This summer, I borrowed a kayak from a friend at work.  Lucy was the first to ride with me and we had a great time.   Emily got in, but I dumped her trying to get past the (barely there) Carpinterian surf.  Nate was also dumped into the knee-deep water (his knees, not mine) when the kayak went parallel to the surf.  He cried so hard and so loud that the life guard came over and asked if he was OK.  I think YaYa was a little embarrassed.

On other days, Max and I have cruised out.  We have kayak’d up to Padaro Beach Grill an down to the Venoco pier.  I took my phone with us on the most recent trip and used GPS to record our tracks.  Uploading this information to Google Maps was pretty cool.

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It has been about 6 weeks since we have returned from Yosemite and a lot has happened.  Let’s take a look.

GranMille and GranDon spent about 3 weeks with us and everyone had a super time.

Boy Scout Troop 50 marches in the Carpinteria 4th of July parade.

Our parade includes a garbage truck, patriotically adorned.

The annual First Baptist VBS was a hit.  Max and Lucy rode their bikes to and from each day.  At the end of the week was the show.  Can you spot Lucy?  Hint: look for pink crocs.  Can you spot Max?  He is hiding, but still (barely) visible.

Roly turned 1 years old, got some ice cream, cake and YaYa and Poppa got a picture with all the grand kids.

Our boy is getting better at feeding himself.  He downed this banana in just a few minutes the other night.  I still do the peeling for him, but the cutting of the banana into wheels is no longer necessary.

Roly loves books.  I mean really loves books.  He grabs them. He eats them.  He tears them up.  Here, I am reading to Sumo-wrestler Lucy and Roly decides he needs to be involved.

I hung  some hammock seats on the front porch and they are a big hit.  Even Roly can get into the swinging chairs.  The crazy thing is that I bought these on our Mexican cruise in July 2008 and hung them up in July 2011.

I borrowed a kayak from a friend at work and Max and I cruise at the beach quite a bit.

Still crawling, but he likes the scoop because it makes him look like Popeye with a pipe in his mouth.

He sort of pushes himself along behind the walker that he got for his birthday.

He sort of likes the trailer that we got for him to ride in.  The trailer attaches to the bike and can be used as a stroller.

The Johnston’s came for a long weekend visit.  A great time was had by all.  We promised to try to see each other more frequently than every 3 years.  Unfortunately, the next visit is for the Theule’s to go to Lake Elisinore.  ummm….

Salem had a great picnic this year.  Lucy got her face painted and learned to twirl a lasso.  She even entered a pie eating contest and rode a pony.  Max did well in the apple bobbing contest.  Roly did not enjoy having his face painted.

Last week Max did a surfing day camp with Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara.  They had devotions in the morning and then spent a few hours learning to surf at Santa Claus beach (near the Padaro Grill).  He did really well, standing up on his first day.  I think his balance is very strong as a result of using his Rip Stick.

Here are some photos from his week at surf camp