Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Dad & the girls

Dad, my sibs (w/o Danny) & me

The whole gang squeezes in ...

A quiet Father's Day was had as we finished up our celebrations for Grandpa's 80th birthday and headed back to mom & dad's for a quiet afternoon and much needed naps! Though missing Chris (we sent him video messages) and Dan, Jen & the kids, my two other brothers, sister and I spent the evening with our dad doing what we all love to do: hanging out at our parent's home, together as a family. With Jeff, Brandi, and Miles living in Idaho and us living in Arizona, it's not very often that we all get to be together so anytime we have is time that we cherish. Being that it was Father's day made it more special for all of us to be together ... even though it wasn't anything fancy, you can't beat pizza for dinner and ice cream cake for dessert. Good times!

80 Years to Celebrate

This weekend my mom, two aunts, and Nana worked hard to plan and put together a surprise 80th birthday celebration and camp-out for my grandpa. It was a true family collaboration! As far as grandpa knew, we were camping for the weekend - little did he know when he woke up Saturday morning that we had a BBQ planned for him later that afternoon. At some point in the day, we all started to put on our yellow shirts with grandpa's picture on the front as a way to honor his momentous birthday. He kind of chuckled a bit, put on his own shirt and the surprise was out .... Happy Birthday Grandpa! Soon after, friends and family started to arrive and the fun and celebrations continued. It was a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man and a great reason to get our entire family together - all the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there to camp, eat, drink, laugh, cry, sing, and rejoice in the 80 years of my grandpa. "Ho Hum" as grandpa would say .... in other words, what a memorable weekend!

Forever Friends

Today we met up with two of my very best friends from high school, Wendy and Courtney. Wendy is expecting her first baby in October and Courtney has two little ones who are close in age to my boys. Hayden, Noah, and I had time to play at Courtney's house (& sort of chat) before meeting Wendy for lunch at David's Pizza, where Auntie Katie was working. Wendy and I have known each other since we were little girls and she was in my mom's Girl Scout troop and then in high school, I met Courtney through Wendy and we became the best of friends. It has been over 20 years and they are both just as important to me now as they ever have been. I love that though our lives have changed and taken us in different directions, we are still able to find time to get together whenever I am "home" and it seems just like old times, except now we have a few kids added in, with a new one on the way. Each time we are together, whether it be listening to our kids play together, or reminiscing about the "good 'ol days", or laughing at ourselves, we have the best of times and it makes me feel so blessed and thankful that I am part of such a strong friendship with two amazing, beautiful, and strong women.

San Francisco Zoo

We drove into beautiful San Francisco today with Uncle Danny, Auntie Jen, Brandon, and Ashley for a visit to the zoo. Meeting us there were my cousins Leslie & Ed, their kids Pilar and Jacob, and Ben & his wife, Kristi. It's been a few years since we've all been together and it was wonderful to be able to spend the day with them at the zoo. Once we were all set with admission tickets, we set out for the Gorilla exhibit to catch a glimpse of the baby gorilla on display. It was a bit hard to see him because he was pretty tiny and very much protected by his mama. We were able to get a quick peek though before it was time for he and his mama to go back inside. The keepers came out after and began to prepare for feeding time by throwing a variety of vegetables around the grassy compound. Immediately following this, the HUGE, and I literally mean HUGE, Silverback Gorilla came racing out of the indoor pen and jogged around looking for his lunch. I was awestruck at how large he was and we all spent a lot of time just watching him interact with the other gorillas. I could've spent all day just observing the interactions between these amazing animals, but given there was much more to see, we moved on to check out the rest of the zoo.
This zoo is beautiful, the setting and location can't be beat, but besides the gorillas and the California Brown Bears, sadly there wasn't much to see throughout the zoo. There were other animals of course: a Koala (which is NOT a bear we learned), some birds, a Polar Bear, a tiger, a lion, and a few giraffes ... other than this, the zoo seemed to be in need of a boost. Several places did note renovations were under way, like the hippos, but unfortunately there were no elephants and the lion house which I remember as a little girl was gone too. Despite all this though, we did have the best time walking through the zoo, catching up on lost time with cousins, and the kids had a blast, of course, running and zooming ahead to see what was coming next. If I look at it from their perspective, I suppose my view of the zoo changes because for them I am positive it was great ... it's my adult thinking, along with my expectations of what I thought the zoo would be like, that had me a bit disappointed. I am certainly grateful though for the time I had with my family, for it shows that no matter what you do, or where you go, the most important thing is that you're together.

Hangin' at The Ranch

Silly Cousins

Auntie Jen, Noah, & AshleyWe Love Gramps!
Little Watchman
Vroom ... four-wheeling Hayden & Uncle Danny

After taking some time to settle in after our drive to mom & dad's, this afternoon we drove out to see my grandparents and spend time with them on their "ranch." Danny, Jen, and the kids met us out there too - Hayden had a great time riding on the ATV with Uncle Danny and Noah eagerly watched, secretly wishing (I'm sure) that he could ride too. After a few rides and letting the kids run around with each other, we decided to take my grandparents out for dinner to a yummy Mexican place up the road. It was nice to be able to spend a relaxing afternoon with everyone, especially my grandparents and I know they loved having us out to visit, doing nothing more than just being together - which for me, these days, is the best way to spend time.

Grandpa, Nana, & Mel

Fun in the Sun

Did we ever have some fun in the sun today! A teacher friend from school, Beth, invited us to join her and her daughter for some swim time at a time share she has a bit north of us. Together with several other teacher friends and their children, the boys and I drove up to Beth's time share and swam for a few hours today. The time share is at Cibola Vista Resort & Spa, about 30 minutes up the road, and has a wonderful pool area with a zero-depth entry which is perfect when you have little ones ... once we were there and settle and lubed up with sunscreen, w all plopped ourselves in the shallow water and our kids played around us. It was perfect ... and came at just the right time especially since I had just finished a six day, 45-hour, class for my teaching certificate and was feeling exhausted and like I hadn't really been able to start enjoying the summer yet with the boys. I can't think of a better way to get my break started ... spending time with my two little swimmers, my friends from school, and relaxing in the pool feeling like I was much farther away from home than I really was. The boys had a blast and though Hayden was a bit on the short end for the waterslide, the boys and I were able to "'splore" the pool, have a poolside picnic lunch, and kick off our summer just right. We are so lucky to have such special friends and are looking forward to more pool time in July when we get home from our California visit! Thanks Beth - we had a splashin' good time!

Super Hereos and Blue

After many attempts of trying to plan dinner with our neighbors, tonight we finally had a successful get-together. Brian and Traci, with their boys, live two doors down from us and we've been trying for what seems like months to get together as families and let the boys spend time together. Hayden and their older son, Jakob, are three weeks apart ... their little guy, Justin, is just about a year older than Noah - they've played together a few times out front but with all of our schedules and life being as busy as we tend to let it get, we've had a hard time finding time to plan something. Originally, we were invited over for Memorial Day but because we had plans already we took a rain check and planned it for this evening. What fun the boys had playing together ... first swimming in the pool, next eating yummy BBQ hamburgers, and then playing with all the boy toys that are somehow more fun when they're at someone else's house. After dinner, the two older boys disappeared for a few minutes and to our surprise emerged from the bedroom as Super Heroes .... Hayden (Batman) and Jakob (Spiderman) dressed up first, then Justin went to find his own hero costume, Mr. Incredible. Noah, being the youngest of the crew, just chased the older boys around but I could tell he wanted something to wear too. Sweet little Justin went and found his Blue's Clue costume and it fit our monkey perfectly. They were so cute posing as a little posse of Super Heroes with Blue as their mascot! Who says dress up is just for girls and only for Halloween .... these boys had a blast, saving their super worlds together, one clue at a time. ;)