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Bass Lake/ Yosemite

My parents treated us to an amazing week in Bass Lake.  Thanks mom and dad! The house we stayed in couldn't have been more perfect.  The deck was huge and overlooked the lake.  It was very peaceful and relaxing!  If you need some R & R then this is the place to go! The kids had a blast with their cousins.  Here are some pics, well lots of pics actually!

Family Steam Train Ride.

 

The kiddos

  

 

 

Luke and Papa hiking.

  

Reagan's first wave-runner ride!

 

Brad and I came around a corner in a gift shop

to find Reagan doing this. 

 

Reagan feelin that chilly water!

 

 

Reagan not too sure.

 

The look on Luke's face is classic!  Here he

is getting a lesson from Papa on how to clean

a fish.  Eeewww!

This is our favorite smile on Luke. 

Luke panning for GOLD!

 

The girl loves the wind in her hair!

  

My hiking buddy!

 

Happy 4th of July!

 

 

 

 

More Vacation Happenings

  Alligator Adventure:  This was such an amazing place.  We will definitely be going back someday. We took cousin Julia and met up with the Darleys.  The kids could get so close to the alligators and saw other animals like zebra, frogs, otters, snakes (not a fan), lizards, tigers (which were so cool) and even 2 albino alligators (even their eyes were white).  It was a super warm morning out in the sun.  Thank goodness for ice cream!

 

 

Luke must have asked Brad 3 different times if the trainer was going to leave the tape on around the alligators mouth before he touched it. 

  

 

Father's Day Breakfast:  Brad's family went out to breakfast "without all the baggage" (as I like to call it) for a father's day gift to his dad.  They had a great time.  There you see three amazing dads! My sister-in-law Karolyn, my brother-in-law Dale and I stayed back with the kiddos so the spouses could have a nice breakfast without refereeing!

 

Broadway at the Beach Rides. 

 

Motorcycles were Reagan's favorite! The kiddos with cousin Ella.

                                                               
Beach

 

Luke and Julia

Making forts with cousins late at night!

 

Play dough cupcakes and Elefun with Aunt Tracy

 

 

Reagan thought you could really blow out the candles.

 

Every time the butterflies came out, Reagan felt the need to scream as loud as possible.

Family Pics

Today we had a great day.  Luke and Reagan are fish.  Brad and I are both amazed how well Luke is swimming.  He is swimming all on his own and underwater. Tonight we ate at our favorite burger place, River City Cafe.  The kids loved it because the floor is covered in peanut shells and license plates cover all the walls.

This evening we went down to the pier to take some family pics with a photographer.  These are just some random ones the family snapped in the process.  Rea and Luke did pretty well. I was fully stocked with tic-tacs and lollipops.  (FYI: tictacs work great during photo shoots for bribery and noise makers to get the kids attention.)  But of course we took full advantage of this opportunity and took pictures until I was ready to LOSE my mind and had to carry Reagan down the beach back to the car kicking and screaming. (She was screaming and kicking, not me, though the thought did cross my mind!) It could have been all that sugar that added to the meltdown, but well worth it if we got some great pics!

 

 

 

 

 

Arrived here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Reagan tried to warm up to the ocean, but is very skeptical so far:

 

She immediately took to the pool:

 

Met up last night in Charleston with Brad's parents and sister (whose daughter, Ella, is in the foreground) and brother (whose daughter, Julia, is on the right) and their families (see this picture ->) 

Before leaving Atlanta we had dinner with Brad's Aunt Brenda (blonde hair, below) and Uncle Frank:

We got to spend several nights in Georgia with the Darleys.

Martha and Anna Claire:

 

The twins and a pic of Luke and Rea at the Atlanta Aquarium:

 

 

On the airplane last week you literally had to take a quick picture of Reagan sleeping because it didn't last nearly long enough.  30 minutes, tops.  Let's just say the plane excursion was every bit as challenging and exhausting as anticipated, but worse.

On the other hand, the kid's were really good for the 7 hours we spent in the car the last two days.  We really have to hand it to them.  They were real troopers.  So perhaps all is forgiven regarding the plane trip -- for now anyway.  There is still the plane ride home but we'll worry about that when it's upon us.  For now we're relaxing and enjoying the company.

...and we are done!

Well we made it.  The school-year has finally ended.  It was a super long week.  Nothing looks more appealling right now than my bed and a good book ( I could probably stay there a few days).  Tonight I'm just thinking of all the things I'd like to accomplish this summer.  There are sort of 2 lists; one with the things I SHOULD do (like painting/ cleaning) and the other with things I WANT to do (hang out with friends and have playdates with the kiddos).  I'm sure there are lots of fun blog posts coming as we begin the summer fun!

Hope everyone saw my babes singing.  Reagan was precious and Luke blew me away.  He hadn't sang one of those songs at home to practice.  I was impressed how well he knew the words and was so into it.  Both kids were so blessed to have amazing teachers this year.  Brad and I are so thankful for their preschool.  It really makes things so much easier to go to work each day knowing that they are surrounded by so many loving teachers.  It really does take a special person to be a preschool teacher (They have the gift of patience).  Watching them makes me want to be a better teacher myself. 

Reagan Steals the Show

well sort of.

Kim can write more about this later but I couldn't resist posting it.  Can you tell when she finally spots Kim in the audience?

A more composed performance from Luke:

"Mom, there's an alligator in my closet."

Lately Luke's newest thing is after he is put to bed, he gets up a couple times to tell us that there are animals in his closet.  Every night it seems like a different animal.  Last night it was an alligator.  A few nights ago, a loud truck passed by and Luke came in to tell me that something roared in his closet.  When I told him it was a loud truck driving by, he was not convinced.  The funny thing about these conversations is that the conversations keep going.  When I told him last night that aligators don't live in closets, he wanted to know where they live, who they live with, what they eat, why they live where they do, and do they have sharp teeth. 

Jedi Training!

Luke was chosen out of the audience today at Disneyland to participate in Jedi Training.  Luke was beyond excited.  The funniest part about it was that he was super serious about the whole thing.  Reagan kept trying to wave at Luke on stage.  She kept saying, "It's Ukie!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fontana Run

Brad ran in the Fontana half marathon today and did so great.  He beat his last years time by 20 minutes.  So proud of him! The kids and I got there just in time to see him come through the finish. Luke kept asking Brad if he won the race.