Category Archives: Family

Happy Birthday, Amara Ann

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Amara celebrated her 5th birthday in April! It’s hard to believe she will begin kindergarten this Fall. I remember flying down from Alaska to be part of the celebration on the day she was born! How time flies…

Happy Birthday my sweet Amara!

Cousin’s James & Aristan celebrating!

Steph has been taking cake decorating classes and made this beautiful Rapunzel cake

(from the movie Tangled)

The cake itself is impressive, with the river & grass…

…while the tower was amazing!

Make a wish & blow out your candles…

Stephanie had a beautiful lunch made for all the party guests

With some old family favorites!

Wow! presents, pReSeNtS, PrEsEnTs!!


Have a wonderful year being 5 years old!

 

 

Amara’s Friend Party

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Amara celebrates her birthday with friends at JJ Jump!

Maya wasn’t so keen on jumping & sliding, so she used her Daddy as a jungle gym!

After all the bouncing they could handle, the kids entered the party room for some pizza, fruit, and juice. After this Amara blew out the candle on her cupcake!

She opened her gifts with some help from Mama.

As she thanked her friends for coming, she handed out the BEST party bags – Boys got bug hunting gear * Girls left with fairy wings and tutus!

**the above fairies were the big girls invited to the party (Abbie & Chan)**

Disneyland

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Our family loves to travel the hour and a half north while in San Diego to spend a day at Disney… it is never long enough, but we get in as much fun as possible in the time we have there! We lucked out on the day we visited, the park was open ’till midnight!

I knew it was going to be a perfect day as we walked right into Mary Poppins & Bert as we entered the park! She was my favorite when I was a little girl… I still dream of having the Mary Poppins bag – you can pack it full of anything & everything!

We went straight to the rides – we all wanted to ride as many as possible… Josh & Abbie each had their own plan of attack on the best way to navigate the park. Both being stubborn, neither would budge… and we ended up hopping around to the shortest lines possible.

Thunder Mountain Railroad

The day got even better when Justin surprised us and drove up to play for the day! It was awesome to visit in the long lines and catch up. The kids loved having their Uncle there to drag around on all the rides too!

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride!

We waited 75 minutes to ride Space Mountain – it was worth the wait & we were in good company.

The rain began to fall for about 5 minutes – out came umbrellas, parkas, and people running for cover. We enjoyed the view in California Adventure Park.

Day turned to night quickly. The only ride James could not ride was, of course, the one he looked forward to ALL day. He was about 2 inches too short. Poor boy, he was devastated! So, while Josh, Justin, and Abbie waited in line to ride the coaster at California Adventure… James and I found a place to turn him into a scary pirate!

We also found a great fishing spot. This made James very happy!

While Josh & Justin waited in a long line to ride the Tower of Terror

The kids and I played in A Bug’s Life land

We met up here after the rides and headed back over to Disneyland for some night riding fun!

We ran into some great characters in the late night – it was perfect, no lines!

We played until midnight and helped close the park.

It was a perfectly-fun-exhausting day!

We slept well and woke up refreshed & ready for the long drive home!

Our week in Southern California was just what we needed. It was perfect!

~the photos that look professional come from Justin and his excellent camera! Thanks for hanging with us all day at Disney & sharing these fun pics, Justin!

San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Safari

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aka: Wild Animal Park

It was on this day that I realized our son is a complete poser (just look at him through this post)!

We love, LoVe, lOvE the San Diego Zoo ~ though this time we thought the Wild Animal Park would be fun for James as he could see animals in their ‘natural’ environment.

After a ride on the Safari Train – we needed a stop for drinks.

Then a walk through the Petting Zoo

Some posing ~ James was grouchy cause he wanted the BIG ears!

Jumping over lily pads – motivated, huh?

More Posing!

My sweet little family.

and just a little more posing – he’s a baby bird!

and that night we had a bar-be-que at Grandpa’s house! They laid out a BIG piece of cardboard for the kids to draw on! It made it nice to visit – without worries of kids being needy!

A Day at the Beach

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You know, we used to live here (Pacific Beach). We could walk to this exact spot. It was beautiful everyday. Expensive too! What a perfect place…

…we enjoyed every moment we had reconnecting with the beach. It was soothing-fun-refreshing!

Except for when Abbie thought I was acting too much like a tourist – and then it wasn’t so relaxing… she was so irritated with me!

Josh and Abbie rode the Coaster (at Mission Beach)

James was a few inches too short – he was WAY bummed! I can’t imagine why?! We did my favorite – and can you believe, he would not let me choose an animal near him? He wanted me to find something far away!

James loves fishing (not sure where the love came from, since we aren’t big fisher-people) ANYWAYS… now that he can read, he saw a sign on Crystal Pier that said: Fishing $15 an hour

 

After an hour of fishy fun

…we walked the Boardwalk to a sweet little ice cream shack

and then back to Grandpa Jim’s for a swim in his most excellent pool!

Josh and Abbie had way too much fun doing fancy jumps & dives from the waterfall!

What an amazing pool – I love California! (It was raining back home).

That night we all went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner ~ yummy! James taught Uncle Justin how to play WAR (a game of numbers).

 

 

 

Legoland

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We woke to warm, sunny skies and decided to head to Legoland for a day of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

James really wanted to get his Legoland driver’s license and Abbie went along to make sure he followed the rules of the road… what a sweet sis!

We enjoyed the rides, although the lines moved way too slowly for us.

James easily talked us into a tiger face painting…

It was a day for play…

and seeing many impressive Lego creations

after a fun-filled day of play…

Josh’s Dad, Jim, took all of us out for a wonderful evening of food, drinks, and conversation.

 

 

 

 

On the Road Again…

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we just can’t wait to get on the road again…

Josh is prepping the car for our 2500 mile/36hour trip to San Diego!

James packed himself in his bag and was ready to go!

Abbie spent her time filling her bag with lots of summer clothes!

The kids brought plenty of books, activities, and movies to keep them busy ! They got along and did amazingly well the entire drive… which made for a fantastic trip!

We didn’t eat lunch on Day 2 of the drive until we saw our favorite southern California fast-food… it was well worth the wait!

We arrived to Grandpa Jim’s house, where we were greeted with refreshing beverages & tasty barbeque! Josh and his Dad spent the evening catching up ~ it was lots of fun!

 

Random

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First thing on Saturday morning James ran outside, pulled up a chair, and cast his line over the rail… in hopes of catching an air fish! He loves fishing and will fish anywhere - anytime!

Abbie is an awesome big sis ~ She helps James with his homework!

Of course, Max & Ruby are forever making me smile. Here they are sharing Max’s food. I had just put the step stool over the his food dishes to grab some spices for dinner… next thing I know they are into a covered eating area!

Josh is always looking for extra help in the laundry room ~ I don’t think Ruby was what he was thinking.

Happy Birthday…

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…Stephanie!

March 15, 1978

We celebrated with her yesterday as tonight her hubby is taking her out for a night on the town! She opened some sweet gifts… She was really hoping for a boom box and a mixed cassette tape (below). Instead, she got a cute little sewing basket full of all the goodies she needs to begin sewing – and the cassette-looking gift, that was a bible our Mom’s great-grandmother had given to her on March 15, 1958.

Of course, we all like different types of ice cream, so I had to pick up individual cartons for each of us! What a fun way to serve ice cream to a diverse group! We all loved having our favorite treat!

and the birthday girl got her favorite cake: Fresh Banana with Whip from Larson’s Bakery! YUM!!

What a fun evening we all had celebrating Stephanie! Happy Birthday to my little sis, I love you!

 

Snow Day

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Finally – we woke to snow AND it was enough to call school for the day!

Abbie spent the day with friends…

Josh, James, and I had snowball fights, unsuccessfully attempted sledding, and the boys built a snowman.


Max is quite the snow dog! He loved running & tossing snow into the air while trying to catch it in his mouth!

Ruby, however, was not a fan of the snow. I sat her outside on our patio table where she jumped around, hopped off the table, and bolted back inside where it was warm and dry.

It was a perfect day away from school in the middle of the week! Hooray for snow days!

 

A Stay at the Hospital

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Sometime in the month of February, I agreed to an extended-stay EEG. To do this I had to be hooked up to many wires, and stay put in either my hospital bed or a chair in the room. In addition to the wires, I was monitored by camera 24/7.

For the past couple years, we thought I was having seizures ~ so I’ve been taking seizure medicine. Recently, I found myself a new neurologist who questioned my seizures and wanted more information ~ thus, the long, lonely days at the hospital.

During my stay, I had 2 sleep deprived EEG’s with one of them being a 24 hour deprivation. It was very boring and I became quite emotional! I felt incredibly fortunate to have wonderful support from family & friends. I received flowers, flowers, and more flowers. Each time a vase of brightly colored flowers were carried in, I was filled with appreciation knowing I have so many  caring people in my life… The flowers stayed with me through the duration, it was nice to have them. Beyond the beautiful buds, were the people.

It was more than I could have ever hoped… I had support from so many people. I am not sure how I could have managed with out the visits, encouraging words, emails, phone calls, and  text messages. I thank each and every person who supported me through this ordeal.

The result of the stay showed no signs of seizures! No more seizure meds for me and I am feeling great!