while finn was away....mom and scout played

with finn was enjoying 6th grade camp,
scout and i enjoyed something special too.
i proposed we have a mom/son date, as it had been
a few months, and scout got to chose the activity.
he chose belmont park, an amusement park just 10 minutes
away from home and located right on the boardwalk.
he specifically chose this place because he is now tall
enough to ride the rollercoaster that he has been so patiently
waiting for. over the years, he has watched his dad and i ride it
countless times, his aunties, his big brother and cousin soren.


his day FINALLY came.


first we rode something called the octotron.
i can't begin to describe this ride.  i just remember scout insisted on
controlling it and he kept it rolling us upside down the entire time.
i screamed, he laughed, and we both came out with crazy hair.


from here, we moved on to the giant dipper, the historical rollercoaster
that has been in pacific beach since 1925.  scout has  been waiting for YEARS
to ride this {he's been fascinated it with it since he was a toddler}, and at 51"
he made the height requirements {50"} and was literally squealing with excitement.


this time, he screamed and i laughed and we when it was over,
we bought one more tickets and rode it again. scout would have loved to have
stayed and ride it 10 more times, but it was a school night.


we ended the night eating ice cream sundaes and with smiles on our faces.
i don't think either of us will ever forget this night. 

parade day

one of our family traditions is watching the pacific beach parade in our
little beach community.  for years we lived within walking distance
to the beach and the pb parade.  we'd walk 4 blocks to garnet avenue
and find a curb to sit on along the parade route.

now that we are a few more blocks away, we drive to an adjacent street,
and park close by.  this is what we did this past saturday morning after
we grabbed take out from taco surf.  we were lucky to run into a family
we met recently with 2 similar aged boys, so we sat with them the entire time. 

the pb parade isn't anything fancy AT ALL. there might be a total of 2 floats in the
entire thing. it's mostly made up of kids from local schools, churches, and community
clubs and organizations from the neighborhood. it's perfect.

this year, scout was asked to participate with the pacific youth soccer league.
he would have to suit up in one of his past soccer uniforms and walk.
i was excited for him, but when i told him, he said he'd much rather watch
the parade. he confessed he wanted to get candy that is handed or thrown to him.
{like the 15 lbs. he has in his halloween bag isn't enough i thought}.

i didn't push it as there will be hopefully be lots of opportunities for him to be in
the parade in years to come.  so we sat and watched runners pass before the parade
started {there was a 'fun run'}, and then came the real parade.  we saw SO many kids
and families we've known from all aspects of  our lives -
from preschool days, play dates, explorer, soccer and birthdays.
this is truly one of the joys of living in a community!

one sweet surprise was seeing the eichorn twins, kai and katherine!
they were riding in the back of their dad's electric smart car waving.
their dad stopped, we all chatted and learned that there's an electric car
club in pacific beach {of course there is}. we are a beach community.

some snapshots of neighborhood kids, friends and santa on a firetruck:
{left to right}: katherine and kai, the asher siblings,
santa on a firetruck, cara and robert {our neighbors}

it was such a fun day. we will definitely be back next year!

~ we crammed 2 holiday parties in this weekend - my company's party was
friday night and held here and saturday's c's company's party was held here. 
i'm not bias at all, but my company's party was WAY better!  *wink*