After a six month hiatus, we returned to dance combo (jazz, tap, and ballet) at the Dance Academy of SLO. Since we're slowly transitioning away from afternoon nap (we're fortunate that our 4-year old is still napping!), it's a better time on our free Fridays to resume dance. She's been doing so much spontaneous dancing on her own and since we've only been committed to swimming, we figured it was time for her to do something else that was fun during the summer months.

P had the best birthday surprise, and even better for me, I did not have to arrange any kind of birthday bash. My kind of party planning! My former colleague and good friend, Marta, and her daughter Jeweleanna came over to the coast with a couple of their horses, boarded them at a nearby facility, and took us out to the beach for some horseback ridin'!

With all those days of rain, we were cooped up in the house for a while, and Jannu was feeling restless. We hadn't walked one of our regular routes for a long time so she was excited when we did yesterday. It was neat to see some of the area where the water table had risen so much that it formed a little lake. As we were walking, RT came to an uprupt stop: our path was blocked by overflowing water from a little stream! Luckily, Jannu is civilized enough to not run through the water and ger herself all muddy! We did an about-face and returned home.

It was also nice to not have water flowing down our side of the street. We need a few days to dry out. All this rain is much-needed, but it is nice to see and feel the warm sun!

These days, I can never keep track of the date. At work, I don't have any wall space for a calendar, so back in January I bought some paper to make a desk calendar. I finally carved out some time to make it.

My favorite flowers are hydrangeas and sweet peas. Both are fairly easy to grow and maintain. I don't know why it took me forever to start growing sweet peas. Last year when we started our square foot garden, we planted some sweet peas. They did very well last year and continue to do so with very little maintenance. Our garden has been a little challenging lately with so many slugs being enticed with our young seedlings. RT has tried organic methods to keep the slugs at bay--putting out beer apparently does the trick!
After spending the day weeding the backyard, installing a door to the shed, reorganizing the garage, RT brought me a vase full of lovely sweet peas! I was so thrilled to see them in all their pink glory. I couldn't resist taking a few photos. How sweet it is!