Week at the Beach

One of our weeks in California was spent at Dillon Beach with my cousins. The kids all had a great time although it was Danish-y weather. :) It was a nice break for the HEAT though.

It was pretty cold because of the wind, so I will admit to not really touching the water but the kids played in it. :) We even rented a boogie board for Michaela and Courtney (my cousin's daughter) and those two girls didn't seem to mind the overcast coldness. The boogie board was a hit, both of them figured out how to wait for the perfect wave and to jump onto it at just the right time; I was impressed. Michaela even took a pretty big hit from a breaking wave that crashed down on her little head, but she came up shocked and sandy, but still smiling. :)

Dillon Beach is good for sand dollars though and a couple mornings we woke up bright and early at 6:00am to be the first out on the beach at low tide to find them. I was actually surprised at how many perfect sand dollars we found! With the tide out we could see lots of starfish and sea anemomes and crabs, so that was interesting too.Ten points if you figure out this picture.... It's a purple starfish eating a big, orange crab. :) Ewwww... but dumb crab for getting caught by a slow starfish. Kids, this is how Natural Selection works I guess.

The sand dunes were fun too. Walking through sand dunes is great. It's hard to explain if you've never done it, but it's like powder snow that isn't cold and easier to walk through. :) Inside the sand dunes you were safe from the wind so it was nice and warm. The kids tried to slide down them on cardboard and in the end became COVERED in sand.
Andrea usually stayed in the warm house, but she did get some time on the beach licking sand off of various sand toys. :)

This is is Michaela "just getting her feet wet" on our first trip down to the water.
SO. Thanks Tawna for arranging the beach house and letting us hang out for the week. It was great to keep the all kids in contact. I know mine had tons of fun!

Canadian Shopping Spree!!

Plane ride to Toronto was TERRIBLE.

Crying Andrea. ...No, I take that back, not crying - SCREAMING!!!
Delayed flight.
All six of us sprinting through Chicago airport... which by the way is HUGE!
More crying Andrea.
As an end to our day... ALL our Luggage was LOST.

For a moment I thought lost luggage was great because this meant I didn't need to deal with any of it. Although we did arrange for Paul's brother AND Dad to pick us up. :) See Mom, I told you it would work out! So I was happy about not having to lug it all anywhere. HOWEVER... as we drove to our hotel I began to think of all the things I needed, but didn't have, and I began to get irritated. We all went to bed... in our clothes.

The next morning Paul got 1 Million Points when he told me our travel insurance covered everything and for every 24 hours our NINE checked bags were missing we got to spend $100 PER person!! That meant I had $600 to spend EVERY DAY! :) SO.... off we went to the mall!!! Spending that much money in a day was actually pretty hard. :) I should have picked more expensive places I guess. We bought clothes and socks and underwear and swimming suits for the hotel pool. We got shampoo and hair curlers and diapers... It was great fun!

AND our bags were also gone a second day soooooo.... $600 more dollars!! :) This time we went to an outdoor/camping store which was WAY expensive and Paul and I blew through $500 in an hour by buying some overpriced clothes. Ahhhh, but alas, our bags were returned that night and our Canadian Shopping Spree was over... :) :)

I knew all nine of our bags were not missing forever so I wasn't worried about that. There is safety in numbers! Who could lose NINE heavy suitcases. I figured that with our world record crossing of the Chicago airport with four kids in ten minutes our bags were left in the dust... :)

We arrived at Paul's parent's cottage on the night ouf our second day to meet our suitcases which had been Fed-Ex-ed the two hours from Toronto to little ole' Bracebridge, Ontario. :)

:) I will now trade out clothes for the girls because we can't pack all that we bought.

4th of July

I'll backtrack as best as I can remember. ...Fourth of July.

YAY for USA! :)
Every fourth of July that I've spent in California has started at 5:50am when I wake the kids up and go to the park. I've taken the kids every year, even when Michaela was less than a year old. ...probably because I used to live right on the edge of downtown and I was around the corner from the park where all the fun happens. It made me happy to take Andrea here for her first Fourth of July too.My plan is usually to go when it begins at 6:00am and try and leave before noon when the temperature reaches a toasty warm40+ degrees. :) At 6:00am they have about ten hot air balloons take off from the park. You can watch everyone roll them out and blast them full of hot air. It's neat to see them just "pop" up into a standing position and to then start to hover off the ground right before the float away, each with a few people in it.

After the balloons float away in the blue sky, we go take our place in line for the "Pancake Truck" to get our pancake breakfast!! This is why, last year when I was in Denmark, I invited all my friends over on the Fourth of July and made them all AMERICAN pancakes for breakfast. :) For a few dollars you get a couple HUGE pancakes, sausage, milk, juice and a nice seat at a table in the park.

Here is a picture of sausage. It is NOT a hot dog. It does not taste like a hot dog, it tastes like a sausage. Can you imagine eating a hot dog for breakfast? NO, because sausage is NOT A HOT DOG. It does not resemble a hot dog in any way other than it's similar shape. P.S. REAL Sausage is NOT found in Denmark.
While on the topic of sausage... Aneta, here is a picture the "Polish Sausage" I told you about. :) Not sure if you had these in Poland. :)

After pancakes we play at the park for a while and then walk over and find a place to watch the parade. The kids love the parade because they throw candy at you. :) Go America. :) The girls quickly showed Scotty how to chase after the "good" pieces of candy.

By the time the parade is done it's around 10:00am and so we walk back to the "Party at the Park" and ride the overpriced rides and eat snow cones. :) They have concerts and games and rides and things to buy all day long until the fireworks go off but we are sissys and went back home to take a break from the heat. Michaela chose to wait in line for AN HOUR to have her turn to bounce in the air. I promised a movie of it on "the blog". It's hilarious to see her little body flopping up into the air HIGHER than anyone else flopped.


The firework show may not have lasted as long as the six hour free for all that happens in Denmark on New Year's Eve, but I thought it was impressive. I thought I may be disappointed or even laugh at it, but I liked it. Scotty liked it. Andrea wasn't even scared. Nana and Papa liked it. Michaela and Sierra were with their dad to see the night time show.... but they had a good time too.

NEXT....

In UTAH Airport

See I'm still alive.

We are at the Salt Lake airport right now waiting for our delayed flight to Chicago and then to Toronto, Canada. :) We've been busy, busy, busy so far but I'm looking forward to getting to Paul's parents house which is a cottage on a forest-y lake near a very small town... so it will be much more relaxing than our "go-go-go" plans so far. :) I PROMISE to catch up with pictures then. We are all a little sad to be spending our last moments in America with all its nice, friendly people, but happy to be one step closer to our home.

I think I hear my children coming down the hall. O H G O O D.

:) bye for now...
tara

Boating and Packing

I wrote this with the intent of including pictures... but I have none yet and I'm getting behind so I'm posting it without proof of my awesome-ness. (Dad, when you and Mom are done hiking all over Southern Utah can you email me my awesome-ness please?)

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- Where to even begin? How about with pictures of my awesome-ness... as promised. :)

Here is Michaela's awesome-ness as well. During previous summers we would need an adult in the water to hold the knee board steady for her until she got going because it's pretty tricky to steady yourself and pull yourself up onto the board, but this time she did it all by herself!! Next summer we will have to get her a Michaela sized wake board. :) Very cool!! Maybe that is what Papa will get for Christmas this year.

Sierra prefers to spend her time lounging in the sun ON the boat.

Scotty is in charge of making sure the boat doesn't go too fast.

Andrea hates her life jacket with a passion and would like to have nothing to do with it.

- Andrea is pulling herself up and standing! Don't worry Daddy, I always push her back down so she doesn't take any first steps without you. :)

- We have been doing lots of shopping and I've filled one suitcase that is "Not to be opened". It is filled with:
- lemon cake mix
- books
- neosporin for me and friends
- nail polish
- vitamins
- party favors for kids birthdays for rest of year
- clothes from Michaela and Sierra that will now fit Andrea
- one dictionary and two thesauruses
- lunch box for a certain boy from Sweden (hope you like it Johan)
- some medicine

My new theory is to get small suitcases, like the carry on size, and STUFF them to the top since weight is usually our problem. This way we get the same weight and a smaller container to fit into our car.

- Today I went shopping and got craft things. I forgot that Michaels is one of my favorite stores, right up there with Target. I will need another trip to Michaels though, it's easier to buy more in two trips than in just one.

I'm just doing my best to stimulate the US economy. Maybe that will make our CA houses worth more? I'll keep trying and see how it goes...

- Next week we will be at Dillons Beach all week, so no chance of writing on my little blog then. I'll tell about the Fourth of July later too because it will take some time to tell about the great hot air ballons at 6am, parades with throwing candy, Michalea's bouncy-ness, and the fireworks.

....ouuu, it's like a "to-be-continued" show. (I hate those.) :)