Best of Summer

This summer seemed to fly by - it felt like we barely had time to do many of the activities we usually do every summer.  Still, we managed to have a lot of fun.

Arthur toes

We kicked off the summer with a visit from Travis in what has become an annual tradition. He stayed with us for about two weeks, time enough for Beatrice to decide she's going to marry him.  Dev also had a late birthday celebration with Travis, Sam, Lilli, and Monty, and we all celebrated by building a dog-powered Rube Goldberg machine.

At LACMA

We went camping in Malibu and the kids went to summer camp at Stough Canyon Nature Center (this was Arthur's first year).  Then in August we went camping again, this time in Sequoia, where we introduced the kids to General Sherman, the largest tree in the world.

Getting filthy with Cromwell

 

Playing a scavenger hunt game with their new compasses (Thank you, Amy!)

 

General Sherman

Suzan and Naresh came out to visit for the Fourth of July.  (See more photos here.)

 

 

Later we also enjoyed visits from my sister and from Aubrey and Melissa.

 

Dev, Gillian, and I went to the PopUp L.A. white dinner party again, along with Amy, Lesley, and Michelle.  This year it was held on the polo grounds of the Will Rogers Estate. 

This time I went with an Ice Age theme.

 

 

And let's not forget, we saw the world's largest rubber duck! When it stopped in the Port of Los Angeles on its trip around the world.

And of course, the biggest event of all, our trip to Chile.

 

In between all the trips and visitors, we did find time for a few ordinary daily activities, like food trucks, Shakespeare in the park, outdoor movies and concerts, and after-dark flashlight walks.

Playing in the wading pool

 

Yes, there's a lobster truck.

Ghostbusters in the park

This year we saw Iron and Wine and Neutral Milk Hotel.

  

 



This is what you get when you try to photograph the kids running around outside at sunset with glow sticks.



We went to the usual places, like the zoo, the aquarium, LACMA, the Natural History Museum, and Kidspace.

 

 

We discovered two amazing water parks (basically, public pools with huge aquatic playgrounds).

 

 And we played at home.

 

 

 

For some reason we had a terrible crop of summer vegetables this year.   Most things, like the tomatoes and eggplants, didn't even produce enough to make up a single meal, but we did have luck with our zucchini.

The Japanese maple unfurling its new leaves.*

The grape vines colonizing the sidewalk.

 We got back from Chile just in time for Beatrice to start kindergarten.

 

A few more fun moments:

 

At a special lunch with Beatrice

 

The children perform a puppet show for William (who appears to be trying to escape).

Dev on Free Slushie Day

Beatrice delivering a lecture in a physics classroom at Caltech

Arthur took this photo of his own feet.

Getting a piggy back ride from Zoe

Beatrice mixing Arthur a custom cocktail: water, apple juice, grape juice, maraschino cherries, and peach Greek yogurt

Meanwhile, tonight I finished making this year's Halloween invitations, meaning that fall is officially on its way...

 

* Technically we took this photo in the spring, but I love it too much to leave it off the blog.