Paddleboats

I have never been on a paddleboat. I have always wanted to though. We went to a lake just outside of Livermore which was beautiful. We saw paddleboats and I knew we had to take a ride. We each took two kids with us. It was all strategy. I took the muscle kid and the light one. I would like to tell you how fun it was but my only advice would be to NEVER, NEVER, use one. We had two hours to get them back. After one hour we looked back and were still very close to the dock!! We tried to make the best of it. The kids all took their turns paddling. It was more like a treadmill on water. All that work and you never actually go anywhere.

Quiet Like Ninjas

We don't usually break a lot of rules.:) But, we decided to sneak the boys down to sit in the hot tub one night even though the sign said you had to be 10 years old. Our boys can be pretty noisy, so we told them they had to be as quiet as ninjas. How exciting!!!! Seth is even showing off his ninja poise. The plan worked out quite well actually. They were super quiet. (I should take the ninjas to church).

We all roll doooowwwwnnn!

We did a lot of fun things in California and saw a lot of new things, but one of the kids favorite things to do was go to a college in town and roll down the grassy fields and play on their soccer field. We were couped up in the hotel room a lot until Neil would get home at 6:30 every night. So, after dinner we would head out to burn off some boy energy.

California Trip Day 3

Today we headed to San Francisco again. This time we took the public transportation train/subway. The kids loved the "train" adventure, until we realized it takes us underneath the bay. It was kinda weird to be in the dark under the ocean. Our ears were popping we went so deep. We walked quite a ways to Pier 39. We bought some sweatshirts and boarded a ferry boat around the bay. We got to see Alcatraz, Angel Island and go underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a yummy lunch of sourdough bread bowls with soup in them. Another great day. Tomorrow Neil heads back to work so we are off to entertain ourselves somehow. Hopefully we don't get lost!!

California Trip Day 2

Our second day was a lot of fun. We started the day going to watch movies. Neil and Layron watched Harry Potter while Mikey, Seth and I saw Smurfs. Afterwards, we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and saw Muir Woods. It is a Redwood grove. The trees were super tall. It was a beautiful hike. The trees were so thick, it looked dark outside. On the way home, we drove up Lombard street. The trip up was pretty scary. We were in an automatic car but Neil had to hit the gas before he let go of the brakes. The road down was switchbacks. The boys felt like they were on a rollercoaster ride. Great Day! The boys crashed when we got home.

California Trip Day 1

Neil is working in California for 2 months. We got to make a visit a few weeks ago but only for 2 days, so now that our lives have slowed down a little bit, we flew up for 10 days!!! Neil is working during the day, but we have him at night and on the weekends. Our first day, we didn't have a car, so the boys and I relaxed and hung out at the pool. When Neil got off of work, Erik drove us to I-Hop for some smiley face pancakes. I read a new John Grisham novel (515 pages) in a day and a half. Aaaahhhh. I love vacation. Here are some photos from our first day.

What a Boy!!

Layron learned to mow lawns this spring. It has been great for him. He earned some money doing it, and actually saved enough that with a little help on his birthday, he bought a new I-Pod. It is now a pemanent fixture in his ears. He is such a good boy and a hard worker.

Craft Day

I've been really busy this summer. I finally had a day with nothing to do!!! So I knew right away it was a craft day!!! I had a huge pile of clothes Neil dumped after cleaning out his closet. I made some P.J.'s for Erik completely out of Neil's t-shirts. I also made Seth some P.J.'s using an old t-shirt and some shorts of Neil's I down-sized to fit him. A productive fun day. Oh, and sorry about the upside down pics. I do not claim computers to be a hobby.