June Lake Trip

The drive to June Lake takes about 6 - 7 hours, including pit stops. We usually try and drive during some time that the kiddos are asleep, so we left during nap time and hoped to arrive a little after bed time. Hailey decided to cut nap time short and only slept about 40 minutes, then wanted to grouch the rest of the ride. :( Everyone else slept a bit longer and did okay with the long ride. I think the longest we've had them in the car is probably 2 hours tops. So this was a new experience for them having to sit for soooo long. We dont have video players, so tried to pacify them with their music CD's, crackers and dare I say it, CANDY. Around 4 hours into the drive, we came into Lone Pine, had some dinner and found a park to let the kids let out some steam. We stayed longer then anticipated, about an hour and then hit the road again.

Dylan and Hailey

Connor Dude

Brooklyn, Dylan and Mommy

It was funny, as the girls were swinging, both of them liked to sit as far foward in the swing and kept their legs stick straight.





June Lake is a beautiful, natural alpine lake that gets its water from the glaciers around it. It is about 45 minutes away from the back entrance to Yosemite and the views are just gorgeous. We usually come to this vacation spot during the winter to snowboard, but with the quads, that has taken a back seat until they are older and we wanted to see what it was like during the summer. Other than the fact that everyone except Brian got a fever and cold while we were up here, we loved the beautiful weather, cool nights and oh the stars you could see! Nothing like being up in the mountains.

So many of these pictures are of the kids back sides. Its hard to capture them when they are so excited to see all the new sights.

Hailey, Brooklyn, Connor and Dylan

We went and saw the old ghost town of Bodie. Part of the drive was a dirt road and going off the pavement made it very loud and bumpy. I turned around and saw Connor with a very concerned look and Dylan holding his hand as if to comfort him. So sweet!

The old town of Bodie

Below are some pics of the town and the kids. We got many comments on the kiddos (as usual)and suprisingly many of them commented on their cute back packs. I, myself, will be over the top happy when we can go without those darn backpacks. But they do allow for some independence for the kids without letting them get to far. Connor and Hailey would probably do fine without them, but our little runners, Dylan and Brook would influence them to make a break for it.

Hailey and Brook

Connor, Brook and Hailey

Mommy and her crew (Can you see Connor just peeking over Dylans shoulder?)

The kids suprised me with how interested they were in seeing in the windows and going in the old buildings. Of course, they are only 2, so they were mostly interested in how many rocks they could pick up, how much dirt they could scatter in the wind and trying to get Mom or Dad to carry them if they just sit down in the dirt and not move.

My sister Amy, her husband Isaac and his family were also vacationing in Mammoth Lakes at the same time as us. Mammoth is only 20 minutes or so away from June so we spent some time with them as well. I didnt get any pictures, but we took the kids swimming at their place and Isaac invited Brian on a mountain bike ride. The kids hadnt had a nap yet, so I took them on a long car ride, enjoyed some beautiful scenery while they slept and Brian went on the bike ride. Basically, I am putting all this in here because I was very proud (and a little scared at the time) of myself for what I did after the kids nap. I TOOK THEM TO THE PARK ALL BY MYSELF!! Having two who like to run off, I was a little hesitant, but didnt want to go back and sit in the condo and wait for everyone else to return. THE KIDS DID GREAT. We even recieved a few compliments on how well behaved we were. Only when it was time to get back in the car, did we have a little bit of a melt-down. Even with not feeling our best, we were determined to have a great vacation!

Daddy, the Quads, and the Wooly Mammoth

The kiddos first bus ride on the way down to Devils Postpile.

After the bus ride to the ranger station, it was a .8 mile hike (round trip) to the Devils Postpile Monument. The kids were such troopers, especially with Connor and Brooklyn having only a small nap, and Dylan and Hailey not having any.

Brooklyn resting on the rocks bigger than her.

Connor

Family Pic

The Devils Postpile
Taking a much needed break. Always on the lookout for wildlife, Connor found a blue bird.

"I can climb to the top of the rocks, Dad. Really, I can." - Hailey

More of our June Lake trip coming up next!

One Hot Summer Day - Palm Springs

Last week Stephen and Heidi (Brians bro) and their kids were out in Palm Springs for the week and invited us to come spend a day with them. So we loaded up all the swim gear and some snacks and headed out. We got there around 11, had some lunch and headed to the pool. It was in the low hundreds, which is cool for summer in Palm Springs. We stayed at the pool around 3 hours, which is a best for the kiddos. We would hop out of the water and I would think the kids were done, ask them if they were ready to go and get a firm reply of "no, more swimming". We had bar-b-que for dinner and some fun visiting time and then headed home. Boy, were the kiddos tuckered out!

Snack time - Hailey

Warming up in the shade and gettin' some grub
Brooklyn, Connor and Dylan

We Will Miss You!

Last week was our last week of Early Intervention. Due to California's financial crisis, and many budget cuts within the state, our program was also looking for areas to cut back. The kiddos have been doing SOOOO GREAT that their program facilitator and teacher could not justify continuing the kids. We were only given about a weeks warning and are very sad to say good-bye to Kathy and Maritza. Maritza has been working with the kids for about a year now and they just love, love, love her. When ever I tell them its a day for Maritza to come, they get so excited and wait for the doorbell to ring. Maritza is such a sweet, caring person and her love for the kids shows in all her interactions with them. We will miss her!!

Maritza and Dylan

Maritza and Connor
Maritza and Hailey
Maritza and Brooklyn Hailey and Dylan working on some puzzles "Here Bro, I think this goes with your puzzle." Connor and Dylan
Maritza has everyone working so nicely!

Capistrano Vacation Part 3

Some more pics from our beach vacation... we hit up quite a few parks around the area and this was one of the nicest ones. Gotta love the views of the beach from all these parks!

Connor and Mommy

Getting friendly with the locals "Big...ocean...Mommy!" We took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese one of the days, just for something different. I actually thought they would have more climbing structures, but they had mostly video games. The kids played a few games, ate a little pizza and and had a grand ol' time.

The girls off to put out a fire ( the boys would not get on these rides at all)
Dylan LOVES race cars. He played this game for about a half and hour, driving as best he could.

Once the boys found this game, we used up the rest of our tokens. They were enthralled with putting in the token and magically getting the tickets.
Playing with the sticky hands they got with their tickets

We finally got the boys on a ride. They all loved the horseys on the carousel.