Our Nice Little Vacation

We left early (6:30 am!) on Saturday the 19th for Swimming Time Trials in Sanger. We were loaded down with kids and luggage for our Lake Tahoe trip. Sanger was terribly hot and after having lost Jack only one time(!), we finally left there about 3pm. We were on our way! Needless to say, by the time we left we were all sun-burned and grumpy and our drive was not a lot fun! We arrived in Sacramento by early evening and had such a great time! We shopped in fun stores, ate dinner and the girls had caricatures drawn of them that turned out really cute. The next day we went back to Old Town and visited the Train Museum (which the kids loved!) and rode on the old steam engine. After lunch we headed off to Lake Tahoe and after a much more relaxing drive, we had arrived! We stayed in Tahoe from the 20th to the 27th and had such a wonderful time. We were busy every day! We were steps from the beach so that was an almost daily event. We went on a few different hikes including a real doozy of a hike to this cool old house called Vikingsholm. We were unprepared to hike this trail, so all of us were in flip-flops! The tour guide joked that the hike is "one mile down hill and five miles back up". She wasn't kidding! Whining and crying aside it was an amazing house with a great history. Even the kids appreciated the history and beauty of the home. Another day we went for a 2 hour boat ride on the Tahoe Queen around Emerald Bay which the kids really enjoyed as well. Their favorite activity was miniature golfing, which from my perspective was quite fun to watch. Of course the kids swam everyday in the pool and Jack even learned how to swim! He can swim underwater about 6 feet in length and can float on both his back and stomach and will jump in the water and hold his breath on the bottom of the pool for as long as he can! We are so impressed and proud of our not-quite-three- year-old boy!!! I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance. We can't wait to go back. Tahoe is just so beautiful and fun and we all had such a great time!

July Photos

Marie taught Jack about "no fear" and he now jumps from the top of the kiddie slide into the pool all by himself! The crazy guy! As if he needs any encouragement to be fearless! He does it over and over again. It's the shallow end he jumps into but my heart still jumps into my throat every time he does it!
Marie is so proud of her new American Girl Doll, Josefina. She saved all of her money and bought it herself without any help from Mommy and Daddy. Good job, Marie!
Poor little Jack stuck on time-out!

Ava and Marie ready to jump in the pool!

More pudding pics

What happens when you turn your back on a two year old eating chocolate pudding!

Fun in July

Dance

Ok, I kind of have this picture thing going - I think. Still can't figure out the slide show thing but anyway, this a pic from the girl's dance recital. I'm still paying catch-up here. Isabel got her 7 year trophy as well as a performing group award. Marie received her 5 year trophy and even though she's always said that she would stop after she got that, she has decided to stay in dance. She's 7 - they change their minds easily! Ava got an award for being in performing group and although she's got a few more years to go before getting a trophy, she was pretty happy with her medal. The girls did such a great job. Isabel was quite something. She had a funny break dance type routine during her hip-hop song and her jazz dance was the Austin Power's theme song. Too funny with the knee high boots and the funny 60's dance off! This costume was from a song from "The Color Purple" - Miss Celie's Pants. It was very cute, actually one of my favorites from all of her years in dance.

Swimming

Our swim season is coming to an end pretty soon. The girls are bummed and so are we. It really is a lot of fun. A lot of work but a lot of fun. This was Ava's first year and she did a really good job. She was so determined and it was a lot of fun to watch her swim. Swimming is such a social sport and Marie and Isabel have made a lot of friends that they only see during swim season so it's great fun for them. I got them all swim parkas this year and had our last name put on the back and they look so cute wearing them! Not to mention they were great for those chilly evening when we were stuck at a swim meet until 10:30 at night - which happened more than once!

Still figuring out the picture thing. Here are a few Disney pics.

Disneyland

Our most recent Disney trip was a lot of fun! Lines weren't too terrible and we pretty much did everything we wanted except for seeing the new Indiana Jones show. The wait was just too long! The kids all had a blast and so did Mommy and Daddy. Our most favorite thing about the trip? Jack's reaction to "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience"! Yes, we are terrible, mean parents but Jack actually loved all of the 3-D shows - Bugs and Muppets too. The best, though, was "Honey". Jack's little heart was beating so fast but he refused to take off the glasses and he screamed like I've never heard him scream before but he didn't want to leave. With the girls one of us always had to walk out with at least one of them but that's what was so funny about Jack. He was terrified but glued to the screen. Now he randomly announces out of nowhere - "I hate that mean kitty cat at Disneyland". It's hysterical!

Starting a blogger

I am attempting to start a blogger because I am horrible about sending pics out of my kids. This is my attempt at fixing that, but first I need to figure out the whole getting-pictures-on-my-computer thing. So, good luck to me and we'll see how this goes.