Tuesday, May 17, 2011

California

Almost every year that Jake has been teaching here, we have taken the band and choir students on an end of the year trip to California. This year it just happened to fall right after Easter. So we were In Ephraim one weekend, home for a few days, up to Delta, then home for two days, and then on Wednesday I took the kids back up to Ephraim so that my parents could babysit while we went to California.
They were overly exhausted after the long drive (and past weekend) and wouldn't sleep in their own beds. Finally I decided to let Ethan sleep in my bed and I put Olivia in too just to see what would happen. Less than five minutes after I put them in there they were both asleep! I couldn't believe that Olivia had actually stayed in bed. And of course Pippen had to join them.

I left early the next morning to head home so I could finish packing and help Jake get everything loaded on the bus. We got to California late Thursday night and sent the kids to bed. School buses were not meant for eight hour drives! The next morning we got up and headed to the beach.

OH HOW I LOVE THE BEACH!

It makes me very happy!

It was actually a bit windy that morning but still fairly warm. I've tried to tell Jake that a chilly day at the beach is still better than a warm day anywhere else but he always disagrees. I would love to have a cottage right on the beach and he would love to have a little cabin in the mountains. There was actually a house right across the street from the beach we were at but it was a little out of our price range (it was only $3.9 million). Ah well, I will keep dreaming...

That afternoon we went to the band and choir festival where our concert band and show choir performed. They both did well, placing first in their respective categories.

Saturday morning we went to Knott's Berry Farms
Since Jake and I were just there last June we already knew which rides to ride first because the lines would get long. We actually rode all the big rides by 11:00am and rode everything else we wanted to ride by noon. We both decided that we must be getting old because after we had ridden all the big roller coasters once we didn't feel the need (or desire) to ride them again.

Last year during the senior trip we went to Medieval Times and had a blast. Jake decided to offer it up this year as an optional thing on Saturday night for any kids who were interested. We ended up taking 13 of the kids plus one of the other chaperones.

We all had a great time and the kids were so much fun! If you ever have a chance to go you should because even though you might think it could be lame it is actually a really good time.

The Bad Guy

The Good Guy!
We have been in the red and yellow knights section both times!

Sunday morning we loaded up the bus and headed home. I think the kids were completely worn out from the long day before because it was very calm on the bus for the majority of the trip back.

We always have lots of fun on these trips, and luckily we usually have a great group of kids who don't cause too much trouble (most of the time anyway!)!

Easter!

We have two Easter celebrations every year. One in Ephraim with my family usually the weekend before Easter and one on Easter weekend with Jake's family. Here are a few pictures from all of our celebrations.
Ethan coloring his eggs in Ephraim and of course refusing to look at the camera

Olivia starting the search for her eggs, looking super stylin in her sparkly sunglasses

 Ethan looking very confused while searching for his Easter treats
 Ethan usually has a hard time falling asleep anywhere but his bed and of course gets a little nervous being alone in a dark room that isn't his own. One night when we stayed at my parents house I left the door open to our room and the cat sneaked in and jumped up to sleep with Ethan. Well surprise, surprise, Ethan went right to sleep that night with Pippen purring right next to him. So now whenever we put him to bed in there we try to find the cat first so that Ethan can snuggle up with him and go to sleep to the sound of Pippen's purring (which incidentally, is super loud).
Saturday night in Delta we had the small family egg crack. Here is Olivia trying to look tough for the first round of egg crack. Her egg wasn't so tough. She lost. Ethan lost in the first round too but for some reason I don't have a picture. And I lost to Jake :(

This is Jake and his mom cracking off for 1st and 2nd place. Jake lost but we all came out winners when Sandy did this awesome victory dance.

I'm sure she (and her children) will be sufficiently embarrassed that I posted this, but I love it!

Ethan and his cousin Q cracking off at the extended family egg crack. He won the first round but lost in the next one

We also had an egg hunt while in Delta and of course Miss cheeseball had to stop and give me a big smile every time I pulled out the camera

Whereas Ethan just gave me an annoyed look every time I tried to take his picture
Here's Olivia looking around to see if anyone is watching her...


And when she thinks she hasn't been spotted she digs right in to her candy stash!

We had so much fun celebrating Easter with our families and came home with waayyy too much candy. Luckily, Jake's students love candy so I just kept a few things here and sent the rest to school for him to give away as rewards. It works out great that way!

Spring Break Fun

How we spent our Spring Break...
(besides all the Easter festivities)

Played with Koschei (a lot!)


Tried to fly kites, with some success

Picked up some manure for the garden...

And worked hard shoveling it all out


Wrestled with cousins Q and J (and nobody cried or bled!)


Vacuumed Grandma Sandie's basement


Caught a super nasty hacking cough with a runny nose


Made funny faces!


Removed a tumor from Olivia's stomach with some nails, a screw driver, and pliers.

Man we were busy!