9 Years!

Happy (late) Fourth of July!  While we are missing the Highland Park happenings for the Fourth of July this year, we have enjoyed some new traditions in our new home.  The kids asked for fireworks in the driveway, pancake breakfast, carnival games and decorating their bikes for a parade and we were able to deliver some of those. . . sort of.  I'm not sure we'll ever live somewhere that celebrates the 4th as well as Dearborn St.




We celebrated Brad's birthday at the beginning of June and his request was to have a bunch of very California adventures.  We went to the beach (of course!) and everyone had a great time!

Brad's next request was to go the Aquarium by the Bay on Pier 39 and out to lunch.  So we did.  The aquarium was fun (except for the big 'grumpy' fish that Elsie was totally freaked out by - it was pretty ugly and bigger than her) and we got to see and touch all sorts of marine life.  I think we spent the most time by the otters, of course.  Those guys were so playful and the kids chased them around and around their enclosure.

William loved the tube you walked through to be surrounded by fish and sharks.  He kept pointing and saying oooohhhh!

 

Addy liked feeding the sea anemone some cut up raw fish.  She is so curious!

 

And who is going to go to Pier 39 without having clam chowder and a seafood feast!?  Happy Birthday Brad, what a great day!

 

 

 

 


William took his first major face plant in early July and his nose still has a pink scar on it.  Addy has really gotten into reading to her siblings and I love how she memorizes books after reading them just a couple of times.  William loves it too!















 

This is what our family room looks like after dinner.  Wrestle mania.  William has really changed our family.  If anyone lays on the ground he jumps on them to wrestle and then it doesn't take long for the girls to take it from there.













These kids do clean up occasionally.  I think they are pretty cute!

The girls did their first swim lessons and went from clinging to the ladder and refusing to get into the water to Addy floating on her back by herself and jumping off the diving board and Elsie, well, she still has a long way to go.  :)  She did go under and liked being in the water as long as she was hanging on my legs or being helped by her favorite teacher.  She did enjoy parts of it but man, she put up a fight!



William got his first haircut.  Funny story!  I finally got around to making haircut appointments for all the kids at a spa downtown to try to get them good haircuts at a reasonable price.  I told Brad and he flipped out that I would take William to a spa to get a haircut!  So we found a barber and William got his haircut by a tattoo covered barber in a red leather chair.  Perfect.  :)









We did our first family bike ride yesterday at the Benicia State Park.  We rode along the water front and had a great time together!  Addy is so driven she rode the whole thing and raced her Daddy most of the time.












Elsie joined her brother in the trailer after a little bit but they enjoyed being served wild blackberries by her sister that we found along the road. 

 
 
 
 
 
 



We enjoyed our picnic by the Straight and watching the trains, sailboats, tugboats and HUGE salmon being caught down below.














Watching the men catch salmon.  Seriously, these suckers were 20+ lbs.  Brad is already planning to get a fishing rig. 

Major accomplishment:  Addy is riding her bike without training wheels!  She has practiced twice and by the end of the first day she was doing it!  Of course, when we practiced today I forgot the camera.  We are so proud of her!

Here's the first day when she just started.  I can't believe how quick she picked it up.

 

 William's working on his running in his handsome hat.  At 17 months he is not one to be left behind.  William has a lot of words and a lot of energy.  He's keeping up with the girls by being opinionated and driven.  I wonder where he gets that from.





















Yeah for summer!  We are loving Benicia and all this little town has to offer.

Brad and I were able to get away for a weekend (oh yeah, we went to a homeschool conference in Modesto!) and my parents stayed with the kids.  They had a great time, we enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot at the conference.  We've enrolled Addy in the preK program at Classical Conversations for the fall which is a Christian Classical homeschool co-op type thing.  We'll get together with other families once a week and then do our own stuff at home the rest of the week.  I'm really getting excited and I am trying to plan out the year ahead of time so I can juggle all three littles while actually doing real school with the girls.  We'll see. . .

Happy August!  I'll try to update a little more often (ha ha) so it isn't so long next time.

Blessings!

(ps.  If anyone knows why the formatting with Blogger is so annoying lately, let me know!  This is giving me fits!)