From vacuum to Broom

I'm excited to reveal our new kitchen and dinning room floor. No more scrubbing the dinning room after a nasty spill. I can now just simply get a paper towel and wipe that spill right up. It might seem like a simple thing, but it really is the simple things in life that make a big difference.


saying good-bye to the carpet


this picture was a little scary for me to look at- on the surface things appeared to be "relatively" clean, but underneath it was a completely different creature. YUCK!!






Not going to miss this- one bit


time for the glue


ahhhh, so new, so refreshing


the kids did a good job keeping on eye on the project






yeah, I had a toilet in my entry hallway, a hutch in my living room, and a stove and refrigerator in my dining room, but it was soooo worth the 2 weeks of disorganization and chaos.


why not do the bathroom too while we're at it?


new kitchen


new dining room

the final pictures don't do true justice to how good the floor looks. I guess you will just have to stop in and see for yourself.

What to do, What to do?

Not to remind anyone, but Summer is almost over :( We are hurrying to squeeze in our last bits of Summer fun. KJ will start 1st grade on Monday. I can't count the number of times in the last few days that I've heard- "Mom, what can we do?" Are you ready? Here is part 2 of our Summer boredom buster series. I'll squeeze a lot in here because, as I mentioned above, school starts Monday.


play a game of backyard wiffle ball


go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned (hey, she looks like she is having fun)


and... you get a goodie bag filled with fun teeth cleaning supplies


pick fresh beans and other goodies from your garden


visit a pond and look for baby frogs


make homemade frosting and lick the beaters


bake cookies with mom


Make homemade Popsicles and get them all over your face


Vacuum the house for your mommy


make silly faces


Play the hot lava game


go to a new park and explore




visit a gigantic miner


Visit a local candy shop and fill up a brown bag will all your favorites (or all of mom's fav's- sharing is good!)


Pose for pictures with your best buddies






have a picnic with friends


Just make sure you keep a good eye on your food (dang blue jays and chipmunks)


One of the absolute best things to do is snuggle up in your pj's and watch morning cartoons together

These are just a few of our favorite summer activities

Kings of the Woods

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend of camping in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park. A little bit of hiking, throwing rocks, playing, and plenty of eating. We hiked both the North and South Groves during our two night camping experience. The North Grove was any easy 1.6 mile loop that displayed many of the majestic giants. The kids especially enjoyed this loop because there were a lot of fallen giants that made perfect tunnels for them to explore. The South loop was a little more difficult at 5 miles, but we had to see the Agassiz Tree- the largest tree in the park. It was well worth the work; all the trees in both groves truly invoked the reverence and awe that so many speak of.



just to "try" to give you a little perspective this and the next two pictures are of the same tree. This is obviously the top



middle section


and finally the bottom- Greg and the kids are stretching out as far as they can to show just how BIG these sequoias really are



another perspective shot- reach for the sky



The cone on the left is from a Sugar Pine, the cone on the right belongs to the giant sequoia- it seems like it would be the other way around. It gave us a good laugh














The birthing tree- we took the liberty of naming it



making our way into the birthing tree


deep inside the birthing tree- Greg went in first to make sure it was safe and then the rest of the brave soles followed. It was about an 8-9 foot drop from the entrance



slowly emerging from the birthing tree- After RJ got out she said that the tree had given birth to us- thus the name








KJ and RJ exploring one of the many tunnles











Anton marveling at the big tree


The mother of the forest- Her bark was stripped and sent on tour in the eastern United States. It was sad to see this spectacular tree in such a condition. Later the grove of trees was eventually protected and became a state park


Greg was very popular with the kids- he had the backpack full of snacks