Escaping the Heat

Summer is here and it's hot in Bakersfield!

The high today? 104! The high yesterday? 106! Yuck!

We had to get out of the valley for a while yesterday.

Where did we go you ask? The coast of course!

Gregg's Mom Kathy is visiting for a few days, so all 6 of us piled in the truck and headed off to the coast for a few hours of cool weather. It was awesome! First we went to Pismo beach to play in the sand and the surf. The weather there couldn't have been better, 68 and sunny. We spent a couple of hours just hanging around.

 Cammie LOVED playing in the ocean.

 Carter did too, but he was more focused on finding sea shells.

 Kyle is usually the one we can't drag out of the water, but yesterday as soon as he got down to the water, he managed to fall face first in the ocean just as a wave came up and covered him. Kathy and I had to try very hard to stifle our laughter. It was an AFV moment for sure, only, of course, we didn't have the video camera. Kyle was fine, but he was mad and cold and wouldn't go back down to the water at all after that, choosing instead, to dig in the warm sand all afternoon.

 Carter built a very cool wall out of the sea shells he found.

 Cammie was having a ball. She loves everything about the beach!

 Handsome boy!

 Still couldn't get a smile out of "Beaker"

 Once we'd had our fill of the sand, we hosed the kids off and went to Avila Pier. It would have been a shame to go all the way to the coast and not bring back any crabs to cook for dinner! Luckily we didn't have to.  They had plenty of Dungenous crabs this week and we were able to relieve them of three big ones.

While we were there we also took some pictures on the pier.

 Daddy and Cam looking at seals while the boys took a potty break.

 The munchkins with their favorite Grandma B.

 My favorite little kiddos. Kyle had fun, but was still not in a smiling mood.

All in all the day was a succes
(if you don't count the ticket Gregg got for window tint as we headed home.)
:-)

No more school, No more books...

Carter has finished his first year of school. Kindergarten is done!

Carter did so well this year. He had perfect attendance, zero tardies, scored 100% on all end of the year tests, and had an excellent report card. We are VERY proud of him.  I can't believe the year went by so quickly.

On the last day of school the three Kindergarten classes put on a luau themed program for all of the parents. They sang a few songs and said a few poems. It was very cute.

Jeez Carter, don't smile or anything.

Carter and his two best buddies Asher and Hunter.

Believe it or not, Carter already has a Girlfriend! Luckily at age 5 that just means that they like to play together and say that one day they will get married. Tell me this isn't happening already! How can I keep him little if he's already talking about getting married.

This is Carter and his "girlfriend" Meyanna.

Cammie wanted her picture taken too.

We LOVE Carter's teacher Mrs. Zauner!

Until next year...

No More School,

No More Books,

(you know the rest.)

Pretty, Pretty, Princess

Our daughter is a little princess. Just ask her, she'll tell you. She loves to get all dressed up. Most days she wants to choose her outfit all by herself, (as well as the shoes, hair bows, jewelry, and purses, to go with said outfit.) I took some photos of her in her "Pretty Sparkly Princess Dress" the other day. (Thank you Grammy Chrissie - she loves this one!)

Ooooo, it sparkles in the sun light!

Posing for the camera.

 More poses! She's such a ham!

 Pretty girl

 And of course some silly face shots.

 We just love that princess!

Memorial Day Block Party

We live directly across the street from a culdesac. Several of the families that live in the culdesac have kids around the same ages as ours, 5 families in fact. On Memorial day we all had a big BBQ together. Matt and Mandy came with their kids too. Each of the other families invited friends and family as well, so there ended up being quite a few people. It was hot, and fun, and the food was great.

Cammie got a free ride across the street as Gregg drug our card table down to set up for food.

 Part of the scene of the day.

 Cameron loves the little girls that live down the way, and their very cool toys.

 Dustin and Lety had the Slip 'n Slide set up in their front yard. It was a huge hit.

 The Three Musketeers

 Cammie loved it too.

 Kyle was worn out after sliding for a while.

 The big neighborhood Memorial Day race!

 Yum, homemade ice cream!

It was a great night and a great holiday!

Camp Edison

On Memorial Day weekend we decided (somewhat last minute) to go camping! It was opening weekend for several National campgrounds, and it's one of our favorite things to do as a family, so we decided to just go for it. We choose to go to Huntington Lake which is about four hours North of Bakersfield, past Shaver Lake. We checked the weather and we knew it would be cold, but we packed up and went anyway.  As we started up the mountain the temperature outside dropped dramatically. It was in the 40's by the time we got to Shaver. Still, we were excited and kept going. Then it started to snow a bit. The kids thought that was awesome, and it wasn't much, so we kept going. When we were about 10 miles from our destination, the snow really started to come down! Everything was white up ahead, and without snow chains for the truck, we had to turn around. We figured we'd check other campgrounds on the way back down to see if any had availability for the night. Boy did we luck out. 10 minutes back down the road Camp Edison had some spots available. Camp Edison is really nice. We got there early enough to choose a really great spot, one with full hookups for the trailer! It was awesome to be able to run the heat all night without having to run the generator. It was still cold, but we didn't mind a bit.

The campground had the cutest little Library/Book Exchange. It was really close to our campsite so the kids and I walked over before dinner to read some books.

We all had fun hiking around looking for firewood.

Carter found a monster of a piece and carried it back to camp all by himself. He was so proud of his work!

Our little home for the night. The spot was nice and big but we were happy to stay close and enjoy the warm campfire.

The dogs had to be leashed, and Biscuit kept whining because of that. Cammie wasn't about to let her "baby" suffer. She kept bring him water, trying to sneak him food, and of course, gave him lots of kisses.

At almost the exact minute dinner was done barbecuing, it started to snow...

...and snow...

...and snow some more.

It was actually kind of peaceful. It was getting dark, so other than not being able to go sit by the campfire we didn't miss much outside. After dinner we watched the snow fall for a while, then we all put on our jammies, snuggled up together, and watched a movie on the laptop. It was a very nice night.

(If you look closely you can see the three boys watching the snow fall from the trailer window.) 

The next morning the kids couldn't wait to go play in the snow, but we were able to delay them with hot cinnamon rolls and a movie.

Carter was so excited! He LOVES the snow.

Kyle was ready too. I made Cammie stay inside with me while I cleaned up. It was pretty muddy and I didn't want her going in and out like she has a tendency to do. She brought several of her baby dolls with her, so she was content to stay in and take care of them.

By mid-morning much of the snow had turned to slush, but there was still enough to have some fun with. Gregg and I packed everything up while the boys played. When it was time to go, they were sad to leave (as always). We all had fun and can't wait to go camping again, but next time warmer weather might be nice. ;-)