Playing in the lake

While Ron and Kaeryn were out exploring the lake from the kayak, the boys and I enjoyed wading and playing in the water. Tristan loved bobbing up and down in his life jacket while Jaxen enjoyed dumping sand on these rocks. They were having so much fun and I enjoyed being with them.

Father's day Kayaking.

for father's day Ron wanted to go kayaking. Not to far from our home is a state aquatic park. It is alot of fun. There they have kayaks and canoes and wakeboards and paddle boats,etc. The kayak that we rented was a cabo. It can seat two adults and one child. Of in our case two kids and an adult. I was not able to go in the kayak this time. But hopefully there will be a time when I can go.

Ron took each of the kids around the lake. He and Kaeryn both paddled while one of the boys would sit in the middle.

Kaeryn loved to so much that she and Ron went on a ride together. they went around the lake and had fun exploring. Their hope is to get better at paddling so they can go down a channel that is past some of the bouy's. there's some wild life down there, we were told.

It was a really fun day. We had so much fun. Even though I was not able to go in the kayak I still had fun wading in the water with the boys and enjoying the sunshine and being out in nature. I love that so much. It was a wonderful day and an activity that we plan to do again. Happy Father's day Sweetheart! We love you so much!

The Brazillian Street Band

Here is a clip of the band. They were so full of energy and life. We loved watching and dancing along with them.

Art Walk

Every second saturday there is an art walk in downtown Sacramento. We decided to go this month. It was alot of fun. We got to see some great art and meet the artists. One of the highlights of the night was this Brazillian Street Band. It was alot of fun to watch them. While we were watching them one of the band members came up to the kids and gave them her instruments to play along with. It was so fun to watch that. I think the kids had fun but weren't quite sure what to do at first. I thought that was so neat for them. We love art and it's really important to Ron and I to share different art with our kids. It was a really great experience and I think we are going to plan on going again sometime.

After the party

This is how we found Jaxen after his birthday party. He had so much and was so exhausted. We love you birthday boy!

Jaxen's Birthday cake

Chocolate Monster Trucks! Yummy!

Jaxen's birthday party

Happy 3rd Birthday Jaxen!

Jaxen turned three years old today. He was so excited and kept asking all day when his birthday party would start. He wanted chocolate everything. Chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. I made him a monster truck cake. He loved it! He couldn't wait to play with his new trucks.

He was so excited to open presents. He waited patiently all day. He was excited to get more trains, and cars, and legos,and play dough, and totally trucks videos. Kaeryn painted him a picture and he gave her a big hug. He was really excited to get his own bakugan from kaeryn and Tristan. He and Tristan played together afterwards. It was so cute. It's almost a bittersweet moment for me. I love watching him grow and get excited about new things but at the same time I want him to stay little always. He is growing up and it is exciting to watch him learn and grow. It's so fun to watch him play make believe now. He is getting so creative now. His birthday party was alot of fun. Each present he opened he would exclaim " I got! I got! I got! I got!" We all had a smile on our faces today. We love you Jaxen! Happy Birthday!

Rainbow Cloud

This was the coolest thing we saw. This cloud is a rainbow! We were very amazed by this. We've never seen anything like it before and it was the only one in the sky. Absolutely beautiful! Our world is full of amazing surprises!

More pics of the preserve

This was so fun. This bird was peeking out of it's nesting box. There was another bird that would fly up to it also and they would start pecking at eachother's beeks. It was so cute. I had to change the color of the pic though so you could see the bird.

More wild flowers!

Pretty bee.

This one I was hoping would come out more clear but I thought it still was cool with the tall grass in front and the marsh area in the back. The white dot that you see is actually an egret. I loved being able to watch it through my binoculars. It's times like this when I wish I had SLR camera(even though I love the camera I have) so I can get closer up shots.

Pics of the preserve

We were so excited that before we even got to the visitors center we saw this lizard. It stayed for quite a while. It must have known that I love to take pictures and this would be a great one.

I absolutly love wild flowers and any chance I get to take some shots is worth it.

Look close. Can you see the dragonfly?

This beautiful butterfly flew right over us. The kids were so excited.

Consumnes River Preserve

Today we went to Consumnes River Preserve. It's only about 20 minutes from our house. It really was beautiful. We did see some wildlife, a lizard, squirrel, huge hawks, redwinged black birds, blue heron, egrets, dragonflies, butterflies, and other various smaller birds. I was really enjoying myself. Ron and I each got binoculars for christmas and it was fun to use them. We really enjoy being out in nature as a family. At the visitors center the kids got a bingo game to play as we walked around. They were trying to spy the things on their papers. The visitors center had a hands on area where the kids could see and feel various things that are on the preserve like some bones and antlers, birds nests and eggs. There was an area where you could listen to animal sounds. The kids really enjoyed that part. We saw several picnic tables around and decided that next time we come back we are going to make it a picnic day. We also didn't realize how long some of the trails were so next time we will be more prepared to go on the longer walks(hats, water-I seem to be the only one who remembers this one, bug spray and sun screen). We love that we have places like this close to our home. I can't wait to go back and have a family picnic and enjoy the peace and beauty of nature again.

Swimming!

Memorial day we took the kids swimming. A community pool in Elk Grove opened that weekend. The kids have been waiting all year for it to open. they went last year and loved it and couldn't wait to go back. Tristan was so excited that he was finally tall enough to go on the water slide. He went down as many times as he could laughing the whole way down.

Of course I couldn't go swimming with them because I burned my finger and had to keep it bandaged up. But I still had fun watching them swim and I also got to have some reading time. I love this picture of my happy family.

Jaxen had a hard time warming up to the idea of the water at first. But once I left him with daddy and he calmed down he remembered that he loves the water. This was cute because he jumped from the edge to Kaeryn. It was so prescious.

Jaxen actually started jumping to Ron first. I was so excited to see that because he was afraid to go into the pool at first. But he did it over and over again! It was such a fun time. We plan to go back and this time hopefully I won't have hurt myself so that I can swim too.