Ribbon day at swim

Father's Day

We had a pretty fun Father's Day.  It started off with breakfast for daddy and opening cards.  

 

Then it was time for presents.  We got him a new Jeep suitcase for our trip this summer and the girls put their latest paintings inside as a surprise.

Lovin' the artwork!

We headed to the Arizona Grand Resort for a stay-cation.  Cory enjoyed a nice, relaxing massage while we played in the pool.  Then we strolled around the grounds before dinner time.  The kids had a blast staying away from home and it was fun to get away even for just 24 hours.

Buns and books

I find all kinds of photos on my 'big' camera, the Nikon that supposed to be off limits.  Somehow they find a way to sneak the camera and take some photos.  I think Ryan is the culprit because there is a photo of Reese's bun, which is how she loves having her hair styled right now, but her hair is so darn thick it will not stay put through the day.  She does looks so grown up when her hair is styled this way.

 I also found about 10 photos of Ryder outside on the porch swing reading the latest issue of Highlights magazine.  It comes every month along and they love the Hidden Pictures and the stories each month.  Ryder was obviously enthralled with this month's issue.  He's really good at finding those hidden pictures.

 Man, I love this little bushy haired kid.

 I love that he's pointing out stuff and there's no one else around except Ryan the paparazzi.

Gotta love the lazy days of summer :)

Little Da Vinci

We are back at Little Da Vinci, at least for the summer.  The girls love it and we have more time on our hands now that school is out.  They just finished their peacocks in time to give them to Dad for Father's Day.  I just picked them up from class yesterday and they told me they are starting a new painting that no one has done before.  They were so excited and told me that it's a mountain scene with a rainbow sky.  I can't wait to see the finished product.

VBS

We did VBS this week at Cornerstone and I love it for 3 reasons: 1) it's only 4 days, Tuesday-Friday.  That's all we could handle since we were in vacation re-entry mode. 2) Cornerstone is a huge church and the program runs like a well-oiled machine with tons of great volunteers.  3) We got to catch up with some friends from school and Pre-K last year that we hadn't seen in awhile.

The girls loved every second of it and Ryder was typical little Ryder boy.  He went happily on Tuesday and Wednesday with just a tiny bit of resistance.  Thursday I kind of forced him to go because I had scheduled an appointment that I wasn't going to bring him to.  Friday he cried and fussed and went to Mimi's house because, again, I had made plans thinking I was kid free for 2.5 hours.  Thank goodness for Mimi.  He's such a little stinker.  What am I going to do with this crazy little kid?

Here he is with his friend, Hannah, who we had with us on Tuesday.  They are too cute together.

Our California Trip, Part II

We made it to Escondido in the afternoon, around 2:30.  The Williams' house sits on about 8 acres at the top of the hill and it's a kids paradise with everything there is to do.  Hiking the hill was one of the first things on the agenda and Brian & Cory took all 5 kids and the dog to the top.  I was on the back deck using our super zoom 70-300mm lens.  We don't use it often but it turned out to be a great lens for all the scenery during the weekend.

 Not even an hour after we arrived, Brian & Curtis were driving down the driveway and saw a rattlesnake going across the pavement.  It's become a tradition for us to kill rattlesnakes whenever we come to town.  Last year we found two in one weekend and this creepy guy greeted us right away.  It's so sad to kill any animal but you can't have rattlesnakes squirming their way around your property when you've got kids and animals running all around.  This particular snake was a female and she was pregnant with 9 eggs.  See those yellow oval shaped things below?  Yup, those are baby rattlesnake eggs.  So creepy.  I was pretty grossed out but this was definitely a highlight of the trip for our kids.

The next day Cory caught some amazing photos of a hawk that was flying around.  Much prettier than a rattlesnake.

Our kids play so well with Devin & Curtis.  It's like a non-stop kid party all weekend long.

Cory was the resident photographer for most of the weekend and he captured some really sweet shots like this one of Reese:

 and this one of Ryder (who was in hog heaven with all the fake guns around):

 and another one of Reesey:

 and this one of sassafras Ryan:

 After all the cute posing it was time to shoot some guns.  Again, this nothing we would ever do in Chandler but when in Rome.

 
While Reese was shooting stuff Ryan was trying to collect eggs from the chicken coop in the background but got chased out by an angry hen.  She was running like her life depended on it and I couldn't stop laughing.

 Then it was time to pose and make gang signs on a pile of wood.  They were all so funny together.

 And then it was time for us to leave.  So sad to go but we're happy to know that we will be back in August to celebrate Cory's grandpa's 95th birthday.

Our California Trip, Part I

We just got back from California and we had such a blast on our trip.  First of all it was amazing to get out of the blazing heat even if it was just for 5 days.  I think we timed it perfectly because we were getting updates from back home that it was 113 degrees.  That made the 78 degree weather in Malibu seem pretty awesome.

We woke up SUPER early on Wednesday morning and headed out.  The plan was to leave at 4am but Ryder woke up at 2am with a bloody nose in our bed and by the time I cleaned it all up I was wide awake.  We decided to hit the road at 2:30am and I drove for the first 2 hours.  By 4:30 I was pretty tired so we pulled over and Cory drove the rest of the way.  We got into LA just in time for breakfast and some rush hour traffic.  When we arrived at Alexa & Justin's house they were at swim lessons but we got settled in and they arrived around lunch time.  We took it easy that first day because we were all pretty pooped from driving in the middle of the night.  Alexa & Justin took us to Stonehaus, one of their favorite neighborhood restaurants.  We had wine & snacks while the kids ran around and played outside.  It was so nice.  After we got back home the kids were dying to put on a concert with all of Justin's instruments.  It was one of the funniest things I've watched in awhile.

 They were rocking out and having so much fun with Lexington.  Ryan looked super cool in her shades.  Ryder was so tired that he fell asleep on the way home from the restaurant and slept until the next morning.  No rockstar Ryder that night :(

 Reese picked out her fancy outfit with bow and dressed Lexington up to the nines.

 I'm not sure what they're whispering about but I'm sure it was about the grand finale.

 Then it was our turn to duet.  Eight years of piano lessons for both of us and we can play some mean heart and soul jams.

 Justin was the designated baby Zane holder.  I could seriously eat that kid up.  He is too precious.

 Cory got on the guitar and had a jam session while I recalled some of my Richard Marx tunes I had memorized from 8th grade.  Epic.

 There's that sweet little squishy boo again!

Day 2 we woke up and had some breakfast and played in their garden.  Alexa had ladybugs to release and that turned into oodles of fun for the kids.

 

Then we headed to the beach in Malibu that afternoon.  Our Aunt Marilyn & Greg were staying down the road in Ventura and joined us for some fun in the sun.  The sun kept peeking in and out of the clouds and it was a wee bit chilly at times but we still had a blast.  The kids love running from the waves and playing in the sand.  There's just something so awesome about the salty air and having your feet in the sand.  Below is a photo of all of us minus Aunt Marilyn because she was snapping the photo.

 Then I got a cute one of Alexa, Justin, Lexington & Zane together.

 Here is our crew about to start running from the waves.  Seriously our most favorite game ever.

When we got back home we had a gourmet dinner of gazpacho and grilled shrimp that Justin threw together.  Our kids wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole unfortunately so I made noodles with butter and parmesan and they tore that up.  The beach always makes me so hungry.  Not sure what it is.

Day 3 was our day to leave and head to San Diego.  We were so sad but we know we'll see the B family soon when we all head to CO in July.  Before we left we tried to get a photo of the 5 kids together.  Of course it's like herding cats and Reese & Ryan were fighting over who could hold Zane, but we finally got a few good ones together.

 I seriously can't get enough of this kid.  He gives me baby fever in a major way and that hasn't happened in awhile.  I am dying over this photo of him in shades.  What a hoot!  That was Ryan's idea.

 So long for now and we'll see you soon!