Memorial Weekend

We decided at the last minute to go camping with some friends for the long weekend. There weren't many options at the last minute so we ended up going to Grant Ranch in San Jose. My friend Jennie and I headed down on Friday morning with the kids and the husbands were going to meet up with us in the evening. Things came up and our friends were only able to spend the day with us.

We rode bikes, and took a trip up to Lick Observatory and look at the telescope (the second largest of its kind in the world). Rick met up with us in the evening and we enjoyed a family campfire with some marshmallows and smores.


Playing in the parking lot and riding bikes.





The Lick Observatory, seeing this big telescope.

 The boys favorite part of camping, the marshmallows and smores.

This was Sutton's first camp trip and she did pretty good. We all got up pretty early in the morning and Rick and the boys started the pancakes and sausage. We took a hike around the lake and then packed up camp. We were planning to stay until Monday but then at the last minute decided to stay one night so we could go to the beach and then get some stuff at home done.




 The boys second favorite part of camping, climbing trees.

 Helping papa make some pancakes and sausage.

 Bikes around camp.

 Starting our hike around the lake.

We headed to Santa Cruz for the day. If we are in town over Memorial weekend this is where we always go. We stopped by the Rip Curl sale and Rick got a new wetsuit and I got a new bag. We headed over to Steamers Lane for the surf competition. The boys enjoyed watching the surfers. We played on the beach and of course ended our day at Marianne's for some ice cream.

Watching the surfer competition at Steamers.

 
My sweet little button who finally got her first few teeth in.

Marianne's our family favorite. Crew ate the bottom of the cone first.

We spent some time in the morning around the house getting a few things done here and there and then met up with our friends from the 9th ward for a BBQ here in Lafayette. It was fun to see all of our friends. It was a nice fun weekend!

Holiday

We decided to pack up the car after church on Sunday for a quick Holiday down the coast. We drove straight to the beach in Carmel to enjoy the afternoon sun and beach. The kids LOVE the beach so they were so excited to be there. We played around for a bit, had some dinner and then checked into the Marriott Hotel in downtown Monterey.

These boys are best friends and love to play together. I hope this lasts forever.

The kids loved running down the sand hill.

This picture makes me laugh. Athen hopped in the stroller and was just kicking back and relaxing with his hands behind his head.

We woke up Monday morning and headed straight to the donut shop. On Mondays the donuts are five dollars for a dozen. After buying five donuts we realized that if we paid another fifty cents we could get a dozen so that is what we did. Although, there may have been a little regret after the kids ate several donuts and were a little wired.

We spent the day walking around cannery row, eating fresh fruit (a favorite by the kids) from the Market Place, playing on the beach, watching the sea otters and swimming in the pool.

This is the only picture of me the whole trip. At least there is some evidence of me being on the family holiday.

Tuesday we woke up and headed out to cannery row for some food. Over course we had to head to the candy store. You can't go to the sea with out getting some salt water taffy. The boys wanted a lollipop and some taffy. I let them each pick out two pieces of taffy and a lollipop. They were pretty happy with that. We drove the 17 mile drive and the kids all fell asleep. It was nice and relaxing. We then grabbed some happy meals and headed to the beach. We ate our lunch and collected treasures on the beach. We tried going to the park but it was closed so we headed back to the hotel to relax and eat our treats.

This boy takes after his mother in so many ways, one being, he loves sweets just as much as I do. I found a rainbow of evidence of his lollipop all over the white bed spread and sheets.

In the afternoon we loaded up the surf boards and headed back to the beach in Carmel. Rick did a little surfing while the kids climbed in the trees and played on the beach. Sutton and I then headed to the bakery while Rick chased the boys around in the water. We ended our evening watching cartoons in bed until the boys fell asleep.

The boys loved the trees and rocks, such boys they are.

Wednesday morning we headed to the Market Place for some breakfast sandwiches and fresh fruit. We then headed down south to Point Lobos. The boys loved climbing on all the rocks and looking for crabs in the water. We hiked around a bit and ate some lunch on the rocks. We went to Whaler's Cove and watched the seals and scuba divers. The kids were fascinated by the divers and all their gear. We went to the Whaler's Cabin museum and saw all the whale bones. On our way home we stopped at the fruit stand and got some french fried artichoke hearts from the choke coach.

I am not sure if the boys like the fresh fruit stand at the Market Place or the candy store better.

It was nice to get away for a few days. We needed a little holiday from all the work we have been doing as home owners.

A few little things

I have been keeping myself busy while Athen is at school or Crew is asleep. I have finished up most of the touch up painting in the house. I went back around and painted (several) walls that Crew took a pen to. I finished up caulking the new trim and painting that. I finished building my planter boxes and painting them. I painted the door windows on the inside as well as the mantel. I then moved on to the outside of the house. I painted the shutters, the windows and the door. I think it looks much better. We still need to do some more painting outside but it is slowly getting there.

Here is what it looked like when we moved in. The ugly arbor and white fence was rotten and falling apart. We ripped that thing out pretty quickly. It was hideous.


This is what it looked like after the fence and arbor were gone. I think it looks better. It opened up the yard a bit.

Here is a closer look at the white shutters.

 Here is what it looks like now. Six black shutters and a red door. It is kinda hard to see in this picture but I think the black shutters look so much better. I will try and get a better picture and post again.

I was looking for Athen today while Crew was asleep and I found him in my craft room. He seems to think it is his craft room. He had gotten down his project box and some supplies and was going to town with the glitter glue. He was "making cards for the family." What a sweetie.

A few days ago I found my peg board like this:

Athen had put a bunch of hearts and cards on my magnet board for me. I loved it. He is such a thoughtful little guy. Notice my little plaque to the left? It says "When you are as great as I am, it is hard to be humble." I got this from my grandma's house a few months ago when we were moving her out. It makes me laugh and puts a smile on my face. My grandma and grandpa use to have little plaques and saying like this all around their house growing up so it reminds me of them which puts a smile on my face. It makes me laugh because it is SO Oustad, the sense of humor and the prankster in all of us Oustads.