California Trip 2017: Fun at Nonna & Grandpa's

We had an amazing time hanging out with Nonna, Grandpa and all the cousins! We ate, swam, sleep and repeat! 

Family Dinner: Reid Tacos! Yum!

Red Chile Sauce Anyone? We enjoyed it for days... thank you Nonna for being so accommodating to 3 vegans and 2 celiac gluten free girls!

So. Delish.

We enjoyed several family dinners where Aunt Katie and Aunt Sarah would come over with the cousins and play. Uncle Ted drove in for a visit one day and hung out with us, and we enjoyed seeing Jerry's side of the family too! 

Sydney and the crazy kids. Boy, all the kids wanted to be her bestie, and she was so sweet to to them!

All the cousins got along GREAT and had a blast playing together

Nonna and Maddie swimming

The girls were able to officially begin swimming without arm floats, and I think the lessons plus the positive peer pressure from the cousins helped get them to be independent swimmers :) Andrew enjoyed the pool, and also loved splashing in the water table with his trucks.

The Boy Cousins: Andrew (21 mo) Nate (8 yrs) 

Drew had to do some exploring of Nonna and Grandpa's new house... 

 I found the tupperware for you Nonna!

We took a huge family photo with all of Nonna and Grandpa's kids and grandkids, and it ended up being the same photographer who took our wedding pictures. They pictures turned out great, and we can't wait to get ours to hang in our house!

After church we headed to Hodel's Buffet

A visit to Bakersfield is never complete without a trip to Rosemary's for a Black and Tan... with extra hot fudge and caramel of course! 

Andrew's first bite of a Rosemary's Sundae.... It was a HIT!

Cousin Bonding Time...

The Crew: Andrew (21 mo), Madison (5 yr), Ameia (5 yrs), Lindsay (7 yrs), Katarina (7 yrs), Nate (8 yrs)

When my sister-in-law's and I were pregnant at the same time, this is what we envisioned of our kiddos, growing up together and having fun!!

Nonna took us to John's Pizza... Andrew was hesitate to ride the train at first, but after a minute we couldn't get him off of it!

He cracked a smile finally

Whee! 

Go around again, Nonna!

Thank you so much for hosting us in your new house! We absolutely love it, and made so many sweet memories swimming, eating and laughing together. We love you and can't wait to come back next year!! xo

California Trip 2017: Sawyer's Birthday

While we were in CA we had the opportunity to celebrate my niece, Sawyer's 2nd Birthday! She had an adorable rainbow themed party (which the girls LOVED) and the cousins had a blast running, splashing and playing together. 

Maddie in the pool/ball pit

Auntie Annie and Sawyer blowing out the candles!!

Auntie and Grammie were so thoughtful to get a gluten free cake so Maddie and I could enjoy the sweets too... thank you, it was delicious!!

Rainbow cake! Yummy!

Sawyer had tons of help opening her gifts from her cousins...LOL.

Lulu and Maddie picked out a Minnie Mouse cash register and dress for her to open, with rainbow wrapping paper of course!

Andrew was checking out her new toy

We enjoyed meeting some of Sawyer's friends, and got a chance to visit with Great Grandpa Joe and Aunt Eunice too... Papa and Uncle Matt made the trip down for the party too!

We also celebrated my Mom's birthday (June 29th) with a yummy lunch at Benji's. Oh how we miss Basque food, but our family even more :)

Lindsay (7 yrs), Madison (5 yrs), Sawyer (2 yrs), Andrew (21 mon)

Happy Birthday Cousin Sawyer! Thank you for letting us spend the day with you! We had a blast playing with you! Love, Lulu, Maddie & Andrew

California Trip 2017: Papa & Uncle Matt

Now that we've been home from CA for a couple weeks, and all the laundry and rounds of sickness (airplane germs!) and stocking up our fridge is done, I am finally getting around to updating the blog with our adventures. Our trip was super fun, and the kids are already asking when they can go back! We flew into San Francisco where Papa picked us up in his big black truck which Andrew loved, and drove 2 hours south to his house in Newman.  It was so good to see him, and he had all kinds of fun toys for the kids to play with....

Bubble blower and squirt gun?! Yeah! It was the perfect way to stay cool in the 100 degree weather.

Weee! Slip in slide was so much fun!!

Loving the water, not much sliding, but lots of rain!

Little Buddy loved the bubble blower with some help from Papa...

And of course, Papa and Uncle Matt had to show them how to REALLY do the slip-in-slide...

Go Papa Go!! You still got it!! LOL

Uncle Matt's patriotic shorts helped him slide the fastest and farthest!

We had a lovely morning taking the kids to a nice shady park to burn some energy.  

Enjoying playing with Papa at the park

Sweet Sissys

 Here Ducky Ducky! We fed the ducks at the park some stale gluten free pretzels. At least someone liked them! LOL.

 There was lots of time spent visiting, reading books, and snuggling in the mornings at Papa's.

Gracie girl and Papa doing a puzzle one morning

Mama and the puzzle queen, Lulu

 A highlight of our trip was getting to visit Uncle Matt's work. He gave us a tour of all the trucks he drives for Penske.

Uncle M doing his thing!

 The girls LOVED climbing all over the sleeper cab in the truck. They were so excited to see bunk beds!

 And of course, Andrew was mesmerized by the truck, horn, engine and especially all the BUTTONS he could push. It made me a little nervous, but Uncle Matt had it all under control ;)

Future cross country truckers

We had some delicious dinners, and especially enjoyed meeting Papa's girlfriend, Miss Carolyn. She was super sweet, and even let the kids go swimming at her house! Thank you Uncle Matt and Papa for hosting us at your house, we had a blast!! Looking forward to you guys coming our way next time! Love you! xo

Happy Father's Day 2017

Andrew loves to wear Daddy's shoes

The girls made a sign "I Love Daddy" for their larger-than-life Dad

Happy Father's Day to our very special Daddy!! We had a wonderful, relaxing day celebrating our fantastic Daddy Bear! After church we went to PF Changs for a yummy lunch.

Feelin' the love

When we got back home the kids couldn't wait for Daddy to open his gifts: Madison made him a key chain in preschool, and Lulu made a cute keepsake in school too. Bubs and I got him a new leather laptop bag, and the girls showed their affection with a TON of artwork.

We love you Daddy Bear!! Thank you for loving, leading and serving us every day. You model your faith in how you love us, with a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love...patience, kindness, selfless, and humility all while protecting us and pointing us to the Truth. I am so incredibly blessed to be your wife and partner in raising these 3 precious gifts ;)  xo

Little Miss Sunshine

A few weeks ago Jarrett took a video of Madison singing her heart out in front of our closet door mirrors...LOL. Maybe she'll be our performer?

Love you Little Miss Sunshine! xo

Wrapping Up First Grade

School is officially out (at last!) and Lindsay has 1st grade in her rear view mirror. What a fun year it has been! Here are a few pictures of the fun she's had...

Lindsay 7 years

The first grade at Ben Franklin Elementary put on a "Vocabulary Museum" where students were to chose an unknow word and to make a 3-D model of it out of shoe box. Then they invited all the parents to the "museum" to learn about their vocabulary words. I wasn't sure what to expect until I got there. LOL.

Linsday's word: Eagerly

Lindsay did the scene in her shoe box to describe "Eagerly" as a family on their way to Great Wolf Lodge. The caption bubble says, "How much longer? I am eagerly waiting!". LOL.

Class Photo

Ben Franklin has a fantastic garden where the kids plant veggies every year. In the fall they 'harvest' their veggies, and in the spring they plant new ones for the incoming 1st graders. Lindsay LOVED the gardening.

Digging up potatos

Cleaning up the garden 

Yay! We dug up potatoes!

Here's what they harvested....

Lindsay told me that they made fried potatoes and ate them! So much fun!
Here she is playing a game at Field Day...

Sack Races!

The coolest thing that her class did was take monthly walks down to the stream that runs behind the school called, "Turtle Back Pond".

 They wore water shoes and waded in the stream to collect samples and look at ecosystems.

 They looked at the things they found under microscopes and made observations. Lindsay really enjoyed this part of 1st grade, and tells me she wants to be a scientist when she grows up!

Way to go Lindsay on completing 1st grade!! What a fun year, we are so proud of you and all you have accomplished. We are looking forward to many more fun grades ahead!! Love you!