Boston comes to California

 The week before school started (back in August)

 my sister and her family came to stay with us for a week.

I loved EVERY second of their visit.

I just adore my sister and her 4 girls.

I think the kids swam every single day.

(This was the first summer Miles didn't use floaties for thee entire summer) 

They bounced between the pool and  hot tub for hours while sister and I sipped on LaCroix.

 

We gobbled up drumsticks and popcicles daily.

 We ventured out to Oak Glen.

 I just love that place.

The kids picked berries and ate berries, picked more and ate more.

 And somehow we came across a fun sac race for the kids.

All had a blast...they even got candy at the end.

win, win.

We also went to my brothers for endless amounts of entertainment.

He is hilarious.

The littlest babes jumped on his trampoline

and giggled as they jumped up and down.

 

We wanted to go camping, but time didn't allow it so the next best thing was to get out and go on a hike.

We went up to Forest Falls for an afternoon.

It was great.

 The stream was so clear and pretty crisp.

The shoes came off and the toes got wet!

The weather was perfect!

 And everyone was happy!

and then that fast they hugged us and left.

 I hate when our time together has to end.

I hate that we live on completely opposite sides of the country.

Oui, it hurts.

But it makes those reunions sweet.

We love you Boston, and are so happy you came to play with us.

(but now, we need to catch Miles up on sleep because he starts kindergarten in 2 days)

Kindergarten

We are so behind in our life but give me some time and I'll get caught up.

In August Miles started Kindergarten.

When did he think that was okay?

He was so anti school thee entire summer.

We'd talk about it and he would shut it down so quickly.

BUT two days before school started he flipped a switch and was excited. 

He picked out his shark backpack and was complete.

He did great walking up to his classroom

and hanging up his backpack

and then he got a little hesitant to let go once we got back out to the playground.

But to our surprise he got in line and waved goodbye.

THEN THE PLOT TWIST-

We were trying to get Miles into a charter school but the waiting list for it was so long.

At the lottery drawing he was number 18.

 All summer we'd check in to see if he was moving up on the list.

Sure enough the week before school started he was number 3.

And by 9:30am on the first day of school, the charter school called saying a spot opened up and he could start tomorrow.

Ahhhhh!!!!

Horrible timing!

We had just dropped Miles off at his new school and he did great at drop off.

We knew we wanted Miles in this charter school long term and it's so hard to get in.

So, we picked up a happy Miles after his first day of kindergarten and took him to lunch.

He told us all about his day.

We then told him he got into the school we were waiting for.

So we drove him to the new school where he would meet his new teacher.

He was excited and ready to make the move.

Miles got two first days of Kindergarten

 and here he is on his second first day!

 

Beaching Camping

Camping at the beach for a full week is never a bad idea.

Our little family had such a great time.

Surprisingly, Andie was content bouncing between mom and dad under the umbrellas.

She loved feeding dad chips!

I'm pretty sure dad loved this game too.

And surprisingly Miles wanted to get buried everyday.

Some friends came down and play for a day.

They played in the water and looked for sand crabs all day

They built sand castles  

and made huge sand bellies.

Still so surprised by her, Andie stayed close to home.

We love the Brashear family and were so happy they came for the day. 

We got spoiled with friends on this trip.

The Tangs and Frys joined the party and camped with us a couple of nights.

Miles, Tyson and Adele are buddies and we sure hope this friendship will last a lifetime.

Eden and Hollis are exactly a year older than Andie.

But she's starting to follow them around here and there and we look forward to these three becoming great friends too. 

We had great week.

It was so nice to have no schedule and sit back and relax.

We are excited to book our next beach trip for next summer!

Bryce Canyon

 Bryce Canyon was so amazing.

I didn't know what to expect. 

and, I loved,loved, loved it.

When we got there, we just drove around the park.
When we saw a view point we wanted to see, we'd pull over and take it all in.

The orange rock formation was beautiful, the hoodoo rocks were gorgeous and the weather was 20-30 degrees cooler than Moab.

Watching Miles take pictures never got old!

Ever.

(hiking boots, and a camera strapped to his belt loop were the winning ticket for this boy, he didn't complain once this trip)

Somehow these two manage to sit in the dirt and stay busy getting dirty whenever they possibly can.

 That night, we found a great camping site in the Park

where Romney grilled yummy veggies and chicken.

He's a good one-that Romney.

We loved having my parents with us for this trip.

I love the memories that were created with them.

 On our last day we walked the trail along the river ....

...We kept our eyes out for stinging neddle...

...and made it to the mossy cave.

This place was perfect for our little family.

We walked the same trail back but made a stop to walk and play in the in the freezing cold water...

 and EVERYONE had a blast!!

 And this concludes the Ellsworth National Parks tour.

Everything was so beautiful.

I love all the variety this earth provides.

I love witnessing our Heavenly Fathers creation.

It's truly miraculous. 

There is just so much to see.

We loved our experience and loved waking up in the motorhome everyday to these little banchies.

Canyonlands

We drove away from Moab excited to see Canyonland.

We were slightly disappointed because the sky was so hazy (those darn fires)

We couldn't see out very far.

But it's still a marvel.

The kids didn't seem to care about the view, they were completely happy just climbing rocks. 

 

Originally we were going to stay a few days in Canyonlands to hike and explore BUT, the fires were bad, and it was so so so hot.

SO, we decided to campout for the night and wake up super early for the sunrise hike to Mesa Arch.

(Its super easy and all ages can do it.)

Miles was a bear to wake up.

Oui.

BUT, once he finally was awake, he LOVED it!

It was so beautiful to see the sun come up.

Once we got to the arch, I couldn't believe it,

There was tons of paparazzi and it was silent.

Then here comes our family, LOUD and PROUD.

It was funny.

It really was pretty and worth it.

Miles loved every second of it, 

Andie.....well she didn't want to wear her shoes (again), and was not going to look at the camera (again),

We got back to the motor home for breakfast and this girl crashed.

Waking up early wasn't her favorite either.

After we ate, we all decided we didn't want to stay in Canyonlands.

 It really was beautiful, but we were done in less than 24 hours.

 

We still had a couple more days on our trip, so we decided to drive to Bryce Canyon!

Arches National Park Part III

A couple of days we went to Mill Creek to cool off.

You walk few short steps and you are in nice cold water. 

And it was so refreshing in that heat!

It was kind of fun to climb down into it.

We discovered a natural water slide that the kids went NUTS for.

Romney and I took turns sending them down and sending them back up.

 

They wanted to do "again, again, again!"

over and over....

...and over.

Both kids were so mad when we left on those water days.

The evenings were spent back at the "campsite" where we made our dinners,

played in the rocks,

and ate smores!

Moab, Utah was amazing! 

We absolutely loved our time there.

It was so hot, but would we do it again?
YES!!!

After our amazing expereience in Arches National Park we were ready to go explore Canyon Lands.