4th of July

I should probably get this post done before July comes to a close, since it was the 4th of July! We had been moved in for about 2 weeks and were at a bit of a loss as to what to do for the 4th. I had met a friend (I was going to meet a potential babysitter at her home, and accidentally got the house numbers mixed up and knocked on her door first). She shared some info on things to do, and one of them was one of the biggest fireworks displays in the area. We were excited to go and spend the afternoon at the park. We ended up meeting our friends Mike and Marissa and their two kids Mikaela and Mateo. The boys were sooooo excited to meet some new friends and the kids all really hit it off.
Some lady sitting close to us made the kids some balloon swords. They had a lot of fun with them...while they lasted. Mikaela's was the first to pop, soon followed by Devin's, and eventually Aiden's. Luckily we were able to distract them and they continued having a great time.

Marissa brought her camera out and was attempting to take some pictures of her kids...and my kids decided they wanted to be the models. My boys are very goofy when it comes to taking pictures. More often than not they are completely uninterested in having their picture taken and it takes everything to try and get them to even look at the camera let alone smile too. So it seemed very out of character for them to be "hogging" the spot light! Nonetheless she got some really cute photos of them. And I'm hoping she got some good ones of her kids too!

Aiden yet again butting in another shot...

Mike and Marissa have become fast friends of ours, and we are so happy they are here. Mike is a year below Micah in residency, and has been such an invaluable resource to Micah and helping him adjust to this new program. The boys and I just love getting together with Marissa and the kids for play dates, and I'm just so happy we have found some great friends who can relate to what we go through on an every day basis.

Here is what typically happens when we try and take a family picture...

Finally the fireworks started.

And Devin didn't last...poor little guy!
Overall it was a great holiday spent with fantastic friends and we're looking to more fun and memorable days here in California.

Just a short clip of the fireworks...and a BIG THANK YOU to all the men and women out there who have sacrificed so much to ensure our country's freedom. We are eternally indebted to you and your families. Thank you!

Family Fun Day

I'm going to jump around a little bit in my posting. After I finally downloaded all my pictures from my camera I saw there were many that I still have to do from before our move, that I decided to just post as I can. This one is pretty fresh in my mind because we just went to this place last weekend. A friend here told me about it, and said we would just love it...and we did! Got a family membership and everything :) So here is some more recent pictures of us and the beginning of fun adventures here in California.

The first thing you see when you walk in is this awesome carousel. My sisters and I have this tradition of riding the carousel at Six Flags as our very first ride whenever we go...at least that's how it was back then...it's been years since I've actually been. But I think it's a fun thing to do and you are never too old for the carousel. The kids have been on 3 different ones already here!

There are many different play grounds and areas within the park, and this was one of them, bythe leaping lemur exhibit.

I LOVE these flowers! Soooo big!

There was a little zoo with goats you could go in with and feed, brush, and pet. This water fall was around that exhibit with the birds on top. Then there was a barn area with all kinds of farm animals. The kids loved being around the animals-and I think it helped that a few days prior to this we went to a farm with some friends and had some animal encounters.

So cute, and very goofy boys :)

There was this roller coaster and Aiden wanted to go on it. Yes. You may pick your jaw up from the floor...he really did want to go on it without any persuasion on our part! I said "Let's watch it first" since this was actually a pretty big step up from those Dragon ones at the county fair...and he kind of didn't like at all. So we watched it and I asked him "Do you still want to go?" and he said "YES!" "Ok...who do you want to go with you?" "Mommy!" (secret "woohoo" on my end) haha. So we waited in line while Micah and Devin waited for us. We got on, and he was all smiles until the first drop-and then his face dropped. I thought we were in for it then, but as we rounded the corner to go around for the second time I tried to get him to smile and enjoy it, and he really did. He was very excited when we got off and tell Daddy all about it. I was so thrilled he wasn't scarred for life! I really should have taken a picture of the coaster itself, but maybe next time.

Another play ground area

We then found this dragon train that Devin could go on.

It was cute because we traveled through different fairy tale scenes and forests, and this tunnel.

The kids loved the kiddie rides too, and rode this one twice.

Devin was soooo cute because he would wave at us every time. As a parent that really is such a special moment...at least it was for us!

We ended the day with a puppet show. We'd been there for most of the afternoon and Devin was beginning to get really really tired. We didn't see the whole park, but we're excited to go back soon and take some friends or family with us as we get 2 guests in with us anytime we want with our membership :)
On our way back to the car we asked Aiden what his favorite thing was, and the first thing he said was the roller coaster! Then he went on to basically name everything else we did :) Now he won't stop bugging us to go back and bring his new friends. Glad it was such a hit for them!