Marina Dunes

I had been planning a trip that I had wanted to take for a while now. I feel like we have lived in California for almost seven years and we have seen so little of it! So instead of just going to LA or Utah again, I wanted to see some sights.  I invited my anyone who wanted to go, and to my surprise and excitement, my sister Chanelle and my sister in law Kristen wanted to go with us!  We were so excited.  I did a lot of planning so that we would know what we were doing rather than just flying by the seat of our pants. I found hotels for pretty darn cheap which I was pretty excited about!  The first three nights we stayed in Marina which was between Santa Cruz and Monterey, so that we could spend time at both places without having to drive too much and without having to change hotels too much too. We drove in Sunday afternoon and found a place to eat dinner, then after dinner we HAD to go to the beach since it was right next to our hotel. The trouble was that by that time it was freezing and the wind was blowing pretty hard. You would think that would deter kids, but put kids and beach together and it could be below zero and they would still want to go.

Annie was just so excited to have her favorite cousin Lucy with her on the trip.  They are just too cute together!  Its hard sometimes living far form cousins that the kids love being with so much.

Luckily the kids were pretty timid with the water and were pretty good at staying a safe distance fromt he waves, all except Russ.  We kept warning him that he was going to fall in if he wasnt careful and sure enough.  That boy! 

We had to strip him down since his clothes were sopping wet.

We made sure to buy a lot of sand toy because we figured the little kids especially would get tire of the water and want to build in the sand.  Man did these toys get used on this trip!

The kids didn't last very long in the water, but did have a good time building in the sand. It ended up being the theme for the trip, every beach we went to they built the same huge fort in the sand. They were so fun to watch.  it was a good first day to our trip!

Swimming with Cousins

 Chanelle drove in a day before our trip so we had a little swim party at my parents house. I don't know if I have ever seen kids that have so much fun together!  It was crazy how they all play so well together and even though they don't see each other very often its like they have never been apart! It is such a neat thing to see! I am so grateful that my kids have such special relationships with their cousins.

It is also nice that this year Clara is doing really well with the water and loves her puddle jumper and wears it all the time and has a great time playing. It has made it so much easier on me this year.

Negro Bar

Kristen drove into town because she and the kids were coming with us on a little California coast trip that we were taking.  So the day after they got in we wanted to do something fun with Grandma and Judy since that was all they were going to be seeing them. My mom had taken the big kids to a place called Negro Bar, which is just down from Folsom lake.  They had a great time and Kevin and I wanted to go too. We rented kayaks and were able to paddle around for an hour.  It was such a blast!  Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures on the kayaks because I was afraid of my phone getting ruined or falling in, so it is all just in memory. We found a little cove that had really shallow water so the kids got out and played over there. It was a really fun time and something we will definitely be doing again. We brought a picnic lunch because they had some really great shade and picnic tables and were able to have a really fun lunch there. Afterward we let the kids play around in the water for a while. I had no interest. I hate going in freezing water, but the kids love it!

Lizzy and Ruby discovered they had the same swimming suit which was a fun little thing.

                                                        The kids had such a fun time!

Freddy killed me the whole time. He is such a funny kid. The night before he had thrown up in the middle of the night but he was totally fine int he morning and was telling me all about how much he had thrown up and the noises he made.

Independence Day

We had a great independence Day even if it was here in California. Its the only day the whole year that I wish I could be in Utah instead.  

We started the day by running the 5K. Lizzy of course did amazing and beat us all. I thought I would do better than I did, but it was hard! I'm hoping to do even better next year! 

 While we were running Nellie stayed home and watched the little kids and got them ready for the parade. She did a great job.  Lizzy and Kevin stayed and found us a place to sit while I ran and got donuts and ran home and ge tthe kids for the parade.

 Then we went to the parade. It was better than last year at least. The kids got quite a bit of candy so that was fun for them.

These kids. I still look at them and cant believe they are all mine! 

After the parade we went home and spent the afternoon making patriotic crafts. I thought the shirts would be a lot easier than they were, but the stencils were hard to make and it ended up taking the whole afternoon to make them.  We were going to have a barbecue with my parents but Lizzy was all bummed that we weren't having friends over and invited her friend and then her family just decided to have us over, which I feel like we invited ourselves. But it ended up being so fun, it was hard to drag my parents  along because they get so funny about stuff like that, but they came and had a good time. 

 The kids loved it because they have a pool so they got to go swimming too! This was the kids eating their dinner.

                                                  These two little wet monkeys.

 We pooled all our fireworks together and had a fun show. It ended up being a dang good thing we went there because the fireworks Kevy and I thought we got ended up all being poppers!  We were so mad!  It was a big case too!

 Clara was fine as long as I held her ears for her.

Summer Picnic

Every summer we make a bucket list of things we want to do in the summer and then I try my very hardest to get in as many as I can. The kids always like having picnics and we like to try and find new fun parks that we have never been to before. I had it all planned and then Lizzy and Nellie got invited at the last minute to go roller skating. Jane was a little bummed because she always wants to be clumped with the big girls but that isn't always the case. So we met Kevy at a new park and we had a great time together. Jane even had fun. 

 Clara is just getting so big and has so much fun being with the big kids and doing what they do.

 These two!  They have been getting a long so much better than they used to.  Now it is Annie and Clara that are freniemies. Is it Annie?  Or is it just the age?

 Jane looks so little standing next to that big tree.

 Digging in the dirt getting all dirty.

Love this crazy boy!