Fun in the sun

We had our fun in a Southern California vacation recently. It was a daring (and fun) trip that took us on 1500 miles of driving, 2000-3000 miles of flying, through new allergies, crying babies, family, friends, and fun. If it sounds tiring, it was. We needed a few days to get back to normal life after getting home.

We took a trip to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It was big enough, and the children where finicky enough, that we only managed to see about half of the aquarium.

This little alcove is part of a tidal/wave simulator. Every few minutes a large wave of water would hit. Pretty neat. It also was a good place for every little person to congregate.

Nanna and Emmy

AJ really wants to play in the water.

Daddy, can I go play there. Please...

We also took a trip out to John Denver beach (the place where John Denver crashed). It is a pretty stretch of beach. There are lots of rocks to climb on and to make impressive waves with. There actually was someone surfing a hundred yards or so to the side, I hope it was sandier over there, the stretch we were on was pretty rugged.

Laura, with the waves crashing in the background.

This gave us some time to catch up with family. Aunt Kim has a drum set and karaoke that was popular with the young(ish) crowd. So many ways to make noise.

We also took a trip to Story Bookland in Fresno. It is a neat place for smaller children. The park takes you through several children's stories. At each spot you can use a 'magic' key to start telling the story.

Emmy is starting a story with her 'magic' key.

Emmy is on Captain Hook's pirate ship, in the Peter Pan area.

Let me in, let me in. The wolf will get us.

AJs favorite part was the train that goes around the pond. When we asked if he wanted to ride the train, he started running, full bore, to the train. Here we are with some friends, Crystal and Michelle, waiting for the train to start.

To be continued...

Summer Vacation

Some highlights from our brief trip to warmer climates.

Emmy & Laura are helping clean up family headstones before a reunion.

Emmy loved feeding treats to Mogli. Mogli loved being fed treats.

We had to keep an eye on Emily. She would start signing 'puppy' and then run down the hall and out the door to find Mogli. It just made her day to feed him.

Yeah! Look what I found! Digging through Grandma's new kitchen. Finding pots and pans is like striking it rich to a toddler.

Grandma has a fancy card shuffler. It makes noise when you push the button. Grandma had fun with Emmy.

Here she is pushing that noisy button with Grandma.

We headed south on this trip for a family reunion. It was good. We got to meet a lot of family that we had not seen for years. Some of them hadn't been together for decades.

Emily and some of her cousins having fun in the sun.

Angel got soaked during the water fight. It was fun, and the perfect way to cool off during the day.

What can I say, I just liked this picture. Some of the kids had to sleep with furry blankets after this, but the dogs loved it.

This is a classic Emmy moment. Having fun with the dog.

One highlight of the trip was spending Father's day with Dad. Due to the machinations of my sister we were able to get most of the family together. It just took some extra computers, pointing cameras and each other, and a slightly over taxed internet connection. But it was good to get everyone together.

How we gathered from around the world for Father's Day.

We made it out to the Griffith Park Observatory one evening. That was a fun trip. I had wanted to go for years. However it was shut down for renovation until a few years ago and we hadn't had the chance before moving up to Washington. So we met up with some friends and paid the observatory a visit. Taking three children under 3 years old around made it a little more work than normal, and it made it hard to look at each exhibit, but it was nice. Emmy found lots of buttons to push, with some of them she could even see the results of pushing the button.

A young scientist at work. Does Albert Einsteins' nose make a noise when you pinch it?

Coeur D'Alene trip

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to Coeur D'Alene lake to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. For those of you who do not know where Coeur D'Alene is, it is located half an hour east of Spokane in northern Idaho.

We had a great time getting away from work and spending the time together as a family. It seems like two years have gone so quickly, but also it is hard to remember a time when we weren't married.

Another strange thing was to see trees again. We live in the desert portion of Washington, so while we see trees, we don't see trees.

Here is some of the fun that we had.

Here is the view from the deck where we stayed. There isn't that much between us and the lake, only a cliff, a road, a jogging trail, and then you hit water. Our landlords have a house next to the lake, that is where we stayed. So anyone up in the WA/ID area can ask about it.

Emmy and Laura having fun. As you can tell Emmy didn't particularly want to wear the sunglasses, but they seem to taste good.

I think she started out with socks on. But there is very little in the world she dislikes more than having socks on her feet.

Our bundle of joy and mischief.

We eventually made it into town to look around. They have a nice downtown area (do you hear that Tri-Cities, they are much smaller and have a much nicer downtown than anything here). But this is much more of a local resort town then the Tri-Cities. If you ever visit you need to visit Figpickles toy store, it is amazing.

The city park is located on the lake. This is where you go for lake tours and some swimming.

Hmm, I'm not sure where my sunglasses went to.

Emmy and Mommy

Pretty much the last thing we did before leaving was to take a aerial tour of the lake. It was pretty fun, and pushes Emmy up to 15 flights in her lifetime.

Family Reunions are fun to do, fun to do, ...

This year was time for the Hanks family reunion. It was fun. We traveled from our far northern home to the surprisingly green mountains of Arizona. In the process Emily has become a great traveler. We counted and she has now been on 14 flights before her 1st birthday!

The reunion took place at the Triple T Ranch in Heber. Then we saw Kathy off to the UK for school and had the chance to visit family around Phoenix before heading home.

There were a number of activities going on. From craft projects, to water balloon games, light construction, games, and just enjoying the family. One night we heard the Elk as they bellowed out in the distance. I had never heard an Elk before, it surprised me to hear what they sound like.

The main craft project was fabric art. You take a foam board, cut your pattern into it, and then fill it in with fabric. These can come out looking amazing.

A master at work.

They even had a snow cone machine. And as you can see the neighbors dog liked to visit.

Ginger liked to chase the light on the floor. She had a harder time finding it on the steps.

Quintisential Grandpa.

Dad had fun with his solar ovens. He had two of them going. Arizona gets a lot hotter than California. He was able to bake bread the day before we got there. And here they are taking the oven apart to get a roast chicken out with it's potatoes and carrots. It was a good meal.

Robert, just relaxing.

Jenny had her camera out a lot, I think she had it out more than me!

Emily with her Uncle Tony.

Aunt Kathy taught Emily how to play ping-pong.

Grandpa and Grandma in the Gazebo.

Laura and I, stealing a quick kiss.

Mom and Dad.

For the last night at the ranch we had a talent show. There were some good entries. Jean showed off a quilt that she designed. Laura and Emily sang. Robert and Jenny performed. I showed off pictures. Jenny also showed off pictures of the many quilts she has made.

Jenny and Robert ate bananas to the theme of 2001. It was actually pretty funny.

Emily and Laura singing the 'Itsy bitsy spider'.

We stayed with Dave and Erica while were in the Phoenix area. Emily loved to play with Uncle Dave's glasses.

Emily is pearing at her Great-Grandpa's latest project.