California

AMAZING is the one word I would use to describe our trip to California!!!  Sorry for the picture overload, but this is nothing compared to the almost 1,000 pictures we came home with! 

Here we are at the airport, ready to take off.

And then on the airplane.

One of our first stops in California was to the Yosemite National Park, where we saw the unbelievable Red Woods.

As we were driving through the park we saw a bear.

Half Dome was probably one of the most spectacular sites I have ever seen in my entire life.  Seriously breathtaking!!!

A quick stop at the Cowboy Museum. 

We spend night number two in San Francisco visiting the Fisherman's Wharf

We got up early to see Alcatraz, however the tickets were sold out weeks in advance. It was still amazing to see it from the beach.

Then the Golden Gate Bridge.

We stopped at a museum while we were in San Fran.

And then the Botanical Gardens.

Nana had to stop one of the police men on his pretty horse.

We had lunch at Ike's.  It was the most amazing sandwich any of us had ever eaten.  No wonder it was ranked number 4 in the whole city for places to eat.

These flowering trees were EVERYWHERE!  So beautiful! 

The next day we stayed in Moneray.  We did the 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach.  It was so beautiful that the 17 mile drive takes an average of 4 hours because people stop so many times to look at the sites.

There were sea lions at one of the stops.

A quick stop at Pebble Beach's Golf Lodge.

Then we were on our way to the Big Sir.  Breathtaking at every turn.

We stopped at Sand dollar Beach.

Elephant Seals.

This was right outside our hotel by San Simeon. 

On our way to a tour of the Hearst Castle early the next morning. 

The Hearst Castle

Off to see the vineyards.

Before we got to Santa Barbra we took a quick detour to see some ancient cave paintings.  The paintings were neat, however we wish we would have read the description on getting to the painting a bit better.  It was the steepest road any of us had ever been on, back and forth up this huge mountain, on a one lane road.  SCARY!!!!

You can tell I'm not the brave one in the family!  I seriously wanted to walk down the mountain which seemed safer then drive back down and flying off the mountain at any moment!

The mighty driver!

A beach at Santa Barbra.

And another beach at Santa Monica.

We took in another museum in LA.  Stayed for almost half a say and only saw a fraction of what was there.  

Yes! This his Van Gogh's painting "Irises."  SO cool!

Before heading back to another beach we ate lunch at Duke's.  Yum!

 Then we spent our last evening in CA at the Santa Monica Pier and Venus Beach.  There were LOTS of crazies there, but I think we fit in OK. ;-)

It was an amazing week, with memories made that will not soon be forgotten!!!  AMAZING!!!

New Bunny

We finally convinced Miss E to trade Carrot in for another rabbit.  Carrot had turned a bit aggressive the last couple months and was biting.  E was sad to see her go, but we were able to give her back to the man we got her from who promised to take extra good care of her for E.  In trade she picked out a new baby bunny.  She is still undecided on a name but here are some she is thinking about: Freckles, Snowflake, Cupcake, Celery, Marshmallow, Powder Puff, and Spot.  I'll keep you posted on what she decides.  He is a Netherlands Dwarf again but this time all white, except for black spots behind his ears, a beauty mark by his left eye and black around his eyes (we think it looks like he is wearing eyeliner!)  ;-)

 

E looses his first tooth!

This morning E woke up and said, "Mommy pull out my tooth!'  I wiggled on it and it was a bit loose. . . after a couple pulls we had it out!  He didn't even wince when I pulled it!  Such a tough guy!

Waiting for the Tooth Fairy!

Daddy's 3 on 3 Tournament

Daddy was in a three on three tournament the other weekend.  They placed first and we had lots of fun watching and taking in the local attractions.

Beach Boys

We had fun at the Beach Boys concert.  Great music and even better company!

Dance Camp

Miss E had another fun week at Dance Camp!  It is so much fun seeing the change in her over the years as she does this camp. 

 

Each day at camp they learn a new dance and then on day five they put it all together and perform for their parents.  This year the theme was summer activities.  Dance number one is Baseball, then two is Biking, then they cool off with a swim for dance number three, and last they go to the library, where check out books and act them out.  Think this years dance was my favorite! 

Anniversary Golf

For our 12th year wedding anniversary we took the kids mini golfing!  It was a super fun day!  Can you believe this man keeps getting better looking with age?!?!  ;-) Sure do love him!

Never dreamed we would be where we are today with three beautiful children!  Our life may be crazy at times, but we wouldn't want it any other way!  God is good!

You can sense the competitiveness from these two in these next couple pictures!  It wasn't who could get the ball in the hole in the fewest shots, but who could get it in the hole the FASTEST!  I'm sure if there was a record for the fastest time through this course we would have won it today!

Took a video of A golfing.  It was the funniest thing!  She gave up with the club and kept trying to drop the ball in the hole.  You can see on this video it took her three tries to finally get it in and then she sits down next to the hole so no one else can get their ball in.  Fun times!  ;-)

VBS

The kids had a great week at VBS!  They sang and danced their little heart outs, all while learning about God!  Each day they also did a service project. On day one they potted flowers that they were to deliver to someone who needed to be cheered up.

On day two they made friendship bread.

On day three they decorated stones that are to be left around the community, spreading God's love.  These are Miss E's rocks.  I was so proud of her design.  She came up with this all on her own.  

 And on day four they put together care packages for an orphanage in Ethiopia.  It was an amazing week and I'm so happy the kids were able to take part.  The director also put together a fun video of the kids throughout the week he showed at church this Sunday. Fun stuff!

Carrot's Birthday

Carrot turned one today!  Miss E had to have a party for her!  :-)

T-ball & Squirts

The kids had their first day of t-ball and squirts and seemed to really have a fun time.  Both of their coaches I had in my kindergarten class. . . WOW that makes a gal feel old!  ;-) Actually it's fun seeing the great young men they are turning into, which I always knew they would!