Pebble Beach 2015

We had an amazing week in Pebble Beach this year. Our kids are at such sweet ages, easily entertained (mostly) and able to get themselves mostly ready in the morning and for bed at night. We did the usual stuff but it is all tradition and hard to give any of it up. We had perfect weather all week and truly didn't want to go home at the end of the week!

Eric and Kara overlapped their trip with ours one afternoon. We had a great time with cousins at the beach and playing at the house.

Just like daddy!

Beach fun this year... Making towers and cheering if they survive the waves!

Hudson caught this little guy all by himself!

Beach selfie with my girls.

We spent a long day at the Boardwalk. Everyone went on a lot of rides... I think the Log Ride is still the favorite. We even ran into friends from home that were vacationing in Santa Cruz. Ethan got to go on rides with their son for a while and they invited us over for dinner that night. It was a fun day.

The boys hit Peter Hay several times during the week. And Brooklyn got in on the action one day too.

One morning Kevin told me to take the boys since I hadn't seen them golf yet. Hudson teed up first on the first hole and he sank a hole in one! 104 yard drive. Pretty incredible fr a four year old. He is very proud of himself!

Kevin had craft time with the girls while we were golfing.

Bag piper fun! One of my favorite thing about watching the bag piper is meeting people at the fire and watching my kids chat with them as well. Such a good skill for them to learn. 

One of the best surprises of the week, was running into our friends who now live in New Zealand. We randomly ran into them in Santa Cruz. We invited them to come for dinner later in the week. We all had a great time catching up and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Our new favorite walk down #1 at Spanish Bay and on to the boardwalk by the beach.

New family picture at Pebble Beach.

Love these kiddos!

We bought some boogie boards this time. Ethan really enjoyed using them in the water and the other kiddos "surfed" on the beach:)

Happy Birthday Ethan!

9 years.... 9 years old my boy and I still get overwhelmed having all your buddies over for a party. I still don't totally get boys. I don't get all the wrestling, touching, bodily noises and sports obsessions. I don't get the need to poke and pester and make people laugh all the time. I probably will never totally understand all that, but I love that it makes you you and I love that it means you are all boy. Your dad and I are ready for the challenge to help shape all that energy and ambition into the man God wants you to be. I love that despite all that "boyness" this afternoon you were giving your sister Brooklyn "Eskimo kisses" and laughing hysterically with her. I love that you and Morgan have been going on a bike ride together each morning. I love that you still like to sit on my lap and still sleep with your bear. I love that your daddy is your hero and Hudson is your favorite little dude. I love that together we are learning about obedience, forgiveness and God's grace. 

The golf passion is back!! You are in love with golf and you now like to be dropped off at the course and hit balls all on your own. You love the independence!

You loved this ride at the Boardwalk this summer. You really have no fear with rides and really want to go to a big amusement park.

You still think I'm cool and you still want me around most of the time. I'll take it while I can!

One of your newest hobbies is looking up pictures of sports figures and drawing pictures of them. It's fun to watch a little bit of creativity come from you.

You four are trouble sometimes, you have lots of fun, but you can be at each other's throats pretty quickly too! Mom and dad's prayer for you all is that you become each other biggest fans and best friends.

You started Cadets this year and have really taken to the challenge of earning badges and participating in that activity. I think you earned 6 badges this year!

You love your dad and will do anything to be like him. You don't like to let him down and you would spend every waking moment with him if you could!

Buds! 

You love the Giants and 49ers and after the NBA championship you are now a Warriors fan. I think you would say Jordan Spieth is your favorite golfer. We always have to have a sport to follow! We love you bud and we can't wait to see what year 9 looks like!

Summertime!

The beginning of the summer found us on our annual camping trip. 6 adults and 11 kiddos. We made memories despite the 30 degree nights, stomach flu and rain!

The dads thought the kids would love an afternoon on the party boat... They lasted an hour! But the dads had a nice couple hours on the lake!

We decided to head to the city avoid the heat of the valley one day. We toured Coit tower... The views were amazing! Good thing since we paid a pretty steep parking ticket for our endeavor:(

Then there was golf camp for 6 cousins. Lots of fun had by all!

Kevin and I got away for a quick weekend to see my friend Mary and her husband Kurt in Montana. We had an amazing childfree weekend talking and doing Montana things like hiking, four wheeling and tubing at her parents lake house. Thanks Kurt and Mary for an amazing weekend!!

So Long Preschool.....

Kindergarten here we come!!!!

So hard to believe my babies will be in school FULL TIME next year. I have very mixed emotions about it all. Very excited for them to grow and learn and make new friends. And for me to have a little more time to myself and work more. But, it will be the first time in 9 years I haven't been home full time taking care of somebody. God has been good in granting me these sweet years with my kiddos and I'm so thankful for every sacrifice we have made to make it happen. I will miss having shopping buddies and kiddos to play with. It is just another phase of life though and I think we are ready. Doesn't mean I won't cry on the first day of school!

Hudson and Brooklyn with some friends. They two girls are twins as well. Their kindergarten class will have 4 sets of twins!

Their preschool had a small celebration with a few songs and diplomas and awards. It is always fun to watch your kids perform.

The kiddos did the flag salute and sang God Bless America. So sweet!

Brooklyn getting her diploma and award. Each kid gets an award based on a particular attribute or skill the teacher observes throughout the year. Brooklyn got the creative award.

Hudson got the Athletic award. Pretty spot on for both of them.

The two kiddos who rocked our world and changed it for the better! (most days...)

Friends

Kara and I have started running together.... Well, now that she's pregnant we can run together, otherwise we start together and I watch her zoom past me:) She has decided that my friends and I aren't crazy after all for getting up and running at 5 AM, we are just practical and good time managers:) In the last year we have run one marathon and two half marathons "together". I love my sis!

The kids had an Open House and Grandparents day at school a few weeks ago. Here is Ethan in front of the grandparent pictures they made. Can you find his grandparents?

Here is Morgan in front of the picture of what she wants to be when she grows up.

For Easter we went to the coast with Kevin's parents who were visiting for Grandparents day. We had a great time and didn't want to leave!

Easter Egg hunt time!

At the Apple Store getting Kevin's phone replaced... They sure know how to keep the kiddos entertained!

Brooklyn is constantly taking my phone and snapping pictures, here is one of our friends we "won" at the carnival. (Or paid $5 so we were guaranteed to have happy kiddos!)

Look what we can do with her hair now! Look back at our blog a year ago and you will see how far it has come!