Russ, Shalae, & Kids

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Catch-up

Why do I feel behind on blogging if I haven't posted all the pics from my camera?

I couldn't let Sophie get away without taking a picture of her with all her protective gear & hair in her face...

Noah & his friend David after a t-ball game

Noah's classic 'trying not to smile' face when his coach was talking about him at the end of the season

Noah with his Early Learning teacher - Mrs. Leopold - and his classmates on the last day of school

One night we visited my Grandpa Sherwood who was at an extended care facility

Sohpie looked so cute this day... she wanted to tie her shirt in a knot to the side - she's so funny! I finally found a way to do her hair and keep the bangs out of her eyes. She loved it, win win for us both!

Tayler went to girls camp and taught us some songs when she got back. Kaitlyn & Noah learned the actions too...
... while Sophie watched and pretended to drink her baby's bottle.

Here, we're talking about the good and not-so-good things the kids had done during the day. We have a jar of warm fuzzies (called "puffles" in our house)... and the goal is to empty the individual jars and fill the big jar to earn a fun family vacation. We'll see if we can do it in time for what we're planning!

Russ with the kids before church on Father's Day -
I'm lucky to be married to someone who is such a great father & step-father.
(Noah has since then gotten some longer pants!!)

We took a trip out to Russ's dad's house on Father's Day & met the baby horse... she's SO CUTE!!

Some of the kids took a ride on the mama horse...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Our Rocky Point Vacation

We took a trip to Rocky Point a few weeks ago with my whole family, minus Alisse, Scott, & Tayler. We missed them but still had so much fun! It was my first time & now I think it might be the place for a perfect family vacation.

Sophie was so cute playing in the water.

Riggs, Jax, & Noah


Noah & Sophs

The sun wore us out!

Jaxen & Kaitlyn loved being in the water.



Riggs & Jax played softball with Sophie and she surprised us with how many times she hit the ball! It was cute because later that day she wanted to teach Noah how to do it since she was a pro!


One night we pulled up to what I thought was a mechanic garage... actually it was a stand serving some yummy tacos. I had 5 and Russ had uh... 8 or 9 I think. Even Sophie filled up on them - they were that good!

I loved that we never bothered with our hair, make-up, or putting together decent outfits to wear out on the town. (Auburn's work out clothes with the cute sweater was the best.) In Russ's words, "Orange County would never allow that"!! hahaha

One day the kids put on a dance recital for us and each one of them got involved. This was serious stuff for Kaitlyn & Ellie who coordinated their outfits and choreographed the dance.

Riggs was the lead singer (Eye of the Tiger).

Each of the kids took a turn to dance to their choice of song. Noah chose a "man song" which was The A-Team Theme song. We all laughed so hard and it didn't phase him. He was so aggressive and constantly "punching" or kicking ...
or doing a "starfish" jump.
Elles knows how to put on a show.

Kaitlyn

Roxy

Jaxen

Cute girls

We loved riding quads & taking Ranger rides...

The little girls were so cute with their matching hair!

Other than one really windy day, the weather was perfect for playing on the beach...

Sophie met a little boyfriend and played with him forever. Then Noah joined.




My mom was suckered into a pedicure but she said it was really nice!

.

All the girls got bracelets with their names made... they sat there watching the man make them and for some reason it was so funny to me!

The boys played some wiffle ball.


There's Jax & Kaitlyn again living it up in the water...



I of course didn't a picture of Russ & I until the last day when I was totally mis-matched!! Oh well it's Mexico.




Russ is such a cute dad! The kids loved when he took them on quad rides.

The last night we were there, we painted all the girls' toenails & fingernails. It was so fun, like a girl party because there were 4 of us "painters" and 4 kids.



Kaitlyn & Sophie showing off their nails:

All the kids before we left Mexico:

Our kids ready to roll out:

We had to make one last stop before leaving Mexico at Thrify Ice Cream.
mmm mmm good!

We are so thankful to my Uncle Gerry & Aunt Cynthia for letting us stay at their house... it was perfect! We had so much fun. Other memorable parts of our trip include:

*Taking the quads to the estuary ... kinda scary when Russ was driving, but so much fun!
*Finding a dead baby seal washed up on the shore at the estuary (so sad)!
*Noah lost his shorts in the ocean when Russ was trying to help him "unload" the sand! hahaha. We quickly covered him with Russ's shirt but Noah was panicking. About an hour later Suzanne found his shorts washed up on the shore.
*Eating lots of junk food, of course!
*Suzanne, Noah & I all got kinda sick - must have been something we ate.
*As we were waiting to cross the border, there were local people trying to sell stuff along the road. Russ noticed some generic towels hanging with characters such as Disney princesses or Lightning McQueen - only the Mexican version of a Cars towell said "LIGHTYEAR" across the top instead of "Lightning". I was cracking up!!
*Although nobody got a picture of it, one day 11 of us road the water whale - behind a boat in the Ocean. Some of us were scared, some were loving it - but definately a fun memory that I wish I had a picture of.