| Back-to-School |

Caucus - noun: a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction (or in our case, family).

also: a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause.

Every once in a while we hold a family caucus. You know, all of those times when we have important issues to discuss. This was one of those times. A back-to-school caucus was brought to order.

Items on the agenda included an overview of our upcoming fall schedule. We are managing to fit in violin lessons (both taken and taught), ballet, soccer, 1st grade, preschool, therapy, softball, and symphony rehearsals (among other things). Other points of interest were bedtime, wake-up time, chores, and ways-to-be-kind-to-your-sister.

And while we discussed (debated) we gobbled up some homemade caramel apples. It helped sweeten the mood.

Caramel Apples on a Saturday Afteroon:

{I drizzled mine with chocolate.



{While the children opted for m&m's.

Happy

Back-to-School!

| The County Fair |

{This sheep was quite proud of his blue ribbon!

{The older children rode horses.

{Lizzy slept.

{How now brown cow?

{The highlight of the fair for Alexandra and Lorelai....bungee jumping
(kind of)





{The highlight of the fair for me....The Beach Boys.

And a BIG

Happy Birthday

to my brother, David!

Go say 'hi'.

Click here.

| The House |

My Grandfather's career was centered around his art, but he also held a degree in architecture from USC. Shortly after he married my Grandma, he designed a home for them to live in. It is the same house that my Grandmother passed away in last month; she lived there for nearly 70 years.

For the house's 50th birthday party (roughly 20 years ago) Grandpa put together a little story board showing it's history:

{That's my dad (the younger boy) along with Grandpa and my Uncle (back in the day).

The house is definitely a treasure in our family; unique in it's design....and its history.

|The Studio|

Grandpa Coats (sitting) working on Cinderella with Walt Disney, Mary Blair, and someone else (sorry anonymous person).

Grandpa worked at the Disney Studio. It was just a few blocks from his house in Burbank CA, but at home he had a studio of his own; a place where he created many beautiful pieces of art....

{Alexandra and Lorelai, taking in all the colorful paintings.





{This framed ticket to Disneyland's opening day hangs on the wall....



...as does this picture that Walt signed to my Grandma (Who was an inker at the studio. She and my grandpa met while they were working on Snow White).

{And my favorite part of the room, the map (see above) on which my grandparents marked all of their travel destinations. A map completely covered with lines drawn from Los Angeles to......everywhere (seriously).

|It Started Off Like Any Other Morning....|

Yesterday, Lorelai woke up, wandered downstairs (while clinging to her favorite blanket), requested a bowl of cereal, and proceeded to blow bubbles in her milk using a red vine.

Fast forward to late morning; the children are dressed, their hair is combed, and we are all buckled into the van and driving to the mall to make some final back-to-school purchases.

As usual, I ask Lorelai, "Do you want to get your ears pierced?" More out of habit than anything; it's become custom. And she always answers with, "Maybe when I am 10" and then I say, "Okay" and we carry on with our day.

Today was different. After posing my standard question, Lorelai answered, "Maybe when I'm 5."

Right then and there I knew she was feeling courageous, and just a minute or so later she came back with, "Actually, I do want to get my ears pierced today."

Had it not been for the confidence in her voice I would have expected her to back out of it. But she didn't. She calmly picked out a pair of stud earrings and took a seat in the chair. One, two, three.... her ears were instantly adorned with small yellow jewels.

And the rest of the day sparkled.

Meanwhile, back at the pool....

Yes, I'm home from vacation,
but I'm not done recording my memories

onto this ol' blog.

Jennifer and I, we amused ourselves.



And of course, while we amused ourselves she looked stunning (as always):



Six siblings, count 'em:





My older sister, the lovely and talented, Kristin, accompanied by the ever so sweet Katya:

David ponders deeply on life:

[not done yet.]

[By the way, do you see that mountain in the background of the last picture? The 'Hollywood' sign is directly on the backside of it. Or perhaps this is the backside and that would be the frontside. Who knows.]