Begining of the Summer Fun

Our summer was filled with fun activities.  My goal was to make the most of everyday and enjoy not having many things scheduled to impinge our daily activities.  When preschool let out in June we stared our summer with a couple of trips to the beach.  It was great fun to be able to go the beach for as long as we liked without having to rush home for naps.  Not having to rush home also meant that we had time to get ice cream and enjoy it!  Let's face it, the ice-cream was probably my favorite part. I am also very happy that I took advantage of being impatient about going to the beach in June instead of waiting until August because the beach is so sunny in June (it is very cloudy in August, typically, and I did not take this into account when panning our fun).  For once I did not procrastinate and it worked out very well for us!
We also had tons of fun playing in the wading pool in the back yard.  The kids turned everything into an extreme sport and it was great fun watching them jump off the baby slide into the water.  It was fun watching Hank do it as well!

At the end of June Nana and Tickle Grandpa came for a visit.  Excitingly, their visit coincided with a visit from Tim and Cheryl and the kids so there was a ton of family excitement smashed into one week.  We had a great full-day party at Kathy and Sam's for the June birthdays. We had a nice beach day in Capitola.  We hung around Burlingame for lunch and shopping.  We swam twice at Kathy's and some at my parent's hotel and it was amazing.  The boys were in heaven having Nana and Tickle Grandpa here as well as Hailey and Jenna.  It was SO much fun to have everyone in California!

We concentrated on swimming lessons this summer and the boys did great.  They made extensive progress and it was great to see them get better each week.  I was so happy that they both loved swimming as much as the did. Brady started off with gusto.  He was so excited to put his face in the water and boasted about the fact that he does not need goggles.  Brody was more reserved at first and was hesitant to try his best on the fist day.  As soon as his coach took over though, he was all in and improved rapidly.

We participated in a week of Olympic sports put on by the moms in our Mother of Multiples play group.  Each mom hosted a morning of activities.  We had three days of track and field days with various relays and skill sports, baseball day (hosted by us), and a swimming event.  At each event the kids read a sports related story and did an Olympic craft.  It was SO much fun.  What a way to kick off some excitement for summer Olympics.

We did a lot of bike riding.  The boys upgraded to a larger frame since they had done so much growing.  We also went on our first family bike ride- dogs included.  There were many mornings when the boys, dogs and I would go out for a 1-2 mile ride.  I had to jog to keep up with them which the dogs loved and the boys got some great practice on their bikes.  They even did their first town line sprint.  All in all it was a very energetic first half of the summer!

The first year of preschool is over!

As quick as can be, the boys have finished their first year of school!  I had one goal for their first school year and that was for them to LOVE school. All I wanted was for them to look forward to school days and for them to be happy when they were there.  My goal was achieved!  They absolutely loved school and I am so happy.

Their preschool did pictures twice over the course of the year.  I love being able to compare them, though I do not see a tremendous difference from October (top) to May (bottom).  I give myself major points for remembering to dress them the same for both picture days though, that makes for easy comparison!

They loved school and their teachers (Brady had teacher Kris and Brody had teacher Helena).  They both blossomed so much over this school year. I would say highlights were getting to read to their class for the boys' birthday, Mom's and Dad's day, their Mother's day gifts, and hatching chickens inside the classroom.  All in all I am so happy with the way the year went and I think this year set a good president for how fun school can be!  Over the summer they were tremendously sad that there was no school  I take that as a good sign that they were very happy there.

Last, this little note encapsulates Brady and Brody so well. Brady: no frills and no extra words when they are not necessary (but will randomly blurt out "I love you" to me 10x a day)... and Brody: taking every chance to say something extra nice.  I love these little reminders of how different they are.

Tahoe: Memorial Day weekend 2016

We went to Tahoe on Memorial Day weekend with the rest of California (it always feels that way when we drive to Tahoe and don't leave first thing in the morning).  But really, I did't even care if a 3.5 hour drive took up 7 hours, it was worth it.  We have been feeling busy lately and needed a family vacation; spending time in the car together as well as outside in beautiful Lake Tahoe is just what we needed!

We got the truck ready with animals, clothes and food while the kids were at school (man it's so much easier to pack when you are not packing winter clothes! I've have officially converted to a West coaster).  When it was pickup time we snatched Brady and Brody up and headed off to Tahoe!  7.5 hours later, we were there (insert three stops, three different GPS apps and lots of brake lights).  The kids fell asleep for the last hour of the drive and we transferred them into their beds when we arrived.  The next morning when they woke up I heard Brady loud whisper "D, we are in Tahoe, wake up, we are waking up in Tahoe".  It was christmas morning level excitement!

The boys got up, Chris made coffee and breakfast and we all headed outside to play and explore in the woods.  After a bit of play we packed up and drove to redo a hike that we did with the boys (and Rocco) in the Fall of 2014 when the boys were just shy of turning 3.  This hike follows the Pacific Crest Trail and drops you down to beautiful Echo lake.  We planned to do the same thing we did in 2014, we would all hike the ~2 mile to the lake and then Chris would run back to the truck and pick while the boys and I wait for him at the lake.  Last time the hike was fun and uneventful (other than it was the first time the boys had hiked at elevation and on a famous trail).  This time it was eventful!  We saw patches of snow all along our hike and at the last third, we got snowed out!  The trail turned to completely snow and we could not figure out there the trail was and where the tree markers were.  In addition, the snow was really really slippery and the hill was very steep.  We could not keep the boys and the dogs on the incline in the snow and be safe so we made the next best decision: slide on our butts down the embankment through the trees to the road that leads to the lake.  With a combination of side stepping and butt sliding we made it no problem!  It was really crazy to hit a point where it was no longer safe to be where we were.  Of course we could have just turned around but that would have been a bummer.  Sliding let us finish what we started and gave us a cool story ;)

 Everyone wants to hit mom with a snow ball

 "Look, snow, and we have to walk over it!"

"Where did the trail go?"

"Mom, I'm hiking, leave me alone"

 "...and then, we lost the trail and had to slid on on butts!!!!" 

We made it!

Waiting for Chris....

...while looking at this....

For whatever reason, I turned my GPS app on before we started our hike.  I love that I have this recoding of us walking along the PCT and you can see where we had to abort mission.  Such a great souvenir.

After our hike, we went back to the house and made lunch and hung out.  We then headed downtown for drinks and dinner.  We had a great time listening to live music and eating outside.

The next day we got up and headed out to see a waterfall!.  On the curvy backroads we saw a young female hiker waving us down.  She looked panic stricken and asked if we saw the bear that was following her.  We did not see it but offered to help her circumvent the bear so she did not have to cross its path again.  As we traveled down the road to the waterfall the road kept getting more and more narrow and more and more beautiful.  The lake was amazing and beyond the lake was an incredible waterfall that was flowing from all the rain and snow melt.  I am a waterfall fanatic and this one did not disappoint!  It was amazing.

From the waterfall we hiked down to the lake we saw on the way it.  It was pristine and beautiful with views of the Nevada snow capped mountains in the background.  We saw a beach and decided this is where Hank needed to learn to swim.  Chris rolled up his pants and waded out into the water and helped Hank figure things out.  Once he felt himself swim, he loved it!  The boys jumped up and down and cheered him on.  

After some lunch and some hanging around, we went downtown to ride the gondola up the mountain.  The kids were excited to ride in the little capsules and I was excited for the views (the actual ride freaks me out, and it was my idea, who would have thought!).  At the observation deck we took in the views and at the top of the mountain.  At the top of the lift we threw snow balls and played in the snow.  After another nice dinner outside, we were ready to relax back at home and enjoy our last night in town.  It was a very restful and fun vacation!  I am so happy we went!