Photohunt-Theme Rocks

I think I found a few good examples for this week's theme. I haven't participated the last few weeks, it's been a bit busy around here. Glad to be back. All of these were taken on our California vacation in January, it was one for the books. La Jolla Beach area, specifically.

Summer day at the Zoo!

We had another great day at the zoo. We lucked into some reasonably good weather, overcast and breezy. The primates were the 'fun' animal of the day, everyone was putting on a good show, even the baby.


I've been trying to take some interesting pictures at the zoo, the kids and I intend to enter the best of them into a photography contest that the zoo holds annually. I thought we could choose one's I took this year and next year they could work towards submitting their own photos. I want to include some digital photography for some of their art curriculum this Fall, along with everything else I've chosen.

Wordless Wednesday!!

Our 4th of July!! Belated.

Our 4th stretched into the whole weekend. I of course forgot the camera on the actual holiday, so I have no pictures to show. Suffice it to say, we had fun and there were no injuries, barely. We had a couple of the big nighttime fireworks misfire, so there were a couple of near misses, but no one sustained any actual injuries. Everyone developed a healthy respect for the guys who blow this junk up for a living. We really enjoyed the whole day though, not just the explosives, we barbecued, swam, had a bonfire with s'mores, ate watermelon, I think that we hit all the highlights.


July 5th we spent the whole day at the amusement parks in our area, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, we had a fun and exhausting time. By the time we headed to the parking lot, we had been going strong for 11 hours,maybe exhausted doesn't do it justice.

Keeping Cool in KC!

All the kids insist on wearing these, I'm lovin' what they're doing to Ry's ears, hope they don't stay that way!!!


It has been a really hot summer so far. We had over a week of 90 plus temps here, I guess it's not considered a heat wave if it's not 95 or higher for 4 days in a row. It only registered about 92-93 but the humidity was unreal so the "feels like" was in the 100's, but it's not a heat-wave folks. Good to know!!! We've been spending a lot of time at the pool. Sissy is finally potty-trained so a lot of our time is spent running up and down the stairs taking her to the restroom. I don't know why I was so worried about her getting trained, once she decided she was a big girl, that was it, potty trained. No accidents!


We all got together the day after Father's Day to celebrate. My dad's birthday was on June 24th and my sister's was on June 19th so we all celebrated in one gathering. My dad got a new chair for his birthday, perfect for evenings when he gets home from work! It's always a fight to get Sae in the pool but Uncle Eric was able to get it done. He had him jumping in by the end of the afternoon, it was so funny though because he was dragging him around the pool and all of the other kids decided to pile on, he got a workout for sure.


The rest of my time this summer has been spent planning for Fall, getting the curriculum picked out and ready. I've pretty much made all decisions, now it's time to organize. I'll be posting about all of that sometime after the holiday.

What a week!!!!

We have had such a busy week. The boys have been in karate camp all week, so I have been running back and forth playing chauffeur and dealing with a Sissy that does not understand why her brothers are leaving her. Thursday night we left Karate and went up to Maxwell's which was hosting an Autism Awareness fundraiser, one of my cousins has a young son on the spectrum. Mom wanted me to take some photos for our restaurant website, these are some of the fun ones.Tanyn loved this particular clown, "A princess clown, Mom," she said. It was too cute. The gentleman clown's "brief case" was just too funny for words.



Friday was my baby sister's 33rd birthday, so we all got together after the restaurant's closed to celebrate. Basically, I sit back and watch everyone else drink. I don't particularly have anything against alcohol, I just don't care for the taste of any of it. So I had Diet Coke on the rocks and keep 'em coming. Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!!!!


We'll be celebrating Father's Day on Monday, everyone has to work, it's no fun trying to fit in a celebration so we always try to push it to another day. It works for us!!!

Promotion, FOTZ, Being Silly

The older boys had their promotion the other day. They were awesome, their grandparents were able to attend and were totally impressed with the boys obvious dedication. Ry and Sissy had to tie new belts for them so I could take the picture, Dad is still training and working late.





The boys were being goofy the other day, they were reading books to Sissy, Ry and Sophie(guinea pig#1). Sophie just had to get in on the action, a rare Guineasaurus Rex.



Last night was the FOTZ Annual Picnic (Friends of the Zoo). We've never gone before even though we've been friends for several years. We had such a great time, CJ got to go with us, which was great for him and the kids, as he almost never gets to go with us. The picnic was very fun, we got to ride every form of transportation that the zoo offers for free. We were able to do the trams, boat, paddle boats and train. We enjoyed several special keeper chats and some animal behavior that we don't usually see because it was so late in the evening. The boys reconnected with a friend from their public school days, we had lost touch about a year ago due to us changing from house phones to only cell phones. His family is a bit nomadic, so they're a little difficult to keep up with. Anywho, his mom brought him by this weekend to see if we still lived in the same place, it was great, the boys have been friends for about 6yrs now and hated having no contact with him. Kevin is the extra child you see in the picture of all the kids.

Ry and Sissy promotion

My babies had their Taekwondo promotion the other day. They were totally awesome, I'll post a couple of pictures. I would post video, but I can't seem to figure out how. It just sits there and spins and spins, never seems to be complete, blogger or me? Oh well, trust me, they were great vids. Their big brothers had to tie on their belts as Daddy couldn't make it, he's starting to train for a new route at work.

What do you do??

I hit someones dog today. It was horrible, I had all 4 kids in the car, the dog ran right into the street and I just couldn't avoid it. I stopped in the middle of the street and waited with the dog until it's owner came out, it was traumatic for all of us, the dog died right in front of me. It wasn't even my dog and I was bawling. I don't even know what I was supposed to do, this dog runs the neighborhood at large, we have leash laws, I know it's not my fault but I feel so bad.

We were on our way home from the kid's Taekwondo promotions, at which they did great, but we were all sort of deflated. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow of promotion.

Photo Hunter: Theme-Advertisement

I loved these signs at Disneyland.

Thrift Store Finds

I'm not a garage saler, I hate people watching me shop. So, I do the next best thing, thrift store shopping. I wander aimlessly until something catches my eye. Today it was Sissy clothes, 5 shirts and 4 skorts, all for a grand total of $7 dollars. It was a good day, tater!

Flying in the pool!

The splash is the view we continually have of Tanyn. She climbs out of the pool, wipes her face for some odd reason, and then will jump back in. Over and over.

Everytime Chris gets to swim, the kids will beg to be thrown. It doesn't matter that Dad's back hurts, to the kids or to Dad. He will always oblige, they love it. We got to have a post Memorial Day party, we all really enjoyed the weather, the pool and spending time together. My parents are the most awesome grandparents, they really only get to swim a dozen or so times a year but they maintain their pool for their grandkids and their kids. Don't get me wrong, they swim, but the kids and I are at their pool 2-3 times a week, sometimes more. We're at their house more than they are some weeks; the joys of owning your own businesses. Oh well, we all got most of the day off and were able to have some fun together.