Last month's adventures

In the past month or so we have done: a fun art project with bottle caps.  Connor's is a garbage truck emptying a blue can into the hopper.

 We did what we could to stay cool in a house without AC.

We played with the cousins' chickens.

 We hung out being goofy, had doctor appointments and got shots, and played some new games.

 On our drive to Utah we stopped at this state park which was celebrating its wildflower festival.  The kids played wildflower bingo, drew pictures with chalk, made a flower and played a tossing game with big bugs.

 

We enjoyed a 4th of July parade in Utah where they handed out free donuts out of the back of a giant donut truck.  There was also a bunch of candy thrown at the children, so they were quite happy.  I made Elise and Chloe matching skirts and Connor a pair of shorts to go with their new t-shirts.

 Connor and Colby got their faces painted at a 4th of July festival and all enjoyed a Popsicle on the hot day.  Elise enjoyed playing with glow sticks while waiting for the fireworks to start.

 We also had fun setting off our own fireworks and sparklers.  Chloe announced that the fireworks scared her and she went inside.

Peter enjoyed playing with uncle Rick's toy.  Peter thinks we need to have one too.

While in Utah we went to the Hill Air force Museum

 Played at a splash pad...notice the big blue pipe aimed directly at Chloe...she got wet when it turned on suddenly.

 We had family photos taken at this park.  We also fed the ducks a lot of bread.

 We went looking for a U-pick apricot area, and ended up buying pie cherries (we usually buy the cherries in November and there aren't any cherries on the trees then.  When we walked up there was a big sign that said these were not U-pick cherries and there were no exceptions.  After we bought a couple bins of cherries and some fresh berries the owner said we could pick a few cherries from the trees (we didn't ask).  They were set to be harvested two days later.  They were tart cherries and they melted in your mouth-delicious!

 On the way back Chloe devoured her basket of berries.

 Later that night we went to a birthday party for Great Grandpa who was turning 90.  The California O's went as the Things 1-11.  We are the parents of Thing 6, 8 and 11.  Us adults had matching shirts as well that said Parent of the Things, but we were told the night before that this was to be a Sunday best wardrobe and therefore our shirts wouldn't be appropriate.  We were quite bummed as we ordered the shirts specifically for this occasion.  After we arrived many people were in jeans, t-shirts and shorts.  Great Grandpa showed up in a Hawaiian shirt...our shirts would've been fine.

 Thing 1 carried Thing 11 the majority of the night.

 The next morning we drove the 12 hours back home and arrived about 15 hours later.  Gotta love Vegas traffic and a few pit stops to let the children stretch their legs and go to the bathroom.

While at home we introduced Elise to some peas.  She loved smiling and then the food went into her mouth and she didn't like it one bit.  But smiled again as the one feeding her kept smiling.

 Chloe said she wanted a pony tail like mommy's so I found some bands and tried putting her hair up.  I first tried pigtails and that was cute.  It lasted less than 5 minutes.  Then I tried one pony tail and that lasted a little longer.  I did one ponytail right in the front too, which looked awkward and she left that one alone the longest.  She has super fine hair and is a wiggle worm so these were her first hairdos.

 Connor cut up some banana slices to share for a snack.

 Elise managed to turn 5 months old when we weren't looking.

Our first week of summer break

Last year during the summer while Chloe napped, Connor and I would do a craft a day.  He looked forward to when she would sleep, so he could have some special time.  Now Connor and Chloe look forward to Elise's nap time.  Here they are making jelly fish.

Connor shows his jelly fish...we hung them over the banister to dangle.

Next we glued tissue paper to canvas and made turtles out of empty fruit cups and tissue paper.

The kids painted red, white and blue stars and I added them to the wreath I put together.  I was introduced to deco mesh wreaths at a Super Saturday event and have made a few since and plan on making one for each holiday/season.

Peter cut out these fun patterns for the us to paint. 

Chloe wanted a cantaloupe, so we painted her one today.

Elise turned 4 months old last week!

Friday Peter and I put wonderful film on this window which totally reduced the amount of heat that was let in.  Then his dad came over and they put film on our skylights too.  Not having AC makes our house downright miserable for a couple weeks of the year.  This film made the house tolerable today as it was 99 degrees outside.

 The kids also enjoyed some pool time in our backyard.

 

 Sunday we went to Sean and Amy's air conditioned house.  Chloe enjoyed cooling off in the fountain.  She's sure going to miss that fountain when they move next week.

This little girl continues to crack me up.  She often sleeps with socks on her hands and this night she insisted on having boots on.

Yosemite

May 21st-25th we were in Yosemite.  We had a great time looking at all the waterfalls at their best.

Above = Lower Falls

Below = a look out point up in Glacier Point

Glacier Point was closed due to snowfall when we arrived at the park, but on our way out of the park the road was open for a few hours, so we detoured and went up.  We're glad we did because Tuesday the road was closed the entire day expecting snowfall.

We went in the park Sunday and Tuesday.  We totally should've gone in Monday and Tuesday as Tuesday was significantly less crowded than Sunday.  On Monday we toured some local things like the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Rail Road.  We went on an hour steam engine ride.

Shortly after the train took off, Chloe fell asleep and stayed asleep the entire time.  Good thing her ticket was free.

Sunday we did a lot of driving and seeing the waterfalls, Tuesday we parked and hiked to some waterfalls.  This is Swinging Bridge.

One of the cool lookout places where you can see a couple of waterfalls.

The kids hiked a couple miles to Mirror Lake and then decided to play in the freezing cold glacier water.

The kids got soaked and it wasn't a terribly warm day...notice the jackets.

Right before we headed off to hike I put on my hiking boots and then walked from the parking lot to the bathrooms (5 min walk maybe).  Then I noticed something felt funny about my shoes, I look down and my sole flapped every time I picked up my foot.  I headed back to the car and put regular shoes on again and was sore when we were done hiking.  Luckily the kids were exhausted so we didn't hike terribly far.  I've had these shoes for nearly 20 years, the soles had completed deteriorated so I think it's time for a new pair.

While in Yosemite there were several wood carving shops along the road.  Peter insisted we needed a bear for our house and so we stopped and picked up this cute guy.

We had a great time!