Redding Trip

We went to visit my grandma DiDi and my granpa Al in redding this last weekend. My grandpa just got put into an alzheimer's home about 9 months ago so we have been wanting to get down there to visit before things got worse. We stayed with my grandma at her house and just enjoyed relaxing, swimming, and chatting. She lives right on the canyon so we got to see a mother deer and her two babies wander across her front lawn, we saw about 15 turkeys do the same. And the boys loved watching her 4 cats come and go. She took us to her fire house that she volunteers at and the boys were able to climb all around the fire trucks. Blake enjoyed that but seth was unsure and just sat back and watched. At the fire house she also took us through the burn house which they use to practice in. It had set up furniture and an upstairs and a roof to practice on. Blake went all through the house and up to the roof too. Seth wanted nothing to do with that. Then when we got back to her place she let the boys try on all her fire gear. Blake loved it but Seth only wanted to try on a helmet. After Blake finished wearing the gear for about 20 min. i picked the stuff up and it weighed at least 20 lbs. It was so heavy and hot but he loved it.

Then on Friday she took us to see my grandpa. he was very excited to see the kids which was suprising to us. He has always been a little grouchy so we were glad he was happy to see us. The kids actually enjoyed it too, which was suprising i thought with all the old people around just dazing or sleeping that they would get freaked. But they were going around smiling at everyone and having a good time. Then the workers brought in some games for the kids to play like jenga and ring toss. Seth was playing ring toss and kept handing the rings to my grandpa and he was actually playing too. My grandma said this was the happiest and most involved he has been in a long time. That was nice to hear that he enjoyed having the kids i hope it made his day.

After that she took us by a friends house that has a large garden and sells their produce. So we got bunch of tomatoes and zuchinni for only .50 cents a pound. i got $5.00 worth. I thought this was an amazing deal!! Then the kids made their own pizza's for dinner. My grandma also gave chase a piece of ice which he was chasing all around the kitchen it was sliding in every direction. It was hilarious to watch. We just had a really nice time with them and were really glad we went. The last time we went to visit was when Blake was about 5 months old so it has been a really long time. But we are already looking forward to going back alot sooner than last time.

Poor Baby

My poor baby Chase. He worked so hard to get his 3rd tooth (top left), his gums were blue and purple when he was trying to get it. He wasn't eating at all and then it finally came through. So then relieve came for about 2 days and he has a pretty big little tooth. Well tomorrow he was crabby again so i thought it was maybe his other top tooth but no, the top tooth is completely gone! So now he has to do it all over again. My babies have always been bad teethers and yes the teeth have come down a bit and then back up but this tooth was completly out all the way across and was getting pretty big....now just gone! I feel so bad for him. I hope the second time around on the same tooth won't be that bad.

Yosemite

The boys helping Grandpa get ready to go.































First of only a few family pics
since chase slept most of the trip.















my little love bug!
















yummy ice cream treat...
thanks dad!




































getting our bike ride started.








































chase's first cheetos!! yum, yum.







































this was a little rock cave we found
off the bike path. blake said this was his
favorite thing of the trip...easily ammused.




















chase asleep...such an easy baby.
















grandpa's famous peach cobbler.




















a giant seqouia that had fallen over.

We just got back from a fun and relaxing trip to yosemite. We went to yosemite in chris and diane's motorhome. It was a quick trip we drove down on Thursday morning and came home on Saturday afternoon. Thursday we just hung around the KOA and set up camp and made dinner and went swimming in the pool. All 3 of the boys loved the pool, it had 3 sections one was 1 1/2 foot deep, one was 3 feet and one was 5 feet, Chase especially loved the water. He definetly is a water baby.

Then on Friday we drove to Yosemite first thing in the morning and seth threw up on the way in on all the curvy roads. Then we took all of our bike and road the trails in the yosemite valley and were able to take in the scenery at a kids level. It was nice and cool and just right for the boys to cruise on their bike to get all their energy out and chase slept in the bike trailer the whole time! It is so beautiful up there, we especially like all the big waterfalls and decided in a couple of years we'll go back and hike the falls. We all decided the highlight of the day was when we stopped for lunch by a rushing stream and I started handing out sandwiches and they we all got ATTACHED by mosquitos!!! Ryan has over 20 mosquito bites and i have 10-15!! And we only stood there for 5 minutes before we got the heck out of there! But other than that we enjoyed our day at yosemite. And then Seth had to puke on the way back to the campsite too, poor guy he just gets so carsick just like me. Then went back to the campsite and had another evening at the pool and grandpa Elmer made his famous peach cobbler in his dutch oven (that he forgot and we had to stop and buy one on our way). As he was heating the charcoal to cook it and it had that campfire smell, Blake says "Now we are camping!" It took it till the second night to actually be camping :) it was cute.

Then saturday morning we went back to yosemite and went to the giant sequoias. The are so huge, it was fun to see. Then we headed back home. It was a quick trip but it was fun and actually a little relaxing with 3 boys, but i guess we did have 4 adults :)

Sweet Anna

So yesterday i got to have a girls day with Anna (10 yrs old now). She loves to invent different recipes and just be creative. So since i enjoy cooking as well we decided to get together and have a cooking day. We sat down and went through all my recipes and decided to cook: twice baked potatoes, italian ranch chicken strips, and chocolate bark. It was all sooo good, she did an awesome job making it all. So here are some pics of our fun cooking girls day...sort of w/ 3 boys too :). We decided we want to do this each year but next year I am going to have to keep her brother J.O.E. so the boys have someone to play with, because it was a lot of the boys whining that they wanted to help. It was hard for them to understand I just wanted to take 1 day a year to do something w/ a girl! They cook with me almost everyday and it is still not enough. I guess i just need to be grateful that they want to spend time with me, because that may end in a couple of years. :(