Sunday, July 19, 2009

The 3rd and 4th of July

We spent our Fourth of July weekend house sitting/dog watching/garden-watering for Ryan's sister while her family was out of town. Our kids loved swimming on Friday and Saturday. We spent a lot of time with family and friends and it was wonderful.

Ryder and his pool signs.


Ryan taught the kids to do handstands under the water. The kids loved it.


Jen and Sarah relaxing.


Synchronized cannon-balls.


A magicians dive...split upper and lower body.


Football toss to the person diving off the diving board. Tony has good aim.



One, Two, Three.
Mckay, Jack, Ryder



The boys were so wiped out that they both fell asleep on the way to dinner and fireworks. Ryan dropped us off at the entrance while he went to park. They were both fast asleep. What handsome boys and they are getting so big.


Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Smyth.


Happy 3rd of July.
Sarah, Jack, Ryder



The 4th of July we spent time swimming and boating on Folsom Lake. We found our own private little peninsula and had a great day.


The boys could not have been happier with all the creatures hopping and scurrying around the beach area. Ryder found a frog family. No frogs were harmed during our stay.




The jolly boat captain.


Swimming and dinner at Brian and Susann's after boating. We then tagged along to their neighborhood fireworks extravaganza. Every family brings a couple of boxes of fireworks and a desert to share. It was slightly dangerous but they did have a ring of fire for all the fireworks. Some of them did escape the ring a little bit. Family and friends together, it was a great way to spend the day.


Yummy treats.



California Academy of Sciences

We decided to go to the Academy of Sciences on the first free day of summer. I had good intentions of arriving early but I wanted to sleep a few extra minutes and avoid the traffic heading into the city. Mistake. Oh well, the kids were super troopers and endured the 3 hour wait to get inside. We ate our snacks, played duck-duck-goose, and ran all around in line until we finally made it inside. The kids loved it and we will have to go back again in the fall.

Fuzzy leaf hats. Sarah, Jack, Ryder.


Friendly game of duck-duck-goose. This game then became fish-fish-alligator.

Show me your pearly whites.


The kids were very curious about the albino alligator.



We made our way to the Galapagos Islands display.


Time out from the crowds. We found the little kids play area for kids 4-5 and under. Yeah.


The living roof was fun to see.


As long as we were in Golden Gate Park I decided to take the kids to the Queen Wilhemina Windmill and to the beach for a few minutes. We saw Kite surfers which were really impressive.

Our next adventure in the park will be the De Young Museum and the King Tut exhibit. It is great to live close to cities that have so much to see and do.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friends

We had a great time visiting with Karli and Kade for a few days. Barbeques, swimming at the Blatters, dinner with the girls, and playing at the park made for a fun time.


Jack showing Kade his kite.


A game of catch.





Summertime

School is done and we are ready for summer. And that means dress up all day long, catching wild animals, picking fruit, eating ice cream and playing in the water. That also means more naked boys and peeing outside for my boys both of which I do discourage but on occasion make me laugh really hard.









Thursday, July 9, 2009

Mt. Diablo


A trip up to Mt. Diablo with the Grange family. The view was great and the kids loved playing at Rock City. I didn't realize the amount of sliding on the rocks the kids would be doing and they successfully ruined all their shorts. Sarah's were so bad we had to tie a t-shirt around her waist.



Pre-damage shorts shot. Sorry no post-damage shots.




Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the husband/fathers' I love most- Ryan, Neil, and Dad.

The kids and their cards for Ryan.

Sarah
Ryder


Jack