Sweet little Julia

Julia can be the sweetest child sometimes.  She loves to help mommy and she likes to clean (the boys certainly have never been this way, must be a girl thing?).  Last night as she was getting ready for bed, I started picking up the stuffed animals from her bed, as it was completely covered with them.  When I finished putting them away, Julia decided to make her bed.  She straightened out the blanket, going from side to side to make it just right.  She must have gone around that bed ten times before deciding the blanket was exactly where it should be and all the wrinkles were gone.  Then she proceeded to put two more blankets on, one of which was hers and the other her doll's.  She made sure her pillow was in the right spot, then pulled in the drawbridge (it is a castle bed, after all).  Finally she was ready to read a story and go to bed.

Sweet little girl!

More Summer Fun--dressing up, playing in the water, etc.

Dress up fun in the living room!

Jacob has taken a liking to the Light Bright grandma gave us.  He was very proud of his first piece of artwork--a lighthouse!

Jacob has been itching to climb the apple tree for a while.  He was able to scurry right up and find a comfy spot to rest.  He wanted to go higher, but was quite dismayed when I told him the branches would not hold him any higher.  Julia refuses to be outdone by her brothers and felt the need to climb the tree as well.  Although, she needed lots of help to get to the sweet spot in the tree.

It's hot.  What more can we say?  Actually, when these photos were taken, I think it was maybe 85 outside.  Jacob had been pleading for weeks for me to get out the "slippery slide."  He was so thrilled when we finally got out the slip n' slide to play on.

What summer day would be complete without an otter pop?

June in McCall

It was so nice to arrive in McCall and find so much sand to play in!

We had to find alternate sand to play in just down the beach.  Our beach was covered in ants!

California Adventures Day 10--the long road home

Long drive home today, but not as long as our initial trek last Friday!  We were on the road for eight hours, leaving Tahoe at 8:30, Pacific time, arriving at our house in Boise at 6:15, mountain time.  I think that's a pretty good record.  We made only two or three potty stops, including lunch.  Nobody threw a fit in the car, had any accidents or any other atrocities!  We were so glad to be home.

The weather was beautiful when we left the condo.  Sunny and warm.  When we arrived in Boise, we were greeted with 100 degree heat and a thunder storm.  We could see the storm on the horizon, the closer we got to home.  It was raining when we were on I-84, about ten minutes out.  When we finally reached our house, it was hotter than hot inside!  UGH!!!  Sunday night was a hot, steamy night.  Monday was much better once the air had traveled throughout the whole house.

California Adventures Days 8-9--quiet in Tahoe

Friday was a nice change of pace.  We didn't have a defined schedule and were able to rise and shine whenever we chose.  Julia took a three hour nap and I managed a whole hour of midday zzz's!  Matt took the boys into town to explore and inquire about renting a boat--kind of spendy!  Marty and Kayoko are due in this evening, late.

Saturday has been a very quiet day. Nobody coming or going, just whatever you want to do. It's nice to not have a plan for a change. After lunch we ventured out to the Tallac museum and saw some neat old buildings. That was the peak of our excitement today. The next big thrill is having ribs for dinner, with homemade ice cream for dessert!

California Adventures Day 7--on the road again

Today, we traveled from Arcadia to Tahoe, to meet up with the rest of Matt's family. It is an all day drive, but we had some spectacular scenery along the way. We came up the east side, catching the backside of Yosemite about halfway to our destination. The peaks were just spectacular and for a while they were behind some foothills, making the peaks look like a hologram, according to James.

California Adventures Day 6--4th of July!

Today after picking up the kids, we trekked over to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and museum, where Reagan's Air Force One is housed. Marty and Kayoko went as well. Our kids had such a good time with their Rhees cousins. They watched Back to the Future 2 and ate pizza. Julia fell in love with Buck (our doggy cousin). In the morning, Kayoko took good care of our kids and even packed snacks for them to take to the library! What a fantastic auntie! The library and museum had a lot of interesting things, but the most exciting thing for the kids was the airplane inside. Since it was our country's birthday, there were lots of fun activities for the kids, as well as live music. They got their faces painted and played hard. Pom leaving the museum, we drove towards Malibu to see where Charlie Harper lives (if you don't watch Two and a Half Men, you wouldn't understand). On the edge of Malibu, we found a parking spot with beach access, so we played in the sand some more before going back to Marty's house for dinner. Somewhere along the eay, James proclaims from the bakc, that he wants to "experiment with different liquids." When we arrived at Marty's, James emerged with a water bottle half full of s ome yellow liquid. Obviously, we knew right away that James had peed into his empty water bottle. Ugh!!! After disposing of our hazardous waste, James got to go for a ride in Marty's sporty BMW Z4, with the top down! What a thrill that was! Matt brilliantly decided to send his brother a package from Omaha Steaks, so we had the best hot dogs and hamburgers. After dinner, we played outside before watching the fireworks show. We had extra glow sticks we got at the Mailow concert the previous evening, do the kids had great fun playing with those. Marty's house is in close proximity to the Rose Bowl, where Pasadena's fireworks display is held. Across the street form their house is the primo spot for fireworks watching, so we pulled up a blanket and watched the spectacular display from the city of Pasadena.