Weird Weather -- Again

Yes, another post about the weather. If you've been in San Diego the last few weeks you'll have noticed our strangely weird weather we've had. It's August and the only hint of summer is that the days are longer and there were fireworks. Other than that we've been feeling like we're living in Seattle instead of Southern California! I'm not actually complaining about it -- I LOVE the cool weather. I wish it was cool like that all year round. Not only does it keep some tourists away but it I don't end up sweating so much. But I've had this agonizing need to get a tan at the beach lately and the weather was just not cooperating. We decided to pack the kids in the car and drive on over anyway. It was pretty chilly down there but we managed to have a good time blowing bubbles and running up and down the sand. Who needs sun??













I know this one is fuzzy but I just loved it for some reason. She was probably yelling at us about the rocks she was finding or the sand in her shoes.














I'm always in awe of his eyelashes.

Beautiful Girl

Here are a couple shots I took recently of my beautiful little Lia girl. Her hair had been in pigtails earlier so it ended up looking kind of wild. And she was so serious. But so pretty! She's turning into such a little girl, a little person, she's not the little baby she was just a short time ago.

Big Trip: Part 3

With all the "work" out of the way for me we had the next 4 days to relax together at Tyler's parents' house. We hadn't been up there since two Christmases ago when Lia was just 5 weeks old. Although I think Tyler has been up there since with the kids, but I can't really remember. Anyway, it had been a long time!

We had a seriously great time up there. We stayed in the RV for most of the time which was actually really nice. We had our own space and the kids had a nice quiet place for them to sleep and rest. We didn't have to worry about a noisy house full of kids waking each other up.

We spent one day on the boat and had a blast. Max and Lia LOVED it.



It was pretty much the perfect day, too. Not a cloud in the sky and it wasn't unbearably hot, either.



The guys and Molly did a lot of wake surfing and wake boarding. Cory is pretty impressive on the wake board. He gets some good air.









Tyler does really well, too, considering he hasn't had as much practice as everyone else. Well, I was impressed at least! No, he really did do a great job.











That's Tyler!




That's me!


See, happy kids on the boat! Max thought it was so cool how fast it went. I thought Lia would be bugged by the life jacket but she didn't really care all that much. She was happy sitting with Grammie and watching everything that went on and eating LOTS of baby carrots.





Tyler and his brother. I just liked this picture. Not sure why, actually!


Then Max and Lia and the rest of the cousins got to go tubing! I wasn't sure if Max would actually do it, but I think the fact that he had no idea what it was helped. He got right on with Tyler and held on tight. Tyler said he was laughing and smiling the whole time. Funny kid!









Even Lia had a blast! Tyler said she didn't really like the splashing water in her face but every time he asked her if she wanted to get off she would say no.





Yup, that's her with her hands in the air. Her expression doesn't show it but it was the timing of the photo because she was smiling and laughing.


Then Tyler decided to do this with Max...


Which resulted in THIS of course.


Poor kid was afraid to stay in the water after that. But he did get back in to go with Papa on the tube one more time.





And then at some point during our day the boat broke down. I think it got turned off when everyone wanted to get in and swim and then it wouldn't start again. For like an hour. Everyone handled it pretty well, though. We were on our way to take the babies back for naps so even though they were really tired they did great. It eventually started up and we headed back in.






Even Papa got some surfing in.

And Max got to help Papa drive the boat for a while.


Jessica was the most adventurous of the grandkids. She's also the oldest so that probably helps. She was loving jumping off the side of the boat.


The next day Papa took all the grandkids to a cute little candy shop in downtown Sonora.





He let each kid have a few dollars to pick out some candy. The kids went nuts!






We spent the rest of the day lounging around the pool outside in the backyard. It was great to finally get a tan! And to feel hot weather! Our summer has been so strange here that it felt like real summer there.

Tyler's dad wanted to make a big slip and slide for the kids on the hill in their backyard so he set out a HUGE tarp and tried to figure out how to get the kids to slide down it. First he tried shaving cream all over them.







And while funny, I think Jessica was the only one who got it to work just a little bit.



The next thing was to try dish soap and bubbles all over them to make them slippery. That didn't really work that well either. Papa got out a rope and started pulling the kids down the hill and that helped a lot. But then they started complaining that they were hitting rocks underneath the tarp.









So the giant tarp was moved to softer ground and the running jumping lots of water approach was tried. I think Jessica was the only one who thought it was fun. Max is kind of cautious about stuff like that and I think the younger kids lost interest by then. It was still fun though!



After the kids had their fill of swimming someone picked a bucket of blackberries from the yard and Lia and Jordan went to town. These two were so funny sitting there stuffing their faces with berries.









 

After saying goodbye to Cory who was leaving us for ITALY for the most awesome vacation ever and to the Birchalls who had to get home so Jessica could start her first day of kindergarten we got to have Grammie and Papa to ourselves for a day. Our kids absolutely LOVED their time with Grammie and Papa. They missed their cousins a lot, too. It was kind of strange being at their house with so much quiet! It was so much fun to have our kids get to play with their cousins non-stop for days. We barely saw the kids because they were busy playing.

Max finally took a nap after having no nap for like 4 days. He passed out for over 3 hours!


And then woke up and built a Chinese restaurant and proceeded to take our orders for fried rice, noodles and egg rolls. He even made take out boxes, sodas, woks, a place for chop sticks and bottles of soy sauce.





Tyler and Grammie took the kids to a cute park but didn't stay too long because it was SO SO hot.




Then we went to Columbia to try to ride the stagecoach but we missed the last one. It was still fun to see the horses and the little shops. The kids got rock candy and we got some Sarsaparilla sodas. We also got some horseshoes to hang in our house. We got one that says "Seiberts" on it to hang above our front door for good luck and the kids each got small pony sized ones that have their names on them.











We had dinner with Papa at a great Mexican place in Sonora and then got ready to head back home the next morning. We packed up the car and said goodbye to Grammie and Papa. We had so much fun at their house, it was one of the best trips yet.

The kids miss their cousins!





And there will be another one added to this next year! NO not me! Molly has baby #4 on the way.

The kids had a great time and so did we. On our drive back down we stopped at the Sunmaid Raisin store. It was kind of lame. BUT the giant box of raisins in the front of the factory was pretty cool!!


The kids definitely needed some naps when they got home.


And thanks to Grammie and the horseshoes Pink Rody now has a new pair for himself!


Thanks Grammie and Papa for making this a great trip for everyone!