Howard Family, Party of 5

We had a busy one, once again!

I had friday off, cause I was on baby-sitting duty since Nana is out of town. Arissa spent the day at SeaWorld with her friend from Drill Team, Olivia. They were there ALL day and had so much fun:

Oh and we spent a good part of the weekend watching this (2...maybe 3 times):

Any movie w/ talking animals is sure to be a hit with my girls. Add in a Mexican accent, and you just can't go wrong!

We also went to the library...except 4 out of the 5 of us owe fines so we had to put all the books we checked out on Mariah's tab...the only one who doesn't owe!

Friday morning while Arissa was away, M&M and I went up to Cabrillo National Monument. We saw the Rosecrans cemetary (where Mariah declared: "No wonder there's not very much people in America. They're all buried here!"). :o)

We checked out the Point Loma lighthouse, which the girls thought was the coolest thing ever! Then we drove around and enjoyed the scenery.

When Jesse picked up Arissa from Olivia's after work, we invited Olivia to spend the night. We were already planning on going to check out the IB Sand Castle competition, so she came along.

Except we found out when we got there that the competition didn't start till Saturday. So we drove down Silver Strand and ended up at Coronado where we got out and played in the water for a bit. The girls were so hyped up to get out and be on the sand and feel the water that I was scared they might revolt if I didn't let them!

("Mariah's Vacation" is what this says)

We spent the night @ Nana's, since it was empty anyways and it's a much easier place to house 6 people than our place. Unfortunately, it was also blazing hot since it's been closed up for a week since Nana's been gone! So we slept in the floor, no blankets, all the windows wide open. It was that hot.

Then Saturday morning we got in the car and headed out again to the SandCastle comp.

Except we found out when we got there that Saturday is just for kids and didn't start till noon...the adult competition is on Sunday from 2-4.

Bummer.

So instead:

This was actually really fun. All 4 of the girls were amazed and mesmerized by even the smallest fish that people were catching on the pier. We watched the surfers paddling and catching waves.






We even saw several dolphins! That was the coolest part.




And then we came across this:

Someone had caught a shark. Mariah was the only one (including me) brave enough to get close enough for a picture:

I love all the blood on the wall behind her...it makes such a nice photo. :o)

And then over the weekend I made this:

It's my 2nd quilt, and it's about 80% smaller than my first one. But I like it...it was so much more manageable to quilt! I figure from now on, if the total amount of fabric doesn't fit on my kitchen table, I can't quilt it.

This one was also so much easier cause I didn't do any designs, I didn't follow a pattern, I didn't have to cut and sew any pieces. I just took the fabric, put the batting in between, pinned it, and went to town. Here's the front/back:

And Friday afternoon I made this:

The first time I've used a button closure. Nevermind my messy stitching (I hadn't snipped the thread yet either):

I ended up giving it to Olivia, but Mariah modeled it for me:

Et c'est tout!

Only exactly 7 days till I meet Francoise & her family!

I'm so excited but nervous too.

I have a hard enough time meeting people for the first time who speak the SAME language as me....how will I do it when there's a language barrier? Hopefully her english and my french are good enough that we can actually carry on a conversation.

But I will have my french/english dictionary on-hand at all times, just in case. :o)

The girls have gotten their introductions down though....a bought them a dvd that teaches children french. So I say "what are you going to say to Francoise?" and they reply "Bonjour, les amies!". :o) Too cute!