Celebrating Autumn's 4th Birthday a Little Early with Family

We meet Noah's family in Old Town Sacramento for a little early birthday celebration for both Autumn and her cousin Logan. We visited the California State Railroad Museum 1st. We learned the history of railroads and how they tie into Sacramento. We were able to see in and walk through a few life size trains. We saw the different trains and job each one had. We even got to play with toy trains. All the cousins had a great time running around and seeing the museum while the adults tried to keep track of them all.
Next stop was to see the things happening around Old Town. Gold Rush Days is always Labor weekend which means more than 200 tons of dirt are dumped on the streets of Old Sacramento as the annual festival “turns back the clock,” transforming Sacramento’s historic district into a scene straight out of the 1850s. Costumed re-enactors, Wild West gun fights, musicians playing period instrument, period artifacts shown, storytelling, craft making, hose-drawn carriages, wagon rides, gold panning, food preparation , dancers and many aspects of life during the Gold Rush are highlighted.It was a lot of fun and the kids loved seeing what life was all about in the 1850s. We ate at Tres Hermanas Mexican Restaurant and then headed to the Hunter's house for cake and presents. Autumn received a Hannah Montana notebook, two Hannah Montana purses, Hannah Montana bracelet, a long sleeve brown shirt, littlest pet shop toys, a Polly pocket doll, and a Dora the Explorer Suds and Surprise doll. What a great early 4th birthday Autumn had.

Lunch in the Park with Autumn

Autumn's Pre-School does fun little field trips and outings once a month. This month it was at King Park. All I needed to do was pack our sandwiches, drinks and a side to share with the rest of the group and meet at the park at 10:45.
All the children had to do was walk around the corner and under the road, through a tunnel, and on the sidewalk that lead to the park. It was so cute to see all the little boys and girls with their backpacks on and water bottles in hand as the walked over to all of the parents standing in a line waiting for our little ones.
Other than the extremely hot day, we had a fun time visiting, getting to know, and playing with Autumn's Pre-School friends and parents. Her teacher Miss Bekky took lots of pictures of the children playing. We can't wait to see them.(I forgot my camera and took a few on my cell phone and they aren't the best)

The Summer Olympics

The 2008 Bejijng Summer Olympics did not disappoint. From the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony it was amazing. We thought the opening ceremony was incredible until we found out that some of the things we saw on TV were not real like the footprint fireworks & the 9 year old girl lip singing to a 7 year old girl singing off stage. All in all though China knows how to put on an unforgettable show.

Then there were the games, truly amazing! Here are some of our favorites memories from the games. The 8 golds that Micheal Phelps won. The men's 4 x 100m medley rely that won gold and broke a world record, making the French eat their words. Dara Torres at age 41 winning silver and beating all of those young girls half her age.
Nastia Liukins perfect performance giving her the all around gold for women's gymnastics. Shawn Johnsons perfect balance beam routine that won her the gold. You can't forget men's gymnastics winning bronze after most had counted them out of the medals all together.

Beach volleyball was exciting with Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor they know how to win the gold and Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers followed suit. Women's and Men's indoor volleyball was great too. Both winning medals silver for the ladies and gold for the men. It was great to see the men triumph after all their couch went through.

Track and Field was a little disappointing for the team USA, but Jamaica sure did deliver. How can you forget the fastest man,Usain Bolt running the 100m in 9.69 seconds winning the 1st gold medal for Jamaica in this race.U.S. Men's Basketball Team winning back gold and the U.S. Women's Basketball team winning for the 4th consecutive games. In the end USA took home the most medals (110) when the games were finished.
Of course there are those that did not medal at all and it was both sad and disappointing for them and us. But that's the way it has to be, not everyone can win. So we wait until 2012 to see who will be back and what new faces will be in London for a chance to show the world that they are the best at what they do.

A Day at the Beach

We spent the day with the YM/YW in our ward at Pomponio Sate Beach. It is located 12 miles south of Half Moon Bay. When we arrived it was a lttle chilly and the youth and our girls didn't do much except wrap themselves in towels and blankets. We BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs with yummy sides, and cold sodas. After lunch the marine layer burned off and the sun came out so we could play. The girls then started to play in the cold water and in the sand. Aubrey ended up getting drenched twice while a wave crashed upon her. She was in her sweats and sweatshirt when this happended. Poor thing she was pretty cold. We had a great time playing and visiting with the youth and others in our ward.

The Girls Perform

Tonight the girls put on a little show for us. Each one had a little number that they performed and then they performed together. They even sang their own music. They did a great job performing for us.

Aubrey the Masked Eggplant

Aubrey is so silly sometimes. All afternoon she was wearing a purple and green beanie on her head. At some point she pulled it down over her face and started running around, growling, trying to scare everyone.It was so funny. I could not stop laughing. Noah started calling her the masked eggplant. I had to catch it on video.

Noah's Last Week

Noah spent his last week and a half trying to accomplish my honey due list I had for him. He did a few of the these things, but it was too tempting to go play. On Friday we went to Six flags Discovery Kingdom,

Noah was giving Ashlyn the cousin IT look.

Saturday we went to Contra Loma Regional Park to play at the swimming lagoon and have BBQ there,and Monday morning(while Ashlyn was at school) we went to the Oakland Zoo with his sister Rachel and nephew Logan. We all had a great time playing!

Its to bad that Noah and I caught sinus colds the last few days before Noah went back to work. We had such a great 7 weeks and then the last week we just laid around miserable and exhausted. It sure did put a damper on Noah plans for the last day of his sabbatical. We only had enough energy to go out and eat dinner.

It will be odd to not have Noah with us all the time. I will miss him. I really enjoyed having him at home. I know the girls will miss him too. I guess we will have to wait 7 more years for his next sabbatical. I wonder what we will do then?

Our Weekend Alone in Tahoe

Noah and I have tossed around the idea of taking a few days to ourselves and planning a getaway while he has the time off from work. So that's exactly what we did. We planned a 3 day 2 night stay in South Lake Tahoe. There was limited places to stay at, but we found an adorable little motel called Paradice Motel(it has received the #1 rating for South Lake Tahoe on several travel sites). Other than a place to stay we didn't really plan anything else. We decided to plan as we went along.

We left Saturday morning heading to Grandma Cheryl's house and dropping off the girls. It was a beautiful day making for a great drive up to Tahoe. We arrived in Tahoe around 3:30pm and headed straight to the motel for check-in. We were given room #25 "the game room" It was so cute and quaint.(there are only 14 rooms at this motel)This two room came equipped with a microwave and fridge and a plate of fresh fruit and organic chocolate bars. We were even welcomed with a chalkboard that said... How cool is that.

After unwinding we decided to take a walk to the private beach that we are able to access during our stay. It was a nice beach and very relaxing to walk together with out any interruptions. On the way back we headed to Heavenly Village for dinner. We ate at Wolfgang Puck Express and had gourmet specialty sandwiches. We walked around the shops and decided to catch a movie at the Heavenly Village Cinema. When the movie was over we walked to the Nestle Toll House Shop and bought 2 specialty brownies and to drinks to go with our yummy gooey treat. We then decided to head back to the motel and catch the tail end of the Olympics. When we arrived back at our motel we were welcomed with a turn down service, a little plate with Hershey's Chocolate Kisses, 2 Perrier mineral water, and a note that said "Here is a "Kiss" goodnight." This made us feel like an "A" lister.Sunday we scheduled a 1 hour couples massage at the Elements Spa . It was very relaxing and one of the best massages that Noah and I have had. After the massage we went back to the motel and slept uninterrupted. It was a much needed time for rest and relaxation. When we awoke from our nap we went to go eat at Snowflake Drive-In. We each had one of their famous shakes, the tahoe burger, and shared the nacho fries. After our lunch we took a drive along the lake. We stopped at one of the beaches to walk and talk along the waters edge. We did not stay to long because we needed to get ready for our dinner cruise.

We booked a 3.5 hour sunset dinner dance cruise on the MS Dixie II with live band Safari as our entertainment. The MS Dixie sailed into Emerald Bay as the sun set and we spent the time just walking around the boat and enjoying the Lake . We enjoyed people watching. There was some great entertainment from those around us. As went around Emerald Bay it was time for our 4 course dinner. Appetizer, salad, bread and our choice of an entree, and dessert afterwards was really good. After dinner there was dancing, as the live band played. Noah and I had a wonderful night of laughing, talking, eating, dancing, and just enjoying being with each other.
When we back to the motel we enjoyed another turn down service.

On Monday we took our time leaving our motel, but when we checked out we were given a travel bag. It contained 2 water bottles, crackers, mints, and some chocolate. What friendly and caring staff we had at the Paradice Motel. As we headed down the hill to pick up the girls from grandmas we stopped by some art gallery's and shops. Then we ate at Z-pie one of our favorite places. We are very grateful for the time that we had to spend together.

Having Fun With Our Cousins

On Thursday Noah's older sister Becky and her 4 children drove over to our home to spend a few days with us. They got here in the afternoon and that gave the cousin time to play. We had a fun time playing guitar hero, sing star, and rock band with everyone. We then took the kids miniature golfing. Now that was an adventure. We had 7 children under 11 and only 3 adults. Becky tried to lay down the rules before we started to play, but that proved to be worthless. It was very comical trying to take turns, keep points, and get through a round of golf with everyone, but we finally made it. After our excitement we went to John's $1 Ice Cream Scoop Shop.

Friday morning we spent the time playing some more. At noon we picked up Ashlyn early from school and headed to the Antioch Water Park. We had such a great time last Friday we decided it would be fun to bring our cousins. The kids loved playing in the water and being with each other. We swam in every pool this time.

Becky rode the slides with her kids. Tristan and Anissa went down the a slide together in a raft and I rode on several with Ashlyn and Davis . It was a lot of fun. The best part was when Becky and Anissa went on a raft together and became suctioned to the bottom of the slide before take off. It was hilarious.The DJ was back for western night. The kids had a blast dancing for ice cream. Kylee one the 1st dance contest they had and Davis one the 2nd dance contest. Even Preston and Aubrey had a great time dancing. They were shy around everyone but when no one was look they hammed it up.

On the way home we grabbed some dinner and settled in to watching the opening ceremonies for the summer Olympics in Beijing. Tomorrow they will be leaving and we will miss playing with our cousins.

Autumn's 1st Day of Pre-School

Autumn started her 1st day of preschool today and she was so excited. She has been waiting for months to go to Miss Becky and Miss Susan's Busy Bee Preschool. She goes every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:30am-11:30am. Since it is done out of a home it has that comfy feel to it and there isn't a lot of kids. There are only 10 kids with 5 girls and 5 boys making up her class. Miss Becky has a great set up. I can Autumn has some amazing teachers that have lots of love for the kids they teach. I know Autumn is going to love it and have a great year.

Having Fun at the Water Park

This week we have been really lazy. Noah still has three weeks left and we want to do so much, but at the same time we have been doing a lot that its nice to just sit and do nothing.
Today we finally got some energy and decided to take the girls to the Antioch Water Park. We have heard great things about it and think about going, but never do. So when Ashlyn got out of school we headed to the water park for some water fun and thats exactly what we did. They have four different pool areas. One is for the babies/toddlers called the tad pool, boulder cove is perfect for toddler/preschool age, splash down is where the swimming gets deeper and there are 4 slides to ride into different locations in the pool , sport pool has giant lily pads to play on and the lap pool is just fun to swim in. We spent most of our time at boulder cove. Ashlyn could ride every slide except one. Autumn and Aubrey could only ride one. The really cool thing was the live DJ. and a theme night that they ahve every Friday. They plays music from 4-7 and has dance contests. The winners get a free ice cream. The girls danced, but never won. Ashlyn did play one of the DJ. games and won a free ice cream. We had a blast and will be coming back again.