Summer 2011

Since we are already well in to fall, even though we are just barely putting away the swimsuits and shorts, I thought I would take the time to put together a brief Cobb summer recap.

So, here it is.  The Cobb family summer overview with a few photos of the things I actually remembered to take pictures of...

Rob and Keri
We celebrated our 15th Anniversary with three days away in Big Sur.  Calgon take me away...We enjoyed massages, great food, peace and quiet and some much needed rest and relaxation.  I'm ready to go back!  Rob spent the remainder of the summer building a new roof over our shop and patios in the back, working off and on at school and not surfing nearly enough.  I spent the balance of the summer feeding the roofing crew, taxiing the girls to swim practice, counseling a wagon full of little girls at camp and working on my tan...(not really).

The Cobb Girls
The girls spent their summer swimming, drawing, swimming and in their spare time, swimming.  I think they grew fins.  Around here, if you're going to be outside in the summer when it's 5 million degrees, the water is the place to be.

The Cobb Boy
Jerry spent his summer working (hooray for first jobs), driving and trying to figure out how to spend more time with his girlfriend.  He passed his driver's permit test and spent the rest of the summer chauferring Rob and I everywhere.  The look on his face when the DMV lady told him he passed was priceless.  I wish I had a picture.  He worked for a local Almond farming operation mostly cutting weeds in the orchards.  Hot, nasty work, but everybody's got to start somewhere and he hung in there and stuck with it.  He even managed to save enough money to put towards his first car.  He'll be in the market once he passes his driver's test.

The Cobb Dog
Sadie managed to entertain us, chew up our stuff and dig up our yard before she ran away at the end of the summer.  Some of us are more heartbroken over this than others.

We made it to the beach a couple times where the kids had fun in the water.  One of our trips to the beach was during the Discovery Channel's Shark Week.  It took a little convincing to get the girls in the water that day.  They were sure that more sharks on TV meant more sharks in the water.  We'll be working on logic this year.

Earlier in the summer, we went to the zoo with Mr. Jawsome and his baby sister.  There's an awful lot of cuteness going on in this picture.

Cock-a-doodle do Hannah.  Hannah and I went to Wagon Train Camp (see separate post whenever I get around to it) this summer.  This is what she looks like when someone is trying to rouse her from peaceful slumber to embrace a day of crazy camp fun.  She and I have so much in common.

Well, I think that gives you the general idea.  The first few months of school have been really busy.  I'll have a few things to post whenever the motivation comes.  

Camping and Kayaking

In honor of the October birthdays in our family (mine and Jerry's), we went camping for the weekend and spent some time Kayaking in Morro Bay.  Here are a few shots from our trip.

Jerry kayaked for the first time and I think he enjoyed it.  The girls are getting old enough to learn to paddle their own boats too.  So this time around, we tied a single boat to the back of Rob's canoe.  That's Grace paddling behind Rob and Hannah.  Sarah rode with me and helped paddle from the front.  We saw lots of sea life and even got up close to a jellyfish.

Murals for Papa's Shop

 A few weeks ago, we paid Papa Mike and Grandma Kris a visit.  They had a very special project planned for us.  We got to help Papa Mike decorate the walls of his newly completed shop/man cave.  Nothing on this earth could make the Cobb girls happier than the chance to paint whatever they wanted on clean white walls.  It felt so naughty!

Needless to say, Papa's man cave has some really pretty rainbows, hearts, butterflies and pink thingamablobs on the walls now.  No doubt his buddies will be impressed.

 Grandma and Daddy even got in on the action.

 Daddy painted his dream house...

really more of a hut, but who cares when you have the perfect wave out your front door.

 We also got to meet Daddy's long lost twin brother.....

Oh, I mean Papa and Grandma's new dog, Mugs.  



Santa Cruzin'

Towards the end of the summer, we had a chance to hit the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  Rob and I both grew up playing there as kids and it's so much fun to take our kids to play there now.  There's just something about this place that puts a smile on all of our faces!

Cruisin' on the Cave Train

Bumpin' on the bumper cars

Jerry and Hannah both took their first rides on the Giant Dipper with me.  I love it and so did they!

Round and round they go...if they'll puke nobody knows!

Dippin' Dots anyone?

Giddy up horsey!

Flyin' high on the sky ride

Goodnight Boardwalk...until next year!

Take Me Out to the Ball Park

A couple weekends ago, I got to go to my first Dodger game.  Sports are so much more fun in person... especially with good food (Dodger Dogs) and good friends (the Abshires).

Oh yeah...and the Dodgers won!

Congratulations Uncle Doug and Aunt Rachel!

Last weekend we had the privilege of being a part of Rob's brother Doug's wedding.  He and his bride, Rachel had two ceremonies (one in a church and one on the beach).  Seemed like a good idea to me.  Both were beautiful, she got two dresses and as Sarah pointed out, they got to kiss twice.  Plus, we had double the fun!

The girls reprised their role as flower girls from Uncle Joe and Aunt Sarah's wedding last summer.  They're pros now and were as cute as ever...

After the ceremony it was time to party!!

And party we did.  The girls were animals on the dance floor...

Hannah's doing some sort of modern, interpretive dance move here...

That's an arm load Uncle Joe...

Mom and Dad got in on the action...

And Papa and Grandma even got down on the dance floor...

By 11:00 we decided it was time to get our funky chickens off the dance floor and into bed.  They didn't so much agree...

But...they'll live to dance another day.  It was a great occasion.

Congratulations to the happy couple.  Thanks for including us in all the fun festivities.

Surf's Up

Hi boys...

Bye boys...

Hello toothless, blond beach babe...

And toothless surfer girl...

And hot surf instructor with cute little girl...

I think I'll take you all home with me.

Castles, Crowns, Colleges and Other Touristy Fun...Our Trip to England - Part 3

We're a motley looking bunch of tourists, but at least we were prepared.  We went everywhere in our comfy shoes, with a backpack full of snacks, water, band aids, baby wipes, chap stick, just about every over the counter medicine known to man, and of course the camera.

First stop...Windsor Castle...

Windsor Castle is the oldest occupied castle in the world and is one of the official residences of Her Majesty the Queen.  As it turns out, the Queen was in residence when we arrived.  We could tell because the Royal Standard was flying above the castle...

When we left, the Union Jack was flying which means that sometime while we were there, the Queen split (that's proper English for departed)...

It was fun to imagine what she must have been doing while she was there.  Towards the end of our tour of the State Apartments we saw a large dining room where caterers were busy setting up for a dinner that Prince Charles was hosting that night.  We tried to get on the guest list, but apparently we weren't dressed for the occasion...something about our comfortable shoes.

While we were at Windsor Castle, we saw Queen Mary's Doll house, her dolls and their clothes.  Think American Girl Dolls only way, way better.

We also walked through the beautiful, Gothic St. George's Chapel where there are lots and lots of dead people buried.  The girls kept asking, "who's buried there Mom?"  Kind of weird and I couldn't get used to walking on people's graves.  It seemed so disrespectful, but avoiding them would be like playing an impossible game of hot lava.

We were told by a tour guide at another location that during a question and answer session, one tourist asked why Windsor Castle was built in the flight path of Heathrow Airport...uhhhhh...oh never mind...

Next stop...Cambridge for some grown up time...

Jocelyn was kind enough to watch all the kids for us for a day and night so Rob and I could spend some time exploring Cambridge without making frequent potty and snack stops.  Cambridge is home to Cambridge University, the fourth oldest college in the world and former home to some very, very smart people.  The University is made up of 31 separate colleges.  The older colleges are spectacularly impressive and the town itself is a delight to wander through...

For the science nerds among us (I'm not naming any names), Cambridge has some pretty impressive history.  For instance, Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon were students there and the Electron was discovered here in the old Cavendish Laboratory...

We ate lunch that day at the Eagle Pub where James Watson and Francis Crick first announced that they had discovered DNA.  No scientific breakthroughs were announced during our meal...darn!  But, this photograph hung on the wall near our table...

That's A.A. Milne with his son Christopher Robin and Christopher's teddy bear, Winnie the Pooh...cool!

Next stop...Cromer for some fun in the sun (not many people get to use the words "fun in the sun" to describe their English vacation)...

Next stop...London where we stayed in a flat on the second floor of this great building in the Kensington / Chelsea neighborhood...

And where we had a view of this...

That would be a used bookstore right next door to a coffee shop.  I think I might have died and gone to heaven.  Alas, I couldn't justify wasting valuable touring time sitting in a coffee shop, reading a slightly foxed book.  Plus, the kids would never put up with such foolishness.  We had sites to see and ice cream to eat.  So off we went...

First stop in London...Hyde park for a boat ride on the Serpentine...

While the boys took the little girls for a ride, Hannah and I did this...

We know what's up.  This was day one of our 5 day ice cream tour of London.

Next stop...the Tower of London... 

I love the contrast in this picture between the centuries old Tower Gate and the modern glass egg-shaped building (I think that's London City Hall).

The Tower of London was founded in 1066 and the original keep was built by William the Conqueror in 1078.  Needless to say the place is rich with history.  This is where the Beefeaters or Yeoman Warders live and offer tours and a bit of history about the Tower.  This is also where the Crown Jewels are housed...a highlight for the girls and I.  We all agreed that Queen Victoria's dainty crown was our favorite...

This is the Tower Green where a few well known names like Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey lost their heads...

Fortunately, we managed to keep our heads securely attached to our bodies...

See?  Aren't those some great looking heads?

The Tower was also hosting a Medieval Weapons demonstration while we were there...

It took four studly volunteers to launch a water balloon from this medieval "Pierre".  It's basically a giant rock launcher used in attempts to breach a castle or fortress wall over a period of many months (one rock at a time).  Storming the castle isn't nearly as exciting as the movies make it seem. 

Anyway, the second studly volunteer is mine all mine...

I think I'll keep him.

Next stop...the London Eye...

We didn't ride because the line was really long and the price was really high, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and had an ice cream cone.  The area around the London Eye is a lot like Pier 39 in San Francisco, so there was entertainment a plenty.

Next stop...the London Natural History Museum...

Brontosaurus burgers anyone?

That about wraps up our trip.  It was great.  We love to travel and I hope this trip helped develop that love in our kids.  I think they'll be game as long as there's ice cream!

This is an English sunset somewhere around 9:30...

The End.