California Here We Come!!!

At the beginning of the month we got the chance to take a trip to visit San Francisco.  Brian got to work there for a week and the rest of the family went to play with my brother's family.

We had quite an adventure getting there.  Our plane was a little delayed.  After we all got on the plane they told us that there was a problem with the air conditioning and that we would have to stop to get more fuel, because we couldn't carry all that we needed with the problem.  We then took off and after about a half an hour they told us that there was a greater problem and we needed to land back at the airport that we had been circling.  Some noticed as we taxied after landing that there were fire trucks following us.  They quickly found us another plane.  As we were waiting to get on the plane we found out that the air conditioning was not working in the cockpit of the first plane and all the instruments would have stopped working because of the heat.  Thankfully, the second plane worked great and we were able to get safely to our destination and we were only three hours late.  We got welcomed by some very anxious family, who were very happy that we had finally made it.

The next day was Lizzie's birthday.  My dear sister-in-law made Lizzie an Elmo cake, as she currently loves Elmo.

Lizzie sure liked having cake, and her cousins really loved getting celebrate with her.

 

Jamie had a hard time figuring out how to eat the cake, but he finally figured it out.  How he did it was so cute that I just had to take a video.

Lizzie loved being with her cousins.  They had lots of fun read to her.

(Jamie loves to get his picture taken.  I was trying to get a picture of the girls reading together, but Jamie wanted his picture taken too.  This is the best on that I got even though Jamie is a little blurry.)

or just generally playing with her.

Jamie was very much out numbered by girls, as we were visiting three girl cousins, but he still seemed to enjoy himself. 

I don't know when the last time was that I heard my kids laugh so much.  I wish that I had taken more pictures and videos of the good times that they had together.

We did get sick the first part of our time there, but when we were starting to feel better we went to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.   

They had many native wild animals (mostly birds) that unable to live out in the wild either because of physical problems (like broken wings that didn't heal right or a missing wing), or because they were to humanized and didn't have the skills to survive in the wild.  I was amazing to see these and to hear of there stories and why they were there.  We were even able to see a bald eagle, a beautiful bird.

They did have other animals there also like lizards and snakes (Lizzie really liked one of the snakes), a bobcat(I think) and a bunny.  In the back they also have a hospital where they treat wild animals that get injured in hopes to get them to be able to go back to the wild.  

Saturday, My sister-in-law took most of us into San Francisco, while my brother and one daughter stayed home because she had gotten sick in the night.  It was a crazy day as the Blue Angels were to fly that day.  We drove around for a long time looking for a place to park as we saw planes flying above us.  We finally found a spot and I was able to get this picture of the planes before the show ended early due to low fog on part of there flight path.  I guess the planes we saw while driving was a different group.

We then walked down to Pier 39 where we saw many, many sea lions.  

After that we got back in the car to see some more sights of SF, including a crowded cable car (a little blurry as it was taken from a moving car.) . . .

and the steep roads . . . 

such as this section of Lombard Street which may very well be the steepest section of SF where they decided to put a road.

This is the view top of Lombard street

And this is looking back over what we just went down.

After see the roads we figured that this sign was very important.

It was a great day even though the traffic was terrible and it was far to busy.  It did make us want to see more, but that is for a different post.

Turtle Back Zoo

I had heard about a zoo that is pretty close to my house, but had never made it there.  Then one morning my neighbor called me to see if I would like to go with her and her kids to the zoo.  So off we went.  It is only about ten minutes away and I was very impressed with it.

They have a little train that goes through some trees and by a lake.  After a ride on that the first animal that we saw was the monkey and he had a great playground to get all of his energy out.  This picture doesn't show it well at all though.

There were cougars . . .

and leopards.

There were also barn animals.  Jamie was crying at all the animals so I didn't stay in the barn very long, it was just worse in there.  Then they had a aviary with lots of little free flying birds.  We all really enjoyed it.  Our neighbor and her son got little sticks to feed the birds, but I didn't know how Jamie would react to them so I didn't get them incase if I ended up just running out with them.

The kids like the plastic animals the best though!!!

It was a fun day out and I really enjoyed getting to know my neighbor better!!

Getting Lizzie's Shoe On!!

Well it is nap time and I can't think of what I should be doing to I decided that it must be time to figure out what pictures I haven't posted yet and get them up for all to see.  Here is a video that I found that I just think is really cute.  I hope that you enjoy it also!!!!

Swimming With Grandma

For Labor Day we decided to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa so the we could enjoy the last day of the pool at their complex being open.

Here are the kids ready to go!!

Hanging out on the steps . . .

with Grandma.

We had a great time.  Thanks for letting us join you for a swim.

We then went out to lunch before driving home to go to a BBQ with some friends from our ward.  It was a great day!!

"Hat On"

Well since I am blogging I couldn't resist putting up some pictures of my silly kids with their hats on.

And this one is just cute.  What can I say I have two of the cutest kids around!!!

Our Trip to WY and UT

I guess that is it has been a long enough time that I can put up the pictures from our visit home this summer.  I didn't want to do it to soon after the trip in case I actually remembered what happened there. 

After we got on the plane to leave and pushed back from the gate we were told that we would have to wait for an hour before leaving, and that they would open the cockpit if anyone wanted to go talk to them.  Well we let the kids get up to walk around and they ended up in the front.  They were given wings (which made Jamie cry when they were offered to him) and cards with a picture of the plane that we were in on it.

The first night there we stayed with my family and had a dinner together and celebrated Brian's Birthday.  It was great to see most everyone again!!

Matus sure liked the cake.  What a cute little boy!!

The next day we drove up to WY to be with Brian's family and again celebrate his birthday.

The next day we went over to the lake and tried out boating, Lizzie was not impressed, but Jamie almost enjoyed it.

Thankfully they enjoyed the beach a lot more!!

With it's endless supply of rocks, how could they not enjoy it!!!

Jamie even found that the water wasn't so bad.

He actually got very brave.  He will be a good fish some day!!

Lizzie loves playing with bubbles, and  asked so much that I finally took her out on a colder, rainy day to play with them on the porch.

While there we got to celebrate Pioneer Day by being in a parade for Brian's cousin's drug store.  Lizzie wanted so much to help make the posters.  I brought my camera to take pictures of the parade, but sadly the battery was left behind in my rush to leave.  

After the parade we joined the Stake for a dinner and a concert by Jon Schmidt.  The concert got Brian in the mood to play the piano.  Lizzie wanted to join in as well.  Isn't it a cute picture.

The morning that we left WY we decided to take the four wheeler for a ride.  Jamie cried when I left him, until he saw what I was doing and said "weee".   I decided to see if he really meant it.

Well he did seem to enjoy his little ride.  My kids often amaze me at what they will or will not do.

On the way back to my parents house we joined my family at Lagoon for a few rides.  

After the rides Jamie throw up.  They spent most of the next week either throwing up or having diarrhea.  Which made them want to sleep a lot, not do much, not eat much and not want to be around people much.  They were a bit grumpy when people were around.  So we missed out on some of the fun of the week, but were able to see the family most of the days for dinner including one at my brother's new house.

Thankfully, they were feeling mostly better for my early birthday party at the end of the week.  it was great to see so many of my favorite people, who I don't get to see very often, because I live so far away from them, and to be able to catch up with them.  I also missed many people who were not able to come.  It is hard with so little time to see the many people who have influenced my life for such good.

It was a good night and my dad even made a new friend, with a common love of cars.  

We had a great trip and were glad that we got to see and have fun with all those that we did get to see, hopefully next year we will have happier kids and get to see even more family and friends.  We love you all!!!

Palmyra Trip Part 3 - Letchworth State Parkts

I have finally decided that I should get around to update my blog some more.  Since I have a whole other trip to write about also.  Well I guess I had better get started with it! 

On our way home from Palmyra I had decided that we should go to Letchworth State Park which is known as The Grand Canyon of the East.  We were so close that I could not go to see The Grand Canyon of the East, I love The Grand Canyon after all.

So we took a little detour and saw great sights as these ones.

I must admit I was a little disappointed.   Not much compared to the real Grand Canyon.  but as we went on I was able to see the beauty of it.  We finally got the some waterfalls.  You can't see any waterfalls at the Grand Canyon without hiking to them.  I like waterfalls, so it made up for the differences for the Grandest Canyon I know so well.

Lets see that a little closer.

We liked it so much we even took some pictures of us in front of the waterfall.

Here is a picture that I found of their website that I really like.  I don't think we got to see this view of the canyon.

We enjoyed our visit to this great canyon, that is better then any other in the east, but not much compared to the true Grand Canyon.  It is a beautiful place and I wish we would have had more time to see the waterfalls and someday it might be fun to go and hike around.

We then left the park and had a long drive home.  We were very happy when we got home.  We were very tired and ready for bed.