Easter/Spring Break

We spent our Spring Break in Northern California with Aunt Kathie and some of Denny's Family!

First Stop:

California State Railroad Museum...Learned some of the history of the railway system in the western US, where is connected with the Eastern railway system (in Utah), who built the railroads, rode on a train, watched the "Run Around" when they disconnect the engine from rest of the train, run it to the back of the train, and hook back up with the train to go the other direction! Then we walked around Old Sacramento for a while...

Second Stop: Gunther's




Grandpa Dick used to work here and was always a stop when we went to Sacramento when Mary was a kid! Here we are enjoying the delicious ice cream (no longer 25c a scoop!) with Aunt Kathie!





Third Stop: Sutter's Fort!





The history! The dirt!! The lack of heating/cooling/running water...indoor plumbing!!! We learned about black powder muskets, watched a musket fire, then learned about cannons, and watched it fire-towards Sutter Hospital directly across the street from the fort!









Stops 4 & 5: We drove south to Denny's family in Petaluma...with a Day in "The City"...

A few hours in Alcatraz...
A City Tour on the upper deck of a Double Decker Bus!

Sixth Stop was a day spent at...

Watching a few animal shows...and riding a few rides!

Ben was a great sport-he is NOT a fan of thrill rides, but he tried each one at least once, I don't think he rode ANY one twice. Sophie, on the other hand, LOVES thrill rides and would ride EVERY one of them as much as she could-IF she was only 1 inch taller!

This is where we stayed: the Burbank Mansion (Thanks Annette)!
And some shots of family ranches in the area! It is SO green here, a whole lot different than the Brown, Dry, Flat scenery we get to see in Nevada!

We spent an afternoon at a beach, Limatour...yes, it was a little too cold to actually swim in it, but it was fun to chase the waves, or rather Run From the waves!

On our way back home, we stopped in for lunch with Aunt Kathie! And the boys got to show off their new outfits (from Chinatown)! There were quite a few Asian ladies in Olive Garden that couldn't keep their eyes of these boys!

Christmas Traditions!

We ("we" being Mary's Family) have always celebrated Christmas starting on Christmas Eve. We have lasagna for dinner (we tried a Turkey Dinner one year, instead of the Lasagna and it just was NOT the same!) After torturing the kids by doing the dinner dishes and chatting a bit, while they bounce off the ceiling Waiting and Waiting to get to those presents!! We FINALLY open Family Presents!!

It starts out nice and organized-one present to everyone, open it, see what everyone got, then pass out another one to each person. After about 3 or 4 'rounds' it just becomes useless and it's make your pile of presents and rip them open!!

Whew!

Christmas Morning! The kids, amazingly enough, didn't get up until 7 (mom and dad were SO happy with that hour!) They got a pretty decent haul to add to their pretty decent haul the night before!

Nintendo DSs, DS games, Wii Games, PlayStation Games, Clothes, Lego Sets, Zhu Zhu Pets, Clothes, an iPod, Bakugan, and lots more! Mom & Dad were ready for a nap by 7:30 (Slept until 10:30)!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thanksgiving!

Denny's family came North & South to share Thanksgiving with us & Mary's Mom!

After dinner, before dessert...you know the point where you are SO stuffed you are afraid to move for fear that your pants will just give up the fight and let go at the waist band...
we sent to kids out to play, ride bikes, anything just to have a little quiet in the house and a little room to sit back, relax, and for some of us-to unbutton those pants!

Some of the 'big' kids (Uncle Matt) came back early to have a little wii Star Wars Light Saber fight, before the rest of the kids returned, and the volume increased 10 fold, and the other kids wanted to play, too!

We are SO Thankful to have family and friends that mean so much to each other, who visit and share, and play, and laugh with you and at you-that's what family is for!

Something FuN!

Can you guess who?!

Denny's Mom and Dad came for a visit this weekend and they brought some OLD photos!

Here is Denny's family (except his Mom-who else takes all the pictures!!) Can you find Denny?


Look closely, although that's kinda hard to do on a scanned photo!




He's the Third from the Left, Fourth from the Right, First Born, Second Tallest!
Now, I'll name them all from Left to Right:

Stevie, AJ, Dennis, Denny, Amber & Matt.

Thanksgiving!

Our annual, oh-so-pleasant, and always-looked-forward-to, 12+ hour drive south to Sunny Arizona! Well, it wasn't so sunny, it rained 2 of the days that we were there, but, it was quite Lovely-Northern Nevada rain is an off/on drizzle here and there, just enough to make all of the Northern Nevada DUST stick to your windows and car. Arizona rain is a nice steady down pour, really gets you WET!





We got to go to a hockey game-minor league, but it was FUN! The Arizona Sundog vs New Mexico. I'll post those pictures later, when I get them from Grampa!



Of course, our Thanksgiving Thursday was full of FOOD! Lots and Lots and Lots of FOOD!

I love being in Arizona and with family for Thanksgiving! We get to stay with COUSINS, and we get to see (the kids') Great-Grandma "NaNa"!

And then watching Football, parades, and in general Channel Surfing and Movies!!

And then Black Friday we went SHOPPING, SHOPPING, SHOPPING!! While the kids and Dads stayed home and made Gingerbread Houses--the boys' house and the girls' house!

Ok, so we aren't sure how much of the candy and frosting actually made it on to the houses, or if more of it went into their bellies!

And more fun jumping on the trampoline...

...with all those CrAzY cousins!