San Francisco

So, we actually took this trip to San Francisco back in late April. However, because I sometimes have so many things on my " to do" list, I am just now getting these photos added to the blog.

We spent a beautiful sunny day in San Francisco and took in the lovely landmark view....the Golden Gate Bridge. The weather may have been sunny, but looks can be deceiving. The temp was around 55 and with the wind kicking at full force, the day was really quite cold.

The kids humored me by sitting still for a photo, but all they really wanted to do was fun around on the paths around this lookout point.

We spent a part of our afternoon at Golden Gate Park at the landmark windmill. We were not the only ones with this good idea, so we joined the crowd spent some time at this beautiful park.

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came bright and early and left the kids each a basket full of toys and candy. Carson couldn't wait to start on the candy as quickly as possible.

Tate found candy, books, and toys in his basket. He is testing out his new quacking duck whistle. After a few quacks though, we quickly decided that it make a good "outside only" whistle.


RahRah joined us for a bit on Easter morning so she could see what the Easter Bunny had brought.

Holly was given a 2 minute head start on the Easter egg hunting. The boys patiently watched from the windows until they were given the ok to go out and start searching too. Tate had some luck finding some eggs over by our back gate.

Holly just liked to walk around out in the lawn with candy in her hands. She left most of her share of the eggs for her brothers to find.

My aunt Ricki and uncle Kevin joined us along with Mimi and Pa for our Easter morning!

Finally, all the eggs were found and it was a very happy Easter!

Ready for Easter

The day before our Easter celebration, Mimi came over to help us get ready for the big Easter event. First on the "must do" list was to color eggs. The boys went shirtless so that they wouldn't have the chance to stain up their shirts in the egg dying process.

Holly watched the egg coloring event so that she will be ready to join in next year. Woody was close by too so as not to miss anything either.

Mimi helped mix more color and vinegar as the boys closely watched her every move in anticipation.

Carson took his job very seriously and wanted to color as many eggs as possible.

Tate was proud of his coloring job too

No Easter egg decorating is complete without adding some stickers. Carson loves stickers and will happily add stickers to anything that he can.

Next on the Easter preparation list was to make the traditional "bunny cake". Holly watched her brothers lick the spoons after making the batter and realized that she was missing out on something pretty good. She climbed up on this step stool all by herself and found the extra spatula on the counter.

Ummmm.....that chocolate batter really is good!

We frosted, decorated, and sprinkled our bunny cake and this was our finished masterpiece!

Opening Day of Baseball- March 5th

This is Tate's T-ball team, they named themselves the "Grey Wolves". Tate is on the left of the line up giving me the point.

Tate wouldn't give me a real smile, so this is the best picture I could get on this day. I think he was a bit excited and nervous about his first game.


He practiced his swing in the batters box before he had his big chance at bat.

He had a great hit and made it to first base. Eric is the assistant coach for the T-ball team so, he made sure to point Tate in the right direction to second base.

Eric doesn't look to0 thrilled, but really he was quite happy about how well the game went. It can be pretty unpredictable to send a team of 4-5 year old boys out onto the field for their first game, but it went much more smoothly then expected. They all played a great game and Eric was very proud of Tate. Now only 15 more games in this season to go!!!!

Aloha from Hawaii- Feb 18th-27th

We went to Kauai for the opportunity to enjoy a family vacation and to attend the wedding of a long-time friend of Eric's. Eric's friend John was a groomsman in our wedding, so we didn't want to miss the chance to be a part of his special day. We took this family photo just after the lovely ceremony by the ocean and then followed by the reception inside at the Beach House Restaurant.

After the ceremony, Holly sat in the middle of the flowers that were thrown to the bride and groom as they walked down the isle. The flowers were beautiful and Holly looked so cute in her floral dress.

At the reception dinner, Tate gave me a wink as he was served his steak and lobster dinner. He also loved his fancy " lava flow" drink. We told him that there are not many 5 year olds who get to enjoy such a special dinner.....he is one lucky kid!

We spent lots of time at Poi Pu Beach. Holly was queen on the sand hill in her new cute bathing suit. She had a matching hat to go with it, but would not wear it for more then two seconds.

Some of our other friends were in Kauai for the wedding too, so the kids kept busy together building sandcastles and playing in the water. The house that we rented for the week had lots of beach toys and buckets, so we were well prepared of fun in the sand.

Eric finally pried this boogie board away from Carson and took Holly out for a ride in the water. The water was so clear here that we could see the beautiful tropical fish swimming right around us.

Carson tried to fill up a sand pit with water....that kept them busy for a while.

Carson loved this boogie board. We borrowed it from our rental house and it went to the beach each time with us. Carson called it a skateboard the entire time, but he could call it whatever he wanted because he had so much fun!

Tate liked to jump and lay in the waves.

The beach at Poi Pu had very small breaking waves, so the kids could play in the ocean and not be too worried about big currents. They had a great day!

Carson begged me to take him out further into the water on his boogie board. He would have been happy to spend hours out in the water if he could.

One night after dinner, we walked from our rental house to the beach down the street. The sunset was great and was a nice way to spend the evening.

The kids and I enjoyed a fantastic sunset.

This was our great house that we rented during our vacation. We spent a lot of time out on the covered porch everyday and ate most meal out there too. The deck overlooked the ocean which was just on the other side of the yard. The big glass sliding doors slid completely across and opened up to the living room and kitchen inside to create one giant space.

RahRah and Papa joined us on our vacation and we got to share this great 4,000 sq foot house all together. There was so much room for all of us and a nice way to spend some extra time together.

Eric and I took a zodiac boat day trip with "Captain Andy's Expeditions" around to the Nepali coast. A few years ago we took a big catamaran on a similar trip, but this zodiac "raft" was a much less relaxing, but more exciting experience. The whales are out and about this time of year making their way back up to Alaska with their new babies. We saw so many whales just 100+ yards away and were lucky enough to be even closer to a pod of a couple hundred dolphins.

The Nepali coast is almost entirely inaccessible except by boat..... or by a rigorous multi day hike which is only for very experienced hikers. We happily chose to see it by boat and loved every bit of it. We were even able to go into many of the small sea caves while in our little zodiac boat.

This is where our little boat stopped along the coastline for a little break. We had our lunch, took a short hike up to an ancient fishing village, and did a bit of snorkeling.

Kauai is known for its large amount of chickens who are known to just run wild and free all over the island. They are everywhere from the resort pool areas to even sitting on the grocery carts at the store and hovering outside the entrance doors of Costco. Carson thought this family of chickens and baby chicks were quite cute.

Our last day in Kauai we spent at the Kauai Beach Resort. Our rented house was only available until the day before we left the island, so we stayed at this great resort for our last night of vacation. The pools were so great and the kids had the best time. The "kids pool" was only 1 1/2 ft deep so they could splash around without the worry of getting in too deep.

The resort grounds were beautiful, so the boys tried out their most impressive poses on this luau stage.

After our last day of fun in the sun, we headed back to our room to rest up and get cleaned up for dinner. We ate at the resort restaurant that evening and had an "all you can eat" seafood buffet. We definitely made the most our of our final day in paradise!

All in the Family

My Aunt Marcia and Uncle Mike live in Ft. Bragg, so we don't get much opportunity for seeing them. They came earlier this week in their motor home to stay for a few days and visit. This was the first time they met Holly, and she thought they were lots of fun!

While growing up, I always had the name YaYa for my Aunt Marcia. I have no idea how it began as that, but that is just always what it was. So, when the boys met them, we decided to keep up the tradition and my Uncle Mike is now YoYo.

We spent some time outside at Mimi's house while visiting with YaYa and YoYo and Holly showed off her new walking skills. She took her first steps just 1 week ago, but now really is getting the hang of it.

The boys have such a fun time playing outside in Mimi's yard.

Today we went to Whitney Park in Rocklin to meet with my family while they are in town. It was a beautiful sunny 70 degree day out and we made the most of it. It may be snowing and freezing everywhere else in the country right now, but they don't call it sunny California for nothing!

Carson and Holly love the swings! It is their favorite thing to do at the park!

At the park, we met with YaYa, YoYo and my cousin Eric with his family. We thought the park would be a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon all together. We had a great picnic that YoYo and YaYa brought and the kids wore themselves out playing. Tate and Brandon are both starting t-ball next month, so my cousin Eric pitched a few to each of the kids. This was Carson's turn at bat.

We tried to take a picture of all the kids, but its nearly impossible to get 5 kids ages 5 and under to all take a nice photo. Carson, Holly, Tate, Brandon, and Ellie had a really fun time playing and having a picnic. Brandon and Ellie belong to my cousin Eric and his wife Heather.