Spring Break

We had a busy spring break! We went on a road trip to Pinecrest and stayed in a nice cabin. There were a few patches of snow on the ground under the trees, but not much. When we arrived, we went down to the lake where Uncle Mark was trolling around in his boat. He took the kids out for a spin. It was a little chilly.



Then the boys made fire.



The next morning, we got to go snowmobiling with Papa. Here is Brandon and Emma ready to go!

We got up to around 9000 feet and Ben got to try snowmobiling by himself.

He did a great job and had a lot of fun running around the meadow. Here is Matt, Emma, and Brandon on one of the machines.

And here is Shannon and Sarah in the back and Papa and Emma in the front on their machines.

We almost make it back to the truck with no breakdowns and then Mark throws a belt. Papa is always prepared and had a spare.

Near the parking lot, there was no snow... and it was really rough. The machines do not like running on the pavement... here's one in the ditch. Ben didn't do it...



Then we headed to SLO for a few days... here is some more creek fun.




Easter Sunday was beautiful. The kids got their Easter baskets and hunted for eggs.
Here are my kids and my brothers boys. (l-r. Jason, Emma, Sarah, Zachary, Ben, and Brandon)

Ben's Wall Climbing....

Pretty darn impressive, if you ask me!!!

Emily turns 5!

Today is Emily's birthday and we celebrated with cake and presents last night!! Emily's dinner of choice was McDonald's and she was very excited to find the Littlest Pet Shop toy that she's been wanting in the bag.



Emily put the candles on her cake.



Ready to blow them out!
Then time to open presents!
She was very excited to find Grammy sent her beef jerky!



And she loved her princess Belle doll from Mommy & Daddy.

Father-Daughter Dance

Last night, Sarah and Matt went to her school's Father-Daughter Dance. They had a great time! Wow, my little baby Sarah (4lb 12oz) is growing into such a beautiful lady! I am so proud of her! Daddy is not bad lookin' either (wink, wink)...


And on Friday, Emma lost her second tooth!

Out and about in the Santa Clarita Valley

We've been busy, but not really...
A couple of weeks ago, we wanted to check out the local bike trails and paseos around the Santa Clarita Valley.



So we packed up the cars with the bikes and headed to the mall. We parked the cars there and went over the pedestrian bridges to the paseo near the river.




We followed it to the end and back. The kids had a great time.

Then we checked out Placerita Canyon Nature Center in the Newhall area. Ben is working on a scrapbook report for school.


Here is Ben with his walking stick.


Here is our nature guide showing off an American Kestrel. He is a very pretty bird and part of the falcon family.


Our guide led us on a short trail around the nature center pointing out different things like: Sycamore trees, Coastal Live Oak trees, Poison Oak, the Walker Ranch house, and the Oak of the Golden Dream.

Then the kids couldn't resist the temptation of the creek! Shoes came flying off and into the water they went.


They started building up a small dam.


Brandon and Emma made sand angels.

Matt, Sarah, and Ben went on a nature hike. They didn't know how far they would go and they ended up at the waterfall. It was about a 3 mile hike! Here are some great pictures.

The PowderPuff Pinewood Derby

Today, Sarah entered her car into the Girl Scouts PowderPuff Pinewood Derby.

Here is her car.


They had the track set up in the MPR room at the middle school and here is her car being lined up for her first race.


And the finish!!! 2.639 seconds!!! A great first run!!!

After three more runs, she finished 5th place out of 43 cars! It was great!


Here she is with her ribbon and car.

Scooter's Jungle

Emily was invited to a birthday party for one of her preschool friends and this is what happened... The kids had a blast. It's this indoor jump house place near our house. They had a huge slide, a smaller bounce house slide, and a zip line.

Ah, what to do with a 3-day weekend...

Well... let's see...
We spent Saturday in downtown Ventura and visited many shops and just walked around...





Then we headed to the beach. When we turned off the car, it said 76 degrees AT THE BEACH IN JANUARY!!!!
Here are come great shots of the kids trying to keep this sand shelf from falling into the ocean.




At some point, the shovel got washed away in the tide... but it showed up a few yards down the beach... Emma was very happy to find it.


Shannon found a really round rock... Ben called it a cannon ball.

Then on Sunday, we just hung our around the house and Grandma came for a visit.

Monday we headed to Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. We went into many shops and had Korean BBQ for lunch. Here is Ben with his straw/chopstick creation.


Here is a pic of Shannon and Sarah with the Ninomiya Sontoku statue... It really reminded her of her stay in Japan many years ago...