Fall camping at Mount Laguna

We headed up to Mount Laguna about an hour away on Friday afternoon for a weekend full of camping. However, as soon as we got there and felt the extreme cold, we had doubts as to whether we would make it all weekend. We met Jo and Shelly and their families and had fun watching Cole and Bailie enjoy the outdoors. Cole has grown so much since I last saw him and his blue eyes are about the most beautiful I've ever seen on a child - just like his mom and dad! Bailie is at such a fun age now and stole the show while we were there. We had to go into Jo and Steve's giant tent instead of sitting out by a fire because the wind was so strong we couldn't have a fire and couldn't stand the cold outside of the tent. We had fun playing games and watching Bailie walk back and forth from mom to dad. Scott and I felt very small with our tiny tent and tiny backpacking gear while the other couples had huge tents and everything else you would need for car camping. However, Scott and I were lucky because our tent fit perfectly between two trees and kept us out of the wind while both of the other couples didn't sleep a wink due to the extreme wind over and through their tents. After a 30-something degree night, we all decided to leave the next day. But not before a hike around to at least see the area where we had camped and an afternoon where we could finally have a fire and make some S'mores.

Nancy in San Diego

Nancy came to visit and we had a really nice day with yummy food and a great walk on the beach. We walked up around Torrey Pines and then way down along Black's beach. We saw beautiful waves, hang-gliders, and lots of naked men! No pictures of the latter - sorry. ;-)

Seattle

After years of trying to plan this trip, Terri and I finally picked a weekend and headed up to Seattle to see Andria. I hadn't seen her since before leaving for Costa Rica, so this was quite a treat! Caleb is now 3, whereas he was under a year old when I last saw him. He's grown up so much and is the sweetest little thing now. He talks constantly and completely cracked me up - but he's also so polite! And Lauren I hadn't met yet, but what a treat! It took her a while to get used to us and she did a lot of staring, but once she warmed up, her smiles made your heart melt (well, the staring made my heart melt too, what can I say?) Andria and Kevin are doing wonderfully and it was so great to see them and wonderful to get to go out with the girls again! We just missed you, Katie!! We even went on an old buggy ride driven by a tractor! :-)

Old men and Badgers

It's football time again and that means games as the Badgers bar. But this time, we started with a get together to celebrate Greg's 35th birthday. And since he was halfway to 70, we all dressed in plaid (the men as old and the girls as, well.... cute). The bar kicked us all out mid-game because of an electrical fire and we headed to the old Badgers bar who must have been excited to have so many people eager to drink coming in. The night ended with an attempt at karaoke, but the lame DJ was only putting people on who paid him off. Lamplighter is NOT the place to go for karaoke.

Labor Day and Houston Sitting

Monique and Josh had us all over for Labor Day for a BBQ, and as you can see by the pictures, Houston was the star of the show. He has just turned one and his personality is coming out so much now - he's so fun to be around! Scott and I babysat him the next weekend and we had so much fun taking him to the zoo and just watching him explore in our place. My favorite thing that he does is laughs... let me explain. We'll all be sitting around and talking and laughing and then all of a sudden, as he's playing and seeming to not pay attention to us at all, he'll burst out in this hysterical laugh - it's awesome! The video has a good example.

The Circus!

Because of a book we read about the circus in our book club, a few of us decided to check out Barnum and Bailey's Circus that came to San Diego. It was a lot smaller than I remember when going to the circus when I was a kid - probably at about 3 years old! It was pretty fun to see the animals and shows and having two kids there made it even funner! They are both around the same age and it is clear that Bailie is not ready for boys, though they may be ready for her! :-)

The one part of the circus that upset me was watching the tigers because they didn't look happy at all and I could just imagine them being hit with the whip so much during training. The horses and elephants and dogs looked happy enough, but I think they should take the tigers out. Oh, and the circus ringmaster was singing through the whole thing - I didn't remember that in the past.

Book Club!

I'm not sure if I've posted anything yet about my book club, but I started one late last year with a few girlfriends in San Diego and we've had 4 meetings now - it's been great! Here are a couple of pictures of our group at our last book club meeting where we read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.

Accion

As I mentioned in the Telluride post, we met these biker guys one night outside of the girls' house and they ended up hanging out with us all night and added so much to our evening! They were riding to raise money for an organization called Accion. This organization is in microfinance and works to improve international economic development. From what I understand, it's very similar to Kiva, which I think I've already posted about previously and have given money to. I think it's a GREAT way to support people in other countries who have very little because instead of giving them things, which can lead to dependence on help, they lend money so that people can start their own microbusinesses. This helps them get started, which they normally never could with no start-up money and teaches independence and a way to move away from poverty. Visit their website: www.accion.org to learn more and to donate - I definitely am going to! These guys have their own website as well: microbikeusa.com with a great video of them on the front page.

The mission from their website:

The mission of ACCION International is to give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing microloans, business training and other financial services to poor men and women who start their own businesses, ACCION's partner lending organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With just a little capital, people can grow their own businesses. They can earn enough to afford basics like running water, better food and schooling for their children.

In a world where three billion people live on less than $2 a day, it is not enough to help 1,000 or even 100,000 individuals. ACCION’s goal is to bring microfinance to tens of millions of people – enough to truly change the world. We know that there will never be enough donations to do this. That's why ACCION has created an anti-poverty strategy that is permanent and self-sustaining.

Anyway, these 6 guys were riding across the country to raise money for this organization and they almost all had recently graduated from college or were about to. We saw them out on the street passing by and were about to bring a keg into the house when the girls asked if they could help in exchange for free beer. They came in and hung out all night and Kristin made them tons of leftover food. But really, I think they gave so much to us just in their conversation. They were the nicest guys and had thought so much about life. They had already ridden from the East Coast to Telluride and still had until the West Coast to go. Very inspirational young men. I strongly urge you to take part in this organization! Just today, I received an e-mail from the loan I had donated to a Peruvian family through Kiva that they had paid it all back and I was able to take that same money and then donate to another family. It's so useful and will make you feel great!