More Summer Fun

The summer fun continues here.



Miles and Liam finished up their summer soccer. Miles was really into it from the beginning while Liam took some time to warm up to it and seemed to finally start playing as the summer soccer season ended. I'm going to have to look into the Fall soccer season now.

We took another trip to Tahoe,



Auntie Sandra joined us on this trip. It was nice having another adult with us to help manage the mob. We stayed in Squaw Valley Village and took several day trips from there. We went to Sand Harbor Beach, about an hour from where we were staying, well worth the drive, Water was amazingly clear and not exactly warm however, tolerable (by my standards that's pretty good). We were lucky that it was a gorgeous day too, low 80's. I most loved the fact that there was a snack bar nearby that was serving yummy soft freeze and shakes equivalent to Dairy Queen, Yummmm! Aidan was fascinated that we had to cross a state line to Nevada to go to this beach. He's now very ecstatic that he can say he's been to Nevada like his friend Parker.

We also enjoyed a little excursion to Truckee where we attended an art street festival and got to enjoy homemade chocolate stuffed marshmallows (yes there was lots of eating on this trip). As well as, spent some time at Tahoe City's beach and playground followed by another delicious meal at Evergreen, one of my favorite restaurants in Tahoe. I'm just glad Max didn't order the quail this time. I just have a hard time seeing that little bird on his plate without thinking "barbaric", just not my thing I guess.

We of course enjoyed lots of swimming at the lodge pool, miniature golf in the village and a scooter excursion on the nearby bike/walk trails adjacent to the Truckee river. Tahoe's definitely a fun place to take your kids with lots of outdoor activities. I'm sure we'll be doing it again in the future.

Since we've been back, we've spent time re-couping at home for a couple of days. Still unpacking and doing laundry, seeming never ending. The amount of laundry a family of 5 creates still is unfathomable to me. In between those chores, we've manage to play some games. Our new favorite right now is


Left Center Right card game. So easy that we can all enjoy, amazing as lately I've found it difficult to find games that my 4 yr olds can play/enjoy while keeping my soon to be 7 yr old entertained as well (no grumbling"this is for babies").



After some re energizing , we finally made it out and spent the day playing miniature golf at Golfland. Aidan's pal Parker joined us. You might be thinking, OMG 4 young kids in tow....however, what I've realized, it's actually much more pleasant to have a friend Aidan's age join us, it keeps him entertained and reduces the bickering amongst brothers. We ended the day with some play time in the arcade. It's amazing to see the effects those flashing lights have on the boys, they're mesmerized by it all. And although there were many failed attempts to win a plush angry bird with the claw ( I'm convinced it's impossible, the plush toy probably weighs more than the claw is able to hold) we still ended the day with lots of hoots and hollers "That was a fun day, Mom" what I'd like to call a success.

Still a bit of summer to go, I'm hoping we have more summertime adventures to update you on. Hoping you're all enjoying your summer too!

(more summer photos to come, been technically challenged with the mac and photos still all these photos are from my iphone, I know, don't roll your eyes)

End With A Bang

We sure ended the summer with a bang! We packed up the boys and drove to San Diego for a week of fun. The weather was perfect, except for one exceptionally hot day, the kids were on fabulous behavior, and we were all just as happy as can be.





Spent 2 days at LegoLand, first day enjoying the rides and the second day at the water park. Lots of great rides, shows, and sites to be enjoyed by everyone.






We spent a day at the San Diego Zoo which is an amazing place. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit short as a result of the extreme heat to be had that day. Most the animals were hiding, taking cover from the blazing heat, and my little beasts wanted the same. We took the bus tour, the sky ride, visited a few animals including this sweet panda and then called it quits. We went back to our hotel and enjoyed the fabulous pool that had some fun seahorse fountains, and just beautiful view of the harbor. That night we took the boys to their first fancy dining experience.





We went to this trendy restaurant in historic gas lamp quarters, called Red Pearl Kitchen. It was dark, the music was going (like being in a nightclub), there were candles on the tables, we enjoyed a delectable Asian fusion dinner, including the boys,surprisingly. The boys were completely riveted by the experience and Daddy and I were so grateful to enjoy a nice meal out with not meltdowns.







Our final day was spent at the USS Midway Museum. We got the grand tour of this amazing battleship including a variety of planes and helicopters. Of course the boys "ohhed and ahhed" over the whole thing. We ended this visit with a ride in the "Desert Storm Simulator", definitely an experience to be had.

One of the sweetest things every evening during this trip was there were fireworks to be watched from our hotel room. I'm not sure what the events were, stadium? concert? who knows? but the boys loved watching them and I pretended they were especially for us so we could end our summer with a fabulous bang!

Yosemite Time

More summer good times to be enjoyed with the family... We enjoyed a weekend in Yosemite with Grandma and Grandpa.



Thanks to Grandpa and his travel expertise, we stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge right outside of Yosemite National Park. A really great place that we truly enjoyed. So if you miss making your year in advance booking for the Yosemite Lodge you might just want to give this place a try. This place had 3 outdoor swimming pools, 1 indoor pool, 2 restaurants, one of which was a delicious pizza place (we had a fabulous seafood pizza that had shrimp and crab with a white sauce that Liam just couldn't get enough of) but best of all was, that it was right outside of the park entrance...maybe a 10 minute drive if that.





It's been about 13 yrs since I last visited Yosemite so I'd forgotten the awesomeness of it all. It was Daddy and the boys first time there so it was like we were all experiencing it together for the first time with our skilled tour guides Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa did a great job establishing a daily itinerary for us. I was initially a bit sceptical about a schedule but soon realized that Grandpa was definitely in the know. So thanks to Grandpa we had a great time enjoying the sights.




A short jaunt to Glacier Point to take in the spectacular views of Half Dome and the surrounding landscape,



a trip to Bridal Veil Falls which the boys were thoroughly amazed at water crashing down as well as the flowing river, a short walk through the valley, lots of swimming at our hotel,



fun picnics,





and a final swim at beachy area in the valley.



This was truly a fun trip, the makings of wonderful family memories. It sure is turning out to be a really nice summer.

Good Times

Summer has been full of good times here. I'm not sure why I had fantasized summer being full of lazy days, sipping cool drinks and being crafty with the kids. Although we have had a few of those days, summer with 3 young kids really has been busy busy busy, be it with good times but still busy. It takes time for Mommy (me)to prepare for those good times which really doesn't translate to lazy days.

I thought I'd share some of our good times...


Daddy and I out for a date night, enjoying a spectacular dinner at Pican celebrating our wedding anniversary.



A trip to Masse's Pastries for a sweet stroll down memory lane, a bite of their yummy tiramisu that we served as our wedding cake.




Enjoying family hiking trips, this one was at Redwood Trail.




A fabulous weekend camping with friends, enjoying spectacular views of wine country,


bike riding and



mini golf for the older boys,



a camp fire in preparation for.....



...yummy smores and



fun meals for all,



let's not forget the long awaited and all deserved hot tub time for the mommies. (I borrowed this photo from my friend Rachel's blog but I'm sure she won't mind)


Fun park outing and strolls with good friends.



Dreams of pure contentment..a sure sign that there's been lots of summertime fun to be had.

Needless to say I'm giving myself a break til the end of summer, with What We like Wednesdays, Artful Thursdays, and Friday Food. I'll post those when I can but if I miss it, it's because I'm off enjoying another summer day with the family. I do hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are.

What We Like Wednesdays: Summer Reading, Big Green Monster

We've always done a great deal of reading but now with summer here and longer days, we find ourselves reading quite a bit more. To add more fun to the reading, we joined our public library's summer reading program. The boys are having lots of fun with this, after every 15 minutes of reading they get a sticker in a reading log, when they collect 4 hours worth of stickers they get to go to the library and collect a prize, and after 8 hours worth of stickers they get a free book of choice plus a bundle of coupons including some free ice cream cone coupons...talk about incentives. The boys are excited about this. After joining this reading program, Aidan has really gotten into his chapter book reading which amazes us all as to how much his reading has progressed since we made the change from children's picture/story books. As for the twins, they aren't quite reading on their own, so they collect their stickers after being read to for the assigned amount of time.


Miles favorite book right now "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberley has been a favorite since this past Halloween. All the boys really love this fun read but Miles by far enjoys it the most. Every time we go to the library he searches the shelves for this one and is so pleased if he finds it. Since it's been a favorite for awhile now I just might have to get our own copy.



So if you're looking for some more summer time activity, drop by your local library and see what fun summer programs they might have going on. You can never go wrong with reading.

Frozen Blackberry Yogurt Tye Dye Pops

The boys and I had fun picking these yummy blackberries from our neighbors yard. Miles of course was eating them along the way. He's such a berry lover. I would have to say it's one of his favorite foods. Anyways, now here I was with a bowl of blackberries...what to do with them?



I made yummy frozen yogurt pops. I pureed the blackberries with some plain lowfat yogurt and a bit of sugar. After pushing this puree through a sieve, I layered the blackberry yogurt mix with plain lowfat yogurt that I also sweetened with a bit of sugar, in popsicle molds. And into the freezer they went. It was really that simple! I think in the future I may even use vanilla yogurt to layer with the berries, and this could be done with all sorts of different berries.



So after a dinner with friends, the kids enjoyed their yummy dessert treat.