Bakersfield Part 3

Monday morning Powell took the kids to McDonald's for breakfast. When he got back we took the kids to the park near their house. They had a good time playing and splashing in the splash pad. When Brett got home from work he took us to the lake in his new boat!!!! Hurray. It was so fun to have all of the kids ski.

Nothing like some egg mcmuffins with bed head!

It started with laughing and ended with crying....that's how it goes some times with those two! 

I'm sorry.....I just can't get enough of this girl. What is she thinking? She has a handful of bark.

Ok.....looks like she wants the bark on the pole. Makes sense, I guess.

Dalton is such a darling boy. My favorite thing is when he laughs. His mannerisms remind me of Madi. Look at those big eyes. We sure miss him!

The little ones all could push the buttons to make the water come on.

Brinley was so brave to try skiing. She didn't get up but she tried once and I think that is pretty good for a five year old.

Powell was holding the rope while Madi was out skiing. The idea with these learner skis is that someone in the boat holds the other end and then lets go if the skier crashes. Powell got the idea that he would sit on the back of the boat and as Madi came up out of the water, Powell went into the water. He sprung because he was afraid of hitting the propellor. I wish I had got it on tape. It was so funny seeing him and Madi out in the water holding the two ends of the rope. 

Madi skied for a long long long time. It was her best time ever! You can see how happy she is about it.

Savannah made a good effort

The Captain of the boat.

Mckenna was super good while we were boating.

Hunter got up on skis for the first time. Wahoo!

Bakersfield Part 2

We were glad the girls had a swim meet while we were visiting. Their meet was out in the boonies in a town called Taft, California. I seriously felt like I was in some small desert town in a movie. It was HOT! I mean like over a hundred degrees. I guess we are wimps because after like 20 minutes the kids started saying they didn't feel good, they were hot, and their stomachs started hurting. We watched one race and then left for an hour to get a slurpy while waiting for the second race. Madi and Saige both did really well. I couldn't get over all of the kids that swim in the swim meets! 

I love her determination...This is Saige, by the way.

Look at Madi go!

Do we look a little hot?

Once we were back home we went straight to the pool. Sydney and Dalton joined us this time and Sydney was a dare devil.

On her own she walked to the highest part to jump off. She just jumped with no one to catch her. 

Cute Dad!

I love how she just leans into her jump.....no fear! 

I got such a kick out of this little girl.

And here is Savannah......our shining star!

Brett and the kids built a fort. It was the best fort ever (according to the kids and Brett). He used bar stools and a ladder. The top part on the upper bunk bed was called the "skytop-hightop". The "family room" was on the bottom bed and it had a laptop that played their movie. Under neath the desk was the "basement". The kids even slept all night in the fort.

Look at the hand hanging down...

Bakersfield Part 1

Our summer vacation this year was to go to the "Remund Resort" (Uncle Brett and Aunt Nat's house).  We were excited to have 6 days to spend with all the cousins. Brett took some time off from his VERY BUSY job and Natalie spent lots of time preparing wonderful meals to make it nice for us. THANK YOU to both of them. Considering we had 8 kids between the two families, it went remarkably well and I even got several hugs from Ms. Sydney (this is kind of a big deal if you know this busy girl). Lots of great memories were made and I'm excited to show some of them.

Tricks in the pool right after arriving. We flew to LAX and then rented a mini-van and drove to Bakersfield.

This trick is "criss-cross, applesauce" in case you wondered.

My Girls at the Zermatt

We had a blast staying at the Zermatt....wish we could have stayed longer. I told Heather and Melissa that I was treating them to an overnight stay and dinner for helping me day in and day out on the red house. They seriously helped SOOOO much. I don't know how I could have done it without them. It took us this long to coordinate a day that would work.

The food at the bistro was super good. We are definitely going back.

We did some hot tubbin!

Can someone tell me why I always share a bed with the diet coke drinkin, fartin, chatty patty?  It's a good thing I love her so much!

Spring Softball

Savannah loves softball. I wish she would practice more but she just does it for fun every Spring. She sprained her wrist about half way through the season and also went to California so she missed a few games.....ugg. Anyway, she had really good coaches and a fun time with her team. Here are a few pictures that Powell snuck and took. We ARE NOT ALLOWED to clap, cheer, yell or take photographs.....ha ha ha.