Tahoe Time

We just returned from a great week in Tahoe.  It was a girls-only week!  Papa Rod and Daddy had to work and weren't able to make it up so it was up to Grandma Lala and me to vacation the kiddos.  And I must say, we did an awesome job!  We beached, we hiked, we ice creamed, we beached some more, we picnicked, we visited, we shopped, we explored, we splashed (it actually rained!), we cooked, we read and we even entertained.  It was a full week and a ton of fun.  Thank you so much, Lala, for making it so great! More pictures to come but wanted to post just a few:

Could Audrey look more delighted?

More pictures to come.  There are soooooo many and it's going to take me a few days to go through them all!

Cuties

The girls actually wanted to wear matching dresses the other day, AND get their hair brushed and done, AND sit on a cute bench outside of the library together. So, I'm happy I had a camera with me. These opportunities don't present themselves too often.

This expression kind of captures our mischevious little sister of the house these days.  She LOVES getting into Natalie's special stuff.  It's truly her favorite hobby. 

It goes like this...

Audrey is out of sight and quiet for 5 minutes

Natalie and I realize Audrey has been out of sight and quiet for 5 minutes.

Natalie shoots me a look of terror at this realization

She runs in search of Audrey

I wait to hear Natalie's scream

Scream, she does.

Then I hear the sweetest little, "I sowwy, Natalie"

Then I hear Natalie's screams turn into sobs

Then Audrey comes running for my protection

Then Natalie follows with the broken/open/used  up/fingered/messed up treasure

that Audrey has had her sticky little hands on during the previously mentioned 5 quiet minutes and goes on and on about how Audrey ruins everything.

Audrey's "sowwy" is so sweet that I beg Natalie to forgive her.  It usually doesn't work.  Natalie doesn't think the "sowwy" sweet or cute or at all adequate. 

Tonight Audrey let loose the 30 roly poly bugs that Natalie had collected in a Tinkerbell Tupperware snack trap and was told not to bring inside in the first place. 

Natalie was busy elsewhere and Audrey came into the kitchen and said, "Sowwy, Mommy." 

"Sorry for what?" I asked her. 

"The mess," she said. 

 "What mess?" 

"Natalie woom.  Um thee!"  (Natalie's room.  Come see!)

She led me to the scene of the roly poly release.  Roly polies were everywhere.  The carpet was a mess of moving dots, large and small.  Lovely.

At least the kid isn't afraid to confess or apologize. 

That will serve her well, I suppose.

Just not with her sister.

Canal Trail

We live really close to a trail that runs along the Contra Costa Canal.  This trail goes right past Natalie's future school, a Safeway, a Starbucks and a huge park.  And that's just a small section of it.  It actually stretches through about 5 neighboring towns.  We walked a section of it today to the park and had a lot of fun.  We were spoiled in Phoenix with three parks within walking distance so even though this one is a bit farther than we're used to, once we're on the trail, it's a safe and traffic-free journey.  With one parent (usually), one kid on a bike and one in a stroller, traffic-free is such a relief!  I hated getting off the trail onto busy streets to finish our walk home.  It seemed so loud and crazy after such a tranquil path.

 Audrey's hair is so pretty right now.

The kid has natural highlights many are paying big money for!

The pond at the enormous park

 The park bike trail

 The canal trail

Brooks biker extraordinaire!

The sight of grass and green trees in recent pictures still catches me off guard after four years in the desert. 

Happy 4th!

We had a great 4th of July in our new town.  Well, we actually spent it in a few different towns.  We went to a parade this morning in Danville.  The downtown was packed and full of energy and the girls loved it.  Firetrucks, cheerleaders, high school bands, martial arts performances, a dancing Chinese dragon, classic cars, horse drawn carriages, helicopters overhead, and candy and goodies handed over in abundance to little kids.  It was a hit.

After an afternoon at home, Corey and Natalie headed out to watch a local musical event in Concord called the singing flag and the fireworks that followed.  Audrey and I skipped the fireworks this year.  Her bedtimes and nights have been dreadful lately so I didn't think a super late bedtime tonight was worth it.  Of course, as I write this waiting for Corey and Natalie to come home, Audrey is very much awake (1.5 hours past her bedtime) and playing with my hair.  Good grief, this kid. 

Our little gymnast

Has it seriously alread been almost 2 weeks since I posted anything?  Relocating to a new state has to be THE most time consuming activity...other than parenting small children...and starting a new job.  And we're doing all three.  What else are we doing???

Gymnastics!!  Or as Natalie calls it, "ginnastics!"

Natalie's been in a bit of a funk since we arrived here.  Actually, her funk started before we left Phoenix.  She had more trouble with the move than we anticipated and she still gets emotional when we talk about things we miss about our life there.  She misses Aunt Ashley.  Ditto.  She misses our babysitter next door.  Ditto.  She misses going to preschool every day.  Ditto. 

So we decided to involve this kid in some local activities to get her a little more excited about living here.  She's always talked about taking gymnastics so we took her to a trial class last week.  When she was finished I asked her if she liked it enough for me to sign her up for a month of classes and her response was, "I want to do that every day that we live here!"  I took that as a yes and signed her up for a class called the Fantastic Fives.  She LOVES the name.  She also loves to practice her tumbling at home on our camping mats.  And she likes the balance beam that Grandma Lala made her out of bricks in the backyard.  But then she told Corey that she couldn't possibly REALLY practice until he installed a trampoline and a foam pit for her.  Good grief.  She's more demanding than an Olympian.

I cannot wait for the olympics to start because she is going to be captivated watching those gymnasts now that she's been exposed to the equipment firsthand.  Thank you to Grandma Lala for coming last week and allowing the kids to still have fun while I spent days and days doing moving business (8 total hours at the DMV or DMV related activities...ugh!).