We Made It . . . Redwoods Prairie Creek

In a word, the redwoods are AMAZING! We were so fortunate to be able to visit this beautiful park. Lots of things to do and see--in no particular order...

A family picture on one of our many hikes...

Seth tried to climb up a giant redwood...

Hanging around at the creek behind our campsite...

Wild boys played in the river...

Row, row, row your boat...

Ethan and Emers enjoying the beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean alongside the giant trees...

Emmy, Ethan, Curran, Seth and Stone looked teeny-tiny at the base of these trees...

Our bike ride through the trees...

Taking a break while night hiking...

Our pigtailed princess nearly disappeared next to the roots of this fallen tree...

Bad News

Enough said...

On the Road

The boys are set to go on our trip!

Pool Party and Popsicles

Aren't they cute?

We had a blast with the Ganino, Howell and Huggins families. All of the kids played so well together. We should have done this earlier in the season!

Pets!

We love feeding and watching our wild "pets." Ethan wants to catch one!

Hooray for Mission Bay

Our Mission Bay getaway was full of summer fun! We had a great time riding bikes, playing at the beach, watching Sea World's firework show, and hanging out with the Howell and Boone families. We're ready to go back!

Until next time...

There's a New Princess on the Playground

We can't believe it! Emmy started preschool today! She is going to go two days a week, and we thought it would be best to start her out for a short amount of time during the summer. This way it won't be a shock when I go back to work when the school year starts. Emmy had such a wonderful first day, and there weren't any tears. She immediately joined the rest of the kids and sent us on our way. She is such a big girl!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Seven years come and go so quickly!

Happy Birthday to our special guy!

Tent Camping . . . What's That?

We just took an out of the blue overnight trip to Palomar Mountain with the Latulippes. This was our first tent camping experience as a family, and it was a great learning experience. Lesson one for next time: leave Baby Girl at Grandma's house! Despite the "challenges" of camping in a tent. It was all worth it.

The view looking up from inside our tent was great!

We raced to put up the tents and unpack the trucks before sundown. Our tents were so gigantic that they didn't fit in the camping pads!

The girls rock climbed at the edge of our campsite

Mr. Blue Eyes practiced his trademark funny faces

Emmy won the dirtiest kid contest!

Then she tried to keep up with the big guys as they hiked the trail to Doane Pond.

The boys got to use their Rocket Fishing Rods for the first time with hooks and bait.

Ready, Ready, Ready to Fish!

Grandma got the boys Rocket Fishing Rods and fishing vests last Christmas. Ethan was tired of waiting to use his, so he got dressed to fish (and even found a bucket to put his "catch" in). Grandma took him to Lake Wohlford where they fished without bait!

Lovin' Lawrence Welk's New Pool!

We aren't so into public pools, BUT we just love going to the Lawrence Welk Resort!!! The boys waterslide again and again; they play with their sister on the water playground and swim, swim, swim in the gigantic pool! Emmy just loves the beach entry at the new pool. It is like a vacation in our own backyard! This visit, we ran into the Traina's. Thanks for the video Johnny!

My favorite parts of this clip are the upside down goggles, puffer fish cheeks, and the Sara cameo!

Happy Birthday Rayann!

We celebrated the big 33 at Don Pedro's.

Birthday Escape

We spent a relaxing time at the Indian Wells house for my birthday. Randy and I went without children for the first two days. It was a nice time to rest and relax without having to constantly entertain the kiddos, though we did have Allie Dog! The Jurgensen's brought out our three along with their boys when they joined us, the Ottonello's came out for the weekend, and my mom and Rick joined us for a birthday dinner. As always, there was plenty of excitement to go around. Stoney had to go to the emergency room for a split chin--Flashback to the last time we were there...Ethan went to the same ER for staples after cracking his his head open in the shower!). Other than that, it was a great desert escape!

We had a ton of fun in the pool!

Emmy was all smiles

Emerson and Dominic looking good in their goggles

The boys camped out in the media room. EZ and Curran snuggled in the pull out bed while our injured buddy Stone and Seth had airmattresses on the floor. All four boys enjoyed watching StarWars and eating popcorn in bed!

Ethan and Allie were so worn out that they settled in to a comfy place and napped while we cleaned up and packed the car to head home. Allie sure does love these kids!