Spring Break Demolition and a Tea Party

TWENTY-TWO MONTHS in the making . . .

Say goodbye to the existing tub/shower combo.

The demo crew has arrived and we are once again seeing progress on the never-ending home improvement project that is

the master bath.

Once this is done, we just have the mirror and medicine cabinets and then the master bath can officially be D-O-N-E! Is it possible? The funny thing is that I don't even notice the mirror being hung with duct tape anymore (or maybe I try not to?), or the huge hole that is supposed to be the medicine cabinet.

Contractors always have their tunes and this one is industrial strength. Nothing can hurt his bad boy.

Little by little the walls and tub are disappearing and I couldn't be more thrilled!

Amid all the chaos and noise, we managed to have a play date with the Gredings. While Christian and Owen played Batman Wii, Madison and Brooke put on a lavish tea party for Ashlyn, Summer and CJ.

Even the waitresses dressed up in aprons and high heels. Fun girls!!!

Spring Break Fun in Santa Barbara

We've never had a bad day at the Santa Barbara Zoo. It's less than an hour away, it's small enough to easily maneuver, yet has such a wonderful variety of animals and other things to do that we've had annual passes for a while now and still love it.

Plus, who doesn't like seeing lions with an ocean view?

There is also an "Ant Hill" which is super fun if you have a piece of cardboard to slide down on. We were prepared this time and brought a piece. I should clarify: Christian brought a piece from home and carried it the whole time.

WooHoo! Go Christian! He's excited that he can now go down the hill standing up. That new haircut is giving him serious confidence!

Madison shredding the hill.

The zoo has a new resident: this cute little baby giraffe. We still miss the giraffe with the crooked neck. This little guy was so fun - he was galloping all over the place then came over to us and posed. I want a giraffe for a pet!

On the way home from the zoo, we stopped in Carpinteria for a treat. I wish we could have walked along the beach to the tide pools, but there was no time, and it was a bit chilly out.

We went to a cute cupcake store called Crushcakes, but the kids (except for Ashlyn) wanted the traditional Fosters Freeze instead. So off to Fosters it was - and it was strange to be there in the daytime, not smelling like campfire smoke.

Christian was so hilarious with his giant Dipped Cone! And this is a medium size!!

When we got home we blew off track practice (since Madison was the only one who had it anyway). Christian and Ashlyn were invited to an outdoor screening of Tangled at our friends' house so I seized the opportunity and took Madison and Brooke to see Soul Surfer. SUCH a good movie! Go see it.

Easter Break . . . Spring Break

I'm glad that our school district still has Spring Break at Easter time so it can still be Easter Vacation instead of yet another attempt to make more distance from religion. However, Easter is quite late this year and I can tell because we were really ready for a break.

Vacation means no baseball practice or games . . .

. . . although he looks super cute as a catcher. It means no track meet this Saturday, although there is still practice this week, albeit somewhat abbreviated. But the best part of Spring Break, or Easter Vacation, is NO SCHOOL which means NO HOMEWORK which means NO CARPOOL which means NO PACKING LUNCHES! Yipee!! This is going to be fun!

We started out giving Christian a haircut. He was in desperate need of a trim, then we talked him into something like daddy has. Christian has a history of abhorring buzz cuts so this was a big deal. However I about cried when John took over with the shears and it started looking like this:

I tried to hide it, but it made John nervous as he has never cut anyone's hair before (besides his own). It was nerve wrecking! Luckily, it turned out cute and Christian actually loves it. He's super excited to use gel and spike his hair.

Monday morning was met with doctor visits for both Madison (12 yr physical) and Ashlyn (5 year physical - kindergarten!). They are super healthy and passed all their tests. Christian came along because I suspected he wasn't quite over his recent bought with tonsillitis. Righty-0 he has strep! Another round of antibiotics and he's good to go. I'm glad it's not slowing him (or us) down a bit.

We are looking forward to a fun-filled week!

Sac Sac Sacramento

We're heading to our state's capitol: Sacramento!

The fourth grade studies state history, so we get to go and see it . . .

We start by leaving the school at 4:00a.m. Saturday morning

and flying on good ol' Southwest Airlines where they generously announced that the back of the plane would be reserved for all the kids and invited only those passengers brave enough to find a seat amongst them-otherwise sit in the front!

The 4th Grade group at the Sacramento airport.

The State Capitol building - one of the prettiest in the nation and looks a lot like the one in DC.

Inside the Senate chambers.

At Sutter's Fort right before that canon went off (loud!).

Lunch at Round Table Pizza. We were well fed throughout the whole trip.

The train museum. Very Cool.

They had an hour lesson at the one-room school house taught by the school marm. They had to write on their slates, stand and curtsey before speaking and read from the Primer.

In Old Sac on the river.

The American River - we had a huge bbq lunch there.

Panning for gold in the American River

Did you know that members of the Mormon Battalion made their way up to San Francisco and helped develop the area, then built "Sutter's Mill" and this little cabin (which is right next to the mill) and were the first to discover gold there? Very interesting. They helped everyone in that area, then before they could really strike it rich, they returned to the East to find their families who were on their way to Salt Lake.

At the Gold Bug Mine listening to the audio tour.

Lori Weber, Mrs. Van Ommeren, Mrs. Briggs, me, Debbie Hagge, Wren Schwind

Me along with three cute little girls on the banks of the American River.

Allie, Brooke, and Hannah (who I chaperoned).

It was a super fun trip, jam-packed full of great educational activities and we returned home totally exhausted. I'm glad I had this chance to go with Brooke and equally grateful for her to have this experience.

A Party for 500 Kids Makes a Busy Week and Other Happenings

Shopping, shopping, and more shopping!

Planning an event for 500 kids takes some prep work, especially if you are the one who gets put in charge of the Snack Shack. Ashlyn was a good sport and rode around Costco like a queen.

On our walk with Cole, we found little snakey in the field.

I'm not a big fan but it's a fun discovery for the kids. Ash named him Twinkle.

The sunset was spectacular from our balcony. Christian noticed it when I was putting the kids to bed. Gorgeous!

Running back and forth from track practice to baseball practice and baseball games makes for a busy after-school week. Homework, piano lessons, dinner? Ashlyn's birthday? John out of town all week? What else?

Christian is too cute in his little uniform.

And the kids like exploring during the games. Today they found this little guy and named it Thumbelina .

Poor Cole!

He has a "hot spot" which is a common occurrence in Goldens, we are finding, and it's disgusting. His neck is skinned bare and looks so gross.

He spent the day at the Vet to be cleaned, disinfected, tranquilized, shot with cortisone and antibiotics, and any other thing to rack up a bill. Then they told me to watch him and not let him scratch.

HUH?

Um, not let him scratch? Am I supposed to hold him all day? Am I supposed to stand watch all night? You've got to be kidding me. So they sent me home with a cone, which when it's on him, he doesn't move.

At all.

He stayed in the same position all night.

All day.

He does not like the cone.

It's Track Meet time!

Brooke is in lane 7 and came in 1st place for the 200m dash! Go Brooke!

This is our 3rd track meet of the season, but our first at home. A home meet means that we are very busy since we 'host' and in John's case means that he runs the whole show.

Basically a party for 500 kids and their parents. That's a lot of organizing to do!

Christian's first year running and he is loving it!

Now we are ever so grateful for Conference Sunday to relax, be refreshed, rejuvenated and spiritually fed, and physically fed (yum!). These are the only 2 days out of the whole year when John is home. We can have even have breakfast so we look forward to Conference for more than its original intent!

Cinnamon rolls with vanilla cream cheese frosting, breakfast pizza, fresh fruit. It was breakfast, brunch, and lunch. PERFECT!

Happy Birthday Five-Year-Old Girl!

Happy Birthday Ashlyn!

You are five years old today and we are in denial! How can my baby be five?

Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast - your request!

To have fun on your birthday, we invited some of your friends to the park for a playdate which turned out to be a great way to spend the day.

Ella, Caroline, Ashlyn

Brent Johnson came, too.

It was a scorching-hot day so we enjoyed Tutti Frutti. The kids LOVED it and it made for an awesome party that wasn't a party.

The other kids went home and Caroline stayed so they played with Ashlyn's new Barbie toy and then ran in the sprinklers again and again.

They had a blast!

After Christian's baseball game, John made it back in town just in time to have birthday dinner . . . at The Habit - Ashlyn's request.

Then home for presents!

Her school was the next day so she brought treats to her class; fresh-picked strawberries and homemade cookies. They were all a hit!

Happy Birthday to our big girl!!