Emily Turns 4!

Here is Emily with her birthday cake and some presents... She had a good day!

Emily's First Day at Preschool

Emily was so excited to go to preschool! She didn't even look back!!




When I went to pick her up, I got a snap shot of her cubby with her artwork and backpack.


Here she is having fun hopping in the playyard.

This is what happens when I take a shower...

Two weeks ago, Brandon flooded the down stairs bathroom.... this time it was only film...

Snow at Frazier Park

With the winter storms we have been having, the snow level has fallen down to the point that snow was within minutes of the house. The roads were open so we drove up to Frazier Park to let the kids play in the snow.


The road up to Mt. Pinos was closed unless you had chains, so we stopped along side the road at the Flying J truck stop. It seems like half of LA must have had the same idea because the crowds were enormous.

(Click to make the panorama bigger) Here's a panorama of the area where we stopped. The truck stop was swamped. I don't think the truck drivers or truck stop people were too happy about it because they were driving around chasing people out of the no parking zones. Though, it was no use, there were just too many people. Every time they cleared an area, it was filled back up within minutes.


Brandon didn't enjoy the cold very much.


Here's Emily enjoying the snow. I didn't get any pictures of Sarah and Ben since I was spending most of my time with Brandon and Emily.


On the way back, we stopped at "Vista Del Lago" near Pyramid Lake. There is a very nice visitors center with a small museum talking about water usage at the lake. Ah,. a nice warm visitor's center...


The mountains around the lake were snow-capped. This is about 20 minutes from our house.

La Purisima Mission

(Click to see the panorama bigger)
Sarah has to do her standard 4th grade mission project and she chose La Purisima mission near Lompoc. We drove up Saturday to visit the mission. Here's a panorama of the mission grounds.


They have a new visitors center with lots of displays that still need to be built. This one was on how they do restoration work at the mission.


They had a table of things that the kids could play with. One of the things was this doll. You can see an incomplete display in the background that shows what they plan to put there, as well as the estimated cost.


The mission is on the outside of town so it's like stepping back in time. There are a lot of animals. The kids enjoyed feeding and petting them.


Brandon and Emily enjoyed looking at the clothes washing pool. Bradon requested a penny to drop into the water. I gave him one which he dropped in. He then wanted another.

One of the docents showed Sarah how to grind corn. Sarah brought her friend Monique along for the trip. Monique got to grind corn as well.






We then had pizza in Lompoc and got back in the evening. Made for a long, but rather inexpensive and educational adventure.

Holiday Adventure

We traveled up north to visit family for the holiday break. The first stop was Matt's mom's house in Salinas.


We drove over to Monterey and went to the "Dennis The Menace" park. They had a great big train that the kids climb on. I didn't get a picture of the kids on the train, but here's the train.


Brandon was dwarfed by the wheels.


Sarah enjoyed the climbing wall.


We walked down to Fisherman's Warf and Cannery Row. On the walk back, Ben decided to run around on the sand at the beach. Of course, he had to get his feet wet. He had a great time running in the surf!


Unfortunately, the rocks can be slippery. Ben fell into the (very cold) water. Brrrr...


I gave him my flannel shirt to try and warm back up.


We then went over to the Tech Museum in San Jose. Here is a picture of the kids on the exhibit where they can build their own bobsled ride.


Friday we visited the kids great grandparents (my grandpa and grandma). Great grandpa had lots of toys for the kids.




Saturday we headed back home. The kids got a picture with their Great Grandpa and Uncle Mark before we left.

Christmas

Ah, Christmas at the Schnittkers... What a day!

Here is the house the kids built... then they demolished it soon after... yummy!

Ben is showing his little brother his candy that they received in their stockings from Santa.

I think Matt is a little tired here... The kids got up early to see that they got.

Brandon is snuggling up with my Grammy (87 years old)...
Everyone had a wonderful day!

Emily, The Little Christmas Tree

For the winter dance festival this year, Emily was in Little Christmas Tree... a very cute dance with the song by Stevie Wonder.

Brandon's Artwork

It doesn't take long for Brandon to get into things...

Here's his latest artwork on the wall with blue crayon!

Halloween

This year, Shannon decided to dress up! Here she is with all of the outdoor decor.


Isn't she lovely!!!


And here are the kids:
Brandon, the lion
Emily, the butterfly
Ben, the dementor
Shannon, the dead bride
Sarah, Supergirl

The Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to Lombardi Ranch to pick out pumpkins. This is a yearly outing for us.


The kids all picked out pumpkins and had a great time.


They had animals for the kids to see...



...and lot's of photo opportunities.


The kids liked picking out the mini pumpkins as well.


Everyone had a fun time.

Unfortunately this is likely to be the last trip to Lombardi Ranch for us since much of the ranch was destroyed in the recent fires. Very sad. Though, we will always have our memories of this fun place.

A Trip to Disneyland

We took a trip to Disneyland on Saturday. The park was really crowded, but we all had a good time.


Ben got chosen to participate in the Jedi Training show. It was a really good show. The kids got to have a lightsaber duel with either Darth Maul or Darth Vader. Here's Ben dressed up in Jedi Garb.


At the end he got a certificate.


We all dressed in red so that we matched and would stand out as a family. We thought it might make it a little less difficult for the kids to get lost in the crowd.


What we didn't realize is that it was "Gay Day" at Disneyland. Everyone who was there to celebrate Gay Day was also dressed in red. So, we were pretty much surrounded by red shirts. So much for standing out!


Sarah at New Orleans Square.


Emily looking across the water to the Mark Twain steamboat.


Brandon on board the Mark Twain!