Off to the beach!

My sister-in-law, Beth, asked me yesterday if Ryan & I wanted to go down to the beach with her and my neices this afternoon. Sort of a late birthday get together. Her girls got out of school early today so it worked out great and, thankfully, the weather really cleared up while we were there and the sun even tried to come out. We brought some lunch and ate there and then walked along the beach and found all sorts of neat creatures.

Here's Ryan and Kylie hanging out on some drift wood.

Ryan, happy as a clam, (no pun intended!) walking along the beach. I'm so glad I thought to have him wear his boots, otherwise, his shoes and pants probably would have been soaked!
Kylie found a clam that was opening and closing its shell- the kids thought it was really cool and had to all come check it out!
After we walked along the beach, we promised the kids they come go play on the play ground. It was great because there was only one other little girl and her mom & dad there! When we go in the summer it can be pretty busy so this was great! The kids had a blast, basically having the whole thing to themselves!
This is Ryan telling me he was "driving the pirate ship!". I asked him where he was driving it to and he said "Pirate land"... so creative! ;) After the playground we took a stroll on the pier that they had recently re-done which was really nice. There are gorgeous views of the sound from there even on a somewhat cloudy day. Anyhow, after that we went back to the car and headed for home. We stopped and got our car at their house and about 5 minutes later Ryan was sacked out in the car. All the fresh air makes a busy little boy sleepy! And his Mommy! But it was a fun afternoon!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

So yesterday was my birthday and I had a lovely day! Well my birthday sort of started Sunday evening as that's when we had dinner and cake & ice cream with my family out at my parents house. Then yesterday we went out for a birthday lunch and then came back to my brother & sister-in-law's house for a little bit and let Ryan & Shelby play outside. And sometime this week we plan to celebrate it with Jeff's family by out to dinner! I had to post these pictures as this is Ryan's first time swinging in a big boy swing by himself! Usually he sits on my lap. Shelby was soooo proud as she came running over to me and her mom, ecstatic, to let us know SHE helped Ryan learn how to swing! As they were swinging, she was giving him pointers- it was so cute!

"Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!" :)

Ryan

I was checking my e-mail the other day and Ryan called me from the living room to take his picture. This is a rarity as I can barely get him to smile AND look at the camera at the same time these days! He said "Take a picture of me and my tractor and trucks!". So here they all are! :)

Cheesy boy!! ;)

Breakfast....

Can you guess what breakfast treat Ryan had this morning???

Yep, powdered sugar donuts! Yesterday we made a quick trip to get some bread at the bread outlet store not far from our house and Ryan saw the donuts the second he walked in. And sometimes I can be a little bit of a push-over so I told him he could have them for breakfast today. He said they were "De-licious"! :)

Yesterday, we stopped and had some lunch on Paradise Pier in California Adventure. It was beautiful out so we got a table by the pond/water area so the kids could look at the ducks floating around. Here's Ryan enjoying his drink.

And then after lunch, we were so comfortable sitting there by the water, that Uncle Steve went and got us all some yummy ice cream for dessert!
What's a trip to Disneyland without a pair of Mickey ears?!?!
Ryan & Jordan in the shuttle bus on our way home, sporting their new Disneyland sweatshirts.
And a VERY TIRED boy on the way home from the airport today. What a great trip we had! We're just thankful that we had nice weather and a fun time!

more rides & characters!

A very happy Jordan & Ryan riding together on one of the rides in A Bug's Land in California Adventure! How cute are they?!

Ryan & Mommy on the Merry-G0-Round
Ryan & Jeff (and Steve, Caleb & Jordan) getting ready to take off on the roller coaster in Toon Town. The first day we were at Disneyland, a guy walked up to us and said he was leaving later that day and thought the tickets he had was for the same day, but they weren't so he gave them to us- all 8 of them! So we got to go into Toon Town an hour before it opened and ride on the rides and meet some of the characters!
Like Goofy!
And MICKEY MOUSE! We even got to walk through his house after we got his autograph and a picture with him. Talk about some happy kids!

more Disneyland!

Cinderella's castle looking very beautiful at night!

So during our 1st day at Disneyland, we were getting off the Matterhorn and were randomly choosen to get these badge type things that went around our necks. As the lady gave them to us she said "Congratulations!". Turns out they were passes that they were giving out that let you stay in the park for a hour after it closed! How cool, huh?! The theme this year at Disneyland is "The Year of a Million Dreams" and this is part of it. So at 8pm, when the park closed, the badges told us to go to this arena where all the other people were who also randomly got these passes. They had a bunch of fun music playing and dances like The Cha Cha song, The Chicken Dance,The Hokie Pokie, and of course Hey Mickey! Basically they had us all get in this arena while all of the other people left the park. It was so much fun- Ryan was LOVING the music and couldn't get a smile off his face- the other thing that replaced his smile was this funny face he was making with his tongue out. It was like he was so overly excited that he went into goof mode and started sticking his tongue out and dancing. So silly. Oh, and can you tell that Jordan was digging all of this, too?! :)
One of the rides we went on with our pass was the teacups because all the kids liked them. I went in my OWN cup this time as Ryan & Jeff liked to turn the wheel in the middle and spin even faster which would have made me probably lose my dinner!
The next day us 4 adults, Caleb & Megan took turns going on the Grizzly River Run- basically a white water rafting ride which you were pretty much guaranteed to get wet on- some more than others! This is Jeff, Steve & Caleb coming down the big drop!
Next Melinda, Megan, Caleb & I went on it- that would be me in the hooded white sweatshirt, sitting straight up to try to avoid getting my back side soaked! And it worked, but my lap got all wet. Luckily it was sunny and I tried quickly!

Disneyland!!

Ryan & Mommy on thier 1st ride in Disneyland!

Ryan & Mommy on the teacups!
Daddy & Ryan on the teacups... before all the crazy spinning began that about made Mommy sick! ;)
Ryan & The Matterhorn ride in the background! By the way, he loved it! Even the dark parts- I couldn't believe it!
Ryan & Daddy on Dumbo- does his face not tell it all?!!!

Farm show

Now does he look like a king in his bed or what?! This is just one of the two big, cozy beds in our room. The rooms were so nice I didn't want to leave!

On our way to the show, we drove by and TON of dairy farms and they were deluxe to put it mildy. I had to snap a picture of this milking parlor. No, don't be confused this isn't a house it's a parlor for cows! Crazy! Talk about go big or go home! :) There was a matching one just like this at the other end of the dairy. Crazy.
Ryan & Caleb sitting in their dream John Deere Gator! Ryan was in full JD gear with his hat and sweatshirt on so the people in this JD tent were eating it up and giving him all sorts of free goodies.
Ryan & his daddy sitting in a big International tractor... see we're not totally brain-washed, we do acknowledge other brands besides John Deere. ;)
Ryan & Jeff thoroughly checking out this brand new New Holland chopper.

Santa Monica

Here's the boys waiting for their dad's to get our rental car- Jordan decided it was sunny out so he needed his shades! :) The sun sure felt good!

Between the rental car company and Santa Monica, Ryan managed to fit in a nap- he was exhausted from being up early and on the go. Plus it was past his normal nap time.
Here we are on the Santa Monica Pier! It was gorgeous out and we were all ready to soak up some sun! We had a late lunch at little burger joint on the pier and then strolled along the pier.
They had this amazing tribute on the beach- each cross represents a soldier who has died in Iraq. It was pretty moving. We even saw the cross and name of the soldier from our town- quite a reality check to say the least. It was truly breath taking.
A view out from the front of the pier where we all just relaxed and hung out for a bit, taking in the scenery.

We're Home!

Well it's been a very busy, but fun week! We just got home this afternoon from being gone to California since last Sunday! The 3 of us went down with Jeff's brother & sister-in-law (Steve & Melinda) and their 3 kids, Caleb, Megan & Jordan. The first part of the trip was for a "meeting" for our co-op of milk producers in Lemoore, CA. I say "meeting" because this particular trip only consisted of a few dinners and a meeting the last night. Not that we were complaining one bit! :) We flew into LAX last Sunday (arrived around noon), got our rental car and drove a few minutes away to the Santa Monica Pier since it was a nice day and to let the kids burn some energy as they'd basically been sitting either in the car or in the airplane ALL day! After having a nice afternoon there, we hopped back in our lovely ride (a brand new Chevy Suburban!- remember we had to fit 4 adults, 4 kids, 2 strollers, 4 large suitcases and back packs for each child! It was pretty comical, but it worked!) and headed to our hotel in Bakersfield. The next morning we got in the car and drove about 2 hours to our hotel in Lemoore, CA... The Tachi Palace. It was gorgeous! (I'll have post a picture of Ryan in our hotel room that I took. ) The next day we spent in Tulare, CA at the "World Ag Expo". Basically like a fair but for only farm equipment and vendors. It's pretty incredicble- it takes up over 2.6 million square feet of space and usually has over 100,000 people come to it every year. It's 3 days long, but all of us only went for one day and then Steve & Jeff came back the second day by themselves. :) We knew our farm kids would love it and they did! Getting to climb in all the newest and coolest tractors and equipment kept them busy, literally, all day long! None of us had trouble sleeping that night! Anyhow, after spending a few days in Lemoore & Tulare we left bright and early Thursday morning for the "Happiest Place on Earth!" Yep, DISNEYLAND!!!! We had a ball- oh, and the kids did, too! ;) Okay, so enough of my chatter- here's some pictures!

Ryan the morning we left- all ready with suitcase in tote!

In the airport on the way to our gate- our little world class traveler with his suitcase. It worked out so nice that he was able to pack along his own personal bag... he loved being able to "do it himself" and we loved that he could do it himself! :)
At our gate waiting for our plane to come in! Ryan, Jordan, Megan & Caleb.
Ryan & Jordan sat by eachother on the plane so they could share a DVD player and entertain each other. They did really well and seemed to actually enjoy the flight. They LOVED the take-off part saying "Faster! Faster!".
As we were getting ready to land, I asked Ryan if he wanted to hold my hand (more for me than for him!) and then he decided he better hold Jordan's hand, too. It was so precious I had to quickly pull out my camera and take a picture of it.

Hockey Game!

Last Friday night we got a baby sitter for our kids and went down to a hockey game with Steve & Melinda! We got free (really good!) tickets from a company that we do business with so that was a bonus. It was a pretty good game, even though we lost. :( Oh well, still very entertaining!

And, really, what is a hockey game with out a fight?!?!
There was a tension building throughout the game and as we were leaving, there was 45 seconds left on the clock so we sort of watched and walked and sure enough, sticks, gloves and helmets flew on the ice and two guys started fighting. It's so common in hockey that the refs just let them go at it until they fell down and then they had to separate them.
Then we kept walking after they broke up the fight and there was 10 seconds left on the clock. We thought "what could they do in the next 10 seconds?", but sure enough, it was just enough time for another fight. It was really quite hilarious. Was a exciting way to end the game... as bad as that sounds! :)