First Day of School TAKE 2;)

OK, so we had a slow start to the school year!! There we were, a little early for school, (for the first time ever on the first day of school) camera in hand and lo and behold a dead battery. Between getting the kids all ready for the start of school, getting me ready to go back to work and the house still being under construction someone dropped the ball and the camera did not get charged. Now we are two weeks in and I decide that we are getting the pictures anyway. I set out the same outfits, took the time to drive them to school rather than have them ride the bus and made them do a "First day of school" picture.

How do you convince him that he really does like his sisters?
That first day (and every Monday after that) they do flag raising, so every year all we get is them standing in a big group and if we are lucky we can get the teacher as well.
Caroline 5th grade

Hunter 3rd grade

Abby 1st grade

Lesson Learned!!!

Call me crazy but I think that Abby learned her lesson not to start a water fight with Grandpa. She was washing dishes on Saturday morning when my dad came over to see them and, being Abby, she decided that it would be funny to take the ladle that was in the sink and splash Grandpa with it. She was warned not to but did it anyway. I think that the pictures say it all. While he had a small wet spot on his shirt she had a small dry spot on hers.

GRANDPA 1 / ABBY 0

Trip to the zoo

Last school year Abby was invited to go to the zoo with two of her friends from school. I just got pictures from Jayne's mom and so I thought that I would share her adventure. She had such a good time and really has such a cute friendship with them. Nathan, Jayne and Abby talked about their trip together for weeks. I gave her some money and she got to go to the sting ray bay "with my own money", she had to remind me, and she could have stayed there all day long. Between the sting rays and the monkeys the day was a resounding success. It was probably better because I didn't have to go!!

Camping at the Rim

We enjoy camping as a family and one of favorite places is up on the rim. It is so beautiful. This year it seems that we got more rain before we went and it was so green. Almost every year it rains at least a little while every day but this year it rained before we got there and again after we went home.














The kids love to go for quad rides with the dads and this year was no exception. They took a ride down the trails to a small pond to find water dogs (these are salamanders that have stayed in the water so they still have gills and webbed feet.)

Smoors are a must when out in the woods, around a campfire. We decided to give them a new experience and along with the traditional gram cracker and chocholate they had the option of putting the marshmallow in between two chocolate chip cookies. I don't think that they could decide what was better. My vote is the cookies.

On our hike we found a cave that the kids could climb through. It was perfect, not too big and with seperate enrtance and exit. The kids went through a few times each and thought it was exciting to explore. It was more like follow the leader but for them it was exploring still the same!













Caroline, Hunter and Abby got really good at riding the little quad and loved every minute of it. I think that they are truly addicted.

THE HAMMOCK (need I say more?)

One of our favorite places!!

In May Tracy and I took our kids to Disneyland with Joe and Sarah and their family and Kirt and April and their kids. We had a wonderful vacation. It is great to be able to spend time with great family and friends. This year was especially exciting because at the ripe old age of 6 1/2 Abby is finally over the hight of 40 inches which opens up a whole new world of rides for her.

This is her on big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She loved every minute of it. All I could hear from behind me was a mixture of squeals and giggles and as soon as we got off she was begging to go again and again. She is definately a part of the family. Tracy, Caroline, Hunter and I are thrill seakers and this trip showed that she was no different from the rest of us.



I was pleased to see that Caroline and Hunter were so excited to take her and show her all the new things that she would be able to do with them this time. They let her choose where to sit and who she wanted to ride with. It was nice as a mom to see that my kids were so good and kind to each other.

It was a great end to the vacation to take the kids to Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast for Jack's birthday. They had a great time dancing with and talking to the characters. Thanks Aunt Sarah!!

Summer is almost over :)

I can hardly beleive that the summer is almost over and the kids will be back at school and I will back to work at the school. I don't quite know where all the time goes and I am very split over the emotions that I am having. I am in the middle of getting pictures organized of the remodel and of our summer vacations. (one to Disneyland and one camping). I want that all up by Sunday night. So check back and see what has been happening.