Coming Home from Camping

On Friday we packed up our campsite and headed home the scenic route on Highway 1. It is a beautiful drive along the coast line and gets more and more gorgeous the further north you drive. We stopped on a warm sandy beach just outside of Half Moon Bay to eat lunch and play. We have had a long two weeks and were anxious to get home.

When we got home we decided to unpack and drive to Cameron Park for the rest of our Spring Break weekend. We had a good time vistiting with Noah's mom and his sister's family(it was just like old times). We had a nice Sunday dinner together and finally made it home. After two weeks of traveling to San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Sacramento it was great to visit and do all those fun things but, its so good to be home.

The 2nd half of Our Camping Trip

On Wednesday we took the girls to Roaring Camp Railroads. Where we rode an antique steam train through California's rain forest of coastal redwoods. We learned some really cool things about the area and steam trains. We hung around Roaring Camp Railroads to eat lunch, play some horseshoes and just enjoy the beautiful sunny day.

In the afternoon went to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park(which is in a different location from where you camp) and we went on a short 0.8 mile self- guided tour through the Redwood Grove loop trail. It has one of the oldest and tallest trees on the trail. We leraned some new and different things about redwoods on our walk. After exploring the visitors center we headed to Covered Bridge Park to let the girls play and get some energy out.

Thursday we spent the whole day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We ordered the all-day unlimited rides plus package which let us ride all day long and we had our choice of two of their other attractions. We played Piarate mini golf and decided to come back to bowl. It was also Comcast spring break on the boardwalk and they all kinds of entertainment and booths from different tv stations. We met Nathan Lyon an organic chef who has a tv show on the Discovery Health channel and hear Renee Wilson perform on stage. The kids had a great time(I think this was their favorite thing we did, because they can't stop talking about it).

Camping at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park 1st half

Monday after Easter we headed to Henery Cowell Redwoods State Park to camp for a week with the girls. We got there about 2:30 and set up camp. We were able to relax the rest of the afternoon and enjoy the beautiful surrounding. We made foil dinners and played a new card game called Swap (lots of fun). When it got dark we roasted marshmellows and made smores. Yummy! Tuesday we went to Seymour Scinence Marine Discovery Center where the girls got to visit a working marine laboratory. The girls looked at aquariums, touch tanks where they held sea stars and other sea animals, enjoyed hands on exhibits and saw the world's largest whale skeleton.










Then we headed to the beach to play in the sand. We went to Twin Lakes State Beach which is said to be the warmest beach in Santa Cruz. It was pretty nice. We built sand castles or in dads case a sand "Bug", flew kites, and enjoyed the warm sand and nice weather.

Easter Outtakes

Easter Weekend

We got back from San Diego on Friday and headed to Rachel and Kurt house(Noah's Sister and our brother-in-law) on Saturday. We had a picnic at Tilden park, road a small steam train, went to the movies to watch "Horton Hears a Who.", celebrated Grandma Smith Birthday by going to Applebees and colored eggs. On Easter Sunday we had an egg hunt, went to church and then had a really nice Easter dinner. We really had a great weekend and a nice time together.

Visiting in San Diego

Spring Break for us officially started on March 15 with us making a decision the day before to go down to San Diego. It has been a quick trip but, it has been fun. We saw Grandma Kyle(Noah's Grandma) on Sat. afternoon in Bakersfield and then Grandpa and Grandma Martinez. We have gone to park, Wild Animal Park, and Chuck E. Cheese's. The girls have been loving the time they are spending with their Grandparents.

Disney On Ice "Princess Wishes"

Disney On Ice "Princess Wishes" was Awesome. Our girls were glued to the show.
The girls favorite part was at the end when Malificant (the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty) turned into a fire breathing dragon with smoke and flames. They also loved when Cinderella came out. It was a magical evening!

Jack London Square

Saturday afternoon we drove over to Oakland and decided to walk around Jack London Square. We had a wonderful time enjoying the great weather and looking at all the shops. One of the coolest things we saw was the Hawaiian Chieftain.
The Hawaiian Chieftain is a replica European merchant trader ship of the turn of the nineteenth century. Built of steel in Hawaii in 1988 and originally designed for cargo trade among the Hawaiian Islands.
You can book tours or expeditions on the ship. It travels from Washington, to Oregon, down into California and back. You can only see the ship for a few more weeks in Oakland. They even had people dressed in 19th century clothing (which my girls called pirates) and the local news along with beefed up security were present. The coolest thing was when they shot the cannon. The girls thought that was the awesome.

An Afternoon with Aubrey

Aubrey is our silly one and does something hilarious at least once a day.

This afternoon was one of the greatest.
She was throwing dog food in the water bowl and decided to play in it.








Later, Ashlyn decided to make Aubrey happy and let her have a chocolate ice cream bar.








Ohhh what an afternoon.

Ashlyn starts Gymnastics

Ashlyn has been wanting to go to gymnastics for months now. So when I told her this week she was going to be going Thursday after school she was ecstatic. "Yeesss!" was her response. She immediately ran upstairs and picked out her rainbow leotard to wear to class.

She had a blast and did awesome for her 1st time in class. She has done gymnastic before when she was little and it looks like she retained some of what she had learned. The teacher told me when they pass off their skills Ashlyn will pass off a lot. We will keep you posted on her progress and let you know when she moves up to Level 2.

Short Lived Dance Class

About two months ago we switched Autumn out of gymnastics and into dance. Dance was something she Really wanted to do. She was really excited to start class. The first few classes were good and she did a great job. Then she just started crying and fussing every time I tried to take her to class. She complained of being too tired or sick to go to class. She wanted me to go sit with her in class. I got tired of dragging her to dance so we decided to take her out of the class. We think she should just enjoy being 3 years old right now.

Chores are getting done

Everyday we heard whining and complaining from our girls about doing their chores and day after day we pushed and struggled to get them to do their chores. Just getting ready on time for school or church became a big deal. Nothing seemed to work and then we found childrensmiriclemusic.

My friend told me about the music CD's (there is a morning CD and and evening CD)she was using for her kids, that told the children what specific things to do like make bed, brush teeth, etc... all with a time limit set to music. This works because they get points for accomplishing their tasks and the points earn them a "Private Date" with either mom or dad when the "Goal" of 100 points(for us its 300points) is individually reached on the "Points Chart".

I was excited to start this program and get my house and kids in order again. Noah was a little sceptical, but it Worked! I am Happy to say that my girls are getting ready on time and getting all their chores done. We have been playing the CD's for a month now and they still love it. They earned a big date with Noah and I to go see Disney Princess on Ice. We wanted to make their 1st date extra special and let them know we are Proud of them and all their hard work.