Cali, Cali Fun!--Part 1

We are sad to be done with our month in California, and we are sad to be away from all the fun family and friends we got to hang with, and we are sad that we had to say good bye to Jack for another month...but while Jack is in Ohio, we are enjoying our stay with Utah family...and coming up soon, our Canadian family! :o) But in the meantime, here's some more memories captured of our fun time in Cali. We got to have some fun with Jack's cousins and extended family at Grandma Davis'.

Pool was too cold for me, but Jack and the kids couldn't resist the water and of course the diving board.

I can't believe I don't have pictures of the fun cousins we were hanging with!! But I promise, they were there. :o)
Tom let us play with one of his fun birthday party entertainment before the party started.
Thank you Tom! :o) Our kids...ok, and me too...had sooo much fun in the bounce house!
Sooooo much fun with Tew cousins!!
We got to stay in San Diego with Jack's wonderful sister and her family while Jack worked at Camp Pendleton and had sooooo much fun getting to know their family and having our kids play together. We miss them so much already!
While we were closer to the San Diego area, we visited Balboa Park.
So many beautiful buildings and architecture to see!
Kids loved the fish ponds with the lily pads.
Gardens were fun to see too.

And my favorite pic of the day at Balboa Park---Jack playing with the kids at the fountain.

July 1st and 4th

So, with both a Canadian and Americans in our household, we usually celebrate both Canada Day and Independence day. I hadn't really planned anything for July 1st since we were away from home, but thanks to some awesome friends out here in Cali, we were still able to celebrate with a huge breakfast and bbq later that night. And of course, we had to get in some fireworks to celebrate too. :o)
Jack and Tyler showing us all how it's done.
The kids weren't actually that pleased with the fireworks and got pretty scared of the sparklers.
...that's why the sad faces...
We also went to the beach for the July holiday weekend. Unfortunately, it was a little bit colder right off the beach then we anticipated, so we didn't stay too long. But I'm glad we still got a beach trip in. :o)
Jack introduced Mailee to the ocean for the first time.
Jaxon loved playing in the sand.
And last but not least, we celebrated the fourth with family in Glendora. We went to a parade in the morning...but it was not as entertaining as we might have hoped, so we left pretty quick and went swimming for the rest of the day.
I can't believe we didn't get a family picture of all of us in our red, white, and blue.
We are so grateful to live in a free country and we had fun celebrating our independence!

Holy Moly Road Trip!!

Well, we made it! All the way from Ohio to California, and we're all still intact, alive, and well. The kids did AMAZING and we were able to get to Utah in 2 days and spend some time with the Utah family for a couple days before heading out to California.
We got down to fun right away in Utah. It was so nice to have some of the nieces and nephews staying at grandma's with us so the kids got to play with their cousins. Ashley was such a good helper with all the kiddos.
Lincoln was showing Jaxon how to run through the sprinklers.
We all enjoyed some downtime outside in the sun.
Sometimes I just can't believe I get to be mom to these cute kiddos. I am so blessed!!
This next picture was thanks to Jaxon. :o)
Another day drive and we were in sunny California. We have been staying with Jack's fabulous aunt and uncle and are so grateful for them for putting up with our whole family. We've discovered that the kids are total fish in the water. Both of them are swimming all over the pool from deep end to shallow with nothing more then swim wings.

My kids have such crazy hair! Mailee especially since we spray her head with sunscreen since she's got so little hair.
Here's Jaxon's shark hair.
I love this action shot of Jaxon spraying Mailee!
We have been loving our time here in California and loving spending time with Jack's extended family. We'll have more pictures to post soon! :o)

Memphis Kiddie Park

There is this really fun amusement park out here that has all these mini rides for kids. Even Mailee can go on them! We had some fun times enjoying the kids enjoying the rides. :o)
Jack and Jaxon on the roller coaster.
Jaxon didn't really like this ride...he wouldn't go on it again.
Jaxon and Mailee on the plane ride.
I know it really doesn't look it, but I promise, the kids did have a good time. :o)
Jaxon loved the car rides.
Finally, a smile on at least one of the kids.
One of the few rides an adult could fit on. :o) So, mom even got a ride with the kiddos.
And more rides...
We tried to get Mailee on the Merry Go Round, but she wouldn't have it...so, she hung out with Dad instead. :o)
And just cause we were sooooo excited to finally get some family time with Jack around, we didn't call it quits with just the park. We decided to head to a lake and spend some time swimming and playing in the sand too!
Yeah for some well needed family time and sunny weather!!

May Catch Up

Well, the week before Memorial Day, we got HAIL in Cleveland!! It was crazy weather with tornado warnings and everything! There was some damage in cities pretty close to us, but thankfully all we got was the hail.
And with that craziness going on outside, we had to creative inside to have fun. Go figure the kids favorite toy for a while were our old diaper boxes. They both climbed in and pretended they were driving. They'd even push each other around in the boxes...and yes, even Mailee would give Jaxon a turn and pushed him around too.
We had to celebrate another holiday without Jack :o(. Memorial Day was not half as much fun without him...as you can see by the kid's faces. :o)
Jack has had a CRAZY BUSY work schedule this rotation working in the Trauma unit at Metro Hospital. He has scrubbed in on a lot of surgeries though and has gotten lots of practice doing sutures and I'm sure lots of other doctor-ly things that I don't know about. :o) But he sure has seen a lot of gun shot wounds. I get to hear some stories when he gets home from work. :o) We sure have missed him, but are so proud of all the hard work he's doing.