California Dreamin'

What a great way to vacation with the kids! We just spent a week out at my parent's house in California and enjoyed every waking moment! I don't think we could have squeezed in one more activity!
The kids LOVED swimming in the pool at the house...especially when Grandpa jumped in with them!The girls got to go golfing with Uncle Travis and Daddy one afternoon...they really do love going out on the course with the guys!

Mostly, I think, they love going on the golf carts! Karlee got to drive the cart by herself this time...she was a pro!

One afternoon we hit the beach with our good friends Ron and Stacy Carter and their kids! The weather cooperated perfectly and we had to drag the kids out of the water that evening.

We continued the family tradition of hitting "Scandia" on our trip. This is the carnival-like amusement park in Ontario, California. The kids like this place better than Disneyland (honestly, just ask them!) and we spent hours going on the tilt-a-whirl, the spinning spaceship, roller coasters, merry-go-rounds and giant slides.

One of the best things about these trips is getting to spend time with all the Nemrow's! Brooke came out and was with us all week too...it was like a big reunion!

Blair and Shanna and the kids were there...they even made us a delicious dinner at their house one night! The kids had a blast together (it's so great that Audree has a cousin her age!) and we were totally impressed with their backyard garden!

We also got to hang out with Travis and Katie and their adorable (really, she is the smiliest baby I have ever seen!) Bristol! Katie even organized a girls-day-out on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills! I felt a little out of place with all the armed guards outside the stores there...but the jewlery down there is FABULOUS! Also, had some of the best BBQ chicken pizza ever!

Grandma and Grandpa were as accomodating as ever and made sure we were well taken care of! We had a great time doing a campfire dinner down at the beach with them! Let's just say we had our fair share of s'mores on this trip! We also got to visit Great-Grandma and Grandpa Nemrow and made use of their warm pool and diving board!

Just before we left to head home we made one more stop at the Chino Hills Shoppes water fountains. The kids got soaking wet and ran through the fountains like mad! Mackenzie was having so much fun we had to chase her out of the fountains 3 times!
I know there were a bunch more things we did...like go to the park, take a walk, watch some movies, get dougnuts for breakfast, etc...Anyways, it was a great time and I hope the kids will always remember these fun trips together!

Audree is 4!!

Well, my baby girl is growing up...she turned 4 and had very specific ideas of what she wanted for her birthday! She wanted cupcakes that said her name...check...she wanted to go to the Art City Days Carnival...check...and she wanted daddy to win her a teddy bear at the carnival...oops! Well, we had a great little party at our house with pizza and cupcakes (thanks to Bee, Doug, Jess, Adam, Lucy, Grandma and Grandpa for coming over!) and then headed to the carnival (inbetween rain storms).
The whole teddy bear thing didn't pan out because they wanted to charge like $20 to play the game that wins the teddy bear...Audree was bummed because we refused to play it (what if we didn't even win???)...but the next day we went out and surprised her with a fluffy and soft stuffed dog and she forgot all about her sadness!

Jake had a blast with Karlee and Rylee who were barely big enough to ride most of the big rides. It freaked me out, but they LOVED going on the huge spinning Zipper and Starship rides! I took the little ones home at 9:00...but Daddy and the big girls stayed until closing to get their fill of nauseating rides!

My Super Heros!

As we were getting ready for bed tonight and helping Karlee practice piano, Spencer decided to show off his new skill of jumping off the window seat in the living room. Jake was impressed with his skills and thought we should document this feat. Of course, once the camera came out...all the kids had to join in!!

This game had us laughing for about half an hour...and knocked them out just in time for bed!