More car pics

Pics of the car museum

These are a few more pics of the car museum. We really did get to see some fun and things!

The Car Museum

Last weekend we went to a car museum in Sacramento. It was so cool! They had all kinds of cars, historic, race cars, ect. The kids really enjoyed it. But I think the one who was most excited was Jaxen. He loves cars and trucks and trains and planes. He plays cars all day and even has to sleep with his cars on his bed. He was so excited that when we got there as soon as he could get out of his seat he started to run toward the entrance "c'mon guys let's go!" It was so cute. We walked up and down the isles listening to the kids exclaim "WOW! Look at this one! That is so cool! That one looks like doc hudson! WOW! COOL! WOW!" It was so fun to watch the kids.

They had displays of old toy cars and collector cars. Jaxen went nuts over these. he kept walking around and around this case to try and get inside the case. We had to coax him away from it. He didn't want to leave.

They did have one display set up for kids to enjoy. This is an old truck that they let you get in and take a look.

All three had a blast taking turns driving the truck(well at least imagining they were driving it). It was definitly a fun family adventure. One we look forward to doing again.

Happy Valentines Day!!

On valentines day I like to do something special for the kids. I make a batch of sugar cookies and let them decorate. They have so much fun because they can do what ever they like with their cookies. It's so fun to watch how creative they get each year. Jaxen was more into it this year than the last. He actually wanted to decorate. well sort of, he took the sprinkles and opened each side and shaked almost the whole container on his cookies before I had stopped laughing enough to stop him. It was fun! Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Birthday Tristan!

Febuary 13th was Tristan's 6th birthday. Ron, Jaxen and I drove down to modesto and picked up the kids from school. Tristan choose to go to a place called Boomers. The inside is full of arcade games you can play and win lots of tickets. He had a blast!

He went around from game to game but always came back to the ones like this one where you would get tickets no matter what. By the time we were ready to go he had won about a hundred tickets( I think, I can't remember the exact number but it was alot).

Then we went to Mcdonalds for dinner and cake. He really wanted an ice cream cake this year. He was happy to see that he got his wish.

He was also happy to get more trains and Thomas the tank engine videos. Ron also got a model airplane that they could do together. It was fun to see the excitement in his eyes that day. Happy Birthday Tristan! We love you!

The Fish Hatchery!

So about the middle of january we took the kids to a fish hatchery. Too our surprise they really loved it. They were amazed at all the fish and they had alot of fun feeding them and watching them jump out of the water to be the first to catch the food. They would laugh and laugh and ask for more feed. It was so cute to watch. There was a visitor center that had really good models and displays of what they do at the hatchery. They had models of the fish eggs and the different stages of life. They even had a video of how they collect the eggs. They weren't to fond of that part. But they (well kaeryn and tristan) were very interested in learning about what the hatchery was for.

There was also a really nice trail along the hatchery that followed the river the hatchery was next to. We love to take nature walks so we went to explore. The kids had so much fun trying to see fish from the bridge. We saw many different kinds of birds. One of the coolest was a giant turkey vulture. It flew right over our heads. Kaeryn and Tristan were like "WOW!" I love to see how excited they get when exlporing.

Before we left the kids got to play at the playground which was this giant salmon. Kaeryn and Tristan had fun seeing who could climb up to the top and pretend they were going for a ride.

Jaxen had fun sliding down the mouth. Then all three of them would run in and out of the fish. They had a blast. We ended the trip by going to a nearby gas station to get drinks.

Santa Cruz

Another thing we did before the kids started school again in January was go to Santa Cruz, CA. We went to the famous boardwalk. We did have a fun time but the kids were more excited about playing at the beach. They really love th ocean and wanted to play there before we explored the boardwalk. I was able to get some really great shots of the kids. I love this one. The kids were waiting for the waves to come and stood in perfect order all on their own. It reminds me of the AT&T commercials. It was great to wach them.

Once again Jaxen decided that he liked the mud more than the waves. He really had fun digging in the dirt with his feet and hands. He was covered from head to toe when he was finished. Luckily we had brought extra clothes for him just in case.

Thank you to Kaeryn who took this picture of Ron and I.

This is another one of my favorites. Kaeryn and Tristan were holding hands while waiting for the waves to come so that they could help eachother stay standing while the waves crashed on them. It was so cute to watch. This one we are going to get blown up and hang it in the family room to remind the kids that yes they really do love eachother.

After the kids were done playing on the beach we walked back up to the boardwalk to look around. The kids had saved their allowance and wanted to get souvieniers. We also went on the carousel. That was fun, and this time Jaxen enjoyed the ride instead of trying to get off because of the wind. Ron caught two of the rings but didn't know you were supposed to throw them at a big clown face while riding the carousel. Oh well, we're sure that won't be our last time to the boardwalk. We did spend pretty much the whole day there. Luckily, Ron had some reward points to the marriot(he stays there during the week for work). So we decided that we would use them and stay the night in the hotel instead of driving back home. It was a good thing too, we were all exhausted. And any time you can stay in a hotel for free, I say go for it! It really was a great day.

Time to catch up! Sorry about that!

So I am in need of catching up the last few months. I actually developed a pinched nerve in my left leg back in the beginning of january. It started while we were driving down to pick up the kids for the weekend. At first it only bothered me while in the car. Then it progressed to the car and any other sitting place other than the couch or recliner. Those times I could just get up and walk around for a few minutes and it would feel better. I've had pinched nerves before and they usually only lasted a few days. I thought this would be the same, however, instead of getting better it only got worse. Needless to say it became so bad that my whole leg, even the bottom of my foot, hurt. And believe it or not, it was worse than labor. I hurt even when lying down trying to sleep(which became very hard). Finally I decided that maybe a chiropractor might be able to help( my back was feeling out to so it couldn't hurt to try). Ron found a really good office nearby. I've in treatment for the last few weeks and although i'm not fully healed yet, i'm getting there. My dr. basically put me on bedrest. I've been told I can't do anything until my dr. tells me I can. I learned my lesson after I tried to clean up a bit after a couple treatments and was feeling a little better. I bent down to pick something up off the floor and it all popped again. That's when my dr. told me to not do any of my usual stuff until she gives me the go ahead. I probably have a few more weeks to go. Luckily, the first week of treatment Ron was able to work from home so I could stay in bed and get the much needed rest(I hadn't slept much since this all started back in January) and also so i could stay off my legs to let them start to heal. Which i think was such a blessing that he could do that, work from home and keep an eye on Jaxen for me. I really needed that time. I'm still not all the way there, but i'm getting closer. So that's the reason I haven't updated for a while. I actually haven't been able to sit at the computer for weeks. I do have some things to share, but it still might take me a few days to get fully caught up because I still can't sit for very long. So i'm going to take a break and come back in a bit.