TheWilleys

Well it is time to start recapping some of our trips from this summer.  It has been one of our favorite summers yet and we still have some great things planned before school starts at the end of August.
We started off for Southern California on Monday after school was out on Friday.  We stayed at a “mansion” in the the eyes of the kids as it had 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. We chose this place, 20 minutes from the beach, for its size and the great backyard.  The kids had a blast in the pool and the spa.  Well I can’t just say the kids, as I think everyone knew if you couldn’t find me then I was probably relaxing in the spa.  It was so nice to be able to heat it up whenever we wanted to get in.  We even had breakfast in the spa the first morning. The trip started out with Jamie and the kids and then the guys flew in and joined us Thursday evening.

We then spent a day at Legoland. What a blast everyone had! It worked out great as Kayla and Colin went on everything and Jayden and Sydney went on the one’s Sydney was tall enough to go on.

We couldn’t pass up a photo by the plumber.

We went on the water side of the park where Kayla and Colin were loving it while the rest of us were shivering in the chairs.

Well we of course couldn’t pass up going down this one.

The Rice family visited us one afternoon to swim and play. Their family moved to Southern CA the same time we moved to Northern CA from AZ.

We also got in a round of miniature golf.

What a fun week with cousins! It is so fun having them so close in age and how well they all get along together. We sure do miss them often!

The kids and I joined another family at the lake during the week. Shhhhh, I might have taken Colin out of school a couple of minutes early.

Sydney was a little more unsure this time on the tube. She was afraid that the sharks in the water would get her.   Her favorite part about the lake was swimming in the water and she was giggling every time we would swim around.

Colin on the other hand was a crazy man! By the picture you can see that he was asking Brian, driving the boat, to speed it up and then Ezra was wanting him to slow down. I went out with him once and was hanging on for dear life while Colin was wanting him to go faster and crazier.

After a great day tubing we decided to cruise around the lake and check out different channels to end the day. That is until the boat kept over heating and we were stranded. After calling the emergency number we were able to get someone to come out and tow us back to the dock. We got to enjoy watching the sunset and made it back to the cars just before it got dark.  Thank you to Brian and Rebecca for having us out!

Well I have yet to figure out how to slow down time, so we had to celebrate Colin’s 6th birthday. He had one wild and crazy day as we had his party on the same day as his birthday.

Here is a recap of the day:

He started the day with Cinnamon Rolls and watching TV, per his request.

His class celebrated and he brought a new ball to donate to the classroom.

Then it was Party Time! The kids started out by getting their pictures taken, picking a secret agent name, and putting their fingerprints into their Spy Mission Passport.

Then they went on their next mission to making marshmallow guns while Brandon worked to upload the pictures and finish making their ID tags. After they finished each mission they got a stamp in their Passport.  (Thank you Papa for getting and prepping all of the supplies)

The next mission was to work as a team to pop all of the bombs.

That was one challenging mission!

The next mission required them to avoid touching the laser beams

and then to ring the bell to notify us that the mission was accomplished.

Next up was to hunt for characters that were on the most wanted list.

Then they had to use their marshmallow guns to get all the bad guys.

They all passed their missions and became official secret agents.

Pizza time!

Cake time! (Thank you Grammy for making a delicious ice cream sandwich cake)

Present time!

Some Slip and Slide fun!

Then a little surprise for the kids when all the adults came out with water balloons.

Some of Colin’s buddies.

I would say it was a day to remember! We all had a blast and Colin was thrilled.

You both deserved every ounce of that Margarita. Thank you so much for helping before, during, and after the party. We honestly couldn’t have pulled it off without your help.

Happy Birthday to a boy that amazes us more and more each day! We love you more than words will ever be able to express!

A couple of weekends ago I got to go on a scrapbook weekend with several other ladies.  We rented a house along the coast and literally scrap booked from the time I got there on Friday afternoon until Sunday late morning with breaks to sleep for 7 hours, eating time, and a couple of walks.  It was perfect as it got myself to see that I may actually accomplish Sydney’s baby book.  As I walked around the neighborhood and drove to Sonoma to meet the family I was in awe again by how gorgeous this area is.

Here are some of my pictures along the way:

Luckily I was only 20 minutes away from Sonoma to meet these great people at the train park!

This is what our house looked like on Super Bowl Sunday:

Note to self and guests….. red or any other colored frosting dessert will be eaten outside rain or shine.

After visiting Disneyland we got to spend our last day hanging out with the Rice Family in LA.

We rode on the Christmas train from Sunol to Niles and then back to Sunol.

Some friends joined in on the fun. The kids seem to enjoy going back and forth between the cars.

They had a special visitor that came on the train.

They were thrilled!

Downtown Pleasanton had their annual light parade at the beginning of December. It was a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.

They had lots of gaps between the people in the parade but these three seemed to figure out a way to entertain themselves.

Sydney is very proud of her puppy and mini cage.

The parade was almost rained out but it fortunately held off until after dinner when we had to walk up the hill in the pouring rain. Oops…. I guess next time it is predicted to rain but isn’t at the moment we should still drive the car down the hill.

The kids and I visited family and friends in November and here is a glimpse of what we were busy doing.

Sleep over at Grammy and Grandpas

Helping Aunt Kara and Uncle Keith load up a moving truck and move to Tucson.

Meeting up with friends at our old hang out.

Taking wild and crazy Christmas pictures.

Going to the dog park with Jeremy and Brandon’s dog.

Spending as much time as possible with Kayla and Jayden.

Meeting up with Santa!

Having a midnight snack at Jeremy and Brandons.

Thank you so much to my friends and family that hung out with us on our whirlwind of a trip! The breakfasts, coffees, beers, lunches, dinners, and shopping made it a very enjoyable trip. See you all in less than a month!

For her party we invited her friends to a pumpkin patch to celebrate. We had never been there but heard great things about it. Fortunately I ended up going there 2 days prior on a field trip for Colin’s class and was able to scope it out.

We woke on the morning of the party with rainy weather. So at one point we thought we were going to have to move it to the house but then it happened to stop just in time to continue on as planned.

We started our time off with a train type ride for the kids.

Where do we live?!?!

We then journeyed across the creek to feed the animals.

Each kid got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.

We then sang happy birthday to Sydney.

Video of our lovely singing.

The birthday crew! I had coloring and sticker activities at the tables for the kids to do.

Sydney had lots of help opening up her presents.

After cupcakes and presents, everyone explored the random things they had at the pumpkin patch.

Cousin Lovin’

Thank you Grammy for making delicious and gorgeous cupcakes and thank you both for flying out and helping with all of the birthday festivities.