a beautiful life.: Summer. Part II

Summer really has been good to us this year. While we spent more than half our summer at the pool--we tried to make lots of time for some other things as well.

Fourth of July with the cousins!

She learned how to swim this year!! (Elizabeth is in pink, under the water swimming to Grandma Ruth)
So proud of my girl!

Visiting Old town San Diego, we stopped to see the Mormon Battalion. Smaller than I guess we'd imagined it, we had fun learning all about the Mormon Battalion and its history. The kids did great and loved the gold mining and pretend "brick making".

There's WATER!!

Afterwards we headed up the road to La Jolla beach to just chill and watch the sea lions. Lizzie had fun looking at all of the little crabs and what not in the rocks, she loves to go exploring. Ben and I sat on the rocks for most of the time, taking in the view which was definitely not a bad thing. At times he surprises me and how he reacts to things--I never know what might happen in certain situations, but it is really fulfilling to see him take things in and stop for a moment. His mind is constantly moving and soaking up every sense around him and so I can only imagine how overwhelming it is for him not to be able to monitor and filter out his surrounding environment. That part is something that takes more patience on our part as parents...stopping at times to allow him to take things in, evaluate it and find joy in the every day things we do. It's really a blessing to myself as well.

Spotting sea lions

A few weeks before school started, we headed out to LA to see Griffith Observatory. It was a first time for all of us and the kids. The building was incredible and the view was not so bad either. As we were exploring the museum, it made me think of Dad. I wondered if he had ever come here? I don't think he did--knowing that we always went pretty much every where with my dad, especially on trips like that, I don't recall him every going. I just know he would have loved it.