July happenings...

Being that it is August 1st, today was Chuck's first day at his new job. HE LOVED IT! He kept talking about how it was so weird to be going to a job that was his actual "career" and not another transitional job to get to the next stage in life. He is finally done with all of the steps it takes to get where he is, and I have a feeling it will take him a while to adjust to a "normal" work schedule. He's so used to working 70-80+ hours a week that he tends to feel guilty if he has a day off. Crazy I know. We're working on that. Now when people ask him to pick up extra shifts, I tell him to say "NO," you don't need to work like a dog anymore. It's time to enjoy life, and everything you've worked so hard for. So, since he had the entire month of July off, (with 8 or so moonlighting shifts thrown in there to "help pay the bills") we have really enjoyed being able to spend so much time together and explore our new surroundings. We love it more and more here each day and it was so nice to have some time to relax and enjoy the house and new neighborhood before he had to rush off to a new job. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to this past month.



There were many, many days spent at various parks.

...followed by some grub at Carls Jr. This kid won't eat much, but he definitely loves chicken strips and french fries.


taking a ride around Grandma Fraley's house on his new train.
Hanging out with cousin Emily
Ok this one's for my mom. We were checking out the weekly activities in Temecula and there's this one park that has summer concerts in their Amphitheater. We HAD to check this one out because on that particular night there was a "Neil Diamond Tribute band" playing. I wish I could have captured this guy up close. He had the swept back "Neil hair" and a hot pink sequins top. It was hilarious. Don't get me wrong, they were a really good cover band, I just thought his outfit was awesome!!

Yesterday we took a short drive to Oceanside. Amazingly it's only 30 minutes from where we live now. It used to take me 45 minutes, because of all of the traffic, to get to Huntington Beach from Whittier. But now we just have a beautiful drive through the hills and valleys, and then we're there. We only planned on walking around but of course we ended up in the water with Ashton. Unprepared no less. We had a lot of fun though and we were happy because in the past he's cried when we take him to the beach because the water is too cold. But I guess he's just growing up because he doesn't care what the temp is now, he just wants to be wet!





Riding home in style.



Today I went to my 5th play date with my new moms group. We had a lot of fun watching all the kids play in the spray area, and Ashton is definitely up for anything that has water involved.



After dinner tonight we went for a walk to the park in our neighborhood. Ashton's getting pretty good at conquering the slides. As long as his feet aren't too slick, he can usually climb all the way up.




The blog only lets me post videos at the bottom of the page so here are a bunch of videos that go along with our "july outings." I know it's a lot, but I've been lazy and have been saving all of my pictures for one LONG post. Sorry.