Drive In

We have decided to have as much fun as possible this summer and we thought it would be really fun to take the kids to a drive in movie. There is a drive in theater in Sacramento, about 20 minutes from our house and they were showing Toy Story 3. We wanted to take the kids to see the movie anyway and thought it would be great to just get them in their jammies and watch it from the back of our van. They were excited to go see the movie and even more excited to eat the popcorn and candy that we brought with us! We went on a Tuesday which is their bargain day so we all got to see the movie for only $10.50! That's like one adult admission at the regular theater! Once we got there and got all set up with our chairs in the back of the van and the kids with their sleeping bags and pillows we just had to wait for it to get dark. The movie didn't start until about 9:05 and we weren't sure if the kids would make it through the whole movie. Ava didn't--somewhere in the middle she said "I'm tired. I want to go to sleep." So we told her to just close her eyes and sleep in the van and she did! Drew saw the whole thing, but I fell asleep for a few minutes! It was a very cute movie and we had a great time. Next time though, we'll go when it gets dark a little earlier.

Flipper

Saturday evening we had the opportunity to join our friends the Adamsons for dinner at their house. As we're eating dinner I see Ava out of the corner of my eye on the trampoline. Here's what I saw.



What a crazy girl! I had never seen her do that before and as far as I know they didn't teach her that in gymnastics. She is brave!

River Rafting

Last weekend we found ourselves in an unusual situation. Aside from Drew's t-ball game, we had a completely free weekend. We had some different ideas about what we could do. We thought about buying tag-along bikes for the kids and going for a bike ride. We thought about going to a park and having a picnic. But what we ended up doing was going river rafting down the American River.

The weather this spring has been very strange, alternating between rainy and overcast days and then warm and sunny days, with no rhyme or reason. So we were very lucky to have a nice warm day on Saturday and nothing to do. So we loaded up the raft, some snacks and drinks and the kids and headed down to the river. It took a little convincing to get Dan on board, but once we were out on the river he was glad that we did it.

The kids had such a great time! We bought them some water blasters and they just spent the whole time squirting the water, each other and occasionally, Daddy. We also had a game of calling any other rafters we saw "pirates." As in, "Here come some more pirates! Paddle Daddy!" Ava wanted to do a little paddling too. We also had great fun going through the "rapids." There is only one area of rapids and I think they are the lowest class possible. But I warned the kids that when we went through them they needed to sit on the bottom of the boat and hold on to the rope. Then every time the water was even slightly wavy they would shout "rapids!" and scramble to hold on to the rope. They were so cute and it was very fun! The water was still pretty cold, but we all hung our legs off the side of the boat from time to time to cool off. When we were done rafting the kids were great helpers and even carried the paddles to the car for us.

Hopefully that is the first of many rafting trips this summer!


This might be my favorite video. They thought this was hilarious!

Snow Trip

OK, so I just got the new computer and I am loving it! I am way behind on blog posts, but I must start with today. Today I took the kids sledding. We wanted Daddy to come too, but he was busy working to support our family, so we missed him. We were able to go with two other families though, so we were not alone. Our good friends the Scotts and the Quayles were fun sledding buddies!

We left around noon and drove up 80 to the Kyburz exit. There is a gas station on one side of the freeway and a perfect sledding spot on the other side. As we got closer we started to notice snow on the trees, which was beautiful, and right before we got off the freeway it started snowing! Just a light dusting of snow, but it was very pretty to see and the kids were excited!

After we got outfitted with snowbibs, snow jackets, hats and gloves we climbed up the hill and started the fun. I was most impressed with Ava, my tiny 3-year old girl, who could climb up the hills unassisted, while carrying her snow tube and then slide down the steep hill all by herself! She was fearless and she really flew down those hills! Drew did fantastic too, able to keep up with his buddies even in the high elevation. He did not slow down until we were back in the car.

The girls spent most of their time sledding, but the boys did a little bit of everything: sledding, making and throwing snowballs, hiking through the snow and playing in a little fort. The weather was beautiful, mostly sunny with a little snow here and there. After a couple of hours of fun (with one break to get water and get warmed up in the car) we stopped at the gas station for some hot chocolates and then headed for home. Both kids were so tired they slept most of the way home!

Here are some pictures from our fun day in the snow:

Ava ready for sledding

Mommy and Drew about to go down the hill

Cute little snow bunnies

Keilani and Ava, snow friends

Drew, Eben and Jacob, best buds


Keilani and Ava sledding while Meigan watches

The boys hiking, that's Drew right in the middle

Me and my precious kids

Sledding really takes it out of you! Both kids sleeping on the way home.

Family Camping Trip

Last weekend we went camping down in Santa Cruz with some of our friends. We had a great time and it was so nice to escape the triple digit heat in Sacramento. The highs where we were were in the 60s. It actually got kind of cold at night and I wished that I had packed jackets! We spent our days at the beach just soaking up the sun and playing in the sand--it was a little too cold to actually go swimming. The kids got so dirty playing around the campsite, but did great. We enjoyed smores every night, and when we got home I found myself craving them in the evenings! Dan, who is not a huge fan of camping, even enjoyed himself! I think we should make it a yearly tradition!

Here are a bunch of photos from our trip:

Ava and Keilani sitting in the kids chairs

Sweet baby Meigan (she was a bit of a trouble maker!)

The ladies on our first night at the beach--a little chilly!

Drew and Jacob making smores

Drew and Ava enjoying their treats

Keilani sitting so pretty in the tree

Faye with Meigan trying to eat dirt!

Ava enjoying the beach

Drew building sand castles

Me, Rose and Jen enjoying the sunshine

Dan and me by the campfire

Pete and Jen

Eric and Rose

Ava "climbing" the tree

Drew and Eben in the tree

The Drive-In

Ready for the movie to start!

Earlier this week we thought it would be fun to take the kids to a drive-in movie. Ava's only been to one movie so far and I thought this would be a good way to see a movie and not worry that the kids were moving around and talking too loudly. Drew's been wanting to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs so we decided to go for it! Wednesday night we packed up the kids in their jammies, a bunch of blankets and pillows for the back of the van, lots of snacks and a cooler for the adults. :)

The movie started at nine (it's got to be dark to see the screen), so both kids had naps that day. They did pretty good and really liked watching the movie from the back of our car. We enjoyed popcorn, starbursts and junior mints while we watched. Both kids watched the whole thing and I am the only one who feel asleep! And it was super cheap! Only $6.75 for adults, $1 for kids 5-11 and Ava was free. I totally recommend bringing the family to the drive-in this summer!

Ava excited on the way there!

Drew and his doggy on the way to the movie

Cozy in the back of the van

Drew took this close up of us

Happy Fourth of July!

We had the best Fourth of July weekend in a long time!

It started out on Wednesday, when we got to visit the TNT Fireworks warehouse and pick up our free fireworks! These awesome folks have agreed to donate fireworks to our family every year until the kids are grown up. And they add another heart family each year! Valerie set it up for us and while we there we were totally spoiled with T-shirts, hats, and pins for the whole family, plus flags and candy for the kids. We are so grateful to them! You should definitely buy your fireworks from TNT every year!

Drew at the warehouse, with his flag, pin, shirt and visor!

Thank you TNT for all of these awesome fireworks!

Then on Friday we enjoyed a pre-holiday bbq with lots of our church friends at the Krengel's clubhouse. Everyone brought a dish to share and there was plenty of food! The kids enjoyed swimming and the parents enjoyed visiting. We even stayed for the fireworks show, which was good practice for the kids for the next night.

Some of the moms, watching the kids swim

Some of the kids in the kiddie pool

Saturday morning we went to the Carmichael parade, just down the street from our friends the Quayles' house. We walked from their house to the parade route and had great seats! All of the kids enjoyed watching the parade and it was a great start to our Fourth!

Keilani and Ava waiting for the parade to start

Jacob, Eben and Drew eating popsicles while they wait

Mommy and Drew

All the kids

We all went home and had naps in anticipation of staying up late to watch fireworks. Well, Dan and the kids took naps. My aunt and uncle came over for a bbq and while everyone else was sleeping we made a peach pie and batch of peach jam. Both turned out delicious and I'm excited to try and make some more peach jam all by myself.

Mmm, peach pie!

For dinner we had a yummy tri-tip, some corn on the cob, watermelon, asparagus, leftover red white and blue cake, and of course, peach pie! The weather was not too hot, so we ate outside and the kids got to run around and play until it was dark.

Eating outside with Aunt Marie and Uncle Terry

Me and Dan, enjoying the evening

Ava with the red, white and blue cake

Drew with the red, white and blue cake

Then it was fireworks time! I got earplugs for the kids to try this year, since neither one of them likes loud noises. They worked great! They were both able to stay and watch the fireworks and ENJOY them this year, which was nice! Our neighbors had some fireworks too, so we took turns lighting them off and even took a break to watch the ones we could see from our backyard at the Sunrise Mall. We all stayed up too late and had so much fun! It really was an awesome weekend!

Oh yeah, we had to crate and medicate the dogs this year so they could survive the loud fireworks. They stayed inside and listened to the weather channel.

Drew doing a sparkler

Ava and a sparkler (As a side note, I find it interesting that we tell kids all year long not to play with fire, and then on the 4th of July we hand them an exploding stick and tell them to wave it around in the air)

Watching the show!