Beach Time

One of my main goals of our trip to LA was to swim with the boys in the ocean.  When we are in Pismo/Shell Beach it's never warm enough to swim.  Dave took us to his old stompin' grounds from when his Dad lived in Playa Del Rey.  We found a good spot on the beach and set up our spot.  Gannon wasn't quite sure of playing by or in the water and just wanted to play in the sand.  It didn't take him long watching Garrett and I run from the waves and he was right there with us.  For at least an hour we ran from the water as it came in and walked back down to do it all over again.  Gannon was very brave after a bit and wanted to walk out far, not realizing that the water comes in very fast.  I had to keep a very close eye on this little crazy and even scoop him up a few times.  Both boys took a fall into the water and got all the way wet scaring them for a minute, but both recovered quickly and were back at it again.  It was tons of fun to play in the water and watch them get so excited and have the biggest smiles! 

 

We met up with Papa Dave and took the boys to the Shack, another one of Dave's favorites as a kid, and I went with Lisa around the corner to the Harbor Room for a bloody Mary.  The Harbor Room is the smallest bar in LA and full of locals that are all great pals.  Lisa said they call it God's Waiting Room!  It was tons of run to sit and have a drink with this crowd and listen to them all tease each other to no end. 

 

Museums of Los Angeles

We love exploring and checking out museums and on the tops of Dave's list recently has been to visit the California Science Center in LA, now home to the space shuttle Endeavor.  He has memories of launches of this space shuttle as a kid wanted to check it out after is was brought to LA last year.  Los Angeles has great places to visit and how can you pass up a visit to a free museum!  We did buy ticket ahead of time to see the space shuttle and it was very cool.  Garrett and Gannon loves the science museums because they are so kid friendly and hands on exploration for them. 

 

Right next door was the Natural History museum.  After visiting the free museum I had a hard time paying $34 for this one so we were leaving.  Just as we were walking out I saw a sign, teachers always free, SCORE! I will totally pay $10 for kids to get in with us for free.  We walked around and it was a cool museum, but I'm not a big history buff and they boys were a little freaked out by all the boys and creatures so we didn't stay long. 

 

 

Angels Game

Maybe we have started a new tradition, this was our second year at a baseball game for 4th of July.  I kind of like it, included is a great firework show!

 

Dave was more than excited to watch a game with his team on home turf and Garrett just loves baseball!!!  The game has grown on me with my favorite part being the National Anthem and Gannon is very good at being patient for the LONG game.  Both boys have master singing "Take me out to the ball game" and it's so cute to hear them sing it. Any game is more fun when it's a good close game.  The Angels were losing until the 9th inning and came back and won! The energy in the stadium was amazing and all the fans were standing and clapping for almost the entire 9th inning, making it so much more fun.  After the great game they turned out all the lights and had a long firework show for all the guests.  Gannon wasn't too sure of all the loud booms, but loved the show. 

 

4th of July

To keep the Gossman Family 4th of July picnic alive after Aunt Dolly passing last year we went down to Mar Vista Park to celebrate! 

 

We stayed the night prior with Dave's Uncle Stan and Aunt Nancy.  The boys got used to playing with Libby, their 10 month old lab, even enjoyed a walk with her.  Stan made great tacos for dinner and we enjoyed our evening drinking wine and chatting. 

 

The picnic was fun, but not as big as it has been in years past.  There used to be a softball tournament and lots of games.  Next time we go down we'll have to add a few more games to the mix because Garrett and Gannon loved the games.  Thanks to Uncle Billy we had a water balloon toss that the boys completely enjoyed.  I'm pretty sure they could have played with the water balloons all day.  After each having a balloon broke on them we had one left so my solution was to put them back to back so they both got splashed.  Uncle Stan brought the eggs for the egg toss and Dave picked a back partner because I broke the egg on the second round.   It's always fun to sit and visit with cousin Erin and see everyone else that we only see at this event.  That may change this year!

 

 

 

Shell Beach and Goodbye

After a week with Aunt Shannon it's hard to say goodbye!  We took the boys for one last time to play at Shell Beach for this trip.  They started out digging and playing and as you can see we had to take their shorts off because they were going deeper into the water and couldn't resist getting wet. 

 

We took Aunt Shannon some flowers, that Garrett and Gannon picked out, to say "thank you" for playing with us all week. 

 

A Morning At Avila Beach

Dave's annual conference at Cal Poly is upon us once again and we came down as a family this year.  We spend Saturday night at Gramma Toni's place and Dave headed to his first meeting on Sunday morning.  Aunt Shannon was taking the boys until Thursday on Sunday afternoon so we spent the morning at Avila Beach.  Avila is typically warmer than Pismo so that was my choice!  Plus they have a great pirate ship playground for them to climb on too. 

 

The boys are at an age that they can be entertained for hours just digging in the sand.  They were making a huge hole in the ground (to crawl under!)  Both were covered in sand, having a ball!  We then headed to Del's in Shell Beach for a pizza lunch.  This Mom is smart and phoned ahead so we only had to wait about 5 minutes for our pizza.  In this 5 minutes Gannon was "getting ready" to sprinkle the cheese on his pizza and couldn't resist licking the shaker.  Garrett's eye lit up and he was laughing hysterically at Gannon which was pretty cute! Silly Gannon loves parmesan cheese.

 

Point Award Trip - Giants Game

The Atwater FFA Point award trip this year was to a Giants game so we joined the group for the tailgate and night game.  Garrett of course LOVES the Giants and a night game is even better!  Hot dogs galore and we headed into the game.  A few rides down the slide and Garrett was ready to head to his seat, he's not their to play on the playground!  Gannon insisted on wearing the backpack, that almost knocked him over it was so heavy.  It was a fun night, but Garrett was bummed because the Giants lost to the Marlins. 

 

Both boys were out and I was thankful we were staying at a hotel in Pleasanton for the night vs. driving all the way home.  We headed to Ikea in the morning for my new scrapbook area!!!