That gorgeous boy eating out of my hand is my big brother Art....
It's my second Birthday and we are celebrating with cake in our backyard in Laguna Canyon.
I was lucky enough to be the "baby" in a family with 6 kids....lucky because I never had to share my things, and lucky because they all adored me (well, most of the time!).
I had 3 older brothers, and 2 sisters....my brothers were all tall, tan, surfer types with sun bleached hair and I spent a lot of time riding around on their shoulders...a great way to view the world when you're a little kid :)
It's no wonder I developed a deep appreciation for the California surfer boy.
I grew up at the beach, mostly Main Beach in Laguna, and sometimes Crescent Beach.
As a teenager I was pretty good at finding them to date, and ultimately married one from Corona Del-Mar.
The Canyon was a great place to grow up and I spent a lot of time exploring it with my brothers.
My Dad built our home in a stand of Oak trees on Stan Oaks Drive, and I lived there until I was 15.
Family hikes and horse back rides were common (we kept horses) and also adventures riding on the back of my brothers dirt-bikes, adventures because I usually ended up on my bum in a sage bush!!
I was a super odd kid, I think because my sibs were all so much older than me I spent a lot of my free time alone, building forts, reading in my treehouse, drawing, and writing stories for fun to entertain myself...this made me a bit awkward with kids my own age and prone to just being weird in general.
Family lore includes stories of me streaking through the house with underwear on my head to greet arriving company, also, I was fond of forcing male cousins and visitors to marry me in living room ceremonies in front of friends & family (you know who you are, and if you are reading this, I want Alimony!!).
Earliest memories include: watching my dog run around the yard while I sat on a warm blanket in the sun, scorching sand on the bottom of my little feet, being rolled in the cool surf on a hot day, the safety of my brothers shoulders....Thanks guys ;)
Home, is were I want to be...



Ok I love this... I remember that house and that STEEP hill..... xo
ReplyDeleteI used to chase tennis balls up & down that driveway...maybe that's why I was so skinny back then?? would love to hear anyone's memories of that house, or just Laguna in general...
ReplyDeleteThe picture of Art looks just like Christian does now and you look like Ian's baby photo...
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great childhood :) I agree the picture of Art looks so much like Christian!
ReplyDeleteDad's exactly right!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was the tree house in that huge old oak tree and the swing the hung from it. Also - I'll never forget the A frame where Grandma Mary would sew and the unmistakable scent in there. The camper shell swimming pool and the fiberglass bumps that would follow. Tinkerbell...the block 'O' leading to the grass & trying to climb up and around it...I miss that house too ;)
ReplyDeletewe had a tarzan rope out front as well, Mom & Dad took it down after I got knocked unconscious on the driveway.
ReplyDeleteI remember you & your brother zipping up and down the patio on that old metal 3 wheeler we had...and of course, the fiberglass "pool"...we knew we would get itchy bumps after, but used it anyways because it was so dang hot outside!!