Snow Trip

The last time we went to the snow was about 6 years ago, so, according to the kids, we were long over-due for a trip.  Some wonderfully generous friends of ours blessed us with a weekend at their cabin in Arnold (which is an adorable town, by the way).  It was basically Seth's first time at the snow, since he was 1 1/2 the last time we went.

As soon as we started to see snow on the ground, the kids started to shriek with joy!  We pulled up to the cabin and, within seconds, they were in the little snow pile that was in the driveway (Seth was barefoot)!  We spent a little while getting settled in the cabin (which was so clean and cozy and WONDERFUL) and then headed out to do some sledding and snow playing!

Seth's barefoot-print!  That kid has an amazing tolerance for cold!

The Foosball table at the cabin was a huge hit!

Beyond thrilled to be heading to play in the snow!

Kacie was NOT a fan of the snow, so she and I ended up hanging out in the van!

Haley's first snowball (very perfectly round, of course)!

Everyone slept super good (yay!) and the next morning they were all ready to head back out into the winter wonderland around us.  Calavaras Big Trees State Park was just a few minutes up the road, and it was our destination for Saturday morning.  We went to the visitor center (if you don't go to the visitor centers at state parks, you are missing out, fyi) and then went out on the North Grove Trail, equipped with our little pamphlet to  tell us about what we were seeing.  It was amazing "hiking" through the giant Sequoia redwoods with snow covering the ground.  We even got to see some animal tracks in the snow.

Up early and ready to go!

My new favorite picture

After a fun morning of exploring the beautiful redwood forest, we took a lunch/nap break at the cabin and then headed out to do some more sledding.  We found a great snow play area and everyone had a super fun time.  The big kids loved sledding and went up and down the hill a billion times!  Kacie was still very unsure about the snow, and kept saying "no, no, no" when we tried to get her to go on a sled.  I finally just took her down on one with me (she LOVES to slide and swing and I knew she would love it) and she laughed the whole way down the hill!

Sunday we woke up and packed and cleaned up the cabin, trying to make it out in time for the service at the local church (I love visiting other churches when we are out of town).  Unfortunately, we missed the service, but we did manage to have a blast sledding for a while before heading home.  

One last, quick visit to Calavaras Big Trees State Park

How cute is this girl?!

Good-bye snow (and wet socks and puffy jackets and crying about gloves!)

Christmas 2015

It has literally been over half a year since I posted, but I'm not ready to give up.  Even though it feels impossible to find/make the time, I really want to keep trying.  I'd love to "catch up" from when Kacie turned 1 until now, but it's just not going to happen!  So, I'll start with Christmas!

Christmas Eve morning we had Grandma Jackie, Grandpa Steve, Aunt Danielle, Aunt Kelly and Brannon over for breakfast and presents.  The food was delicious and it was so nice to just spend some mellow time together!

That afternoon we enjoyed time at home, getting ready for our church's Christmas Eve service and for Christmas!

Seth worked on making care packages to give to homeless people on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning we continued our traditional routine: stockings, make breakfast burritos, go downtown to hand out breakfast burritos and socks (and care packages, this year), come home and open presents!  We had a really good time and it was fun to have Seth and Abby so excited to help with the preparations this year!

How cute are these 4?

Making breakfast burritos

Ready to hand out burritos, socks, and care packages with our friends, the Hughes.

Kacie really wanted to help carry the burritos!

Christmas Poodle!

Seth got roller blades and he and Abby had a great time blading together.

 

 

 

 

 Christmas evening we went to Grammie Lori and Poppa Phil's house to have dinner.  Auntie Melissa, Uncle Noah and Aunt Kellie were there and we had a blast playing games, eating dinner and exchanging presents.

Abby and Grammie Lori had matching dresses!

She's One!

 None of us can believe that sweet, baby Kacie Grace is already one.  I know that everyone knows that babies grow so fast, but I'll say it again; that year went so fast.  Sometimes I feel like I was just pregnant a couple weeks ago!  This girl is so fun.  She absolutely LOVES to be outside and will make a mad dash for any open door.  She has a couple tricks now.  She can clap, show you her tongue, wave, say 'hi", "bye bye", and "uh-oh".  If you ask her where her nose is she'll point to yours!  And if you're lucky, she'll show you her funny face! 

Birthday girl:)

She burst into tears when we finished singing happy birthday:(

Hey Kacie, can you do your funny face? :

"Funny Face"

And here's a little video that shows her funny method of getting from here to there!

Adventures In Camping

Over mother's day weekend we got to go camping in the Corralitos mountains with my family.  It was at a camping/retreat facility (so we had a full industrial kitchen and a nice field) that my dad got to have for the weekend in trade for draining and cleaning out their pool in preparation for the summer.  It was the first time that we had been together with all of my siblings (and their significant others) and my parents since Kacie was born!  The weekend was so fun, but was not without some less-than-fun events! 

The kids and I went up there on Friday afternoon and while they ran around and played I set up the tent (after taking FOREVER deciding where to put it).  What I didn't know was that they weren't just running around and playing.  They were playing newt rescuers!  As the pool was draining, the trillions of newts that were living in it were exposed.  So, armed with a Home Depot bucket, my kids swooped in for the rescue, filling the bucket about halfway full with newts, which they dumped into the creek that runs through the camp!

Carey came up after work and joined us for dinner, but ended up going home not feeling super well.  It was a fun night though, the highlight being Abby and Haley playing frisbee with aunts and uncles.  I had already gone to bed with Kacie and Seth, but I could hear the girls having so much fun out on the field (the frisbee glowed which made it all that much more fun).  They came to bed around 10:00 and everyone slept peacefully through the night.  Well, everyone except me.  I woke up to a sound that I first thought was air gushing out of an air mattress but quickly realized was a sprinkler...UNDER OUR TENT!  Yep, under the tent.  I got up and, holding Kacie, went to get my parents for help!  My dad told me I had to "wait it out" but my mom walked all around in the dark with me, trying to find the sprinkler shut off.  We finally gave up and I went back to bed and she stood outside my tent for another 20 minutes, turning the sprinkler on the field that was hitting our tent (this was a different sprinkler than the one under us) so that it wouldn't hit us!  I know, best mom ever:)  (When those sprinklers finally went off, I heard different ones come on and could hear that they were hitting a tent which, I found out in the morning, was Nate and Cass's.)

The rest of the weekend was really fun (and dry)!  We helped clean out the pool, played more frisbee, wheeled around in wheelchairs (who knew that could be so thrilling), colored, played with the dogs (between all of us we had 4 dogs up there) and ate and ate and ate.  Saturday night Poppa Phil and Uncle Nate taught Abby how to play chess and Haley was mesmerized by Cass playing the flute.  And no more sprinklers in the middle of the night because we found out where the shut off was!!!

Mother's day morning we had delicious breakfast and hung out for a while before packing up to go home.  I had all the kids and our stuff loaded up and ready to go, said my last goodbye's, hopped in the van to drive home, and realized that my keys were in the tent...packed in it's bag...under all the stuff in the van!!!!  I jumped out of the car cracking up, because it was laugh or burst into tears, and Auntie Melissa and Uncle Judah jumped into gear and had my tent out and unfolded enough for me to grab the keys in no time!

Bucket full of newts!

The Wild Kratts would be proud!

Drinking their hot chocolate like a cat, racoon, and some other animal that I forgot!

There were two wheel chairs, and I'm pretty sure they were both constantly in use!

Uncle Nate working hard on the pool cleaning job...ironically wearing a wetsuit in an empty pool!

Hanging with aunt Kellie

Kacie LOVED Uncle Nate's puppy, Tucker.

Haley loves Auntie Melissa

Wheelchair race with Uncle Judah!

Pizza chefs, hard at work!

Auntie Melissa was determined to make Kacie love her:)

Abby and Uncle Nate

Kacie and Uncle Noah

Look at all these happy campers!

***I'm not getting paid for this, but I do have to say that the inside of our tent stayed COMPLETELY dry through the sprinkler extravaganza!