Friday was a good day!

California is burning up and it has been really smoky in Truckee all week long. So on Friday we decided to head down to Reno to do our grocery shopping and hopefully avoid the smoke. After getting the oil changed and going to 2 stores the kids had had enough and were beginning to melt (probably didn't help that it was 100degrees out!)
This is the scene leaving the last store.
Ella tried to get in through the back and got stuck:
Micah was on the other side crying about something with his shoes:

The view of Ella from the other side:

I decided that it was time for them to cool down and run around. We headed over to Sparks, there is a really cool fountain in front of the movie theater there and in the summer tons of kids come out to run around in it. What a difference 20 minutes makes:

Ella having fun:

A much happier Micah:

After getting home we were invited by Valerie to go to the Village at Northstar to hang out with friends, eat sushi and go rollerskating. Great way to spend a Friday night!

Micah enjoying his sushi (yes he eats sushi with a helmet on, special child):

Ella and her California Roll:

Micah king of the rink:

Ella training for the roller derby:

We ran into lots of friends in the Village. Ella saw Zachary, her friend from school, they had tons of fun skating together:

Ella and Zach:

Valerie brought her new puppy, Chesley a Goldendoodle, he wouldn't stand still for pictures, but here he is with Ella. He is so much fun!

Shopping, running through fountains and TONS of fun at Northstar... Friday was a good day!

On Saturday we had Ella's 1st ballet recital. The auditorium was standing room only, filled with parents and little girls in tutus, complete chaos. Ella's class danced to "Pink Elephants on Parade" from Dumbo. I tried last night to upload a video of their performance, but so far I am unsuccessful. For now here are some shots.

Ella in costume before her performance:
The row of costumed little girls and a glimpse of the chaos:

Ella and her class:

Ella getting ready to go on stage:

Hopefully we will have a video up soon!!

Micah loved having my brother Mike around all week. He thinks Mike is the coolest and loves having someone so willing to play with him all the time. Here they are playing around at Northstar, we went up to see Cliff and check out the final day of the Tour de Nez:

On Sunday morning I woke up to find this on my couch:

Sunday afternoon Ella had a birthday party at West End Beach. We all went to hang on the beach for a few hours. Since the birthday party was mostly boys and Ella is in a NO BOYS faze, she spent most of her time on the beach playing with Micah and Uncle Mike (don't tell her they are boys too!). She did go over to the party for cake though!

Here they are making a lake:

Micah buried in the sand:

My mom and the kids at the lake:

It was a packed weekend and we were so happy that we got to share it with my mom and brother and my dad!

Now we just have to spend the week catching up on sleep!

She did it!

We are so proud to say that after 2 long years of cutting, coloring, counting, singing and learning to write, Ella graduated from preschool last night! Our wonderful preschool held an adorable graduation potluck picnic last night. The graduates, dressed in their caps and gowns, sang songs and received their diplomas. It was a perfect Truckee night....so much fun!

Here is the graduate processional, yes they walked out to pomp and circumstance!
Our little graduate sneaking a wave, Beck Wilson to the left and Spencer to the right:

Ella pondering her achievement:

Receiving her diploma from Teacher Heather:

Cliff and Ella:

Cliff and I and Ella:

with Papa Rick:

Ella and her best friend Summer:

with Uncle Mike, Micah and Grandma Julie:

me and my little girl:

Watch out Kindergarten...here we come!

Lots of excitement this week! On Tuesday my brother Mike came to stay with us for the week. With Cliff so busy working on his event in town, the Tour de Nez (www.tourdenez.com), it has been nice to have an extra set of hands (and eyes and ears) around the house. The kids LOVE having him here and we have been having a lot of fun.

Here they are having a sword fight:

On Tuesday we discovered a duo that is almost better than peanut butter and jelly.... its water and a trampoline. We zipped the kids into their little caged jumping area and then sprayed them with the hose (again something that we might not want to share with CPS) and they had a BLAST!

Here is Mike spraying them down:

The happy jumping faces:

Direct hit:

On Wednesday night we went to the first concert in the park of the summer. It is definitely one of my favorite things about summer in Truckee. Sitting on the grass with the kids running around like crazy, listening to music and having a beer. It doesn't get much better than that!

Then last night we went out to support Cliff's event, Tour de Nez in downtown Truckee. Ella and Micah took part in the kids bike race in downtown. I forgot my camera! Whoops! Micah took it very seriously, pedaling so hard he was rocking from side to side on this training wheels. Ella, who has the freedom of no training wheels, took off like a bat and I didn't find her until the end. It was hilarious, none of the kids knew to stop at the finish line so they ended up going around the block with all the parents chasing after them and screaming. The streets were all blocked off, so everyone made it safely (OK maybe there were a couple of skinned knees) and had a great time!

Tonight is Ella's graduation from preschool, I'm sure that there will be lots more pictures this weekend!

Congratulations to our little Kindergartner!!

Happy Dad's Day!

The weather has finally turned nice and we decided that camping would be a great way to spend Father's Day weekend. Since gas is $4.79 a gallon up here, we decided to keep things local and head over to Donner Lake for some camping and boating in our own backyard this weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we had lots of good friends come with us...it was a great weekend! Here are the highlights:

The kids with their daddy at our campsite:

Micah riding his bike, stationary bike. His back tire was high centered, but it didn't stop him from riding in place....for quite a while, getting in a good workout is important to him:

Sutter and Oscar joined us for Friday night:

Classic camping shot:

On the beach we found a wounded dragonfly. He was happy to pose for pictures:

The kids and Oscar going for a boat ride:

On Saturday Oscar and Sutter had to leave us, but the Hatcher family came to hang out for the second night. With gas prices so high, the girls found a cheaper way to get a ride around the lake. Here is the Hatcher's golden named Tango pulling Summer around:

And Ella:

After a long day at the beach, it was time to head back to the campsite for dinner and a campfire. After a yummy cheeseburger and sausage BBQ we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. After the first one it turned into a marshmallow free -for-all, who has time to wait for graham crackers and chocolate?:

Here is Summer enjoying hers:

And Ella:

Sunday morning we woke up and had a breakfast burrito Father's Day breakfast and then it was back to the beach. Here are the girls getting ready:

We keep an old surf board on the boat to pull around. Being that it is still June and the water is still only 64 degrees (brrrrr!) the girls decided to do their surfing in the lagoon on the other side of the beach. Here they are surfing Donner Lake style:

Summer's big brother Ethan joins the group:

Since there are no waves, we had to have the Dad's pull them around:

Micah didn't like having to wait for his turn, so he created his own surfboard. It was a floating seat cushion, but it kept him happy in his own little world:

Here is everybody loaded up for the trip back across the lake to take the boat out. 4 kids, 3 dogs and 2 dads. Karen and I had to drive the cars around:

Here are the kids on their final journey home:

We all had a great time! Hopefully there will be lots more camping this summer!