Fall Break Trip--San Fransisco!!

The kids have a two week fall break and this year decided to take them to San Francisco- :). Last year we went to Yellowstone National Park and as luck would have it an Arctic Blast came through the same time we were there! It was so cold, as you can see on some older posts. We thought we would have better weather if we headed to Cali- and we did! It was absolutely the best! Temps were Perfect! We loaded up the car and headed South! The kids were each given their own fling cams to take whatever pix they wanted of the trip! Someday maybe they can each have real cams...:) We drove to My Uncle Tom and Aunt Karens in Vallejo where we parked the car, and they gave us a ride to the Bay Link Ferry. The Ferry takes you right to the piers in San Francisco. I packed a backpack for each of us- a toothbrush- jammies- clean shirt-undies-and jacket. (oh and makeup of course for me :)). I told the kids we were going on an adventure- no suitcases! They were so excited! James??? (He thought I was crazy!) Lol! I told him that this would get us ready to tour Europe with only backpacks someday!!

Aunt Karen dropped us off and away we went! The kids had know idea what we were doing until we arrived at the Ferry.

Fisherman's Wharf was the first and last stop! That is always a hit-

Waz Museum and Ripleys Believe it or Not. Kids loved these cool places- had all kinds of historical facts- and some not so factual. This guy supposedly made false teeth out of croc teeth.

Had a magic show on the Pier- James was called up to be one of the helpers! Four little heads from left to right are mine. :) Rachel met us at the Wharf. She lives in an adorable home in the city. So nice and cozy. Bill is off for military training so we bombarded Rachel for a couple of nights! So fun!!

Hey there! I knew I was famous! We had lunch here!

The famous sea lions! How many pix have been taken of these guys over the years??

Chillin in the streets of San Fran! Cool city! The kids rode a cable car and spent a lot of time on the trains. Lots of steep hills and people. We Walked EVERYWHERE! They never complained!

Visit to China Town! This is what a California James would look like!!

James tried to make the lips that kids make now days for every photo they are in. Whatever happened to "Say Cheese" and showing teeth??

Brooklynn loved the zoo and flamingos.

We had a chance to visit the brand new Academy of the Sciences in San Fran- a really cool place to go! We spent almost 4 hours there- They have a planetarium presentation where the kids learned all about the sun, stars, and solar systems. They also had an African- safari section- a really cool 4 story rain forrest (just like you would see in Costa Rica) a huge aquarium with all kinds of fish, mini sharks, octopus, etc. An area called the Amazon- a dinosaur section- EVERYTHING! We loved being there- so much to see and learn! Great place for kids to go.

This croc was in the Amazon area-

James favorite! SNAKES!! Huge diamond back rattler from U.S. desert!

More zoo pix! Great shot of this Snow Leapard.

Kids first time ever to see the ocean!! They LOVED it! It was just like the movies! We walked out of the zoo gate and just 100 yards away the ground drops down to the Pacific! The kids saw the huge waves rolling in and started screaming and ripping their shoes and socks off- rolling pants as fast as they could. I told them the water was cold and if they got wet they were going to have to walk all the way back to Rachels like that.....they didn't care! Away they ran into the waves! The zoo is about one and a half miles from Rachels- so we walked a mile along the beach- kids finding sand dollars and running into the waves! Everything was great until Brooklynn turned to run from a big wave, tripped, and was rolled under it! I had to laugh- couldn't help it- she was so mad that it did that to her- and COLD! She was done with the water after that- Zayne being the good brother he is let her wear his shirt while I attempted to let hers dry in the wind. The sun was going down fast- after the mile walk along the beach we had another half mile to the train that would take us to Rachels. We knew the kids were going to be miserable walking in their soaking wet clothes- but what do we know....right?

Check out Kaden!! Not so fun anymore after the sun went down! LOL

When we made it back to Rachels she had this incredible dinner waiting for us- Home made tortillas with pulled pork and all the fixins to go with it! She had also picked up a movie for all of us to watch after dinner. We had so much fun hanging out with Rachel- It is so much fun seeing my cousins! Thanks Rachel!! Our last day in San Fran we went back to the Wharf, caught our Ferry and then drove to Reno. It was actually Jordans 9th Birthday! We stayed at the Atlantis- and ordered a movie- we surprised Jordan with room service- We had cake, ice cream and shakes brought up to the room so we could sing and celebrate!

Happy Birthday Jordan!! You all handled this two day backpack trip so well....I think we are ready to take on Europe next year!! LOL!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Giving Great Gram and Gramp a Halloween visit!

Frankenstein and his Beautiful Bride- 1st place at our Halloween party! Check out the shoes James built. His dad wore a costume like this for years- James is keeping the tradition and made his own version. :)

Zayne wanted to be Franki Jr.- anybody out there recognize those shoes??

No fairy princesses here! She wanted to be a vampire! Inspired by James and my scary costumes I guess! Cutest vampire I've ever seen!

My pretty wounded soldier! Jordan designed her costume this year! I love it. Anybody out there recognize her boot??

Everyday is Halloween for Kaden- as I have said he loves to dress up!! He chose the Hulk this year!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!!

June-July-?? Where did those months go!!

June has been a fun month- school finally let out! My kids have been chomping at the bit for a little break. They only get 8 weeks so we have been going like crazy! It has taken forever for the weather to warm up this year- 4th of July the temps were still in the 70's! Kind of wierd! They did 2 weeks of swimming lessons to start the break off- perfect timing to get them ready for summertime swimming. :) They also had cousins come and hang out for a couple of days! Keri and her family stayed and played- the kids really enjoyed riding four wheelers and touring the calf ranch. The baby calves are always a hit with kids- Kaden leading the way for the tour.

Watching the guys in the milk processing barn getting ready for the afternoon feeding- I think we have 7-9000 on bottles- lots and lots of bottles to fill and feed everyday.

FUN IN VEGAS WITH THE GALS!

For Christmas my mom got all of us girls tickets to see the Beatles Love show in Vegas! It was so much fun being there with all of them. :0 And I LOVE Beatles!! It was like an acrobat show to a bunch of Beatle songs..... so good and entertaining! It was a quick 2 day trip but lots of fun! Thanks mom- you are always so thoughtful! You make everything so perfect and fun!

A quick chocolate pit stop shop! YUM!

ARIZONA! HOT HOT HOT!!!

Grandma Myrt has a house in AZ that is empty most of the summer so the kids and I along with my buddy:) grandma took a ROAD trip from Boise to AZ to stay and visit her daughters (my aunts) and cousins! Yes a road trip! 16 to 17 hours! We were 40 miles out when Brooklynn started asking if we were there yet! Lol! I can laugh now- Like I said, the temps here in Id have taken a long time to warm up- so needless to say, we went from 70-75 average to 110-116 average! 30-40 degree jump in one day! My kids were in shock! Bless grandma's heart, she was such a great sport in dealing with all their squabbles! We spent everyday at swimming pools in Mesa- they became friends with all the old folks at the clubhouse pool- and fell in love with the lifeguards at the city pools! (Sandlot Movie) Kaden started jumping from the diving board for the first time! So one day I thought- lets do something different- lets go miniture golfing- it opened at 11:00 am. We got our balls and clubs and started- temp was probably 102 degrees and climbing. After the first two holes Jordan was already getting very irritated at the hot temps- I kept saying ignore it- lets just have fun and golf. By the way we were the only ones out there for some reason! l0l! So at hole 9 there is a soda machine- I went over to buy a water and Zayne says, "I don't feel good! I am dizzy and my legs are shaking!" I look over at him and unlike the other three kids who are bright red and dripping with sweat- he is pasty pale and green! We quickly ended that game and ran inside to get water and cool off! OOps! The rest of the trip was spent in pools or dollar theatres!

One pool had this great slide the kids loved!

Zayne is such an easygoing kid- poor thing- check out his face!

Three bright red faces and one pale! Zayne normally is brown!
We stepped into the cool building and Brooklynn says, "Uhgh! I am sweating like a dang pig!" I couldn't help but laugh! They all looked so put out and miserable! :)

This video is so funny! Jordan is so dramatic! Remember her at Yellowstone last year cuz she was freezing? Here she is in AZ burning hot! Ha Ha! Funny funny!

CAMPING IN CASCADE!

We took the kids camping last week. We found a place in Cascade where you can camp, kayake, swim and fish all right there next to your campsite. The kids loved fishing for about 10 minutes or so!! Brooklynn's favorite part was fetching out worms for us! Who would have guessed? Jordan was the only lucky one to get a bite...check it out....:)

ITS A WHOPPER! LOOK THERE RIGHT NEXT TO THE WATER! LOL!

Before heading home- we tried our luck at fishing one last time! Across the lake were these beavers! They were totally catching fish- we weren't! I took a picture and look what came up.... it could just be me, but is that darn thing laughing at us??? Look close at it's face! Lol!