Road Trip- Beach

After 2 days of driving we arrived at Huntington Beach to visit Uncle Donnie and his family.  We spent the first day relaxing at the beach.  It was a perfect warm day of sunshine and cool water.  The kids went right in!  It was a first for the 3 younger ones, they thought it was pretty cool!

2 years ago J took awhile to warm up to the water and waves, but this time he jumped right in without a thought.  I think this gave his brothers confidence :). 

Jake loved the sand!

Kyle discovered the sea shells immediately!

A little while later he discovered the water ;). 

Do you see Carter's "Wow!" expression.  This was his first up close view of the ocean.

Hum, he wasn't too sure of this water!

Jake was in his own little world discovering things.



Starting his tricks!

Grandma had fun too!

 



There were so many shells to be collected, he needed a bucket!

As long as the wave didn't get him he was confident and happy...

...But, as soon as that wave chased him he would scream!

I love those baby curls!

The ocean brought out Mike's inner child, they played out there for a long time!

Before our eyes, the waves started going sideways and a sandbar formed.  It was a like a gently flowing river that you had to cross to get to where the waves were.  Many fish were swimming down it. 

Mike and J crossing the river to go play with the waves.  It provided a good wading pool.

Behind Kyle is the river... He is standing on the sandbar looking at the waves, this is where he found a few sand dollars. 

Getting Carter acquainted with the water.

This made him very cuddly. 

Hi Dad!

 



Playing in the wadding pool. 

Sand toes!

Washing sea shells with grandma. 

Did I tell you that J loved the sand?!

K daydreaming while C is intentionally taking his bucket... Look at that expression!

What a fun day!

Comical attempts to get a kid group picture...



Road Trip- Getting there.

Fall & Spring seem to be our seasons for traveling & we were all itching to take a break, so this past week we packed up our van and took a road trip to California for family and fun!  We felt our time clocks ticking with my pregnant self and the arrival of a newborn next year and we convinced my mom to come along since this might be her last chance to actually drive with us since all our car seats will be filled come late Feb.  We would not have been able to do it without her... Have you ever traveled with 4 little boys, even with her we were outnumbered?! 

We made sure to make lots of stops along the way to let little legs run- first stop Red Rock State Park in Gallup, NM...  That cool formation on the top is called Church Rock.  We quickly turned around when we saw a sign that said "Beware, rattlesnake season!".  

Carter ran for his freedom and wasn't thrilled when he was confined again!

Dad and J being silly.

We stayed overnight in Flagstaff, AZ and our hotel was directly next to Northern Arizona University, the kids loved exploring the beautiful campus.  Kyle finds me flowers everywhere he goes :). 

We got an early touch of fall colors and fallen leaves.

C is learning from Kyle!

Hi!

Run the sillies out before day 2 of driving!

Pumpkin patch

Big J's school took a field trip out in the country to McCall's pumpkin patch.  What a cool place this is! 

Can you tell that J wasn't thrilled to be sitting here with his brothers? 

 First stop, hay ride to the pumpkin fields to pick out a pumpkin.

 Wow mom, look at all these pumpkins!

 I pick this one :).

 This one is my size!

 Look at that one, mom!

 It's a perfect seat.

 Back to the fun stations... Bunny town!

 Goat mountain

 Gold mining

 Mountain mine slides

 ...And they all couldn't wait to get to the fort!

 Big shaded corn pit

 I think I would like to take some of these home with me!

 proof that Josh had fun!

Backyard ballooning...

Well, it's been over a month since I blogged (I guess you know you are in for it over the next few days!).  Like other blogs I have read said, "October is a busy month"! 

Around here all you hear about is hot air balloons during the first week in October because of the Balloon Fiesta, but unfortunately we didn't make it again this year.  On the flip side, we did have several balloons pass over our house and we had a couple of amazing commutes taking Josh to school (which happens drive very close to the balloon park).  One day we heard the deep breath of the gas of a balloon overhead and ran to the backyard.  This is what we saw:

 Pretty balloon and the people were close enough to see and wave to...

 It seemed like it was getting lower instead of higher (those are the tops of our trees in the backyard).

 Shortly after we saw a rope drop, they were going to land on the street behind us!  The middles were in preschool, but Josh, Carter, Mike & I ran over (as did many other neighbors!)...

 Down, down, down!

 Josh got right up close.

 It took up the whole street!

 The air was literally squeezed out.

 Here is a picture of the sky (during our commute to school) that I took with my camera phone at a stoplight.  The sky is certainly more stunning in person, but it gives you an idea of what we drove through!