Busy times!

I know I've been neglecting this poor blog of mine, but I do have good excuses. We've been very busy with various activities for the kids, projects around the house, and just life in general. But we have done some very fun things these last few months, so I thought I'd share. 

 

It is warm here (where you expecting anything less?!) so John picked up a small pool for the kids. This thing gets daily use, and with the wonderful patio and cover the kids can play outside for hours without getting completely fried. Yah for shade!

William's Trail Life group went to an archery range and we all got to shoot for the first time.  I have to say that while it was quite fun, it's a lot of work, requiring a good amount of strength.

Grandpa and Grandma were here visiting for awhile so we all went to the Aquarium of the Pacific for a day. Such fun!

 It was so nice to have another adult along!

Aunt Gina and Uncle Andy also were here a few weeks ago. They got the kids tennis rackets, and Aunt Gina did her best to give them their first lessons.

We celebrated Maggie's second birthday. Seriously!?!

Took in a little mini golf.

Took a quick trip to urgent care to check on the status of a swallowed quarter.

 

Went to see the shuttle Endeavor at the Science Center. 

 

 Found some time to feed the ducks (and turtles!).

Trenched the backyard-to-be. (This picture doesn't do it justice. John spent weeks of grueling work on our cement-like dirt to get it ready for sprinkling. He will have it finished in the next couple of days. In the fall we will lay down sod! After 11+ years I will finally have a backyard again!)

And now...please excuse us. We're tired.

Rock Climbing

William is part of a new boys' scouting group called Trail Life.  They are just getting off the ground, but they are already doing fun outings.  Their first big outing as a group was going rock climbing at the air force base. 

 

 

After all the boys were finished climbing Abby had a chance to climb.  

Tres.

I think the reason it takes me so long to write a post and then post pictures about the post is because I can no longer just upload my pictures to blogger but have to instead upload them to photobucket and then upload them to my blog because my blog can't take anymore pictures because there is just not enough space.  (Anyone want to diagram that?!?)

Or maybe it's because I'm just weary.  I have several small people that demand much out of me and I don't have much time to go along with said demands.  So blogging and pictures get tossed to the side.

I did promise a few more pictures of our totally awesome vacation, so here they are. 

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After we left Ohio we drove on up to Michigan to see my family.  Last November my parents bought the cutest cottage ever, so we spent several days enjoying life on the water!

 

In the evenings we enjoyed sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows and making hobo pies.

Uncle Jared and Grandpa helped William fish for the first time, and he caught several small fish.

The smile on his face pretty much sums up everything!

A long-time friend of mine was able to come up and visit us for the day, along with her three kiddos.  It was so fun seeing our little girls play with each other!

 

Have I mentioned I have the cutest niece ever?  Well I do.  

 Maggie and Kierra enjoyed some pool time together.  

 

And Aunt Lynnelle was brave and took both kids out for a ride on the floaties.  

I can't find pictures to prove this, but William and Abby also got to go tubing around the lake behind my Dad's boat!  I really couldn't believe that wanted to go, but they did and had a blast doing so.  William went by himself and Abby went with her friend.  John and I also went tubing!  Jared managed to get John to flip off the tube, and the kids were a bit concerned watching John try to get back on the tube (to no avail).  They truly thought we were going to have to simply leave him in the water and, well...leave.  Obviously that didn't happen, but it was still funny to see the looks on their face when time after time John could not pull himself on the tube again.  

Here are Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandkids!  

We had such a great time at the cottage that I think we will have to plan summer vacations to Michigan now! 

Part deux

Here are a few more pictures from our vacation. 

Aunt Gina took us to Milligan College where we took some family pictures and walked around the beautiful campus.

 

After we left TN we went through Cumberland Gap.  Some nice gentleman took our picture while the kids waited in the car.  Sometimes it is a lot of work to get all three of them out of car seats for a photo!

 

We drove around the park and found a fun hiking trail (with a board walk for nice stroller pushing!).

 And what visit to Kentucky would be complete without a visit to the original KFC?

 As we made our way north we stopped at the huge Air Museum in Ohio.

 

 

 

Little sister is getting so close to walking!

After we left Ohio we headed up to Michigan to see my family and enjoy a stay at my parent's new cottage.  Pictures are coming! 

Vacation, pt. 1

We recently returned from a two week vacation back east to visit family and see the sights.  It was such a fun trip.  We flew out to North Carolina, stopping first to see the last home game of the Durham Bulls.  It might be the first game that I actually caught John snoozing.  In all fairness, we did leave for the airport at 1:30am PST, so trying to stay awake for a 7pm EST game was exhausting.  Let's just say that we didn't last much longer than the 7th inning.

The next day we cruised through the Smokey Mountains.

We stopped at the farm that was at the visitor's center, admiring the chickens and wild hogs.

Then we hiked Clingman's Dome, the top of which is the highest point in the Smokey Mountains.  It was a bit foggy, so after the exhausting climb up we couldn't really see anything.  Note to self - Maggie HATES being in Ergo carrier.  Staring at my back/front was not her idea of fun.  And having her on me was just plain hot.  Next hike - stroller!

This was a park we could have spent a lot more time in.  The beauty was just incredible.

After we left the Smokey Mountains we headed off to Blountville, TN, to spend Labor Day weekend with John's sister and husband.  We had such a relaxing time in their beautiful home, seeing the sights of Eastern Tennessee, and enjoying wonderful food.

We spent a day at Tweetsie Railroad, an old fashioned carnival-type theme park in the Appalachian Mountains.

I think this old Ferris wheel might have been my favorite ride!

I'll post more later, but for now...enjoy!