A day at the Lake

As I mentioned before, last week was really hot in Fresno, so I took the boys to Bass Lake with my friends Laura and Amy and their kids. Marky swam for hours, and Kevin played in the sand by the water and floated on the raft with me. About 1:00 Kevin climbed up in my lap and went to sleep! Amy took these really cute pictures of the kids. The little girl with Marky is his "girlfriend" Olivia (Laura's daughter). They are just way too cute together!

Casa de Fruita

Last weekend we decided to explore another part of Cali, and headed to Santa Cruz. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I believe it was 104 degrees in Fresno, so I thought it might be kinda nice to cool off at the coast. When we got to Santa Cruz, it was only in the 60's! The water was way too cold to swim in obviously, and I shivered all day even sitting in the sun. I also forgot that it was the last weekend of the summer, so there were a ton of people (mostly teenagers and college kids). We tried to walk down the Boardwalk, which has rides, games, and yummy treats, but it was just way too crowded. After about 4 hours, we decided that we had experienced enough of Santa Cruz and headed back. It wasn't quite dinner time so we thought we would drive awhile and stop somewhere maybe half way. Along the way, Mark saw signs that advertised a place named Casa de Fruita, and it had pictures of pie on the billboards. It looked pretty good so we found it on our GPS and headed for what we thought was a little cafe or something. It turned out to be a little village with a train, carousel, candy store, fruit stand, restaraunt, etc. Our little dinner stop turned into family fun! Kevin is really into trains right now, so we rode the train through the park and got to see some animals and big tractors. Then we ate some pretty good dinner at their restaraunt, and of course we had to walk to through the fruit stand and get some pistacios (sp) for the ride home. It was such a pleasant surprise, and it made the day a lot better for the kids! So any of you around here that haven't experienced Casa de Fruita, try it! It's good ol' fashioned family fun!

Family Beach Trip

Last year, we went to the beach quite a few times, being new to Cali and all. Now it is Aug and we realized we havent been once this year, and Kevin doesn't even know what the beach is! (He was only a few months old last year)One thing that has been holding us back is the cost of staying in a hotel, since its a 2 1/2 -3 hr drive from here. Well finally we decided that we can either try a day trip, or we won't get to the beach this summer! So we tried the day trip, and it actually worked! We got up and made a picnic lunch and was out the door at 9 am, getting us to the beach about noon, which is perfect for the Central Coast since it's pretty cold in the mornings. We had our picnic and played in the sand for a few hours. Mark rented a boogie board and tried to catch some waves, but then the boys wanted in on theaction. He took them out one at a time, and they thought it was the coolest thing ever! Marky wants to buy one. They just stayed in the shallow water, but they had the time of their lives! We finally left the beach about 5 after using the showers to get most of the sand off. We changed clothes and hit McDonald's for some supper. After that, the boys literally fell asleep in the parking lot before we even got on the road! Mom and Dad had a nice quiet drive home, and we got back about 9. Not a bad day trip! I think we will do it again!

Out First "Camping" Trip

So we have really wanted to go camping, but it never seems like the right time, and we worry that Kevin will just go nuts! Last week I came up with an idea to do a trial camp out in our back yard! On Friday night, we set up the tent and took everything outside. Marky had a great time helping dad set everything up! Then we built a fire on the back porch (it was in the little smoker fire pit) and made s'mores. It was really fun, and Kevin actually went to sleep in our sleeping bag! Now we are thinking about trying a real camping trip in the mountains. We'll see if it actually happens, I'm a little nervous!

Mark Turned 4!

Little Mark turned 4 on July 16th! I can't believe it! We were all up at 6:30 to open presents before Daddy had to go to work. He just couldn't bear seeing all those presents and not touching them until dinner time. For one of his gifts, Mark built him a desk for his room since he is always drawing and likes to use my desk. He looked at it and said, " I like it, but where's the computer?" He just assumed that all desks come with a computer! I told him that he's not getting one for many years! After opening presents we ate breakfast (he chose cinnamon rolls and I was happy to oblige) we were all so tired from getting up early! Kevin went down for a nap and I layed on the couch while Marky played with his new toys. He was just too excited to go back to sleep. Then we met Mark at In and Out for lunch (Marky's favorite place) and came home to set up for his little party. We had some friends over to decorate cupcakes. I saw it first in Jon and Kate Plus 8. They had their sextuplets decorate cupcakes instead of throwing a big party, so I copied the idea! It was a lot of fun, and virtually no work for me!!! It turned out to be lots of fun, and I saved a lot of money! That's my kind of party! The kids had a blast, and my children went to bed so easy that night! Here are some pics from the big day.