It is still summer in California

We went to the beach for a ward party. Eloise loved having her church friends there to play with. They built 3 different sand castles... all close to the water and all short-lived. I think they liked their big lake as much as the castle. They had a great time.

Abby continues to love playing in the waves

Robert remembered to bring our big kite to the beach this trip. He was very popular with all the small children.

This is the "star castle." Eloise liked it best because it had the fanciest decorations.

Abby likes to gather up her sunglass and purse, get the stroller and wander the house intent on her important business.

Abby likes to join Eloise at homework time. She gets very excited.

We had Eloise's cousins over for a sleep over. The kids were all ecstatic when I told them they could stay up. They celebrated by playing Toontown until 11 PM. Abby might look like she is falling asleep, but she is rolling around laughing at her cousins.

The unstopable adventure baby meets furniture. Abby picked up her worst injury to date. 10 minutes later she was up and running around again.

Our girl looking very scrapy

getting colorful

'Cause one injury is never enough... look at Abby's foreheaad. She added a nice goose-egg right in the middle.

We moved beds around. Now Eloise gets to enjoy the big comfy bed in her rainbow room.

Abby seems very pleased that the bulk of the toys are now in her room. She has become very interested in blocks and legos.

Abby likes to visit Eloise at bedtime. Is it because she loves her sister? Or because she loves an excuse to play on the bed?

We had a drizzly Septemeber morning. Eloise wanted warmer clothes, but was not willing to give up her skort. After she got dressed she said "now when we play the what are you wearing game- I can stand up for pants and skirt!"

Abby loves her new-found ability to create (not that she has given up destruction, no worry there). She likes the megablocks best because they are easiest to connect so she can go tall.

The backyard wading pool became super-exciting when we put the slide in.

Elosie says I should tell you, "they love each other because they stick together like glue."

Hey mom! can we have an otter pop!

Abby loves having the water, but gets tired of splashing. She likes revisiting the pool after Eloise has gone in.

Abby loves to pick up leaves. The great challenge is how many she can hold before they start to fall when she picks up a new one. This is on a visit to the San Diego Zoo.

After Eloise climbed up to give the elephant a hug, she was even more excited to realize she could slide down the tusk.

Do you think it likes rocks?

Eloise liked crawling through through the ice caves, and poking her head up just like the seals.

Abby was delighted with the giant books by the polar bears. She was even more delighted when she figured out she could turn the pages.

Turtles were definitely the favorite animal for Abby. We watched the live ones crawl around and around their encloser (hurray for active turtles!). She was also pleased to find one she could touch.

Eloise found the most beautiful horse on the whole carousel!

Abby found a new favorite hang-out while Eloise is on Splash Mountain. She spent 1/2 hour climbing on the honeypots and was unhappy when it was time to leave.

Eloise loves Tinkerbell and fairies in general (2nd only to Minnie Mouse). She was delighted to take a walk through Pixie Hollow and be fairy-sized.

It took Abby a while to notice it, but when she did, she was very excited.

We have had some afternoon windstorms (and occaisionally a little rain!). After the first night of wind, our willow tree developed a lean. Robert has been mourning for our tree. Eloise is planning our new front yard. She wants to plant a maze.

It is defintely going to go down. After this picture, we removed all the branches on the side by the house. If the tree falls before we get it removed, it should stay on the lawn now.

We have been making cogs for Eloise's Birthday party. She is going to have her first "friends party." She will have a Toontown party. Both girls were thrilled for the chance to help decorate the cogs.

Friends to build castles with