Our Trip to California

  SACRAMENTO

The kids and I left to California on May 9th. We spent 4 days in Sacramento and 4 days in Madera.

While we were in California I met up with some friends from high school. Some of these ladies I hadn't seen since high school. It's definitely one of the benefits of connecting with friends through Facebook. We had a great time and I look forward to seeing them again.

Most of our time in Sacramento was spending time with Robyn and her family. The cousins had so much fun together and it was nice spending time with Robyn and Kevin. They always make our trips out there enjoyable.

Cheering Rachel on for her soccer game!

SACRAMENTO RAILROAD MUSEUM

I love their faces in this picture!

 Mother's Day turned out very special. Kevin spoiled Robyn, his mom and me by cooking us dinner. They also got a gift for me from "the kids" which was very thoughtful.

SAN JOSE

We visited my dad and his family in San Jose on our way down to Madera. We had a very nice day together. It was the first time I had met his daughter Molly and seen their new house. Audrey and Molly had a lot of fun playing together and Huyen cooked us some delicious Vietnamese food. 

MADERA

As usual our family is great for pulling out all the stops when we arrive. It always makes us feel so special and makes all those miles traveled so worth while. It doesn't matter who we see on our trip they always make our visit special. As we headed down to Madera, Faith had some fun things planned for the kids. One of those was going to Boomer's. While we were there Ethan hit the jackpot and earned 1000 tickets. We couldn't believe it. 

                               

 We ended our night at Boomer's by playing laser tag. We were the only ones in there which made it a lot of fun. Andrew was the big winner and beat everyone by a landslide.

For Audrey's birthday Grandma bought her and her doll matching outfits. She loved them.

The main reason for us going to California was seeing Andrew graduate from Fresno State. 

We are so proud of him!!!

The Great Wolf Lodge

We celebrated Ethan's birthday a week early, on February 26th, by taking him to the Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, KS. We had actually been planning this trip since last summer with the Jones'. They have two boys who were born in February, so I made a cake to celebrate all of their birthdays. 

 The boys spent most of their time going down the water slides. Jacob was tall enough to ride all of them, but Ethan and Alex were a couple inches shy of being able to ride one, which was a bit frustrating for them. At least there were two slides they could go down.

Unfortunately, Audrey wasn't feeling well, so I spent most of the time with her in the hot tub.

Ethan is always doing something funny. He is definitely the comedian of the family.

                     Story Time at the lodge!!

 Time for cake and presents!

 Audrey and baby Jacob

Christmas 2011

We opened presents at home on Friday, December 22nd!

Jacob and Ethan got the entire collection of baseball cards for 2011!

Jacob looks like he is the happiest one in this picture, but Ethan loves them just as much and is constantly making different lists of his favorite teams and players.

Audrey got her first American Girl doll and named her Audrey! So cute!

Road Trip

It took us 16 hours to drive from St. Louis to New Jersey, but the only thing uncomfortable about the trip is Doug didn't put the bubble on the top of the car so we were packed in like sardines.

Since we would be gone for a whole week, we didn't want to leave our guinea pig, Bucky, at home. The kids have become very attached to him and he is definitely part of the family. He also proved to be a very good traveler like the kids. When we stayed the night in a hotel, we put him in this small cage, but we had a bigger cage for him in the car.

These Yankee sweatshirts were a big hit with the boys! 

Pop Pop and Ethan

Vivi and Audrey

After we spent Christmas at Dan and Kim's we headed to Milford, PA to spend a few days with Doug's parents. Earl had a chance to take the kids to his work and one of his favorite diners in town. Doug also has great memories of going to his office and the diner as a kid. So, it was great for the kids to learn about that part of their lives.

The big gift for the year was from Pop Pop and Vivi. After the kids studied Astronomy last year they developed a love for the solar system, so their grandparents decided to invest in an amazing telescope for them. We were all extremely grateful, and it will be something we will use for many, many years. 

Thanks Pop Pop and Vivi!!