A weekend away

Sept 14th 2014

So mum came to visit and Ste and I got to go away for the weekend - hurray :)  We decided to go to Carmel as after 3 1/2 years of living here and it only being 45 minutes down the road, we'd not yet managed to visit.  We didn't bump into Clint much to Ste's disappointment but we had a lovely relaxing time away.  The beach was very pretty, if a bit cloudy (although in true Brit style Ste managed to burn his face away!) and we visited a little mission with a wedding in full swing.  We ate out at a top grub restaurant and drank and ate far too much.  All good stuff :)

Wicked...

Sept 6th 2014

...and it was!

Meanwhile T hit the jackpot in Golfland!

We escaped!!

Sept 1st 2014

From Alcatraz that it.  We were pretty tempted to keep T locked up but he ended up getting back on the boat with us :)  A fun labor day.

2nd and 1st grade - back to school!

The summer flew and all to soon it was time for new school uniforms, school supplies, lunchboxes and backpacks.  I can't believe how big they are getting :/
Sophia has a new teacher called Mrs Norris and Tommy has Miss Martin (Sophia's teacher from last year)
Heres to a successful year!!

A dream career?

I remember filling in one of those 'all about me' forms at primary school and in the bit where it asked what you wanted to be when you grew up I wrote author and artist.  Well I've now realised my life's ambition as I'm now both!  Well kind of!

I recently signed a contract for my very first book deal!!!  It was very exciting.  The book is going to be published as a ebook so I won't actually get to hold it. But someone will illustrate it and it will be sold for people to buy and read it and I will have PAL (published and listed) status at the SCBWI and right at the moment this is enough for me!  And if that wasn't enough this story has also landed me in the final of a competition.  I've been featured on blog posts and had my video put on Utube!!  Winners will be announced in a couple of weeks.  It would be lovely to win as I'd get $1500!! but if I don't that's fine too as the book will be published regardless.  Squeelll :)

http://blog.meegenius.com/2014/08/07/meet-the-finalists-sian-mole/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lwcXu6Ngbk

So, on to the artist bit.  This is slightly more tenuous but I've just been offered a job teaching art in an elementary school.  I'll teach all 600 kids over 2 weeks which will come out as 3 days one week, 2 days the next and so on.  I had to juggle the schedule a bit, Yuko (Rachel's mum) will take my 2 to school on Tuesday and on Wednesdays they'll do after school karate, but other than those little tweeks the timings are perfect.  And I get to spend my days in the art room teaching a subject that most kids love without any of the crappy paperwork that goes along with being a teacher.  Hopefully it will be a perfect part-time job however I'm aware I've said this before so I shall reserve judgement until I start on Sept 9th!

Things are coming together...

In Summer!

So I can't believe the summer is over already!  Those 11 weeks have flown away!

Here are some highlights:

Fireworks over Almaden Park

T learnt to swim!  The first 6 years of his life he's been scared to put his face in the water and then suddenly, 6 private lessons later, you can't get him out from under it. And of course S is still exactly the same. Good stuff :)

A boys trip to see New Order

Camping with the Greenes. Lots of mossies but still fun!

A surprise and very exciting visit from Uncle Dave!

A freezing cold trip to Bodega Bay with Laura and John.  Just for comparison

Bodega in the winter

Bodega in the summer :/

Still it was still a beautiful place to be, just this time with a jacket.  And the kids had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

What with the pool and the park and the holidays and the visitors AND learning to swim (T) AND learning to ride their bikes without stabilizers (both of them) it has well and truly whizzed by!  Happy Summer :)

So true....

Saw this in an ice cream shop in Sausalito.Having spent the last year looking for work this is so painful true.  I love the way they had to add (joke) on the end - I wonder how many lawyer applicants they had :)