Bike Ride

Mema and Papa are in town for a short visit so we took them out to tour the town on beach cruisers. We went all through town, down by the beach, out along the bluffs park and back home. It was quite a trip and everyone was ready for a little rest afterwards.

Low Tide

The low tide was timed just perfect for our beach run after work and it was down to a real low level. We played for awhile and then went for a little bike ride out on the hard sand.

 
 

Beach

Although it seems like we only have pictures of the beach lately we really do other things... But our Thursday night tradition has been to head to the Farmers market and beach after work. We have lots of fun there with just our small little family and we usually have the beach mostly to ourselves!

 
 
 
 

More Pumpkins

Some more pretty, pumpkin patch pictures!
 
 
 

Pumpkins

Talisha's MOPs group headed to a pumpkin patch in Santa Barbara this week. There was lots to do and see including giant pumpkins, wagons, a hay pit, and a Hay ride.

 
 
 

Art

Braedyn has been in an art class on Tuesday's after music class since we moved here. He's really been getting into painting and drawing so we started painting with him more at home as well. I can't decide if he just likes the mess it creates or enjoys the pictures he creates. But no matter what it is he certainly has a lot of fun. We set up a picture wire in the upstairs hallway to display his pictures so that we can see them all for a longer time.

 
 
 
 

Heading home

From our house to downtown there is a nice bikepath that goes down a small road and then through a tunnel under the freeway, past daddo's work and then down a few blocks to the main downtown area. On the way home we typically find ourselves meandering along the dirt bike paths that go along the beach from downtown over to the Bluffs park. The views are incredible on clear days and it's a good way to "check the waves" as Braedyn now calls it (so daddy doesn't have to). On this day we were on our way home from church and a little beach time.

 
 

Surfing

The waves were pretty good over the last week and even though Daddo got out a few times at lunch during the week he still managed to talk Mom and Braedyn into a Sunday afternoon at the beach while he surfed for a while.

 
 

Outside Church

The Avocado festival invited our church (Reality Carpinteria) to hold service on the main stage at the festival on Sunday morning so we rode our bikes downtown for outside church. Braedyn practiced his air guitar renditions during the music. Afterwards we checked out some more of the avo festival that we hadn't seen yet and then headed to the beach. Note to self: remember to bring beach clothes wherever we go in this town!

CrushCakes

There have been a lot of special treats this week what with Braedyn doing so well with his potty training. On Saturday on our way home from a store in Santa Barbara we stopped off at a locally famous spot called Crushcakes Cupcakery for none other than cupcakes. These cupcakes were certainly worth getting lost for, even though we we're parked about 100 yds from it before getting lost!

California Avocado Festival

The rage of Carpinteria this weekend was the California Avocado Festival. It is 3 days of celebrating the avocado with a bunch of bands, questionable, expensive food, interesting vendors, and a lot of people from out of town. We went Friday night after swimming for "locals night" and caught some of our favorite local bands including Dominic Balli who is also the music leader at our church here in Carp. It was quite a bit of fun, and the guacamole was really good!

Swimming

We've settled on the pool at the YMCA in Montecito for our weekly swimming excursions and so we are back in the routine of working on learning to swim with Braedyn. The pool here is pretty nice, it's nice and warm and is outside. It's typically pretty empty so we have a little more space than the Pro Club in Redmond. The outside air makes it a little bit cool overall for Braedyn so we got him a little wetsuit to help him stay a little warmer. He's getting pretty good at kicking and using his arms, but still doesn't want to go away from Daddy at all.

Commuting

It's a little exasperating, my commute time has doubled. When we first moved to Carpinteria, I had a rental car to drive, but now-a-days I am back to full time bicycle commuting. My commute time went from a respectable 3 minutes to an almost unbareble 6 minute time. Then there are the days that I decide to take the long way in to work and ride along the beach, that takes me upwards of 10 minutes sometimes. It gets even worse if I stop in town for coffee. Of course I have the option to telecommute, but I've just been forcing myself to deal with the traffic along the bike path or beach for the time being. At least I have my new Electra Super Deluxe beach cruiser to keep me company on the way in.

More House Pics

We're getting more and more settled into our home here (it takes a little while longer with the beach so close). Here's a panorama of the view as you walk in our front door.