for some candy to take the edge off. 

He's always wanted this giant gummy bear but turns out only one bite was all he needed before it hit the trash. 

just being cute at grandmas

my favorite easy dinner. four fit quite comfortably. 

shower/bedtime shenanigans. Kosty trying not to smile. 

I'd always wanted to try Pizzeria Bianco in Phx but never made the trip, and the one month waiting list it once had might have deterred me a little bit. To my surprise its right next door to the Science Center so my sister talked me into splurging for a fancy lunch before we went in.  Kosty picked all the cheese off his pizza, and Brayden said he preferred Little Casears. Ouch. My sister and I really liked it but really wish we had ditched the kids.

Nie Nie posted all about Smeeks a few years ago and it looked like the most adorable little picture taking/candy/trinket store you've ever seen. After noticing that it was close to where we were, we decided to make one more stop. After quite some time of searching, we discovered they had closed down their original shop and we were now standing in their "new location" inside a strip mall and it was nothing like I had envisioned. At least we were able to scratch it off the list it made its way to for the last few summers. 

Our last Tuesday at Big Surf. It was well worth the season passes. The boys would play all day with friends, I got to talk with my friends, and we would pull into the garage just in time for dinner/shower/bed. 

My favorite part of summer is the lazy mornings. Pajamas and nothing to rush around to do until we felt like it. 

our annual list 

cause when a little blonde boy comes and sits in the laundry basket and starts a conversation with you and you alone, you take a picture. 

carlsbad.

 my mouth: its not spit, its rubber bands. this was during an extremely painful styling/detangling session that they seemed to thoroughly enjoy. 

can't go to carlsbad without doing some strawberry pickin.

at our favorite pizza place (That Pizza Place) 

its always fun until you get out. 

after

I've been working really hard on my yoga handstands and I got my longest ever on the beach. 30 seconds. Feels like 30 minutes when you're upside down. 

I'm the only one of the four who enjoys catching sand crabs. Brayden would run and scream when I came near him with one. 

another thing I loved about Carlsbad was that it felt like real life almost, because it was a neighborhood instead of a beach city. My favorite thing to do was run down the beach in the mornings and I was happy to find barre class nearby too. I'd always wanted to try one. It was crazy hard and Im sure I had the shakiest legs in class. 

I was so looking forward to my annual pedicure (ha. seriously) but I was super bummed that the place right by the hotel had no good colors. I settled with this electric blue but didn't even like it until the boys noticed it matched their shovel perfectly. Also, why do I get pedicures and then go to the beach? hmm. 

Brayden decided on the last day that he wanted to take real surf lessons. He was pretty grouchy about it too. We told him we would have gladly checked into it at the beginning of the trip. He was obsessed about it and wouldn't stop talking about it. Jer took him a few times but it wasn't enough I guess. We promised that next year we would put him in a surf camp at the beginning of the week. 

one morning the boys joined me on my run. They were such good sports wearing their flip flops since thats all they brought. They kept up too. But we made a pit stop at the beach and played a while. Jer was back at the hotel, working, and Kosty was pretty sad about that. So he traced an "I love Daddy" with his picture into the sand. 

Brayden drew his comic characters 

Kosty picked every kind of flower he saw that morning and made me a big bouquet. Ohhhh. This whole morning was probably my best memory from the trip. Kosty "happy danced" down the sidewalk, Brayden was cracking up at a song I made up and danced to, and the weather was so gorgeous, the beach was so perfect. 

my brother and sister were in Huntington so we met up with them for a bit before we drove home. Oh and of course, we had to stop at Balboa candy.