Done blogging

I'm outta the game...for now. I'm not shutting it down because I do want to eventually make a memory blog book, but I won't be posting anymore. I do put our photos and big events on facebook. This is me signing off!

The Great Outdoors

We've taken a few fun camping trips this summer. Aaron did the unthinkable and went to Yosemite in the summer without a reservation! The kids have never been in the summer, so he loaded them up at four in the morning and took off, Eli and I stayed home. A true blue miracle happened after three hours of trying to find a place to spend the night, a single spot in the Housekeeping camp opened up as he walked in. He took it and not 30 seconds later another family walked up looking for somewhere to stay. Right place, right time. They had a great time floating in the river that is always too cold in the spring and fall when we usually go. It was just one night, but they packed a lot in!

We also took our annual trip to Shasta. We had a great time, but it was stinkin' HOT! 106-108 degrees every day. Luckily we had the lake to keep us cool and we spent pretty much all day in it. We stayed in a tent cabin that had electricity, but no a/c, so the lake and the pool were our only refuge from the heat. We spent one day away from the lake, our first thought was exploring Shasta Caverns, but being budget minded we headed to a waterfall trail in Dunsmuir, home to the BEST WATER ON EARTH! We filled up all the empty water bottles we had from the fountains they have all over the town. We also ate at the same pizza place we went to on our family reunion two summer ago, sweet memories. Our Shasta trips are usually the highlight of summer because they always mean the ultimate definition of summer. Swimming, boating, sunny weather, running around in a bathing suit all day, eating ice cream, campfires and making s'mores, and getting tan! Best seats in the house.

Home away from home.

River near Shasta

Tube time!

Day out in Dunsmuir.

Olympics inspired diving competition!

Olympic Fever

I LOVE the Olympics. I remember watching them growing up. I remember seeing Greg Louganis and Mary Lou Retton and Jackie Joyner Kersee. I swear my but has not come off the couch since Friday when it all began in London. Besides swimming, diving, track and gymnastics, this time I'm also following women's soccer and beach volleyball. I'm constantly tearing up too.  I will admit though I am such a cheater. I cannot wait and watch the games when they are broadcast. I constantly check this website all morning for the results. I always watch how it goes down later, but I can't handle the suspense. For instance, tonight, during the women's gymnastics team final I would have had a heart attack or walked out of the room if I hadn't known the results already. I don't tell a soul, but knowing the results I can sit back and just enjoy or focus on what went wrong. I love it!! I love the USA, through triumphs and failures it makes me so proud to be a citizen of this country. I especially love it when my kids jump on the couch chanting U-S-A!

New York, NY

Aaron and I have worked out that he should be able to quit his second job at the airport this summer so we have been trying to take advantage of the flight benefits before they're gone. I hopped on a plane to the big apple with Mia and Kai for a weekend getaway in June. We had a blast! The kids did awesome walking everywhere and taking in all the sights. We did so much in one weekend and everything went off without a hitch! Our first day we arrived at JFK early in the morning and the kids had their first cab ride into the city. The hotel was nice enough to let us check in early so we could rest for a minute after the red eye flight. Then we were off! We took the subway downtown and started with a tour of the New York harbor, including The Statue of Liberty, the kids first request. Afterwards we walked around the piers and had a new york hot dog-yes there is a difference! Then we headed over to the 9/11 Memorial. The new building is really coming along and they did a spectacular job observing every victim and the grounds themselves. Only one tree was found alive on the WTC grounds after the attack and they nursed it back to health and planted it in the center of the two memorial pools. We had a subway ride and a nap before we got our Friday night started. We started out at the Museum of Modern Art where we encountered more than one (good) surprise. As we wandered through the musuems halls not really sure what we were seeing, we found a children's center tucked away in one corner and it was jam packed with hands on fun. When they were finally persuaded to explore the rest of the museum we went up to the paintings and sculptures floors. As we entered a new room I noticed a large crowd of people gathered viewing a particular painting. When I turned the corner, my breath literally caught in my throat. My favorite painting was hanging right before my eyes, Vincent Van Gogh's, Starry Night. It was the highlight of my trip. I didn't even know it was there, but I couldn't have planned it better. We also viewed paintings by Picasso, Georgia O'Keefe and Mia's favorite painting by Jackson Pollock. It was hard to top the museum, but seeing the lights and sounds in Times Square with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe was a good way to cap our first night.

Our hotel was in an awesome location halfway between Time Square and Central Park. In the morning we set out for Central Park and walked through a street fair on the way. Before entering the park, we hit up the famous Plaza Hotel and FAO Swcharz toy store-the kids 2nd request. The kids had a blast on the big piano and picking out souvenirs. After walking through the park, rock climbing and swinging we walked over the the restaurant made famous by the movie "Serendipity". I wanted to try their frozen hot chocolate,  but the wait was an hour and a half. We had a Broadway show to get to so we couldn't spare the time. It wasn't too disappointing though since we happened upon Ray's Pizza and had a few slices of new york pizza-yes there is a difference! It was delicious, Mia and Kai dream about that pizza. In fact when I ask them what they would do if they went back they both said they would get a slice of Ray's pizza! Then it was off to Broadway-the kids final request! We saw Peter and the Starcatcher. It's based on a book and Mia and I had read it so we were excited for it to come to life and it didn't disappoint. I laughed so hard I cried. Afterwards we had dessert in Times Square and one last walk around the lights and stores.

We had half a day left before our flight home. That moring we squeezed in the New York public library, where the kids reenacted a scene from Ghostbusters.The architecture was amazing, it was very grand and unlike any library I'd ever been to. We also went to Rockefeller Plaza and took an elevator 70 stories up to the Top of the Rock. We saw amazing views of the whole city. Then to top off our trip we walked passed a movie set and saw Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig filming. It was pretty cool. Our perfect ending was a heart attack inducing cab ride back to the airport.