She's off and riding!

We're riding on 2 wheels, folks!

2 (or 4) for tea

For my birthday this year, Mrs. Edie's gift was to take the girls and me to the tea house in San Clemente for lunch. Because of schedules, we just celebrated this week.
This was the girls' first tea house experience. Rosie picked the dress and Mrs. Edie was in charge of hair. I'm seriously hair challenged. The girls had a great time trying on hats and sipping their tea like ladies. They loved the tea sugar cubes. :)

Lemonade and Great Papa Welch

The sun was out on Sunday and Great Papa Welch came for a visit.

What a great day to sell some lemonade.

 Sadie calculated Rosie's earnings. 

Looks like a profitable sale. We're in the black.  

"Wasn't that a fun day, Great Papa?"

Freezing 4th!

The sun did not celebrate the 4th of July with us this year but we still had a great time.

Pre 4th bike ride and dinner with Uncle Jack and Mrs. Edie

4th of July morning donut celebration

Although it was cold, we braved the beach to meet up with some friends...some were braver than others and swam in the ocean... some built sand castles... some one parked it in a beach chair wrapped in a towel and ate buffalo wing pretzels. 

Papa and Mimi arrived for the evening feast and fireworks. My dad made a fruit flag fandango. He's never even looked at Pinterest, people... he's just that creative! He also made an apple pie from scratch using my Nana Welch's recipe which called for, "2 handfuls of flour."

Miss her.

My sweet hubby grilled the meat. Delicious is an understatement. 

And after the feast we walked down the street to watch the fireworks... in down vests :)

Extreme Playhouse Makeover

Ron and I have been looking for a playhouse for the girls for quite a while. We wanted just the right thing... made from wood and not too big.

We were on a walk on Sunday morning and we came across this little beauty. 

The best part was the handwritten sign reading, "FREE"

Oh, yes. 

Ron ran for the truck while I started scheming.

All she needed was a few new bolts, some TLC from the resident handy man, a good scrub down, and a little lipstick and rouge.

Before:

During:

After:

Just in case you're wondering about where I came up with the color scheme: