The best epic marble run in the world

I thought this video would be cool to share with everyone. I do not own it. this guy on youtube
made this with knex. I really think it's the most epic marble run in the world. I haven't seen
anything better. if you have, make a post with the video.

A Day at the Beach

On July 15th, we all went to the beach for Jaden's 9th Birthday. It was awesome! when we first got there I went boogie boarding. Then I heard that there was sharks in the beach. One kid caught a baby one with his hands! So I wanted to see it. I went snorkeling to see and I saw like 5 Sharks! I saw one that looked like my Bristlenose Plecko ( that's a cleaning fish that eats algae off of freshwater aquariums ) Here is a photo of it.


Bristlenose Plecko



Tiger Shark

Here is the photo of the real Shark. I found out it was called a Tiger Shark.


Looks kinda the same except the color

It was more afraid of us though so it kept swimming away. But it looked really cool underwater. The next type I saw was some sort of sand Shark that was all gray. Here is a photo.







Sand Shark

They were all pretty cool. It was my first time ever swimming with live Sharks


                      Posted By Christian

California, Californiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Hello Dear Friends & Family!

You know you love looking at other people's vacation photos.  You just know it.  Come, live vicariously through ours.  Until I run out of room on my camera.  Then we'll have to rely on Aunt Adrianne & Grandma Diana to upload their photos from so we can live vicariously through them.  

Our trip began with Poppa Randy & Nana Joy.  We forced ourselves on them for 4 days.  YOU WILL ENJOY OUR COMPANY.  We had fun.  We hung out with them on the boat, took the girls to the cute little aquarium right near the harbor, and went to the beach.  Well, at least we had fun once the drive was over.  I felt a migraine sneaking up on me in Bishop, CA.  I forgot my Extra Strength Excedrin.  The last hour was HORRIBLE.  It was dark, I had 4 freeway changes and I was gripping the steering wheel in an effort to not to throw up.  OMG.  But we survived.  I rolled out of the car, said, "Asprin, please." and then buried myself in the bed.  Nanna and Poppa stepped in and took care of the girls.  Heavens to Betsy, that sucked.  But it was worth it, because look!  Vacation pictures! 

Hooray for the tide-pool exhibit (only open for 15 minutes at a time to keep the fish from getting exhausted.  Smart aquarium.)

 

 

Did you know that Grunions are real fish?  Am I the only one that thought they were fake?  Yeah, they're not.  Snipe hunt = fake.  Grunion = real.  (Stupid camp tricks have kept me from embracing life.  Now all I see are lies.  LIES.  Even where there aren't any.) 

Gretchen is taking her volunteer Grunion Photo Holder responsibilities very seriously. 

No seriously, Grandpa, give me the nuts.  I will chop you.  I'll chop your FACE. (He doesn't believe her.)

LOOK OUT BELOW

Ella pretending she's driving the boat to Catalina.

BLAHHHH!

When I can get Ella to make a normal face on camera, she sure is lovely....

The best part about this photo is that literally 30 seconds later she fell asleep

Ella said she's calling her mom.  What? I'm right here!  Seriously, I'M ALWAYS RIGHT HERE!

All sailors should wear bloomers

Hey Grandpa, is that heavy?  Ha ha.

Pensive beach gazing.

Spastic wave screaming.

Nana Joy helps build the most awesome sand castles in the sand.

 After our jaunt with Poppa and Nana, we went to visit our peeps in Temecula.  FANTASTIC TIME.  Well, at least for us.  We enjoyed the Dollar Movies, lunch outings, splash park and playing playing NON STOP PLAYING with cousins.

Anticipation.  It's what brings us back to the Splash Park.  The water is coming.  IT'S COMING!

 I'm not sure if Alisa's family enjoyed the time quite as much, what with the walking pneumonia (Christian) and 103.5 fever (Teagan).  But we were thoroughly entertained.  Not by their illness.  By their hospitality. 

Grandma Diana graciously watched the girls while my dear friend Julie & I went to the ALA Conference.  OMG, SO AMAZING.  Seriously, it was a crazy awesome conference.  I HEART LIBRARIANS!!!!  I left feeling so motivated.  Julie gave me fantastic suggestions on my dummy book, hooked me up with some new contacts, and we got to meet and hear from tons of successful and inspiring people.  Hooray!

Colby flew down Saturday night so that Sunday we could go to....DISNEYLAND!!!  (Here's the part where we ask Adrianne & Mom to upload all their photos since my camera ran out of room.  Please?  Thanks!)  (Luckily Dan already emailed these from our MOST AMAZING LUNCH OF ALL TIME EVER!!!)  We met our dear friends Dan & Sue at the Magical Kingdom.  And then we had magical times.

"Guys, play it cool.  PLAY IT COOL!"

No seriously guys, I am SUPER SOPHISTICATED.   

Quick!  Before they see us taking pictures!

Colby looking down on people.

Super Dramatic Moment on the balcony outside the club.

Me calling no one in the fanciest phone booth I've ever been in because I wanted my picture in there, but didn't have anyone local to call.

Why yes, I DID sneak out two Exclusive Cookies for the girls.  And then pull them out in the line for Star Tours and pose for photos with them.

So the Fancy Lunch was pretty much the highlight or our very magical and ridiculously expensive day, but the other thing that I loved?  GRETCHEN ON ROLLER COASTERS!  Here we are on space mountain, Colby remembering how he totally puked after riding it that one time, Dan getting a mouthful of my hair, my shirt literally flying up off me, and there sits Gretchen.  "Ain't no thang, mom.  Ain't no thang..." 

When I asked what she thought at the end, she said, "AGAIN!"

This ride was a little more Ella's speed.  Now all it needs is the theme to It's A Small World and it'd be perfect.

We finished out our time in SoCal at Uncle Aaron and Aunt B's house of leisure.  I fell asleep in the pool cabanna for most of Tuesday afternoon.  Then Wednesday.  Then Thursday we went to see Grandma Liz....

91.5 years old and STILL BEAUTIFUL.  My Grandma rocks!

Fattest, smooshiest, most adorable baby in the WORLD!!!  Drake Danger, you steal our hearts.  And then spit them back up.  5 months and 20 lbs.  That's what a Superior Baby looks like.

5 points if you can tell me what doesn't belong here....

 And we wrapped up our trip with a lovely baby shower for Auntie Adrianne.  She is so cute and pregnant.  Awww.  (No, seriously, you have to upload photos of the shower.) 

But the fun did not end there.  Then Dad and Nana Joy drove in for an evening.  We took them In & Out and then downtown to the river for our favorite Ice Cream.

Then we did 4th of July with Auntie Amber & Uncle Dan.  (Pretend you're looking at cute pictures of the girls playing with baby Lucy in the splash pool.)

Then Sue came over with her kids and we went to the river AGAIN because we LOVE IT SO.

Then Ken & Janeece came for two amazing and fun filled days.  First we took them to Virginia City STEP BACK IN TIME.  We went on a mine tour, got Janeece out of the mine tour as quickly as possible (yeah, it's a little claustrophobic...)  Then we donned super nasty photo props that left us feeling dirty (dirtier than the fact that we let our children hold guns while we dressed as Scarlet Ladies.  Cause it's fun!) (But look at this!  So worth it!)

 

Then yesterday we took them to the river.  BECAUSE SERIOUSLY, WE LOVE IT!  It was really fun hanging out with them.  We wish we all lived on the same street again.  Gretchen and Ella knew they'd love their boys before they even got here.  As soon as Gretchen opened the door for them, she told their oldest, "You're sleeping with me, ok?"  (That's only cute to say when you're four.)

Now we are all partied out.  I'm actually looking forward to the pile of work I have ahead of me.  And looking forward to cooking and cleaning again.  Because we only have 2 weeks before we go on the next road trip.  Sigh.  ;)

Christian's 11th Birthday Party

We all had a fun time at Christian's 11th Birthday party on Sunday. Aunt Nie, uncle Mike, Grandma, and Christian's Grandparents came by to celebrate. First Uncle Mike and everybody started cooking dinner. Uncle Mike made his awesome trytip. Then we had dessert, Aunt Nie made these yummy sugar hersheys kisses cookies. We also had Pumpkin Pie with homemade ice cream we made with Dave's ice cream/Blizzard maker, and last but deffinetly not least, Christian made this awesome Kit Kat Blizzard. All the desserts was tasty. Then we opened presents. Christian got a new large Hermit Crab cage, Sea Monkeys, a cool flat brimmed hat, a itunes gift card, a quicksilver T-shirt, photographes in frames of Christian with his grandparent's dog named Jackie, and a book from grandma. The author signed it witch was pretty cool.Teagan got to open a bubble machine that was missed for her party so she got to open it on his birthday. She had a blast with that. Then Christian and uncle Mike had 2 awesome Call of Duty: Black Ops rounds. They both played with snipers and M72 Laws. Then everybody had to go exept grandma because she was staying at our house. All in all we had a fun time at Christian's 11th Birthday party. Woo Hoo!

Christian gets elected student of the MONTH!

He got selected for amazing academics and citizenship.


Christian gets called up for student of the month!

The mascot (Pioneer Pal) comes only at the end of the month just for the people who get student of the month. So everybody that gets student of the month goes to take a picture with the mascot at the end of the assembely.

Christian with the school mascot

When we were done we went to a bench and took some pictures of the rewards and family. What's also awesome about student of the month is you can take as long as you want to take pictures and stay with the mascot that you miss like 1 hour of class time!


Christian with family showing off Rewards

 Hope I get it next year too!

I decided it was time to help Apryl out by contributing to the family blog.
So, here's some news from Mom. 

Last Saturday we had a great time at Cade's belated birthday bowling party at the Irvine Bowling lanes. Jaden was thrilled with his bowling skills and high scores since it was his first bowling experience.  Lucky for Jaden that the bumpers were up. His technique was to throw the ball directly at the bumper and watch it zigzag down the alley. He even got strikes with this technique--and very high scores! Way to go, Jaden.



Christian in action

Here's a photo of Christian bowling.  BTW, Christian got a STRIKE on his first try.  WHOO HOO.  Go, Christian!

It was so much fun for the cousins to be together again, along with their aunties and uncles.  Thanks for a great party, Uncle Aaron and Aunt Bernadette.



Jaden with the bowling alley bears

Drake having fun with Mom and Dad

Tea Parties and Ballerinas

You should always buy an old lady house.  Old lady houses are fabulous, not just because they've usually been meticulously maintained, have excellent taste in velour/foiled wallpaper, but because the gardens are FABULOUS.  Right now in the planter behind the pear tree we have a riot of hot pink roses in bloom.  To celebrate, the girls made a fort (which means I made a fort for them, then they made a butcher paper sign for it & dragged all their crap outside.)


In case you don't know already, I am an idiot.  We had two spectacular things going on this week.  And somehow I didn't realize till last Friday that they were BOTH AT THE SAME TIME.  I was so sad.  I look forward to the girl's dance recitals all year.  And we definitely weren't going to miss Gretchen's BFF's birthday party.  It was Alice In Wonderland themed.  And is was amazing.


Thanks to Auntie Krista, and waaaaaaaaay too much coordinating, we were able to make it work.  Gretchen & I went to BFF's house to decorate at 8:30 am.  Colby took Ella straight to the recital.  Krista came & got Gretchen & dropped her off to the recital. 

 I stayed till the cake (DUDE, CHECK OUT THAT CAKE.  BFF's mom must love her.  And be awesome.  {yes to both}).

 Hannah approved.



 Then I raced downtown to the recital.  I got there literally LITERALLY 15 seconds before Gretchen started her dance.  Thanks Jen for sending me this backstage photo!

 I made it to a seat by the time Ella went on, 5 minutes later.  Awww, look at how graceful she is!

 Apparently this is how Ballerina's stand.  Cause when I told her to do a Ballerina pose, this is what I got.

Thanks to Jennifer, we also now have this AWESOME VIDEO of the recital's Grand Finale.  Now....can you find Gretchen?  (HA!)  (PS - Gotta love that somewhere in that crowd of ballerina's some poor kid is just sobbing her heart out....)


Then we collected Gretchen's car seat from Krista and raced back to BFF's house to help clean up (below is their version of a ballerina pose).  Gretchen was sad her hair wasn't hot pink, so BFF's mom painted it right after this photo.  And it didn't all come out in the shower this morning, so her hair was still pink for church.  It was cute.  Maybe that's why her friend in Sunday School couldn't keep his hands (or lips) off her today. 

That was our first real week of summer.  Not quite as much sitting around and relaxing as I thought.  But still fun.  Maybe THIS WEEK we'll sit at home all day and do nothing....  (ha).