SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!

This was Ellie on her first day of preschool last August

Here is Ellie today--on her last day of preschool. (These pics were taken in the same place outside her preschool) She has grown so much and not only in inches. It's bitter sweet that her first year of preschool is over. I can't believe that she is getting that much closer to kindergarten, she is growing up way too quickly, but we are looking forward to lots of play this summer. Way to go Ellie!!

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Mark's parents took us on a wonderful trip to Lake Tahoe for a week. We absolutely loved it! Neither of us had ever been there before and just fell in love with the tranquility and beauty of this place. The water was so clear and this gorgeous shade of blue. There were great little hikes that we took the girls on, scenic drives, and wonderful picnic spots. We had such a great time relaxing, playing games, sight seeing and we were so lucky that the girls were such angels in the car for the 10 hour drive!

The water was a bit too cold for swimming, but we ignored the "Warning: Extremely cold water" signs and dipped our feet in the water--BRRR! We drove out to Virginia City one day and had fun exploring the old mining "ghost" town. And to Ellie's disgust, we even fished for our dinner one night at a trout farm--(I caught the biggest fish!) We drove out to visit Squaw Valley--which was absolutely beautiful. We hung around the Marriott a bit and played some table tennis and attended an ice cream social. What a great trip!

Yosemite National Park

On the way back from Lake Tahoe, we had the opportunity to drive through Yosemite National Park. WOW--What a place!! It was so breath taking! We stopped our car every few minutes and had to get out to oooh and ahhh over all the sites!! There was even a climber on El Capitan that we watched for a bit. The waterfalls were simply amazing and there was even still snow on the ground in some places. On our way out of the park after a full day of sight seeing, we stopped to hike around Mariposa Grove with all the giant sequoias and we saw 16 deer (in addition to the 6 we had seen earlier in the day). 2 of the deer even lead the way up the trail only a few feet in front of us for about 10 minutes. To Ellie's (and my) disappointment, we never did see a bear--even though there had been a sighting while we were there, but Yosemite was SO amazing!

Sea World Bay of Play

After getting home at 11:30 pm on Monday night from Palm Springs, and spending ALL day Tuesday running over town getting things ready for our upcoming trip to Tahoe, I decided to throw all my parental responsibilities to the wind and took the girls to play at Sea World yesterday. It was so much fun! The new Bay of Play just opened on Saturday, and of course we had to ride the new rides multiple times. We also met Cookie monster, Ernie and Bert (all of which Maddy was scared of!), played at the playground, saw the new Sesame Street 4-D movie and just had so much fun being together! Let's just say that today I am definitely paying for my irresponsibility--better run and start my packing!!

Wild Animals on the loose!

One of Ellie's best friends turned 4 and she took a bunch of us to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to celebrate. The kids ran as wild as the animals, played at the water park and playground, pigged out on cotton candy and had a great time being together!

Not a baby anymore...

This past Sunday was a big milestone for our sweet Madelyn....now that she is 18 months old, she can finally attend nursery at church! (Mark is STILL celebrating!) I just pray that she is watched over --she is the smallest kid in there and there are a lot more kids than teachers. I really worry about her getting mauled in there by the older kids. I am lucky though, that my VTer is in there to make sure she comes home safe and sound (and w.o./ bruises!). What a big day for our baby--she is growing up way too fast!

Auntie M, Auntie M!!!

My sister, Mandy was able to come spend some time with us for the past week and a half! We had such a blast visiting with her. We went to Orange County for the weekend and met up with my dad and step mom and hit the swap meet and Laguna Beach with them. Then we hit the SD Wild Animal Park, where Mandy even got to be a part of one of the animal shows (and got a kiss from a camel!!). We went up to visit dad and Nancy in Palm Springs at their new place for a couple of days and hung out at their pool, went shopping, stuffed ourselves eating out and took a day trip to hike around Joshua Tree National Park. While she was here, she even got to attend a famous nickel auction! Mark had been in Florida for most of her trip, but then he got to join in on the fun and go to Balboa park and Old Town with us. Before the airport, we got to spend a little time at Seaport Village--and even rode the carousel! We had such a fabulous visit with her, and even though she only left yesterday, we miss her already! We love you Auntie M!!!

We're Jammin'...

And I hope you like jammin' too!! Because...I "slightly" overshot buying strawberries by about 10 pounds to make freezer jam and some may be headed your way...

Strawberries were on sale at Henry's for 75 cents/lb, so my friend and I went crazy buying out the store to make some delicious jam for our families. I bought 16 pounds of it!! (what can I say--I like jam) But as you can imagine, 37 jars of jam is WAY too much for us, (and our little tiny freezer), especially since Ellie won't even try it, so we have been giving this stuff away like crazy! Boy, oh boy is it ever so yummy!! So if you're lucky enough, some of this heavenly delight may end up in your very own freezer, OR you should just make some yourself--so easy and WAY better than anything you can buy at the store!

The process below...

In the words of Bob Marley...

"Ooh, yeah! all right!

We're jammin;

I wanna jam it wid you.

We're jammin, jammin

And I hope you like jammin, too...."