Griffith Park Observatory

Since we were unable to go to our family reunion due to our kid's crazy schedules, we decided we would take a few day trips. Well those trips even had to be scrapped, but at least we got one trip in. We headed up to Griffith Park Observatory after a quick stop at the Citadel Outlets. It was an extremely smoggy day, but I guess that was to be expected.

Maelen, Jared & Kendall love to pose like any statue they are near. This is a monument of the following astronomer's: Hipparchus, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Herschel.

I'm not sure why, but we were wildly entertained by the kids making crazy faces between these two pillars.

I'm not sure what Jared is even doing here, but it sure captures his personaltiy.


The kids thought this should be their picture for our Christmas card this year. Too bad it is so smoggy you can barely see the Hollywood sign and Maelen has her sunglasses on. Oh well....we will wait until Maelen gets her braces off!!

Catalina

This past weekend we had the awesome opportunity to go to Catalina on our friend's yacht. Tom & Kelly Olds were kind enough to wait until Maelen returned home from camp so she could come along. Jared was off on a Scout campout, so he missed out. Eliot and Heidi Mason also came along with two of their kids, Ty & Aubrey. The yacht is 82 feet and beautiful from top to bottom. Here we are leaving Newport Beach.

The kids enjoyed the view from the top deck. They also were entertained by Captain Josh.

Here is the back of the boat. Stacy our housekeeper/cook/friend is waving at us.
This is Eliot showing Kelly, Tom, and Maelen his form on the mini golf course. Apparently this used to be very run down, but it has been redone and was really beautiful We had so much fun.
I took a picture of the kids in the theater at the casino before we were told that was not allowed. Apparently casino is an Italian word for entertainment. This particular one was built in 1929 and has a theater and a ballroom.
We took a golf cart tour of Avalon. Their were many beautiful homes and tons of nature to take in.
Here is the view from our bed. We had it shut at night to keep this riff raff out.
Here is the bedroom we stayed in.
Here is our bathroom.

Check out my mad photography skills taking a picture of Maelen jumping off the top of the boat. Wow. Way to capture the moment. Kendall made Matt go in with her and then we couldn't get him out. The water wasn't terribly warm, but it was sure clear and beautiful.


On the way home we cruised for quite a while so we could find dolphins. We lucked out and found two separate schools of dolphins. They were so fun and playful. They love to swim along side the boat and jump up over the waves to get to the boat.

What an incredible weekend! Even though we felt like we were still rocking all Saturday night, we would love to have the opportunity to do it again.

Jared - Part 2

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this. This is Jared's version of making his bed. To the untrained eye it may seem he is still in the bed! It never ceases to amaze me that my kid who is so responsible about getting assignments done not just on time, but early and also takes pride in the work he does, makes his bed in this haphazard manner. I guess some things are just not as important!!

The Month of Jared

This post makes it look like all our energies are focused on Jared! He just happens to have a lot going on this month. This Court of Honor was actually in May. Jared received his Tenderfoot and Second Class along with four merit badges. He is moving right along! He is enjoying scouts and wants to earn his Eagle by 14. I am all for that!


Jared also had a piano recital. It's all we can do to get him to practice, but I get the feeling he enjoys performing for an audience. He is a ham like his daddy. He managed to do quite well even though he wasn't able to get to his master class since he was in the middle of playoffs for baseball. Never a dull moment!


Jared also talked us into signing him up for Junior Lifeguards this summer. I always thought he would end up hating it because it is 3 1/2 hours EVERY DAY during the summer. We will see how that goes. The selling point is that he can earn 7 merit badges during the summer. He also has something to do for at least part of the day. The afternoons he still is running like wild with his friends. I don't know where he gets his engergy.


In Jared's GATE class this year, they did what the teacher calls a "Great Brain Project". They had certain topics to pick from and did a HUGE report including pictures and a project. She had it spread out over a few months so it was painless. Jared has always been good about getting his work done ahead of time. His project was the Roman Coliseum. He wanted to make a sculpture, but I talked him into painting since drawing and artwork are his thing. He had never painted before, but I think he did an amazing job! His teacher asked to keep the painting to show future classes. He thought that was pretty cool and quite an honor, however, we didn't have any pictures of it, so we went to his class room to take pictures.

Random.....

I was rushing around the house trying to get ready to take Jared to his game and this is what I found. I have to take pictures when my kids actually get along to prove that it really does happen. Maelen had a rare afternoon with nothing going on and Jared was just "patiently" waiting for me and decided to go have a chat with his big sis. I am probably glad I don't know what they are discussing.

Babysitting

My visiting teacher came last week and brought me some beautiful orchid stems. It was such a wonderful treat. I guess Maelen and I "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed enough that she let us babysit her orchid plants while she goes back east for her son's graduation. We should be getting about 8 or 9 stems before she gets back!! She also left us her cilantro plants to babysit - yum!

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is on his way to visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Michelle's family. Luckily for us, they are good sports. For those of you who don't know, Flat Stanley is a book about a kid named Stanley who is flattened one night when a bulletin board falls on him. A little gruesome, I know. However, since he is flat, he can be rolled up and mailed all over the place. The book tells some of his adventures like being flown like a kite and finally being pumped back up by his brother with a bicycle pump. One kid had Flat Stanley visit a relative who plays hockey and he came home with a black eye! You never know what will happen. Kendall is looking forward to seeing and hearing all about his adventures in San Marcos!! Thank you Mike & Michelle!!

I'm a Ham....

HAM Radio Technician, Class 2, that is. During April I took a HAM Radio class. It was pretty interesting and a great skill to know in case of emergency. I knew the info pretty well, but for some reason I studied harder because I reaaaallllly wanted to get 100%. Well the test is not really very hard and I did get a 100%. I will have my call sign as soon as the paperwork makes it through the FCC and then all I need to do is buy a radio. Yippee! By the way, not even my teacher knew what HAM stands for.

Easter & Dad's Birthday

On Easter, we also celebrated Dad's birthday. After Dad opened his presents, he and Mom whispered something and then before you know it, he ran upstairs and got out the old slides and we had a major slide war. Those who have not been involved in the past didn't know what to think of it. I had forgotten how much they hurt when they hit!! I think I would like to go back to the days of the rolled up sock fights. The funny part is that Dad & Mom will be finding slides in their house for months to come. It's the birthday present that keeps on giving!

Easter

I am finally getting around to posting Easter pictures. It has been a crazy couple of weeks! Here is one of our favorite traditions - dying eggs. Even Matt got into this year. The older the kids get, the pretty the eggs get. This year our dye had brown, which we found odd, but Jared made several football eggs with that. Unfortunately Kendall's Easter was not so pleasant. She did not feel up to doing eggs or anything.
Friday afternoon, she had been out playing and came in complaining of an upset stomach. Within a short time she was throwing up. Between 4:30 and 10:30, she probably threw up 10 times. I finally took her to the emergency room. They got us right in and after asking some questions, gave her a pill to relieve the nausea, which she immediately threw up. They decided she had a UTI and immediately put her on an IV with antibiotics and more anti-nausea medicine. We finally headed home about 2 a.m. She was worn out and just plain weak. The next day she was still not feeling so well and was afraid to eat anything for fear of throwing up. This presented a problem since she needed to take these gigantic antibiotic pills. Finally by Sunday night, she was feeling a little better and begging to go to school the next day. (Yes, you heard me right - begging to go to school. She loves it.) By Monday morning, she had a horrible croup-y cough, so school was out of the question. We went back to the doctor, but by then it had turned into more of a cold. The good news is, they took her off the ridiculously large medication. Whatever happened to suspension liquids??? Once that has worked through her body, they are going to run a couple of tests, but so far everything has been just peachy.

On top of all that, she got her appliance. She has a teeny tiny little mouth and no room for any new teeth coming in. She has been a pro with that though. I can't believe how responsible she is and how willing she is to do what she is supposed to. It doesn't hurt either that her dentist/ortho is her Uncle Brad that gives her hugs and kisses and special attention when she comes in for visits. How did we get so lucky??

Spring Break - continued

Tuesday of Spring Break, the little kids had dental appointments so we didn't go anywhere. However, we did go to breakfast at Ruby's on the pier. Jared's batting coach told his team to go to the batting cages over the break, so we decided to head over to the Sports Complex as a family for batting practice. Jared liked those cages better, which is good news since they are a lot closer.

Wednesday we made the long trek out to the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.
This is a portrait of Ronald Reagan using his favorite candy - Jelly Bellies.
This is a picture of the Air Force One that was being used during his presidency. I think it was the highlight for the kids that we actually got to walk through it. They also had an "Easter Egg Hunt" with several eggs that had been signed by famous people. The kids were given a paper to fill out telling where they found the egg, the color, etc. It was probably on the most beautiful property I have ever seen. It is definitely worth the drive out there.


Thursday we went to the San Diego Zoo.

We had a great time seeing all the animals, however, we are glad we went when it first opened because many of the animals take afternoon naps......loooooong afternoon naps. We were walking along and Maelen saw some women walking animals on leashes. She got really excited and said that the lady was walking an Artic wolf. Matt told her it was just a dog. As they got closer, the women talked to us and told us the big white one was, in fact, an Artic Wolf. It was a little unsettling knowing that a wolf was on a leash just inches from us. The ladies told us all kinds of interesting information about the wolves. It was something the kids will never forget. Here is a picture of the family from behind. I took it because it was fun to see that Maelen is almost as tall as Matt!!!

Spring Break

This week is Spring Break for the kids and Matt decided to take a week off as well. Since we have some things going on that keep us from going anywhere, we are doing some day trips during the week. Yesterday we went to the California Science Center. They currently have a CSI exhibit where you get to go write down clues and figure out information about the crime, victim and suspect. That was a really fun exhibit. Here is a video of our family (minus the photographer) playing virtual volleyball. Sorry it is a little shakey - it made me laugh!!

After the museum, we walked through the beautiful rose gardens and crossed the street to USC. Jared would really like to attend USC and was dying to walk on campus. We walked around and went to the bookstore, but didn't stay long since they were having a sexual health fair on campus. I couldn't get my kids past that fast enough. I wanted to take a picture of Jared with Tommy Trojan, but I won't even mention what was lurking beneath his pillar. So I took a picture of Tommy as we briskly walked by. Ahhh college life.

Other than that, USC has a beautiful campus - such a contrast to the surrounding area.

Baby Quilt

I loved this quilt pattern so much that I decided to make it on a smaller scale as a baby quilt. My HFPE leader was having a baby shower and I wanted to do something a little extra special for her because she does soooooo much. This is how it turned out. I'm not that great at sewing the binding, but I think the rest turned out ok.

First Base Coach

Excuse the picture - it's hard when you are working with a chain link fence and a crowd of parents behind you trying to see the game.

Any of you who know Jared know that he takes baseball very seriously. We had to get him new batting gloves recently because his apparently kept coming undone. I thought maybe he was doing his Nomar impersonation every time he got up to bat. At any rate, he had to have a certain brand because that is what they use in the MLB. This picture is of Jared playing first base coach. The boys take turns doing it in the majors for the experience. I have never seen such a big smile on his face as he ran out to take his turn.

Spring has Sprung

Enough said.

Girls and Curls

Kendall is our ultra-girlie girl. She has been wanting her hair curled but doesn't love the idea of sleeping in foam curlers. Not to mention that her hair is so stick straight that it is near impossible to put in curlers and the curl generally stays in for a very short time. Well Saturday night she braved the curlers and this was the outcome. We took a picture fast before it was gone!! It is amazing how Maelen has always had ringlet tight curls even at her current long length, while Kendall's is completely straight. The most interesting thing is that Kendall wants hers curled and Maelen straightens hers!! We always want what we don't have!