a day at the lake

All 4 girls pooped out after the hike back to the car

Hailee hanging out at the lifeguard station - taking a break from playing horse shoes.

Amanda and Hailee!

Tegan chillin' in the water.

Here is a picture of our hike down (and back)! LONG way down to the lake!!

the babies all playing together. Too cute. :o)



Well every year I like to take the girls to the lake at least once. Since we were just camping at Beals Point (lake Folsom) at the end of May and it was super full I figured it still would be. WRONG! It was really low. Now, I know it has been lower but it was a pretty long trek to the water. Mind you I was carrying a beach bag, beach toys, umbrella, cooler, pushing a stroller and had four girls with me! It was a lot to say the least. We met up with Jennier & her kids and all of the kids had a blast swimming and playing in the sand. There really wasn't that many people there which made it nice. After playing for a few hours, eating and swimming we decided to beat the heat and head home. After the long hike back up to the cars we loaded in and headed home. Allison and Tegan konked out as soon as the car started and the big girls were pretty worn out as well. All in all another fun summer day!

weekend away!

me and Jennifer at Margaritaville

Lisa, me and Samantha enjoying the beautiful day

Dinner at Zelda's with no kids!

Lisa & Samantha (without their girls).

me and my sister Alisha at the bar.

Last weekend I was able to go away for the entire weekend. While I'm lucky to be able to go out on the occasional night out it has been 3 years since I've been away from Aaron and the girls for an entire weekend alone. Mind you that trip 3 years ago was cut really short because I got the flu so I don't really even count that as a trip away. Of course the week I'm supposed to leave Hailee and Tegan get sick so I was really thinking the worse that either 1 - they would still be sick which would in turn make me a worry wort or 2 - I would get sick. Thankfully neither happened and I had a FABULOUS time! Friday night Lisa and I drove down to Los Gatos and checked into our hotel. We met up with a bunch of girlfriends and hit up Carry's Nation. My little sister Alisha met up with us and we had fun laughing, drinking and talking all night. Samantha, Lisa and I didn't end up falling asleep until about 3am and then of course we were all up around 6:30am. We did force ourself back to sleep and I got a wakeup call from Hailee at 8:30. I'm not going to lie we were all a bit hungover. After a cup of coffee and lots of water we were feeling good enough to go to breakfast. After a yummy breakfast at the Southern Kitchen (best breakfast place EVER) we hit a few shops in LG before heading over the hill to Santa Cruz. Once over the hill we were all feeling REALLY tired so we just picked up some gossip magazines and headed to the pool. We lounged by the pool for a few hours then got ourselves ready and headed over to Capitola. My longtime friend Jessica met us at Zelda's and she had a drink with us while we ate a fabulous meal overlooking the ocean. After dinner we walked around Capitola shopping for trinkets and souviners. Jessica had to leave so we headed back down to the beach and just stared out into the ocean enjoying a relaxing moment. My sister Alisha met up with us and so did my best friend Jennifer. After they arrived we hit up Margaritaville. Alisha and Jennifer enjoyed dinner while the rest of us just enjoyed sitting at a restaurant without tending to children. :o) At about 10 the restaurant goes away and the place because a hopping dance club. We stayed and danced our butts off until about midnight (have NO idea how we lasted that long on 3ish hours of sleep). Sunday we slept in until 10am (which is REALLY long for us moms!) then we headed over to the mall in San Jose. We shopped until we about dropped then had some Mongolian BBQ for lunch. After lunch we headed to the movies and saw My Sister's Keeper. While it was an AMAZING movie . . . maybe not the best film to see in a theather. We were all crying and I'm not gonna lie, there was some hysterical sobbing going on too. After the movie Lisa and I dropped Samantha off at home and we headed home ourselves. After that movie would couldn't get home fast enough to squeeze on our babies. Upon my return (to a HOT 100+ degree's) I found my house sparkeling clean, my car washed, lawns mowed and a beautiful boquet of daisies on the kitchen table. The girls had a fabulous weekend with daddy and it was all around a great weekend for everyone! I have permission to go away more often and I think I will because taking a weekend to myself makes me a better mother and a better wife.

camping on the 4th of July

It's a grand ol flag . . . a high flyin' flag . . .

Hailee & Makayla with glow sticks up their nose

Tegan cooling off in the pool

Tegan passed out standing up on the boat ride.

Hailee & mommy having a ball!

Ahhh . ... relaxation!

All the men relaxing in the water

Tegan striking a pose on the boat.

Samantha & me taking a break from the sun on the boat.

This year for the 4th of July we went camping at Lake Don Pedro with our good friends the Sanchez family and with my sister's family. We got a late start on the road Thursday afternoon leaving home around 4 o'clock. Three hours later we FINALLY made it to the campgrounds. The nice thing about having a trailer is you don't have to set up camp. We backed in and started to relax right away! Friday was a GREAT day. Everyone loaded up and we headed down to the lake. Victor & Heather have a boat which of course they brought so we all climbed in (all 15 of us!) and we headed out to a cove to anchor and play in the water all day. They had just bought an awesome tube and the kids had a blast jumping off of it into the water while we were anchored. It was such a fun relaxing day spent in the sun and water. On the way back to camp Hailee and I hopped onto the tube for a wild ride back. I was a bit worried how Hailee would do since she'd never been towed by a boat before but she laughed the ENTIRE time and had a blast. Now that I know she has NO FEAR next step will be teaching her to wakeboard! Friday was a very hot day so when we got back to camp I blew up a baby pool for Tegan while the big girls had a water balloon fight. After a long day all 3 girls passed out just to wake up bright and early on the 4th. The 4th was another day full of water and sun. Rather than loading up on the boat again we set up camp on the beach and teathered the tubes down so the kids could play in the water while the parents were able to hang on the beach (though we spent a lot of time in the water too!). After another long day playing we headed back to camp to bbq dinner and get ready for the fireworks. I tried to keep Tegan awake for the show but she was just so tired that I put her down about 5 min. before the show started. While I was putting her down the big girls put on a parade singing "Grand 'ol Flag" and marching around with their flags and glow sticks. I came out of the trailer just in time to see an AMAZING show over the lake. The girls were in awe of the huge display but after it was done they were happy to crash into bed. The next day we packed up and headed home. The girls slept the entire way home and it was a trip to remember.