San Diego

WARNING: Lots of pictures to follow.

So the end of June we took our first extended road trip with the kids to Southern California. Why? Well to celebrate the marriage of Melissa's cousin Bonnie. Congrats Bonnie and Will! From spending our first night in Long Beach and enjoying some time at the beach - we had the opportunity to visit with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Mary. Celebrating Father's day together.


From there we headed South and rented a place in San Diego. We spent a few days in the city, going to Sea World, Balboa Park and hanging out at the beach with the Roccanova's.

Sea World was a HUMONGOUS hit. (See video below - where did he learn the word from, why Sesame Street of course!)

Looks like an Olan Mills shot to me.
Visiting with the Walrus and Beluga Whale.

Went to the Children's Discovery Museum in Balboa Park. They had a great toddler area for the kids. While Reese was off playing on the computer, Tanner spent is morning like this. With is little tongue poking out and working very hard on the conveyor belt.

We spent our last morning in San Diego at Sea World again trying to burn off some energy before we hit the road and headed north.
Riding some rides...

before we made the trek north to San Francisco. We had the opportunity to catch up some friends, and visit again with the Colorado and San Francisco Roccanova contingencies. Our kids love their cousin Gabby.

Picnic in Golden Gate park -

enough sittin' they were off and running...









stay tuned - San Francisco / Pride celebration Part 2....coming soon!

Look, a Princess!

Earlier in the month we had the opportunity to celebrate the marriage of a wonderful family friend. What a great day - catch up with old friends, and even my kindergarten teacher! (Mrs.Green!)

The wedding was beautiful- and the kiddos had the opportunity to show off their new clothes that Auntie Cori brought back from her recent trip to Greece. They kept running around saying, I'm Greek!

The wedding venue was amazing- a little spot called Nestledown in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Crazy beautiful, and a great spot for kids. Train rides, a play ground and open fields to run around in. It was a great celebration and a beautiful day .

Driving over we were trying to explain 'wedding' to Tanner & Reese- I am not sure they totally understood until the Bride came walking down the isle and Reese exclaims "Look Mommy, a Princess!" and she was right....

A beautiful princess indeed...

Snacks to help keep a quiet toddler during the ceremony...

Happy Family.
(We never got a shot with all four of us looking, so I decided to pick the one where Mel and I look the best!)

Auntie Cori and her 'greek' niece and nephew

Dress Up

So this is what happens when your sister talks you into playing dress up.

Tanner gets to be the Princess

And Reese the superhero.

This is what Tanner picked out- he's a truck driver.

And Reese - a driver in heels.

Before and After

So the month of May was spent in a wee bit of chaos. Not only is it the end of the school year which makes it a busy time of year, but we decided to use this opportunity to do some major work on our house. So for 5-weeks we moved out of house and across town to stay in a friends house while they were out of town.

We capitalized upon the opportunity and did quite a bit of work on the house. It was crazy- and a right of passage I did not expect. There were many moments we looked around and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into, but now are quite pleased with how everything worked out.

For those of you paying attention here is a list of the things we accomplished:

• Tore down paneling in office & put in insulation and fresh dry-wall.
  
• New windows, couch, and bookshelf for the office.
  
• Dining Room got a fresh coat of pain
• New Light in the Dining Room - (YEAH!)
• Re-did all the hardwood floors in the house - upgraded baseboards.
• New Rug in Living room
• New tankless water heater
• TOTALLY redid the bathroom - new walls, plumbing, electrical - moved the toilet, put in new vanity, larger window, frame-less shower door....

And now - pictures of all the work we did...

Bathroom Shower Stall

Bathroom Vanity & Mirror

Dining Room

Floors

Office

After!

Bathroom Shower Stall
(No the toiletry bag does not always hang there)

Bathroom- Vanity
(missing the mirror- still a work in progress)

Dinging Room

Office

A huge thank you to everyone that helped to make this happen. Friends that helped teach us how to do something, spent time helping us paint, watch our kids, or just help keep us sane. It is appreciated! We could not have done this with out you.

Also a huge debt of gratitude has to go out to Melissa- she worked so hard to make our house beautiful. I am impressed how much worked she put into all of this, and the number of hours she spent making it all happen.

Come by and visit and see it all for yourself!

Ollala-what?!?

One of the favorite activities in June and July in these parts is berry picking - not just any berry, but Ollalaberries. What is an ollalaberry you ask? Well it is a unique combination of blackberry and raspberry and it is GOOD!

So we took a trip up the coast to Swanton Berry Farms. The kids were in heaven - ALL of their favorite people were there (except minus Mommy Lissa who was hard at work on the new mirror for our bathroom!) Ozzie, Dylan and Maeva (and their adults) came out to join us too.

Hard at work finding the ripe berries to pick.

Unfortunately, they soon lost interest.

So we started the Toddler Bobsled Team.





It was a hit!

The day was great- we enjoyed a picnic, potty talk (potty-training coming soon!) and good friends. All n' all - a great success!

And a little something to start your Monday off with...

What does an Ollalaberry sing?


Lalalalala

Summer Boardwalk Adventure

This past week Auntie Cori came for a visit. That gave us the opportunity to catch up with some of our favorite peeps-

One day we had the opportunity to hang out with the Sacramento contingency - Tanner & Reese LOVED hanging out with their 'big' cousins.

Holdin' hands with their buddies

Getting a lesson in riding the rides

All together...

I don't know you tell me - whose tushes are cuter?

Option A

OR

Option B

You tell me. :)

Thanks for coming to visit Auntie Cori...we love you!

Yes- Cori missed the east coast scorcher and instead enjoyed the 'warm' summer days of Santa Cruz. The sun finally came out her last day here!

Disco Queen

We've been busy! We had the opportunity to celebrate with Evan and Cameron - who turned 2 back in June. They celebrated with a party at the local roller-palladium...good time was had by all!

Reese got out there and gave skating her best shot - she really enjoyed it....


Tanner even got out and skated too for a bit- but you can see....he grew tired of it quickly.


This is was more of his speed... I was always a push over for him :)