Carson's birthday camping weekend

For Carson's 3rd birthday, we took a family camping trip to Gold Lake !

Great brothers!

Carson got this scooter for his birthday from mom and dad. He tried it out at the campground while Tate cruised on his big wheels.

Tate was determined to swim in the water at the boat ramp. He had fun splashing around, but didn't want to get in much deeper then this because the water was really cold.

Carson got a chance to touch one of the many crawdads that live in the lake!

This was Holly's first camping trip! She did great!! It was pretty chilly out at night by the lake, even in July. She got to be all bundled up in her fleece footed pajamas to stay nice and warm.

Our tent trailer has been so great for us! This campground didn't have picnic tables at each site, so we were able to bring Holly inside to eat at our trailer's table.

Carson loves anything "Toy Story" right now! For his camping birthday, he got "Toy Story" pajamas, and a "Toy Story" flashlight to go with his "Toy Story" sleeping bag. About 2 weeks before his birthday, he saw this cake at Safeway. He talked about it continually after that. I usually make the kids cupcakes for their birthday, but I knew that this year the cupcakes were out and the "Toy Story" cake was in!

I brought the cake up to the campground with us, and did the party at the campsite. Our neighbor and friend (standing next to Carson) turned 3 also just 3 days before Carson. He was still thinking it was his special day, and blew out Carson's #3 candle before Carson got the chance. Carson was a little disappointed and a lot surprised by that, so we sang "happy birthday" a second time and then Carson got the chance to blow out his candle.

Yes...that's right, he got the "Toy Story" 2 movie. He was so thrilled that he loved it, and even gave the box a kiss!

He also had fun opening other presents and cards too! Tate was right there too, so he wouldn't miss a thing!

Holly liked sitting in the storage pouch in between two fold up canvas camp chairs.

This was our campsite! In addition to our family, Mimi and Pa joined us, (for the day) on Carson's actual birthday. Eric's dad, PaPa, stayed one night, and Eric's friend Matt, our neighbors, and one other family each stayed one night also.

What a sweet boy!

We hiked to Frazier Falls and Holly really seemed to enjoy her walk outdoors. Eric likes to carry Holly around in the "Baby Bjorn", and she loves it too!

The is the end destination of the hike.....Frazier Falls overlook.

Even thought the hike wasn't very far or very strenuous, Tate talked Pa into a shoulder ride back to the car.

Holly is a great smiler for photos, though here she wanted to play with the grasses rather then look at me and the camera.

Our neighbor Russell and his family joined us on the camping trip. The boys had fun splashing in the water together.

What camp out wouldn't be complete without roasting marshmallows?! Carson had some help roasting his, but was not wanting to share his treat!

All together, our campsite had 6 little boys!!! They had a great time running around and being silly together. At the end of the day, they sat down (finally) to focus on their marshmallows and smores!

Happy 4th of July

The kids sat out on the grass while Eric and I set up the tent in the backyard. The kids were excited to try out our new tent and do a backyard camp out after the fireworks were over on the 4th.

Holly's 1st 4th of July holiday!







Eric's parents live in Sun City, just 5 minutes from our house. Their home is on the golf course and has a great unobstructed view of the fireworks display that Sun City does each year. It's so great to watch from their backyard and avoid all the people and traffic usually involved with going to watch anywhere else.

It's almost time to start the show

Eric and Holly are ready for some more fireworks

We also did fireworks with some of our neighbors. Our neighborhood has no shortage of boys....Tate and Carson love to play with these friends. The only other little girl besides Holly is one who lives across the street. She is only 3 months older then Holly, but unfortunately that family may be moving soon. I guess Holly is just going to have to learn to play with the boys.

At first Carson didn't like the sound of the fireworks that we did out in the street in front of our house. He said " It's too scary. I want to go to my home". After about 15 minutes, he decided that they were not so bad after all. Eventually, by the end of the night, we were having to make him back up and not be so close to the fireworks...his fear was definitely gone.

Every little boy thinks sparklers are cool!

Tate had his face painted earlier in the day with an American flag on one cheek and a firework on the other. The all American kid!!

Our uninvited house guest

I asked Tate to get his shoes out of the shoe basket downstairs so we could leave for the grocery store. He quickly came running back to tell me that there was a spider by the basket. Expecting to see a small problem, I was very surprised to see this gigantic creature. Now, those of you who live in the country may not be impressed by a spider this size, but us "city folk" here in Rocklin are not accustomed to this type of thing. I just hope he didn't bring any of his other spider friends with him....one was enough.

Painted Faces

The gym that I go to is Fitness 19 and tonight they had a summer party for all of the gym members. The boys played in the bounce house outside first, but didn't last too long since it was over 100 degrees out. Then they went inside to the kids room and each picked out a picture from the book of options for their face. Carson loved this dragon, and the face painter lady did a great job. The face painting choices were the most unique and intricate that I have ever seen!

Tate chose to have his face painted as a "spooky pirate ghost". He was so pleased with his choice that he even created a spooky pirate laugh just to add to the effect. In addition to all of this fun, the gym also had a drawing for prizes. I won a free months membership fee, a tent, 2 lanterns, 2 sleeping bags, a rolling ice chest, and a 10$ gift card to the nearby fireworks stand. We had a great night!!!

Our car collection

Quite the car collection these boys have

Mimi came over and while she was here, the boys enlisted her help to collect up all of their cars and line them up on the coffee table for display. They searched high and low, under couches and beds, and this was as many cars as they could find.

Roseville Aquatic Center

We signed up for a summer pass to stay cool at the Roseville Aquatic Center and the Roseville indoor pool. This was our first swim of the summer and Holly's first swim ever! The pool is open every afternoon and every evening also. So, Im hoping we get a lot of swimming in over the next few months.

Holly liked splashing in the kiddie pool, but also liked rolling around on the beach towel in the sunshine...yes she has lots of sunscreen on!

Carson was king of the water tower with his water gun shooting water out at full blast.

Tate liked to splash around in the shallow water in the kids pool.

The boys had a great time playing together and the water is just the right height to sit and splash around

Bicycle ride in the Park

Last weekend we took the kids to Maidu Park for a bicycle ride and picnic lunch. We borrowed this bike seat from our neighbor to see if Carson would like it. He did like it, but it was a little tricky for me to get the balancing mastered. We may have to give it another try before deciding to buy one of our own.

Eric pulled Tate and Holly in the bike trailer. Tate is too big for the bike seat on my bicycle and Holly is too little, so....they got paired up together in the trailer. They loved it, but it eventually did put Holly to sleep.

Tonight we were all sitting on the couch together watching "Cake Boss" on TV before starting the bedtime routine. The kids think its a cool show because of all of the elaborate cakes that they make and I actually find it fun to watch too.

I love this picture of Holly because it captures the happy expression that she gets on her little face when we talk to her. She is such a happy baby!

Tate lost his very first tooth and was so proud! It was only loose for about a week before it came out. I had just picked him up from school and we had just gotten into the car. He tried to open the Tupperware lid of his lunchbox strawberries with his teeth, and accidentally pried out the loose tooth. The bit of blood scared him at first, then he decided it was cool that the tooth had actually come out. He put the tooth under his pillow and was rewarded with 2 dollars. He usually puts his money in his piggy bank, but this time he was dying to take it to Target to pick out a toy. He picked a Iron Man action figure that rides an ATV (such a boy) and mommy had to chip in a few extra dollars, but it was what he really wanted!