favorite places: our backyard

sometimes (okay, more often than not) i get frustrated with the fact that we live in a little 2 bedroom condo, and not some great big house with a yard, garage, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, two stories, living room, dining room, island in the kitchen, 5-peice master bath, guest rooms, etc. (thank you HGTV for reminding me of this desire every day i watch you and your House Hunters marathons....) but when push comes to shove, we have plenty of space in our little cozy place. june, on the other hand, could perhaps use some stairs to keep her in shape, but that will come in time.
i've begun to think of our condo complex as our ENTIRE house. the front gate? well, that's like our gate at the end of our huge property. our walk from the car to the front door? well, that's as if our garage was huge and far from the kitchen. and the park behind our house? well, that's our backyard!!
we live right next to Sheep Hills Park. there is one large hill, a playground, 2 soccer fields, a baseball field, a sidewalk path, and some dirt paths that extend through aliso viejo canyons. we literally sneak out between two of the buildings on our property and we are right there, smack dab in the middle of the hill. as soon as we break through the buildings, we let june off the leash and she's free to roam. as soon as she sees a dog or a bunny, however, it's back on the leash for her. she's not THAT well trained...
we visit the park at least once a day. whether its for a walk around the paved loop or a 20 min playtime for june off the leash, we have found that this park is really one of our favorite places.
seeing as how it's the holiday weekend, and josh, june, and i have EXTRA playtime with each other. this morning, we threw on some hats and jackets, made some coffee, and made our way to the park. it was empty, which was a real treat because june could hang off the leash the entire time. the fluffy clouds, changing tree colors, and fallen leaves made for a beautiful sight this morning. i grabbed the camera and took a few shots of our morning. what a way to start the day!


the view of our house from the park. yup, it's that close!

playing around with each other...


and of course, a family shot :-)