HIKING and BIKING! Our family has really been excited about hiking lately. It's a fun and quick way to spend some time together along with get the heart rate up! I've been hiking with the boys, our family hikes and then I hike with my friends at times when kids are all occupied at school. This has been a wonderful experience that I hope to continue. We are blessed to live by the beaches and so it is fun to take beautiful ocean hikes (Torrey Pines) . We live near mountains and so it takes less then 5 minutes to hike on up those whenever we choose. We live next to a darling little trail that we bike on Sundays as well. The trail leads to the high school where the kids have a blast tearing through the deserted parking lot. We race, on foot and on bike and try to get all the Sunday wiggles out! On the way home we feed the donkey who lives along the trail a carrot. The only child opposed to all the physical activity is Evelyn and we feel strongly we'll soon talk her into it! For now she prefers practicing gymnastics as her form of exercise.
PARTIES! Another favorite pastime for the Marston family is partying! This month we enjoyed a fun afternoon at the Reeces home with Konolds and Kuletos. Fun to watch our tweens now mingle. We heard them discussing what traits they'd like in a future spouse-- we about laughed our heads off. They used to chase each other and race down the swimming pool lane. Now they are sitting in a hot tub discussing marriage. I'm nervous for the actual teenage stage! Our good friend Rachel had her birthday this month so Blake and I enjoyed a date night out in La Jolla to a delicious taco stand where fresh churros were baked (or should I say fried) in front of our very eyes. Cannot say enough how much I adore our friends here. We stayed up way too late and laughed our heads off. LOVE celebrating friends' birthdays-- it's always a good excuse to go out and have fun. And speaking of birthdays! It was my 40th this month and boy did we ever celebrate and celebrate good! Blake had already taken me on our special Vegas trip, so I wasn't expecting much for the actual birthday--- but so kindly, my friends put on a fun 40th birthday luncheon. I was so overwhelmed by the beautiful decorations, thoughtful gifts, fun 1976 (my birth year) game and a collection of 40 reasons we love you. They had thought of everything-- my favorite lunch (taco salad) my favorite dessert (pumpkin sheet cake). It was such a special afternoon and I was bursting with gratitude for all the wonderful women in my life. And then to top off the fun, the next night my friends took me to a crazy night on the town to a restaurant called LIPS where men in drag performed a DIVA show. It was too funny and definitely a night to remember. As if this weren't enough..... this past weekend, Nancy and Herb and Stacy surprised me with a HUGE gift of 40 presents they knew I would love.... which I did. So many amazing beauty supplies!!! Fun decor and selfie stick! It was a dream come true and such a fun time celebrating with our family. So you see.... turning 40 wasn't all that bad! Heck, I'd do it again to get spoiled this hugely! Haha! I really did feel loved and very grateful for all the fun festivities. Loved the little cards my boys made and the night out to dinner with just our little family. Lots of special parties this month!
MISCELLANEOUS: We decorated for Fall and it's been so fun to have all the pumpkins and leaf banners hanging around the house. Obviously we have the pumpkin scent plug ins. I LOVE the darling little sign that my friend Beth got me for my birthday-- you can change the words to whatever you'd like, but Happy Autumn seemed very fitting. I didn't get to decorating last year and frankly, almost didn't do it this year either. But Evelyn was bound and determined! She loves fall as much as I do! Having kids definitely inspires one to go the extra mile even when one doesn't feel like it! Getting out the halloween decorations also inspired me to play devious tricks on the kids for a few days- haha. I kept moving my skeleton friend from bed to bed and tucking him in so he appeared real. It was a good running joke for a few days in that the kids never knew where he'd turn up. I love teasing people. Especially my kids.
We had an extremely fun day at SeaWorld last week as the kids had a friday off from school. We went with our friends the Brinckleys. Loved all the fun pumpkin decor and LOVED that my boys were brave enough to ride the scary roller coasters they typically won't touch with a ten foot pole! I think going to Disney with their cousins helped boost their confidence and courage. We had a blast.
So that's our month in a nutshell.... all except for our amazing DISNEY trip I will report on next!
