California here we come...

We began the summer with a family beach trip to North Carolina including some of the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Then we took a long weekend trip to Virginia to attend a friend's wedding. Our final trip of the summer took us to sunny Southern California and we've got some pictures to prove it. The picture below pretty much sums up the trip. Even though its a cheesy backdrop, our kids soaked up the sun every day and had a blast meeting new friends from all over the world.

Both kids are old enough to kind of do their own thing in the pool. They still like to be near mommy and daddy, but can hold their own...as long as they are wearing their floaties of course.

Boys love to shoot, don't they?

Even mommy and daddy got on some of the slides.

It was so cute watching them play together. They really are best friends.

 

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They were promised m&m's and pudding to capture this cute shot.

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We were lucky to spend a day at Disneyland. This was our kids first experience doing anything like this and they loved it. We were at the park from 8am-5pm and while everyone was exhausted at the end of the day, it was an experience we'll never forget.

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Look at this cool blonde boy (thanks to the California sun)!

We even got to visit Pixie Hollow and Charlotte got to meet one of her heroes...Tinkerbell, complete with the white pom poms on her shoes and all.

Oggie Doggie really enjoyed sitting on Pluto's dog bed inside of Mickey's house.

We had to do the tea cups.

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At about 3pm, Ollie took a short cat nap while Charlotte and daddy rode Hyperspace Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Charlotte is my little thrill seeker and I love it!

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When Melissa and I were in Los Angeles last summer, someone suggested we visit the big orange balloon at the Orange County Great Park. It didn't work out for us to go last summer so we made it happen this time around. As you can see its a big orange balloon that has a tether and goes up 400 feet in the sky. We got there early because reservations fill up quickly and we got to go up on the first ride of the evening.

Here is a view from up top looking down.

And a selfie from 400 feet above the ground.

They even had an old time carousel that we got to ride afterwards.

On our final day we headed to Laguna Beach to play. But before we put swim suits on the kids, we snapped a few pictures.

Ollie was obsessed with the seaweed and made all sorts of creations with it.

We had a great time in California and can't wait to plan next summer's fun.

mother's day weekend

We had a very eventful mother's day weekend, packing in as much as we could to celebrate! Our first event for the weekend included camping at Grandpa and Gibby's log cabin.  The kids had a great time and even got to stay up very late! IMG_0021IMG_0024IMG_0025IMG_0060IMG_0066IMG_0075IMG_0093IMG_0107IMG_0110

We packed up our camp site and went straight to Oliver's soccer game. Oliver actually "played" during his game and was awarded with an ice cream treat.  I should have reverted to bribery earlier in the season! IMG_0144

We got to celebrate our Tiki and Gibby on Saturday and Sunday night with all of the cousins.  We always like to get a shot each year to see how much the kids have grown.  IMG_3275IMG_3331IMG_3356IMG_3308

We hope everyone had a great Mother's Day weekend.  We are relaxing on this rainy Mother's Day Monday, it might take us a couple days to recover from our weekend!

easter weekend

Holidays really are so much different with the kids getting to be a little bit older.  I feel like they really live it up these days, and I think I have pictures this year for proof! IMG_9324

We always visit the Easter Bunny and Santa at The Bass Pro Shop and get to say hello to all of our fishy friends!

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This year we decided to decorate eggs by coloring on just boiled eggs, thus making them very hot to handle, thus the mittens.

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The Easter Bunny ended up coming to the Hess House and leaving his bunny prints behind!

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Easter day was lovely, we had fun at church, took good long naps and then had a great dinner with the family!

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Fish frying station, yum!

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The "I won't let you hunt easter eggs until everyone smiles" photo!

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Checking out their loot!

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And of course, Aunt Paula brought presents for all of the kids!IMG_9749

We finished the day with some outdoor fun!IMG_9759IMG_9790IMG_9807IMG_9820IMG_9823IMG_9825IMG_9843IMG_9849IMG_9894

We had great weather, yummy food and a wonderful time with the family. Looking forward to some more warm weather holidays!