California Vacation Week 1.... Lots of Pics

Finally, I'm back and able to post pictures. The computer is hooked back up in the den and it's almost put back together in here. Just a few more things to do before it's done. I can now download pictures and update this blog.

In July the boys and I went to California for two weeks. We stayed with my mom and dad and had a great time. The first week we were there my sister and her kids were still there also. The kids had a great time together. We did lots of fun things like Legoland and surfing and hanging out on the beach. Here are some pictures from the first week.

The boys with 2 cousins enjoying the view from the back porch.










My view from the hammock, and then Jacob and I enjoying the hammock.













My parents bought the boys a new "used" surfboard and Cole was thrilled to pieces. He loves to surf so to have his own was the best thing ever. Here he is posing with it.










Beach fun with cousins...








































Digging lots of holes and building things. Cole says he could hear the ocean in this hole he dug, haha. He stuck his head in as far as he could to hear it. :)










Cole got tired of digging holes, so he was relaxing on his towel.










We had a bonfire on the beach with cousins and friends one night. That is what the above 2 pictures are of. They are roasting hot dogs and chilling by the bonfire. :)

Now onto Legoland....













Day 1 at Legoland. I bought 3 month passes from Costco cause they were actually cheaper than a one day pass and this way we could go several times. The boys love it there.










The force is strong with these 2.... ;)













Indiana Jones!






















Driving some cars, haha.









This sleeping man made out of Legos reminded us of grandpa (my dad). He falls asleep so easily and so we thought it would be fun to have a picture with "grandpa", hahaha.

Posing with some pirates and they loved that they could stop and play with Legos.



















The Bionicle ride that I was more than happy to NOT have to go on. I cannot do spinning rides anymore! They make me sick. They are old enough to ride it all by themselves now and so that's what they did!













Some cool Bionicles!

Now onto the Sea Life Aquarium....













Last year Legoland opened up a Sea Life Aquarium. It's such a kid friendly aquarium. The kids loved it. Our passes got us in unlimited times for no additional charge. They have things made out of Legos placed throughout. Here are some pictures. We couldn't use a flash around the fish so some pictures are a little dark. They went down this slide that was right at the entrance.









Jacob is pointing to an Octopus and Cole is sitting next to a huge Lobster.









They had these cool bubble things throughout the Aquarium. The kids loved them. It felt like they were really in the water with the fish. :)

They loved that they could build Legos here even. The picture on the left they are building a Lego sand castle and on the right Jacob is looking at the Angel fish. Oops, I forgot to turn my flash off that time.

The lost city of Atlantis....









The picture on the right Cole is looking at a pregnant Sea Horse. They were SO cute.










Another bubble thing. Looks like Nemo is swimming right by them.....










The last day that their cousins were there, we went to the La Jolla cove. We went down to the beach where the Sea Lions are and took some pictures with them. We also got yelled at by the environmentalists that were at the top of the stairs, and when we went back up, I yelled right back. We weren't breaking any laws by being there, but they said we were scaring the Sea Lions. Um, yeah right. They didn't swim away and most just kept right on sleeping. Here are some pictures.

They were so cute and some even looked like they were posing for us, especially this one on the left! I love the cute little white one that is closest to the water in the one on the right.









Here are all the kids. You can definitely tell that Jacob and Sadie are related! What are those faces about, hahahaha. Silly kids!

More Legoland....













We took the "cruise" around miniland and made a stop off in Paris....









Then onto Vegas and New York.....










Then onto Washington DC where we saw the inaguartion....













This is the end of our first week of vacation. Week 2 will be posted soon. Lots more to post, including back to school photos!

Blog Update...

Just a quick update. I know I haven't blogged in awhile, and I promise I will soon. The kids and I were in California for two weeks and just got home this past Monday night. We had a GREAT time! The weather was so great while we were there. We went to the beach and did some surfing, and we went to Legoland and had a great time. Unfortunately while we were gone our downstairs flooded. Nick was home but at work all day and when he came home the downstairs was covered in water. Now since being home the carpet in the front room has been removed, the baseboards replaced and they have repainted. The new carpet will be here soon, which means we will be able to put everything back together hopefully by next week. My computer isn't hooked up and I only have access to Nick's laptop, so once I get my computer back and I can download some pictures, I will update this with vacation photos and even photos from the flood. The house is a mess right now and I can't even stand going downstairs. The kids start school on Monday so we are busy getting ready for that now as well. So much to do, busy, busy! I plan on putting the house back together while they are gone to school. That's it for now, I will update again soon I hope! :)

Off to see....WICKED!!

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to go see the musical WICKED at the Tempe Gammage. Karen, Morgan, Kate and their friend Jamie all came with me. We went to the 2pm showing and braved the heat and I'm so glad we did. It was soooo incredibly fabulous! I really wish I could go see it again. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to go when the chance comes along. I loved, loved, LOVED it!

Here's a picture of the curtain. We're waiting for it to start. This is the only picture I got because they don't allow picture taking during it and well it was just too hot after at 5pm to take pictures outside.

Cole took this one of me when I got home. I don't like this picture, but it's the only one he would take, haha. I really did love the play even though I'm not smiling here, LOL.

After being in a nice, cool building for 3 hours, this is what we walked out too. The temperature gage in my friends car read 120 degrees, I kid you not. So yuck, but so worth being out in to see Wicked! After eating dinner and driving home to Maricopa, the temp was down to 110. UGH!

Summer Fun...So far

Already this summer has been a busy one, but we've been having lots of fun! I've been really busy in the mornings teaching swim lessons, so we've only had the afternoons to have some real fun. We've gone to movies, gone swimming, had friends over, and had an end of season baseball swim party here at our house. Here are some other things that we've been up too.

Here is what I've been doing every day until noon, swim lessons. It's been fun, but after 3 hours of being in the sun, it tires me out! The kids are so cute though. :)

A friend of Nick's gave him some tickets to a DBacks game, so he took Cole. This was actually before school was out, but it was during the final week of school so I guess that qualifies as summertime. They were handing out these Tony Pena masks to everyone, so Nick took Cole's picture with it, haha.

Someone brought these giant cookies to the Twins end of season baseball party. Aren't they cool? The party was a swim party here at our house and these cookies had all of the kids names on them. The boys loved them. Sadly, these are the only pictures I got of the party. I kept forgetting to snap photos of all the kids. People were being pushed in the pool too so I was kind of scared to take the camera outside. I didn't want it to be thrown in the pool by mistake. Someone got thrown in and his cell phone was in his pocket, OOPS! ;) It was a lot of fun!













Here is a picture of the boys climbing a tree at their grandparents house one Sunday afternoon. Loads of fun!

We made a trip to Amazing Jake's the other night and sadly I left my camera in the car. It's a really cool place with tons of stuff to do there. They have an all you can eat buffet that is massive and then they have all kinds of fun things to do there like Laser Tag, Go Karts, Bumper Cars, Bowling, Mini Golf, a Mini Rollercoaster, and lots of video games. We won a gift card to there and had some coupons, so we went for family night and had a great time.

More summer fun photos to come soon! We leave for California on the 18th of July, so I will have lots of fun pictures to post. We plan on going to Legoland and of course the beach! I will update our trip while we're there! :)

Cub Scout Day Camp

This past Thurs-Sat was Cub Scout day camp. Oh what fun it is! This year we have both boys attending also, which means that Nick and I both went for two days, one day with Cole and one day with Jacob. The Webelos are separated from the Wolves/Bears, so they weren't together at all during the 3 days. They always have so much fun and come home SO dirty! They get to shoot BB guns, archery, swimming, crafts, outdoor games like kickball, soccer and an obstacle course, learning to tie different knots, and water balloon fights. The Webelos got to work on and completed their Scientist pin too. They left the house everyday at 1pm and got home at 11pm. They were SO tired! After two days of attending, I was SO tired as well! Good times! :)

The top picture Cole is leaving Archery and the bottom one he is getting ready for Arts and Crafts.










The top picture the Webelos are painting their den flag and in the bottom one they are with their completed "ship" that they all helped paint.

The top picture Jacob is at our den site and the bottom one he is leaving Archery.

The top picture the Bears and Wolves are getting ready to head out to some activity and the bottom one Jacob is getting ready for Arts and Crafts.

The boys passed off so many requirements. I am amazed at all the things they passed off in only 3 days! The theme this year was Pirates, in case you couldn't tell, haha, and that is right up both their alley's, especially Jacob's. ;) They were exhausted by the third day, but they are ready to do it again next year. Too bad Cole is done, although he can go back next year as a den chief. I'm loving how much fun Cub Scouts is for them! :)

Schooool's Out for Summer!

The last day of school was on Tuesday. To say the boys were excited is an understatement! They were thrilled! I was too! Everyone they know has already been out for a couple of weeks. Now there is no more homework, schedules or waking up early for a few months! :) After school they were both a little sad cause they said they will miss their friends. No worries though, they will still see friends over the summer. Cole was also a little sad about not having his teacher anymore too. He loves Mrs. Berry. He had her last year and she enjoyed her class so much that she moved up a grade and took most of the kids with her. She is so awesome. Her class is so well behaved and she also knows how to mix fun in with learning. I hope that Jacob will have her in a couple of years. She is the best and after 2 years, she will be missed!

This picture of Jacob makes him look annoyed, but really he is super excited. He was at his party here and he had food in his mouth, so he wouldn't smile, haha.

Cole got a medal for being on the Honor Roll and receiving all A's all year. Way to go Bud! He was also voted by the kids in his class as the Best Overall Athlete and the Fastest Runner. That sounds about right! :)

Schoooooool's Out for Summer! Schooooooool's Out Forever! Ha!

We are looking forward to a great summer! Enjoy everyone! :)