Here is Coco heading off to her first day of preschool in the big girl class. She insisted on wearing Abi's Christmas dress from last year and she was thrilled about her new princess lunch box. Both girls are off to school today - yikes! What is a mom to do? Oh wait I can think of a lot of things to do :)

These Boots Are Made For Walking

Coco pulled these boots out of our dress up box yesterday and insisted on wearing them all day in 95 degree weather. She explained that she was a Rock Star and that it is a rule for Rock Stars to wear black boots.

My little Rock Star

Hot August Night Concerts

Each Friday we walk to the live concert in the park series. Here are a couple shots of the lakes and parks in our neighborhood.

Dancing the night away

We have a great group of friends we go to the concerts with each week.

Fort

Lindsay helped the girls build a fort out of their bunk beds

Figs

We have a fig tree in our back play area that has never produced fruit. For some reason this year it decided to give us lots, and lots of figs - yum! If you look at the pictures of the playdate you can see part of the fig tree just above the playhouse.

Coco and Jace have a playdate

A Day At The California State Fair

We enjoyed a fun filled day at the California State Fair today. We worked really hard in our yard yesterday so we felt we all deserved a break. The weather was not as hot today so we were able to stay for quite awhile without all getting too cranky.

We all loved the Ferris Wheel

Hold on tight

My highlight ... The Gardens

Lindsay's highlight ... any and all Fair Food

Coco's highlight .... the Carousel

Abi's highlight ... Carmel Apple

Come on dad get the ping pong ball in the bowl!!!

He did it! Heading home with a goldfish named Princess. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Saturday Mornings at the Russells

Waffles with tons of sticky syrup, cartoons on the tv, pillows thrown about, clothing optional, and a lot of serious lollygagging.

Hot August Nights

Here are the girls ready to head out to our neighborhood Hot August Nights concert. Every Friday night during the month of August our neighborhood hosts a live band at our outdoor theater. We walk over with our friends, have a great picnic and some margaritas and then dance the night away with the kids.

Success! Here is Abi celebrating her first day of Kindergarten with an ice-cream sundae. Abi's first day of school went well and although she told me she felt very shy she also said she had a great time. As I picked her up her teacher told me she was her shadow all day - hopefully she will feel like breaking out of her shell a little more tomorrow :)

Abi's First Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe that it is here, Abi's first day of Kindergarten. She is very happy about being able to wear a uniform and she is anxiously talking about all of the new "jobs" in her classroom. We decided to take a chance and try out an area charter school this year instead of the school right by our house. It is a montessori school just like her preschool so she should feel comfortable with the transition. I will report back and let you all know how the first day went!