Hi de Hi Campers!

Still recovering from what turned into a lovely yet exhausting few days up the coast, the smaller boys and I were getting dirty in the woods while Cricket scuttled downtown to pick up new tips in grantwriting etiquette.

early morning day one -
ours is the enormous, impossible -for-one-person-to-put-up green monster with already snagged zipper, ho hum...

Ist breakfast....

ah...second breakfast!

Sharing the ice-cream maker, 20 mins of ball play was worth the wait for freshly made scoops!

dog?
The kids went mad about finding this relic and made up all sorts of stories about how it came to be hidden in the trees....lots of hand washing later...

It's nearly done..

Here are some recent memories from our trips to northern beaches in Malibu this Summer. Being stuck in Los Angeles wasn't so awful after all!!

Thanks Olorin.....
Blooms are nearly on their way Mac Annie!
Donovan Boy, knows his waves now and stayed out of the slosh...
Oh, that's where my hat went....LIttle Gandalf taking a break from jumping the wash..
Yep, there's good eating at a beach break camp site!

friend or foe?
another picture...aw MUM......

Sharing a week...

Well, this week has been a blur of activity, yep I know - what's new? The boys very proudly dismantled the Admirals fine work to create original Legos so they can post them at Lego.com!

So it seemed only right to have the online debut here..

Little Gandalf's creation "The Forest Fighter" ...

....and Donovan Boy's build - "The Ultimate Mining Vehicle"

We also saw an excited Zoe the Wonderdog yesterday, when we shared Shabbos with Challah and her family and we made bread from scratch. Most of this batch below was scarfed with sea salt and Manischewitz last night, but my batch is home, dough is risen, frozen and waiting for next week....

Jamie found this beautiful leaf that reminds us that Autumn is coming soon and so for felting purposes I will begin the transformation on our nature table too...
Oh and my Tuscan melons are just hanging around!!

We said goodbye to some friends we met in la Leche Lague many years ago and have since played every week at our park playgroup for 8 years! They are leaving the States to return to Canada and so we wish them a fond farewell.

Mr Ben!

There was a great TV series in England called Mr Ben which has nothing to do with anything except that the same childhood memories were shared with my little brother, who we'll call 'Snip' and it's his special day today...so
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY"!
Many Happy Returns from all of us at the Chatter!

Yours in Scouting

That's how our pack leader signs off her emails...I think it's a little strange actually, but then I would! However, Little Gandalf has joined the ranks as a Tiger this Summer, walked in the July 4th Parade with Donovan Boy ( who is now a Bear). Cubscouts is excellent training; it trains them to be cubscouts.