San Diego 2009

We had such a good time in San Diego last year, that I think my family is going to try to make a tradition of it every year. This year was just as fun, if not more since the kids are just a bit older and less high maintenance! I could go on and on about everything we did, but I'll just go ahead and let the ten million unorganized pictures I posted do the talking, cheers!

We stopped to visit my Aunt Mardene and her son William and daughter Lauren in St. George on the way home.

Jayda Turns Four

It's moments like these that really slap you in the face and make you realize just how fast your babies really are growing up! Even with a four year old, sometimes I still feel like a brand new parent! Since Jayda's birthday was in August and we were going to be in Cali at the time, we weren't going to throw her a party, but after talking about it, we figured since she had never had a "friend" birthday party and was old enough to enjoy it, that we would throw a little party for her. We did it at the little playground outside of our complex and had her little preschool friends over. We had pizza, cake and lots of games. It was a very fun, especially for Jayda!

Camping Trip to Niagara Falls

Since we've been here, we've heard a lot about how cool Niagara Falls was, and I've been dying to see it. So we finally decided to pack our stuff and take a vacation to see the Falls. This was kind of a special trip for us because I'm pretty sure it's the first real vacation we've planned all by ourselves, without extended family or friends. Hopefully the first of many in the future!

Our first day was basically just traveling and setting up camp. We found a nice little campsite just ten minutes away from the Falls. The kids thought it was pretty cool getting to sleep in tents and eat outside on the table. Skyler had a tough time sleeping through the night, he wiggles so much at night that I think he had a hard time getting comfortable in his little air mattress. We all survived though!



Yeah, my daughter camps in her dress, snort.



We got up the next morning, had breakfast and made our way to the Falls. Niagara Falls is surrounded by really pretty gardens and all sort of visitors centers, tours and gift shops. The one thing that we'd heard about that we really wanted to do was take the Maid of the Mist ride into the Falls. It was really cool, but very loud and kind of intimidating to the kids. You literally ride right up to the falls, I loved it! Fortunately they give you ponchos because you really do get soaked. We came out of the Falls to discover that it was raining, so we continued to get wet.

Afterwards we went to a little ice cream shop called Twist of the Mist, with like a thousand different ice cream flavors, and it was great ice cream! It probably wasn't the best thing to be eating in the cold rain, but worth it.

Later that afternoon, we went back to camp for a while for a rest and naps for the kids. We also went in hopes that after naptime the rain would subside and we could get outside again. It did not. In fact, it was making it tough to do much and we considered packing it up and heading home early. But at the last minute we decided to just get in the car and see what we could find. We ended up going back to the falls and walking around. It turned out being my favorite part of the day. The rain stopped and the Falls and gardens were so pretty. We let the kids run around well after their bed time and had a lot of fun. The Falls were also SO pretty late at night. The Canadian side shone colorful lights on the water that completely lit the falls up. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of them.



The next day we got up and made our way to Palmyra. We had just missed the pageant by two days, which made it nice for us because it was empty as a ghost town. We checked out the visitors center and a little of of Joseph's Smith old farm. We didn't get to see all of it because the kids just aren't as interested in guided tours as we are, but there's always time for that when they're older. The stuff we got to see was really cool though, and I also got to meet my best friend's husband's grandparents (did you get all that?) who were serving their mission in Palmyra. I actually recognized them from pictures that she'd had up on her blog! Pretty cool. Overall I would highly recommend taking the trip to do both, we had a wonderful time, and the Falls are well worth it!

Hi, I'm Glenn

And I see absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that I'm eating half a loaf of french bread with the rest of my dinner. Don't worry 'bout it!

A Few Summer Notables

Jayda is insane for water fountains and throwing pennies in them, which has worn off on Skyler as well. Everytime we come to a fountain they make a wish and throw a penny. Of course, my little blonde haired money grubber will oftentimes pretend to throw her penny and then keep it instead, because she LOVES coins!

We got BONK beds! Yes, bonk beds, not to be confused with BUNK beds, which is what they're usually called. As a parent it has been so weird getting such big kid beds and not having a crib in the house anymore. I kind of love it and hate it at the same time. But the kids think they're awesome. In the picture, Glenn is wrestling a very distraught Skyler, who was mad as SIN when realizing that his sister would be getting the top bunk, not him. He's since dealt with it!

Playgroup at Ocean City

Our family went to Ocean City for a really fun playgroup on the beach. The weather was perfect and the company was great. It was also the first time that Skyler started getting brave enough to get in the water without running frantically back to shore! We stayed for quite a long time and really enjoyed ourselves.

Days in Valley Forge

Valley Forge has become one of our favorite places to go when we need a beautiful day outside. They just have such peaceful and well kept grounds, we really love it there. This was one of the first times we took our bikes for a ride around the loop. I thought I'd be pretty set to tackle those hills after all the spin classes I'd been to, but holy cow, nothing prepares you for those real climbs. It was hard, but still a lot of fun. The kids did pretty well for the most part, but I think flying around those corners really freaked Jayda out. Quite a few times during the bike ride Jayda would scream "turn around! pleeeease, turn around!" No amount of convincing would make her believe that turning around would actually take longer then just finishing the loop. It was really funny, especially now!

After the ride we went to Zwahlehn's, an adorable ice cream shop a few minutes away from Valley Forge. They have really good ice cream and candy. It was a great way to top off a day of bike riding!