more pics of the castle

I had alot of fun taking pictures of the castle. Here are a few of them.

This is the hundred year old vandlism. Note the date, 1893. We thought that was cool.

Preston Castle

Another activity we did was visit this old castle. I think it is in Ione,Ca. Ron found this in one of his brochures of different museums and places. We thought this would be a great place to explore. And apparently so did the kids because they could stop talking about it when we told them about it. It used to be an old reform school for boys about 100 years ago. Of course it's closed now, but they are trying to restore it. They have tours but we were just barely too late. Oh well, maybe another time. We still were able to look around and explore the outside a bit. Kaeryn said it reminded her of Harry Potter. It was more run down than we thought but it still was very cool to see. We love going to places that are a part of history.

Right behind the kids here carved into the bricks are names of boys who stayed here. There was one we saw that was over a hundred years old. I can't remember the date it said. But we thought it was cool, hundred year old vandlism. How often do you get to see that?

Around the front were a bunch of colums like these. I thought it would make a fun picture.

Another great trip! The kids had fun exploring and want to come back to do the tour sometime.

Carriage rides and Trains

Last week the kids had spring break. We were fortunate to have to Kaeryn and Tristan stay with us during the week and also that Ron was able to take a few days off of work. Because i'm still healing from the pinched nerve episode we decided to just do local activities. We took the kids to Old Town Sacramento. We love visiting there. We took the kids on a carriage ride around the town. They loved it and were so excited.

After the ride the kids wanted to thank spike the horse for the ride. Yes, that is the name of the horse, Spike. He was a good horse and let kaeryn say hi. She loves horses just like me.

Of course we can't visit Old Sacramento with stopping to see some of the trains. We didn't go through the museum that day but they do have a few trains outside that the kids could climb on. This is one of Tristan's favorite things to do. He loves trains.

The kids loved looking at different shops there and getting lunch. We found a toy store that we hadn't seen before and it was awesome! They had fun playing there. After it was time to come home the kids said they had a great time!

Being a mom

This is one of the reasons I love being a mom. I love my little snugglebug!

Easter outfits

One thing I love to do is let the kids each get one new outfit for easter. Both Kaeryn and Tristan were so excited about this. Jaxen was happy to get something but I think secretly he was hoping for more cars. Ron and I choose the store and then we let the kids choose their own outfit. I think the did really well this year.

Tristan choose this blue and white stripe shirt and blue denim shorts. He smiled when I told him that they were wrangler and that's a cowboy brand. I guess he has a friend at school that is a cowboy. But he was most excited about his new blue sandals. He couldn't wait until Easter to wear them.

Jaxen liked this shirt with an old racing car on it. Of course it had to have something to do with cars to make up for the fact that we weren't at the store to get more cars. He also looks so cute in his shorts and blue sandals.

Kaeryn looks so beautiful in this pink flowered sundress. When she first tried it on and came out to show us everyone that was waiting with us all said at about the same time how beautiful it looked on her. I think she feels beautiful in it also. I think we have the cutest kids ever!

Hunting for eggs!

After the kids had fun with their new easter gifts, they cleared their baskets and got ready for their egg hunt. They love this part about easter morning. We told them that they each had a certain amount that they could find so that it would be fair for all three. Of course Kaeryn being the expert of the three got right to work finding those eggs.

Tristan would cheer each time he found one. He was having so much fun!

Jaxen also had fun looking for eggs. We had to point some out to him, but he was excited when he would see an egg and put it in his basket. I loved watching the kids. It's always a happy feeling when the kids have smiles on their faces. Happy Easter everyone!

Easter Surprises!

Easter morning the kids awoke to find they had recieved some easter surprises. Kaeryn recieved a basket full of art supplies. She was very excited because she has really loved to draw and decorate. I fore see Kaeryn becoming a crafting/art buddy with me.

Jaxen recieved a basket with a big blue race car. When he saw it he exclaimed "Wow! Look at that!" He's so cute. He loves cars.

Tristan recieved a basket with a big red race car. He was really excited about that also. He and Jaxen spent the day racing cars and driving their cars around together. It was so cute.

Decorating easter eggs!

This year was a fun year with the kids. Kaeryn and Tristan are getting more and more creative and love to make things so decorating our easter eggs this year was something we were looking forward to. Jaxen actually got into it this year also. Last year he wasn't all that interested in what was going on. But this year he had his fun with the eggs learning to pick them up and dump them into the dye. Of course they all ended up in one color at first until I showed Jaxen that he could put them in other colors. It was so cute he would pick one egg up and dump it and then pick it up again and dump it somewhere else. And then he would let it sit in the dye and would go play cars until he decided he wanted to dump it somewhere else. It was great. Kaeryn and Tristan got some laughs from that also.

Tristan loved to carefully mix the colors on his eggs. He would let one side sit in one color and then let it sit in another color. Some of his eggs came out looking very cool. He also loved wearing daddy's shirt. Tristan was very excited for easter and couldn't wait to go on the egg hunt and find an easter surprise.

Kaeryn looked like a little artist while decorating her eggs. She too would choose carefully where she wanted her eggs to go. She also wanted any egg that cracked. So she would trade with her brothers if one of their eggs cracked. She liked the look of the cracked egg shells and also was excited about seeing the color on the egg when she got to eat it. After her eggs had dried she also got out the stickers and the other decorations that came in the box.

Even Ron took part in this little adventure. He was Jaxen's little helper and had some fun creations. They were all very proud of their eggs. I was too. It's so fun to see my family having fun being little artists like me.