San Diego Trip

August 3-11 2010

We went and spent 9 days down in San Diego. We met up with our cousins Conrad and Evie, and their kids Hayli and Hana. They live in New Mexico so we don't get to see them very often.
We spent some time at the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, Sea World, and The Wild Animal Park. I was able to meet up with my friend April Preston and her boys, Carter and Michael. They moved down to San Diego so her husband could go to Law School. The kids had so much fun! We also went down to the beach and took family pictures. Chris and my mom flew down on Thursday through Sunday. We went to a training seminar for ACN on Friday through Sunday. By the end of the 9 days the kids were tired of living in a hotel room.
At Legoland the kids all got their driver's license. Kyle thought that meant he could help me drive home. LOL! The kids all enjoyed seeing all the cities replicated by legos. They were amazing.
At the zoo, we waited in a long line to see the Pandas. They were happily eating the bamboo sticks. We also saw koalas, sea lion show, and went on the tour bus around the park.
At the Wild Animal Park, we went on the tour bus too. It was the back side of the park, animals we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. So that was pretty fun. We took the kids into the petting zoo and they were able to feed the animals. Riley Jo did NOT want to feed the animals. Everyone else enjoyed it though.
Sea World was our last day. We had a great time, but we knew it was our last adventure and we would have to say good-bye to our cousins. It was hard after spending so much time with them. We fed the dolphins, saw the dolphin and pilot whale show, the dog show, and of course, Shamu show. You can't go there without seeing that show. Tyler and Kyle were the only ones interested in getting wet, so they sat down low while we headed for higher (and dryer) seats! I look forward to our future vacations together.

July 2010

After I recovered from the See Jane Run event I decided I wanted to do the See Jane Triathlon. We had a whole team sign up we were the Mom Tris hard group! A few of us even trained together. We were working out 6 days a week, strength training, running, swimming, and biking. It was fun to work out together. We would work out first thing in the morning, after the kids were in bed at night, and a bike ride every Saturday Morning.
This year for the 4th of July, we celebrated all weekend long. Saturday we had our first annual family picnic and relay games at the park. It was a Rossi/Siegmann/Cassell/Arnold/Jacobs/Crawford family fun day. We hope to continue on this tradition and the more the merrier.
We had a water balloon toss, three legged race, eating contest, just to name a few. It was a ton of fun. It was hot, so after we finished at the park we went to the pool and swam. Then to a friends house for a family BBQ.
We made our annual trip out to Contra Loma. The kids love to play in the sand, and then swim in the pool. The pool is shallow for about 12 feet out. They can touch and run around in the water and they think it is the coolest thing. Almost like a beach, except no waves or undertow. Then they get to have breaks and lay on the grass. It has everything there. The best part is we go with a big group of friends so they all get to play together.
July 15th Kyle turned 9 years old. The family all headed out to Boomer's to celebrate. We played a round of mini golf. We went on the bumper boats, Kyle had a hard time getting back to the dock. I had to go over and bump him back in. It was a lot of fun spraying each other though! Of course you can't go to Boomer's without riding the Go-Karts! Then we played a few video games too! Kyle said it was the best birthday! (He does say that anytime we go out though.) We all had fun!
On July 17th Sheri went to a garage sale and they had a bunch of Boat toys and a bike so she called me and told me I should stop by. We were looking for a new tube because ours broke over the 4th of July weekend. I had to take Riley Jo and Kyle with me. Which is NOT a good idea. Kyle will just want something, anything, just to get something. So we pull up and of course, Kyle goes on the hunt. I go right over to the boat toys and get a new knee board and tube. Kyle comes over and want an electric guitar. Kyle has been asking for a "real" guitar for some time. Here it was for only $15. So I do end up buying the guitar as a late birthday present. We come home, and Kyle starts "playing" the guitar immediately. He is making up songs, writing down the lyrics, making "notes" it was hilarious. He has had some sort of a guitar in his hands since he was 2. At some point he will really want to learn to play the guitar, but until then, he is enjoying just playing with it.
July 19-24th Michayla and I went to Girl's Camp. Michayla was a 3rd year this year and had a pretty tough hike to go on. They hiked 3 days and were gone from camp for 2 nights. She was brave enough to cliff jump a few times while on her hike. She had a great time. I went with Crafts this time, so I was in camp the whole time. I wasn't as excited this time to go because I wasn't with a group of girls. But I had a BLAST! I made some new friends, hung out talking all day, and crafted all day. It was GREAT! I love girls camp!
July 30th we went camping for the weekend at Collins Lake. It was a great time. We camped right on the water edge. It was great to wake up and literally walk to the water onto the boat. We were able to keep it docked right at our campsite. The Dolls, and Crawfords joined us. Tyler and Michayla learned to Knee Board, they both were able to get out of the wake. Poor Michayla had to try VERY hard to accomplish this. She just didn't have enough weight to get her over there, she had to use a lot of muscle. Determination got her over that wave though. Tyler learned to do a 180. He couldn't get all the way around. But he was jumping the wake! There is nothing like wakeboarding on glassy water. And at Collins lake the water is awesome! So it was a good weekend. Kyle even got to fish! So he was happy too.

Bald is Beautiful

June 26th Chris Bic'd his head! I had been trying to convince him to shave it off for awhile. We planned a family fun night at our house with 2 other families and Tim convinced Jeremy and Chris to shave their heads. Tim even went home to get the shaving cream and special razors! Fun times! The kids were in shock, and not very happy. Well, Jeremy's kids were not very happy. Our kids were used to Chris' head being pretty bald and were ready to see it all gone. I loved it! Chris hated it! So he let it grow back. Jeremy was able to have 2 haircuts almost 3 before Chris needed 1! One of these days I hope he will leave it bald.

June 2010

Since I have taken 11 months off from blogging, I decided I will do monthly updates to catch myself up. Starting with My Half Marathon Run. On June 5th I ran in the See Jane Run event. A friend signed up and then encouraged any of us who wanted to run to join her. She was doing the Half Marathon. At the time, she had said there was a 10K option or a 5K option as well. I thought, I've done 3 miles before that isn't much of a challenge so I will do the 10K. Well, I go to sign up and there is only a 5K OR half marathon option. So I choose to do the half. So, I have NOT run, let's be honest, I hadn't exercised in who knows how long. I went and bought running shoes in February. It rained, it was dark, it was cold. I had all the excuses. I started training for the 13 mile race in April. Running 3-6 miles, 2-3 times a week. That was what I called training. So June 5th comes and I am pumped, start the race, mile 1 I'm tired. Mile 6 I literally gagged on the Gu, that stuff is awful! Mile 8 my knee goes out. Yet I wanted to finish the race. I prayed the entire last 5 miles that I could please just make it to the finish line. Next time I will pray to make it to at least Chris afterward. I crossed the finished line and could not bear wait on my left leg anymore. I had to be carried to Medical, use a strangers phone to call Chris, and because he didn't recognize the phone number I had to call multiple times before he answered. Then wound up on crutches for the next 2 weeks. I realized 2 things that day. Yes, I had run 3 miles before no problem, yet I was training, and in High School at the time. My brain hasn't fully accepted that I have aged 15 years! Yikes!
Two other great things happened in June. Michayla and Tyler both graduated from 8th grade! Michayla got all dressed up for her promotion. Since she was in choir she sang 3 songs for the graduation. She even had a duet part. Michayla went straight to her 8th grade dance after the promotion/graduation. Tyler was just excited for the end of the school year. He didn't really think it was a big deal. We did take him out to dinner after to celebrate. I can't believe that they are in High School.

Lafayette Reservoir

During Spring break I was looking for fun things to do with the kids. I found a Reservoir in Oakland that we have never been to and they had pedal boats that you could rent and they were half off on Tuesday's. I knew that only 4 were aloud per boat, and we had 5. Chris had to work. So I figured we would need 2 boats and thought the older 2 kids could ride together. Well we drive all the way out there to find out that someone 18 or older needed to be on the boats. I asked if we could rent a patio boat then, they were all out in the water for the day. OK, how about a tour of the reservoir? They only do those on the weekends. So basically, I just drove the kids on a scenic drive. I would have been fine with walking around the reservoir, but it was a bit windy and the kids didn't want to do that. I did try to convince the kids to bring a ball or a frisbee. But they didn't want to. So I decided we would go to the Lafayette Reservoir so it wasn't a complete waste. I called first and asked their rules. Then made a phone call to Chris and begged him to meet us there so we could go on the pedal boats. He met us there and brought my brother Chris with him. We all had fun going around the reservoir.

Easter 2010

This year we had several Easter egg hunts to celebrate. Riley Jo had an Easter egg hunt at school. They had a little program for the parents, they sang some songs and made cute bunny ears.

Then the next day play group had an Easter egg hunt at the church since it was raining.

Then we had the Easter egg hunt at our house. We had Easter dinner at our house this year, and went over to Bobbie's to visit Chris' family.

March 13, 2010

We renewed our season passes to Marine World and decided opening weekend would be a great time to use them! It was the perfect day! Not too many people realized it was open so there weren't any lines at the rides. Usually we all split up and go separate directions for the day, but this time we stayed together. It was a nice change. It's hard because Tyler is the only kid who likes to go on ALL the rides. Michayla and Chris don't do spinning rides. Riley Jo and Kyle are only big enough to go on the smaller rides, and the spinning rides. So we all hung out together and went on the rides together, or nearby each other.

Tyler, Kyle and I went on the swings!

Chris, Michayla, Tyler and Kyle rode the Bumper Cars. Kyle is too small to ride by himself so he rode with Chris.

Tyler, Kyle, and I rode the Scrambler

Michayla and Riley Jo rode the frog hopper!

We saw the Lions.

Kyle and Riley Jo went on the airplane.