2010 Outstanding Middle/Secondary School Agriculture Program in California

At the CATA conference banquet Atwater was awarded the state winner for the large program outstanding program. It was a fun night and exciting for the group at Atwater. Congratulations to the group!

Arrr - Pirate Ship

The hit of Pismo Sands was definitely the pirate ship! Garrett was in heaven, singing the Backyardigans pirate song. We went into town and I picked up a small treasure box and a couple beaded dolphin necklaces (treasures) and this was not only a hit for Garrett, but the entire playground. Hours of entertainment with this treasure box and lots of "where did he get that?" questions from the other kids.

Since Dave was at a conference all week, we spent lots of time at this pirate ship! Gannon loved the slide and the concrete steps leading to the ship...why he can't just play in the sand is beyond me. He is our little explorer and sand get boring.

Avila Barn

Cousin Calam's 1st job is at the Avila Barn so we rode with Aunt Shannon to take him to work and let the boys run around and feed the goats. We took a picnic lunch and bought some food for the animals. I handed Gannon a piece of the cucumber and he didn't realize it was for the goats - he tried to eat it himself. Once I showed him to stick it through the fence for the goats he understood and enjoyed feeding the rest of the bag.

Cousin Karley was Garrett's favorite the second we got into town so it was no surprise that he stayed right by her the entire day.

Camping - RV Style

We survived 9 nights on camping, RV style, in Oceano. It has actually been very good. Thanks to my Mom the trailer is amazingly dark so naps have been great and night time sleeping is just as normal as at home! The boys and I even spent our first night without Daddy, which was not too bad either, until morning. When I woke up I realized it was a little cold and the heater wasn't working, the gas had run out. Thankfully we have two tanks, so a quick text to Dave and I had the heater up and running again. Off to make pancakes per Garrett's request - smoke alarm was set off again. So Gannon had to settle for a bagel.

Camping RV Style - wake up in a nice warm bed, have a quick cup of coffee, and watch a little movie. Laundry at the campground is great, I wish I had 4 washers at home, makes the laundry time a whole lot less!

A Night with the De La Torre's

The kids always enjoy their time at Juan and Heather's and this trip was no exception! Juan has their backyard just like a perfect putting green and Gramma Toni has a kids golf set - they love to play. After a nice round of golf who does need some relaxing time in the spa...they loved that also. NO it's not hot and they were fine. Dave and Heather had fun relaxing with their babies in the water.

Gramma and the little ones

Having tons of fun

Baby Dante is too cute!

What a perfect little picture!!!

No thanks I'll keep my sweatshirt on!

Pre-Father's Day

My dad and Dianne came down to the fair tonight to hangout with us before we leave and since we won't see my dad for Father's Day we brought his gifts for him. I know tacky to open gifts in the parking lot, but whatever!

Garrett made this garden stepping stone for Grandpa last week and he was so excited making it and giving it.

His comment after he finished placing all the stones was, "I'm so glad I made this Mom it's amazing!" What a funny guy.

His comment to Grandpa was, "Hey Papa, you're welcome!" this was a quite delayed reaction by the way, he was already buckled into his chair in the truck and yelled this out for Grandpa to hear.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Our Peewee Showman

This year we weren't sure Garrett would do Peewee Showmanship, but surprised us! Since goats are easy for him to handle on his own that was the animal of choice. We rehearsed a few questions that the judge may ask, him name, age, and the name of his goat. Woody was the name he selected in a 2 minute prep session - not surprise there. Anyway, he did a great job with his goat and was very proud of his ribbon.

Animals

We of course had to visit the McDonald Farm at the fair and this, as always, was a highlight! Garrett and Gannon love to be around all the animals and these ones are perfect because they are just the right size for them.

Like we don't get enough of pigs - Garrett was still excited!

Gannon's favorite all year have been the goats.

Quick cow visit with Daddy

And for Garrett - as you can see he isn't really interested!

It's That Time of Year Again...

Fair time - actually a month earlier this year which is great. The weather is expected to be 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the nasty July fair weather so that's a huge positive.

This year for the fair Garrett entered a wheel barrel garden. He was pretty excited, but not really sure why Mr. Potato head had to stay in the garden, my explanation of the "theme" didn't work for him. If you visit the fair, stop by the Floriculture exhibits and see Garrett's wagon.

Gannon's favorite are the goats

Garrett wasn't too sure about this big cow

Garrett's Date

Dave's point award trip this year was a baseball game. It just so happened that the Angels were playing the A's (Dave did plan this, kinda!) Anyway, since Gannon is not much fun at a baseball game yet, Garrett was so lucky to have his Mommy and Daddy all to himself, which he loved. He loved the extra time being held by Mommy and he loved the baseball game on Mommy's lap. Daddy was so excited to have a little boy to use as bait for autographs. It worked, Garrett has 3 autographs in his hat from Angels pitchers. It was a great night and the Angels even won the game!!!

Brian Fuentes signing Garrett's hat
Garrett was so excited

Papa joined for part of the game

Trying yet again to get a ball

The most excited part of the night for Garrett was the Toy Story 3 advertisement in the BART station!!! He froze in his tracks when he saw these!

Baby Fish & Brother!

Swim lessons started on Monday and Gannon was in heaven. He continues to be our little water baby. Day 2 he wasn't so happy because he has to wait till Garrett session is over to get in the water. 30 minutes is a long time for him and way too long as far as his brother is concerned with being in the water.


This is Garrett first year of lessons without us in the water with him and he really doesn't like that Mommy is not in the water with him. The first day he spent most of his session sitting on the edge of the pool with me and only 10 minutes with his class. He did join Gannon's class in the water and did good, but I can't swim with two kids everyday so we are working on him enjoying his own class. We'll see how that goes!

Little Gannon on the other hand is a totally different story. He loves the water and loves his class. What a difference from out lessons last year, we will take them at MJC from now on. We have a great teacher and Gannon loves it.

So excited!
Jumping in

Garrett - Day 2 clung to the wall

Swimming around a bit with the noodle

Much better - watching brother's class