More Taiko Dan photos

This was a different performance. We happened to stumble upon it as it was ending. I wasn't able to find out the name of the performance, but it was beautful to watch.

Taiko Dan

Sunday May 23rd was the Pacific Rim festival in Old Sacramento. We look forward to this festival each year. It's only one day but it's very fun. This year we got there just in time to see the Taiko Dan drummers perform. They are amazing! Standing next to the stage when they are playing is fun. You can feel the power from each drum. It's very exciting to watch. I decided that next year I will just bring my telephoto lens instead of trying to compete with other photographers. I'm just to shy to ask other photographers to move.

The festival was alot of fun. Alot more crowded this year than last year. It was pretty busy. There were booths that did traditional caligraphy in Japanese, lots of jewelry and other things celebrating the pacific rim countries. Lots of different varieties of foods from Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and polynesion. The lines were all so long that we ended up getting some shaved ice there at the fair and then picked up some teriyaki and Thai on the way home. The kids were way to hungry to happily wait in the long lines. I have to admit I was pretty hungry myself and wasn't to thrilled at the thought of having to wait. It was so yummy! Can't wait until next years festival!

At the end of the game!

so the baseball was for the end of the game. On sundays after the games a few players will stay out and give autographs. We gave the ball to Kaeryn and Tristan and let them go and get some autographs. They were able to get three. I thought that was pretty cool. On Sundays they also let the kids run the bases after the game. It was so fun to watch that. The boys were so excited. I think Kaeryn was excited, but I couldn't tell if she was excited or just doing it. But they each got a coupon for free rootbeer floats. They also gave a rose to every mother that was there. It's truly a day to remember! Happy Mother's day! Oh and by the way we won, 7-4! Go RiverCats!

Photos of the game!

Happy Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!May 9th was a FANTASTIC mothers day. I got my usual breakfast in bed. Ron Made his famous scrambled eggs and ham bread. He gave me mickey mouse sno globe! I love it. The base is a car and in the globe are mickey and minnie and donald and daisey. So cute! He also gave me a mickey tee shirt. He knows I love mickey! The kids and I have been playing the pokemon games together so the kids gave me a big box of pokemon cards. I loved that as well. After I came out from eating my breakfast, Ron told me that he needed to go out but to be ready to leave at noon. I had no idea what was going on but I said okay. I trust him, he always takes us on great adventures. He was gone longer than I thought, but when he came back he gave me a baseball and surprised me with tickets for a game. I was so excited I started jumping up and down. We're going to a pro baseball game! We've never down anything like that before and i've never been to a pro baseball game before. We got things ready to go and headed to Raley field. It started to rain at first but luckily it cleared up after awhile. It was so fun! raley field is a great stadium. really no seat is a bad seat. Our seats were on the end along 3rd base, but you still felt right there. It was cool to be able to hear the players talk to each other " I got it!" Of course I took a ton of photos. It was fun to be able to use my telephoto lens. I was able to get some great shots of the pitchers throwing the ball. Of course when there was the debative call that made the other team mad and the manager was yelling at the ref my memory card in my camera decided to be full. Luckily I had another memory card with me but I missed the best of the worst of it. I did manage to get a couple photos of it. It was commical to watch. We had so much fun and we decided that we want to go again. GO RIVERCATS!!!!!!

A miracle of life!

It's no secret. Anyone who know's me know's that I love animals. But it's more than that. I'm fascinated by all life. I'm amazed by it. It doesn't matter what or how big or small it is, i'm truly inspired by it all. On May 3rd I was able to witness the birth of new life to our world. One of our cats, Rikku, gave birth to 5 kittens. Even though to some it's just a cat no big deal, to me it was a beautiful experience. Especially since rikku has always been skittish and leary of people. She trusted me enough to come up to the bowl while I was feeding, but has never let me really touch and pet her. When I realized she was pregnant I knew I needed to get her into a secluded area where she could be alone and I could have access to her and the kittens. Hoping that she would let me. I was able to coax her into the bathroom. I figured it would be easier to clean up messes in the bathroom other than somewhere with carpet. For the first few days she acted the same and would try to hide anytime I would go in. But after a few days something clicked and she went from being afraid to trusting me enough to handle her and show her the goodness of rubbing her belly. It was a bonding time for us which I think made the moment of when she gave birth more special. I came home to find her in the litter box thinking that was a weird place for her to be laying. Then as I looked closer I realized she was in labor and had given birth to the first baby. I immediatly carried the box over to her bed and lifted her and the baby into it. The baby was of course covered in litter so I took the baby and started washing it off. It was amazing to me that Rikku seemed to understand what I was doing. She never hissed or cried as I took her baby. As soon as I placed the baby back with her, she immediatly started her cleaning of the baby. It's so fascinating the natural instincts that come when you become a mom. She went from being a kitten herself( just barely a year old) to becoming a grown cat knowing exactly what she must do. Amazing! She let me clean her off just in time for the next one to be born. Rikku kept looking up at me with a look in her eyes that I remember when I was in labor with Jaxen. She seemed to find comfort in laying her head in my hand. So prescious. By the days end she ended up with 5 beautiful babies. She was so exhausted that she couldn't get up to eat. When I placed her dish next to her she was ready to eat and gave me a look of "Thank you". It really was a neat experience and i'm hoping that our bond will continue after the kittens have grown and moved on.

Family Pictures

Last November we had family pictures done and I just realized that I had forgotten to post them. So now I'm posting them. Last time we had pictures done I was 12 weeks pregnant with Jaxen. I think I would like to do this more often. I love how the photos of the kids turned out. They are so cute and they were having fun, litterally laughing the whole time. It was great! I love my family more than anything! They make me smile!

My Sister's Wedding

April 18th Jaxen and I boarded the train here in Sacramento and headed to Provo, Ut for my youngest sister Kaela's wedding. We love riding the train it's alot of fun. It was nice to have some Jaxen/mommy time. Ron wasn't able to get work off and Kaeryn and Tristan still had school. Soon after we got on the train Jaxen became very sad and started crying for daddy and to go home. I don't think it really hit him that it was going to just be him and mommy until he was waving to daddy from the train. We did talk about the trip coming up and that it would be just mommy/Jaxen going, so he knew that but I don't think it officially clicked until after we had left. He cried for awhile and we snuggled and then he fell asleep. That's all it took for him to be happy and excited about the train again. He loves being able to get up and explore the train, watching movies, going to the cafe to get food. Talking to the conductor was fun for him as well. We got to Provo at around 5:00 in the moring on the 19th. Ron's mom and dad were there to pick us up. We got to their house, had a little snack and went back to bed( or at least tried). Jaxen layed down for a little while but was excited. We had a good visit in Utah. It was fun to see Ron's parents and brother Joel and wife Angel. It was also fun to help get things ready for Kaela's wedding. My mom kept me busy with preparing food, cleaning up, setting up. Jaxen was such a trooper and made it through those long days. He was still home sick the whole trip, but he did have a blast playing with his cousins and the other kids that were there. I was asked to take pictures for the wedding. It was a blast! I'm so happy that I could do that for Kaela. Because of time and rain I wasn't able to get a whole lot of different outside pictures, but I was able to get some. Kaela looked so beautiful! And HAPPY! That was the first time I had met Landry. They are the cutest couple. You can tell he adores Kaela, he just has to look at her and you can see it in his eyes. I missed my Ron! I wished he could have been there. But it made the trip home more exciting! I loved being able to see all the friends and family that came. It was a great trip. I'm so happy for my little sister Kaela! She looked like a princess. It was wonderful to see her so happy! I love ya Kay-be!!!!

Some more of the Aerospace Museum

I took alot of great photos of the museum. I have so many that I would love to post but it would be never ending. It was such a fun adventure!

More of the aerospace museum

this was the first ejection seat

Tristan and Jaxen trying out some experiments

A view of the many engines

The Aerospace Museum

April 8th we took the kids to see the aerospace museum in Sacramento. It was so fun. The kids really enjoyed it especially the boys. There were all sorts of planes and machinery that have been used and some that still are being used. It was really neat to read about the history of things. They had some rocket thrusters hanging from the ceiling. They were neat but i have to say standing underneath them was a bit intimidating. Those things are HUGE! They had a few set ups where the boys could get in the seat and pretend to be flying. Kaeryn decided that she didn't want to get in, but the boys had fun. One display I found interesting was the history of the ejection seat. They displayed each one the has been invented and then there was a video you could sit and watch about how each one was made. Most of the volunteers that we saw were old air force vets. They were happy to tell us anything we wanted to know. It was great listening to them expain how different things worked. I thought it was classic that the chairs they had out for people to sit on were old airplane seats. There was quite a bit to see indoors but the kids loved the out door displays. Probably because they could run around between planes. Several were opened up so that we could go inside them or there would be wooden stairs that led up to the windows to look inside. It always amazes me how many buttons and gears and numbers that are in the front of the planes. Even more so that pilots can memorize all that. Right next to the museum is a park with the play structures resembling a space rocket. The kids couldn't wait to get over there to play. Jaxen especially, can we go to the park yet.......now..............now...........is it time now........... . We did go over there after we had seen all the planes and things. There were school kids there having a fieldtrip. One of the things the museum offers for fieldtrips is they do a rocket launch. They actually invited everyone that was there at the park to come and watch. I think that was the highlight of the whole trip. It was exciting even though it was a small rocket. I think we choose the perfect time to go. It will be a fun place to visit again.