Squeezing in the last bits of summer

This is our first official "school year", the kind where summer comes to an abrupt end. We have to be responsible enough to be somewhere everyday. This is a new thing in the Clifford family, we usually max out at two commitments a week. We have spent the last 10 days trying to squeeze in all of our favorite summer activities before school starts. We went to Boca before dinner last week and hung out in the water. Micah got his first bee sting, ouch!
The kids swimming in the murky water:

Last Friday we decided to spend the day at one of our favorite spots. Moon dunes over a Lake Tahoe. It must have been Glenshire day at the lake, we ran into 3 other Glenshire families over there for the day. Pretty funny considering it is one of 50 beaches within 30 minutes, I guess everyone is thinking the same way we are about the end of summer.

Guyute enjoying his day at the beach:

Kristen, Parker and Hayden are back from the Cape for the summer. We had them over for dinner and the kids were all VERY happy to see each other. Here they are laughing it up:

On Sunday we went over to the East end of Donner Lake with Jenna and Sutter. More playing in the sand and water for us:

Sutter and Micah:

Hanging out with Jenna and the kids is always entertaining. We have the same sense of humor about our kids looking ridiculous. Here is Sutter getting ready for his lake training:

The boys found Jenna's swim cap, we decided it was a good idea if they tried it on:

Sutter liked it:

its stretches:

even more:

SNAP!

Michael Phelps better watch his back:

Yesterday was Ella's first day of Kindergarten! Here she is on the front steps getting ready to go:

She was extremely excited! No crying from the kid!
We rode bikes and she brought her new tiger as a companion:
Here she is with her friend Hannah getting ready to go in:

Ella loved her first day in Mrs. Johnson's class! Kindergarten is a success....for now!

Surprise!

We spent this last weekend celebrating my dad's 60 years. Sean, Jody, Ana & Nancy joined us for the weekend. We spent Friday night at his place Qing it up with some of dad's friends from Incline and Diane and Jerry that he used to work with at Tandem. The boys got up and played an early round of golf in Incline. They came back to our new house for what dad thought was a relaxing BBQ with the family. Little did he know I had invited over about 20 of his friends. Including 2 of his best friends from high school. We thought that the piles of food and alcohol everywhere may have tipped him off, but I think we blindsided him!
Here he is with his friends from high school, left to right, Tom Barclay, dad, Susan Barclay, Joel Crews:
Dad and his friends at his party

Sean and Jody (Sean I hope you are happy to be on the blog!)

The cake that I made for the event and Ella putting the candles on:

Blowing out the candles:

Good times:

The kids are always there to help lick the candles....and open the presents...

Dad looking pleased with his 60th party:

It was fun to have a party for my dad and watch the surprise on his face as guests kept on arriving! We hope that he had a great time too! Neverending thanks to Ana, Nancy and Jody for helping me get everything ready, without them everyone would have been very hungry. Thanks Sean for motivating me to make it happen!! Love you guys!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Our cat Yoda LOVES the new house. He spends his days wandering from house to garden. Lying in the shade, lying in the sun, chasing bugs and rolling in the grass. I think he needs to get a job. He also loves our new couch. Here he is enjoying the new couch:
These days Micah is into anything that he thinks is "cool". Daddy gave him a new hat "its so cool mom" he tells me. Paired with my over sized sunglasses made for the perfect "cool" look for him the other day. He was very pleased with himself:

Great outfit for spraying people with our sushi makisus:
Ella had her first soccer practice on Wednesday (yes that does make me a soccer mom, laugh it up). Just before practice she came into me and told me that she thought she might be just a little nervous about playing soccer. I assured her that she would be fine, after all she does have the right shoes. She did great and had a great time. Here are her and Micah waiting to go to soccer, Micah doesn't get to play yet, but likes to get dressed for it all the same:
The girls, Carly, Zoe & Ella racing down the field:
Ella working her skills dribbling:

Serious little soccer girl:
Waiting in line to come down the field:
Soccer has started... Kindergarten is next!! ;)

No one thought I could do it. I told everyone that I was going to have the car in the garage before Cliff got home and everyone laughed. After a lot of rearranging and stacking and unpacking, its in! Okay so you may not be able to get to anything, but the car is in! This picture is for all you haters out there:
Cliff came home and we got to enjoy our first dinner as a family in our new house. We cracked the bottle of wine that cousin Ana gave us from the winery she works out. It was delicious!

Last Saturday the Crandell family rolled into town. Paul was coming through for the Concours d'Elegance to show off the new plane that he is promoting. We went down to check it out, here are all the woodies at the boat show:
This is Paul's plane, seriously something out of James Bond! It is the sports car of planes, lands on water, everyone needs one! Check it out at : http://www.iconaircraft.com/
That night we went to the annual Rust family Lobster bake. Tons of kids, friends, a bounce house and LOTS of Lobsta! The kids had a blast playing with the lobsters before their demise.
Ella and her Lobster friends

We played a little croquet
Thanks Rust family for a great party!

Our new house was all set for us to move in, complete with furniture. Just one improvement needed to be made, a good stain job. Yesterday was the day that they started the big job. The windows are sealed up and there are all sorts of great toxic chemicals swirling through the air. It was a great excuse to spend the day at the pool. A good friend of Ella's got us the hook up to head over to the pool at Old Greenwood (gotta love social networking through your kids!). Complete with water slide, it kept us busy for a good 5 hours or so.

Ella and Summer waiting in line for the slide (they probably went 100 times, no exaggeration!)

Summer coming down:
Micah was observing, chomping on watermelon:

The girls coming rapid fire:
Ella posing as she slides
At fancy clubs like Old Greenwood you don't have to take your own towels, they have them for you. When we were leaving we realized that we may have abused the privilege just a bit, we had the biggest stack of towels you have ever seen. (I guess that is what happens with 6 kids) We had to take a picture next to the sign asking you not to do that:
Old Greenwood is great and the kids went to bed without a sound! Win Win