Leo Carrillo pictures

I'm having major picture posting issues on this site so I could not post these with my post about the trip. Oh well, here are a few cute shots!

Camping at Leo Carrillo State Beach!

We just returned from our second vacation of the summer, a camping trip to Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu. It was a lot of fun, especially since we had such a large group this time around. The kids were in heaven with both Grandmas on the trip! Grandpa Ed and Irene also came and visited us the first day that we were there and helped us put together the pirate ship kite that Grandma Zukie got for the boys. Sam and Ben especially loved the kite.

All three boys really loved the beach this year. Will and Ben loved splashing at the shoreline and running away from the waves and Sammy had a great time with his sand toys. We set up a big shade canopy and spent about 5 hours there the last day of the trip. The kids were having so much fun that we hated to leave. Leo Carrillo also has tide pools and the boys thought it was really cool to see starfish, sea anenomes, and sea urchins.

Everyone also enjoyed the campfires, smores, and banana boats around the fire every night. All in all, a great trip!

Summer fun pictures!

Summer fun!

This summer all three kids have been around every day all day, so I've been trying to come up with fun activities for us to do to keep them from sitting in front of the t.v. or playing video games all day. All three of them are in swimming lessons and doing really well. Will is swimming on his own, Ben is getting there, and Sam is going under water and jumping in off the side by himself. The older two have been taking Tae Kwan Do as well, and are enjoying that. It's great for excersize and discipline and Will is close to being able to test for his yellow belt.

We also visited the Discovery Science Center with Wendy, Cory, and Carson, and we went to the La Brea Children's museum where the kids got to climb on a real MTA bus and touch real stuffed taxodermy animals including a bear and a lion!

Then, a couple of weeks ago I took the kids to visit Grandpa Ed in Long Beach where we went to Mother's Beach and the kids splashed around in the water and saw his new apartment.

I also joined the Lake Forest Moms Club so we've been joining them for some of their activities like watermellon picking at Tenaca Farms and playgroups with other kids who are the boys ages. It's been a busy summer, but I think we will all be ready when school starts! Will is already saying that he misses school and his friends and Ben keeps asking if he has preschool today. We have the boys signed up to play AYSO soccer this fall, Sam and I signed up for Music Together, and Will will be in 1st grade making him eligible to join the boyscouts!

Houseboat 2006

I haven't gotton a chance to update in a while, but our annual summer houseboat trip has come and gone. It was a lot of fun and as relaxing as a vacation with three kids can get, I suppose! Plenty of swimming and boating during the day and drinking on the top deck of the boat at night after the kids go to bed (the relaxing part;)). We did have a couple of little glitches along the way this year. The first one was on the 4th of July when a HUGE storm hit. That was a little scary, but the boat was tied on really well so we did not end up in the middle of the lake during the storm (others were not so fortunate!). That night we recovered with some beer and a little fireworks show. Good times!

The second thing that happened was that one of our kids got stitches for the first time. Daddy and Will were playing in the water and Will ended up jumping out too far into the lake and hitting his chin on dad's forehead. He was a trooper though, and by the time we got to the ER, he was more interested in the fish tank in the waiting room and playing his nintendo ds than he was about what was going to happen to his cut. His parents however, were not quite as calm and collected;). He did great for the stitches and the nurse brought him ice cream afterwards so all was well.

A little more adventure than we had bargained for perhaps, but a good trip nonetheless!