The First Day of School

Wow! The first day of school was fantastic for both of the boys. Seth is in second grade and Ethan started kindergarten! They are growing up so fast!

Mr. Kvitli and Seth

Mrs. Callahan and Ethan

River Trip!

Randy and I enjoyed our time at the Colorado River with Dana, Julie and Brianna. Despite a few obstacles in the beginning, it was a nice end of summer escape without kiddos...so relaxing!!!

Randy chilled in the water and got ready to go wakeboarding...

There he goes...

Julie was brave and went out on a wakeboard for the first time...

Getting up wasn't a problem...

Dana went out to ski...

I did, too...

I'm up...

I crashed hard...

The resident water fowl greeted us...

What a relaxing time!

Healthy Snack Time!

Seth loves to prepare his own food. His "snacks" always turn out to be works of art! Now, Ethan has started to join in the fun. They even like to make their own sandwiches!

Disneyland, We Love You!

Seth, Ethan, Grandma and I had the best time at the Disneyland Resort! We enjoyed both parks and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. It was nice to be able to take a break at the hotel. This way, the boys got to swim and we were able to stay up for the electric parade. But, best of all, we got early entry at Disneyland! You can't beat that!!!

Not our favorite! It will be some time before I'll get the boys back on this one!

First Soccer Practice of the Season

We're back in it! We will live and breathe soccer for the next few months!

Green Valley

On our way home, we stayed a night in Green Valley to break up the drive. It was a beautiful area (minus the mosquitos), and the boys had a great time with their homemade fishing poles!

Lassen Volcanic National Park

As soon as we arrived at our campsite, the boys got into their swim trunks and played in the lake. Here they are with the volcano in the background.

The Bumpass Hell hike, thermal pools and mud pots had to be the highlight of Lassen. The weather was crazy on this day. Huge, dark clouds rolled in right as we reached the pools. The combination of steam and hail was really cool and exciting for all!

One afternoon, Randy and the boys made boats and let them sail on Summit Lake.

Ethan was so happy and proud of his boat!

Seth was thrilled, but he soon learned his sail was too heavy.

Ethan didn't realize that once the boat was launched, it wasn't coming back. The poor little guy sat there and watched it sail away to the middle of the lake.

Our hike to Echo Lake was the second hike we took this day. It was so peaceful and definitely worth the trip. The boys did an amazing job getting there, finding hiking sticks along the way. They hiked a total of 7 miles on this one day! They were far better hikers than their mom!

Ethan, Curran, Stone and Seth

Dad was sure to get a real workout each time we left on a hike!

Emmy had fun bundled up at the campfire!

Ethan and Curran spruced up some chipmunk holes...

When we left early in the morning, steam was rolling off of Summit Lake.

Lake Helen was super still, and we were able to get a picture with the reflection of the volcano.