MONTEREY!!!!!

Monterey is my heaven on earth. I think it is one of the most beautiful places and I never get tired of it. Since there is the possibility that we will be moving soon I told Daddy that I wanted to take the kids there before we move and it worked out that we went Mother's Day weekend. It was a perfect trip. We started out at the beach in Pacific Grove. M followed me out to the big rocks so we could watch the waves crash on them up close. We had to go quickly since the tide was coming in and I didn't want to get stuck out there :)

All of the girls loved searching for hermit crabs in the water

M liked getting wet :)

A had fun discovering the tide pools with Daddy

I will never get tired of this coastline!

We moved on after lunch to Asilomar beach around the point where the girls had lots of fun playing in the waves...M and E LOVED "surfing"....running out to the waves and holding their feet in the sand while the waves raced back out to the ocean...it's a great feeling (even if they weren't really surfing!)

And they had LOTS of fun playing "tag" with the ocean!!!

A quickly learned (the hard way) that the waves are cold and powerful enough to knock you over :) (click on it to see A crying!)

Aren't those waves gorgeous!!

Mg and Daddy had a GREAT time building a huge sand castle (and my job was to keep the big monster (A) away so she didn't destroy it!)

A and I had lots of fun covering up her toes with sand and letting her wiggle them out...I was surprised at how long she enjyoed that game!!

Later we went to Fisherman's Wharf for clam chowder and bread bowls and a few souvenirs

Then off to our hotel in Seaside where we had a great night...I love my girls!

These two had lots of fun setting up their "house"...the hotel room had a front and back room so they had their own little house and they set up all their stuffed animals and were too cute!

The next day we drove to San Jose for a Mother's Day lunch with my mom's side of the family and then to see my dad's parents for dinner before we headed back home. We had wonderful visits, the kids were really pretty well behaved and I'm so grateful to live in such a beautiful place and to have family close by!!! It was a fabulous weekend!

May

My E turned 7!!! I can not believe how fast she has grown up! We had such a fun Thumbelina party for her...we did lots of flower crafts then made body glitter and dressed up for a flower tea party...too much fun!!! (E is in pink in the middle)
We took a bike ride as a church activity to start off "May is bike month" it was fun except it rained the entire time but the kids enjoyed riding in the rain with their friends, eating ice cream and getting soaked!

Daddy laughed one night to see all his girls lined up in age order to pray and had to take a picture of his girls :)

Cousin visit!

I had the opportunity to go visit my grandpa's cousins...they had a lot of family history pictures and stories to share and I had a WONDERFUL visit!!! They were so cute and full of energy...I hope to be like them! We had lots of fun getting to know each other and to share pictures with each other...this is me with Verna at her home with an AMAZING yard and garden

Another cousin, Betty Ann, came too and she was just so fun!!! We enjoyed tea together as we visited and then I brought out the laptop and started scanning away! They were delightful and so much fun and it was great to hear stories of my Grandpa and my great grandparents...such a wonderful day!!!

Out and about...on bikes!

We were finally able to get everyone up on bikes and ready for an outing...I've been wanting to ride our bikes down the Sacramento River bike trails but we figured we'd better give our bike rack a test drive so we loaded up and drove onto campus so we could ride around the arboretum...one of the places we miss the most since we moved out of on campus housing. Daddy did a great job getting all of our bikes in and on the car...

We rode to the arboretum and saw....

Baby ducks!!!! We miss seeing these a lot!!

And then rode on to a favorite water fountain...the water falls over the sides and it's lots of fun to play with...

and to run around

Hooray for bike rides! Now on to the river trails!!

Family pictures

My bro was working on some portfolio pictures and we had a fun afternoon doing fun stuff with "Silly Uncle Scott" (and I had fun visiting with Aunt Sara!)...here are a few favorites...

They love their new sandals

Fabulous work! Thanks again for the pictures and for the good times together! You're the best!

Picnic Day

One of our favorite things in Davis is Picnic Day...it's a campus wide open house and there are so many things to do there!!! We especially love all the animals you can pet...
M had her face painted in the kitty room...
This one's for you Grandpa! We missed the landing of the medical helicopter but the girls were excited to sit in it...

Daddy was so happy...he has been playing a computer game where he flies a helicopter and he got to sit in the helicopter and talk to the pilot for a LONG time...he was SO happy!!!!! (My nephew is sitting in the back seat and A is climbing...of course!)
We decided to have our "picnic" at home! It was fun...my brother and his family came in town so we shared a few things and then spent the rest of hte day playing with them! I think my bro has more pictures from picnic day (we loved playing with all the ocean animals) but I'll have to get those later...
Hooray for picnic day!

Easter pictures

My little bro took some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses...thanks bro! (And great job...even if the fog didn't cooperate!!!)

Water rockets

As a kid Daddy loved his water rocket. A few years ago we found it in a box but it didn't work so well...we went on a hunt and my mom found him some new ones! We brought them to my Uncle's house at Easter and had fun shooting them off...

(You fill the "engine" with water, use a hand pump to fill it with air and then push a button and the rocket launches (and sprays water behind it!))

And then you get to hunt for it so you can do it again!

"What the heck is this thing??"

My cousin Carson and my Aunt Kim had fun with us, too!