Animals

We have been on lots of super fun summer adventures, here is one of our favorites! The San Diego Zoo Safari Park (formerly known as Wild Animal Park) is soooo much fun!

The coolest was the huge savannah with all kinds of animals intermingling. The animals are free to run and roam while you can overlook the whole thing. You see giraffes, rhinos, gazelles and lots of other animals. Kyle wished they would introduce a pack of lions to make things really interesting.



This baby elephant was so so cute!


Even Cooper got all excited about everything!


It was a super hot day so it was nice to let the kids run around in the little water park area while we sipped Hawaiian ice in the shade.


We will definitely be back!


We saw this bird on one of our little hikes near our house. It was something special. Kyle knows what it is called, I don't really remember things like that. Can you edit this darling? :)

Cookie Time

Cruisin' LA

Happy 4th of July!! I'll have to do a post on that later, but today its all about LA! We spent some time there this past week... here is what we did.


We had to see the sign. That's just what you do! I don't know why.


This was someone's garage door we saw while driving around in the Hollywood hills. So cool!


We had to try some of these tasty treats.


The cutest teeny tiny decadent cheesecakes in a delicious assortment of flavors. Carmel macadamia, strawberry, cinnamon roll and black forest. Yummmm, they did not last long in our family.


I happened upon the star of one of my favorite stars. Have I ever shared the story of when I met and sang with her? I should, it was quite extraordinary.


The kids had a blast at Universal Studios.

The best part for me, was seeing where my parents got married like 40 years ago, or something like that. This is also on my Dad's headstone. It was shockingly enormous! It was difficult to take a picture of and get it all in there. The front -


And back -


It had some of the most beautiful gardens. All temples are beautiful and peaceful, but this one was different somehow.


I hope we can go back there soon!


Breckyn's signature pose -


Sweet Kyra -


Ryder hardly ever grins so big that you see his top teeth! This cheesy face cracks me up :)


And the big baby.


The visitor's center was so incredible! It's newly renovated and so high tech. We had a great time there.

Little Tap Dancer

Kyra has always loved to dance. This year she did ballet and tap. For her recital she did a tap dance to a remix of Happy Days, Don't Be Cruel and Twist and Shout.

At the beginning of the year she said she did NOT want to be in the recital, it would be too scary. When the costumes were posted at the dance studio she saw what costume she could have if she was in the recital. That changed her mind really fast! She practiced at home every day leading up to the big show and had every step down perfectly.


After the performances she said, "I thought I would be nervous, but I wasn't at all, it was fun! I want to do it again!" It was a great lesson for her to finish what you start and how practice makes perfect! A star was born that night.


Can't wait to see what's next from our little dancer.

Cherry-picking and a check-up

Yesterday I took the children to pick cherries. We live right next to Cherry Valley, so might as well take advantage of it! One good way to teach them where our food comes from is to let them pick it! Breckyn picked the fastest.


Kyra took great care to only choose the most perfectly beautiful, unblemished cherries.


Ryder was a little more interested in playing in the dirt.


But he did find some lighter colored ones that reminded him of his favorite racecar.


Cooper seemed to enjoy his spot in the shade.


I learned that the time frame when cherries become ripe is very unpredictable and that the picking season can be very short! Here it lasted only one week, then the warm weather ruined any cherries left on the trees. We were lucky to make it in on the last days.


It was LOTs of fun, not to mention DELICIOUS! We have all been snacking on cherries non-stop.



Can't wait until the next cherry-picking season!


Cooper also had his 15 month check up.


He isn't jumping off the charts in weight and height as he once was, but if they had a thigh circumference measurement I am sure he would be off the charts! Very, very pinch-able. I think he is sick of everyone grabbing his thighs anytime they are exposed.

Cooper at 15 months:

-not much of a talker - but points and grunts really great
-so cute and squeezable
-gives nice strong hugs and head-butt "kisses"
-has amazing physical abilities - pretty sure he's the next Jimmer
-kicks around the soccer ball like a champ
-started riding the scooter Breckyn got for her birthday, seriously, its almost freakish
-climbs up and down stairs in lightening speed
-climbs up on tables and four wheelers
-he doesn't walk, he RUNS
-expert cupboard empty-outerer (his favorite pass time!)
-can give a very mean dirty look if you cross him. (Like by offering him a vegetable, telling him no or if you are a stranger pinching his thighs.)
I'm a little afraid he might turn into a big mean bully.

Always on the go.
This is his nice face. I'm still working on getting a picture of his mean look but for some reason he thinks the camera is funny.

Going for the cottage cheese. Normally whenever I open the fridge he shoots right for the tabasco sauce and takes off with it as fast as his legs will carry him. All the while sneaking peeks back at me to make sure I chase him. He loves that game.

Love that big baby.

Summer is in full swing and we are having a blast and trying to work hard too. Seems like we have done a bajillion things since I last blogged but the need to document it all is calling me soo.....

-We went to an awesome Swazzle puppet show, the kids loved the story "Dream Carver" now they want to buy the book. The same day we signed up for the library's summer reading programs. The kids have been busy filling out their game cards and racing each other to earn new books.

-We've been privy to some info about where a golden eagle is nested in with some babies. We've been off to spy on the action but have not had luck catching the mom in her nest. We'll keep trying.


-We were so happy to find out Breckyn's arm is healing so well she was able to get her cast off early. However, she is not allowed to run, jump, ride bikes, play on the playground or do ANYTHING where she could possibly fall and bump the injured arm... (YEAH RIGHT!) Breckyn is not my sit-still kind of girl. Here's to hoping she can keep it safe and in three weeks be good to go. She does get to swim and best of all, finally wash that stinky arm!



-We started our summer movies and I love not having to move for an hour or two! Kyra has her dance recital next week so we are in the midst of run-throughs, rehearsals and last minute costume alterations!


-Here is our list. This will help give us some focus and direction for those long summer days. We actually have thought of more things to do since we made our list. Cherry picking, blueberry picking are planned for next week and Ryder reeeeally wants to go to the race car museum he learned about in Riverside. There are several things on our list I really don't think will happen, but I'm excited about most of it!


-I grabbed the girls and went to Disneyland one last time until fall. It was way too busy but we had fun anyway and stayed until I was barely staying awake! We wanted to go on the new Ariel attraction but the line was ginormous so we skipped it. We did however have fantastic spots to watch the new parade and we loved it. I took lots of pictures. Disneyland definitely knows how to entertain. We only met the princesses once a loooooong time ago because the lines are usually so long but this time we happened upon them at the end of the day and no one was around so we stopped for a chat. The girls always get so starstruck, its funny.

-The princesses




-The Parade






-Pixie Hollow


-Tea cups