A Fun Day At The Park

On Labor Day Sunday, we went to a local benefit at the park. They were raising money for a girl in our community who has terminal cancer. There were lots of activities such as bake sales, auctions, raffles, and more. Dan provided coffee for both regular and iced coffee drinks.

There were softball games going on all day. Each team was $5 per person. While we were there, they made an announcement that a team didn't show up and they were taking the first 12 people who showed up and paid. So that's how Dan and I both got to play. It was so much fun! Dan even hit a home run. That's my man!

You can just barely see the girl, Megan, who the benefit was for in the wheelchair behind the fence on the left. She was there for the whole day and even picked the tickets for the raffle!


























There was a dunking booth that had lots of people who volunteered to get dunked. There was a local politician, a teacher or two and a whole bunch that I didn't know. At the end of the day, there was someone related to the girl who got up in there in a bikini top and heckled everyone. Jaquelyn asked to try to dunk him so she had her turn.












Here he is giving her a hard time.













Here she is running up to the target and pushing it. That's my girl!












Teresa helped out with some face painting in the kids area. They had games and a moon bounce too.

Wordless Wednesday - Sleepy Girl

Happy Birthday Dan!!

Here is a shout out to my sweet hubby on his birthday. I love you lots and don't know what I would do with out you. I can't wait til you get home tonight so we can all celebrate together. Here's looking at you kid!

Back Into A Routine

We are finally getting back into a routine around here. The kids off to school and me able to head to the YMCA for a workout sans children. Today I thought what fun it would be to try the Cardio Tennis class they had. OH! MY! GOODNESS!
I am in pain in places I should not be in pain...it is so not fun. My inner thighs truly hate me right now. I know I haven't been working out like I should be since I pretty much took the summer off from everything but I really didn't think it would be this hard to jump back into it. I was so wrong. When I walked into the Y to shower I was asked 3 times if I was ok...that's how red my face was from the workout. And it was still red when I picked Taylor up from school at noon. I think it was brighter than Heidi's hair. j/k Heidi...you know I love your new do!

I dropped Teresa off at the 6pm class tonight...we'll see how she feels tomorrow. I just hope I can recover enough to make it to the Wednesday morning class.

Our Trip To California - Part Two

I know I mentioned many moons ago that I was going to get to the second part of our California trip. So here are those pictures as promised.
We spent the second week of our trip with my dad who lives in Santa Rosa which is about an hour north of San Francisco. We spent lots of time just hanging out and relaxing which was awesome.
Rootbeer floats were a big part of our trip and possibly Jaquelyn's favorite!

















He built a shed in his backyard a while ago and the younger two really got a kick out of playing in it.













One day we went to a nearby lake and the girls paddled around a bit in the kayaks to get the hang of it. They really enjoyed it. Even Jaquelyn tried it out and liked it. We didn't have a life jacket small enough for Rebecca so she didn't get to try it out but she still had fun. We packed some food and hung out there for a while.

































Taylor thought it would be a neat thing to climb up in this tree. See how cute she looks posing for the picture?












Now see how funny she looks when she realizes she is laying on a tree with red ants all over it...which are now all over her? I am not a mean mother. I surely did NOT laugh at her struggling to get out of the tree and get them off of her. I was very sympathetic and helpful...you can tell by the fact that I am taking pictures. Right?!? After all, I could have videoed it and put it on YouTube. That wouldn't have been nice and I am very nice.




















There is a pretty cool park near my dad's house that we have visited in the past. They have a climbing wall, lots of fun playground type stuff and even a sprinkler area for hot summer days. I so wish we had a park like this near our house. It would be a regular hang out I'm sure.























My dad has a hot tub in his backyard that my children absolutely LOVE!!! He lowers the temperature before we get there so that it's not too hot for Jaquelyn and Rebecca but it's still warm enough to enjoy. For them it's like a small swimming pool and loads of fun!!


















We planned our trip with my dad so that we could spend a day at the fair. We had been on a previous trip and were looking forward to going again. We checked out the rides and got the kids some tickets.

This was a fun ride that Taylor and Teresa tried out...and tried and tried and tried. It was actually quite funny. They got on the ride and so it went round and round. Then they started letting people off...but somehow forgot about my kids. So they let the next group of kids who were waiting get on and the whole ride went again. Well, we thought they would surely notice them this time but....nope, the girls went on again. This was with Jaquelyn going up to the operator and telling him her sisters were on the ride. So all in all they rode three times in a row without getting off. I would have been totally yelling at the moron to let me off before I started puking all over his ride but the girls really enjoyed it.



















Jaquelyn and Rebecca's rides were a little tamer.

























It was "Harry Potter" day at the fair when we went (preplanned) and they had some activites lined up to celebrate the day. Jaquelyn enjoyed dressing up and she also entered the "potions" contest. I tried the trivia contest but didn't make it past the first round....BOGUS QUESTION!


















Here we all are eating dinner outside. My dad's backyard is amazing. The kids love it. The picnic table we are all sitting at was made by my dad and is soooo nice. The arbor above has grapes growing around it and Rebecca and Jaquelyn spent hours picking and eating grapes while we were there. It was neat to see them ripen from day to day.












One afternoon, my dad took Teresa and Taylor kayaking down Russian River. They had enjoyed the time on the lake so much they were really looking forward to this trip which would be a bit more exciting. Rebecca, Jaquelyn and I dropped them off at the start point and then drove down to the meet up spot. It was a nice little spot under a bridge. The girls played in the water for several hours while we waited for them.

























My dad put a treasure hunt together for Jaquelyn and Rebecca. They enjoyed it so much. He had done it another time for Jaquelyn and she was really hoping he would do it again on this trip.













Even Rebecca helped find some of the clues.




















The prizes...rootbeer floats and a toy car. Everyone was happy!














Here's the whole group at the park the day we were leaving.













This is outside my mom's house as we were saying goodbye to my dad