Abby's birthday and surfing

Last week was a wirlwind of activity!  I feel like we were going nonstop everyday.  Who said that summer was relaxing?!

It started with Abby's birthday last Sunday.  We had our family party on Sunday which is really only cake and presents.  We do this with all the kids so that we can make the family party more intimate.  We like the idea of making it personal so that we can express our feelings without being overrun by crowds of kids.  So that means each child also gets a friend party too.  The age of the birthday determines the size of the party.  Abby turned 6 so she got to have a simple party here at home with a couple of her friends.  Since it's summer, a sprinkler party was a no brainer.  But, that doesn't mean a lot here in CA.  Even though it's July, it turned out to be cloudy and chilly that day.  Abby was not to be deterred.  The girls braved the sprinklers and the blow-up pool even though they had goosebumps and their teeth were chattering.  Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

 Since Shelby (my niece) was here, we also took the opportunity to include Abby's birthday in our trip to Disney (I'm all for multi-tasking).  Look!  I finally got a crown too?  A long time ago I told Abby that Aurora was my favorite princess (I always loved how the prince finds her in the woods and steps in to dance with her, singing, of course.  It's just like my life, sans the singing).  Everyone has their princess, by the way, I just figured it was time I honored mine.

Then for Mutual (church youth night), we went to the beach for surfing, truly a CA activity.  Once again, it was cloudy and even rained (sprinkled, if you're from the South), but the kids got in the freezing water anyway.  The true surfers and want-to-be's have body suits.  Then there was a five minute beautiful sunset before the sun went behind the clouds again (another CA thang).

Rachel's birthday was next, but more on that tomorrow.  Outside of our fun activities, the rest of the week was full of shopping for birthdays, cleaning for birthdays, and driving everyone everywhere!