A January Birthday

Lilly's birthday was a January Beach Bash!

The Crews were the only ones dressed for the occasion, as most people don't think about wearing shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops in January! But with the fireplaces going, it was a warm 75 degrees and we were very comfortable in our attire!

Rachel planned the entire party and did most of the decorating. So a big thank you to my teen age daughter!

The Jolleys may want to get their piano soon! It sure worked for us today though!

Lilly with her special friend, and almost neighbor!

Lilly and another special friend, and sometimes camping buddy!

Yeah! A friend we haven't seen in a while!

Two great cousins!

Four more cousins!!!

Lunch was great - and if I would have remembered I'd have taken some spectacular pictures of our fare!

We enjoyed tuna and cheese sandwiches, blue jello with a gummy (soggy) fish, fishy crackers, fruit kabobs and carrots served on colorful sea shell plates!

Present time!

Lilly was getting a bit wild! I'm not sure how to handle these situations, as her sister was always shy -and Lilly, well shy is not a word to describe her!

She's excited about her new horses!

She's calming down a bit!

Lilly and her big sis - the party planner and #1 hostess!

A Beach Ball cake - didn't Daddy do a great job?

Happy Birthday to Lilly!

Enjoying the gifts, and enjoying being together!

No Beach party would be complete without a Treasure Hunt!!!!

Dividing the Booty!

Ahhh! Long day, party's over!

Hey, this guy wasn't on the invite list!

Stilts and Marshmallows

It's been forever since I blogged. But here it goes.

Wade and Bret spent a couple of nights in the garage building stilts out of scrap wood.

Bret spends every spare moment practicing! He's much better now then when we took the pictures this morning!

So proud to have an innovative son, and a husband who can help make his son's ideas reality!

What are we do to with left over marshmallows? We had a little fun tonight!

Indoor S'mores! Graham Cracker, Vanilla Frosting, Melted Chocolate Chips and a Marshmallow on top! Yum!

Lilly after her indoor S'more!

This is a princess wand! Well, I guess Garret and Bret's were prince wands!

I thought they'd ditch the pretzel, but they all ate the whole thing!

We're missing Rachel and Wade tonight. Rachel is hanging with friends, and Wade is at his sister's election party. Sorry I couldn't be with Wade, but I want to get these sugar high kids in bed at a decent hour.

Ripon Sea Lions Award Ceremony

The 2009 Ripon Sea Lion's were undefeated this year! Rachel and Bret had the privilege of swimming with a group of talented swimmers. They worked hard along side their team, and significantly improved their strokes and times!

Bret receiving his participation award.

Boy's 11-12 team.

Girls - 13-14 team.

Rachel receiving her participation award.

Lilly - the cheerleader and future Sea Lion!

Bret received a trophy for Most Improved Swimmer for boy's 11-12!

Yeah Bret!

Rachel and Bret are looking forward to their first year of extended team. They'll be working on their strokes from now until October 31st!

Grandma's 60th!

Mom and her three kids - Amy, John, Melissa

Grandma, Papa and all the grandkids!

Amy's - Michaela, Jeremiah, Emily, Moriah, Josiah, Javan, Maia, and Maris

John's - Maekinzie, Nadalee

Melissa's - Rachel, Bret, Garret, Lilly

Campbell Cousin's Visit

Emily and the kids came for a visit last week. What a great time we had catching up on each other's lives, seeing how much our kids have grown, etc. No visit is complete without a meal to Taqueria! After dinner the Campbell's and Crew's killed some time at Old Navy and then headed to "Strike Zone" for bowling with the Sea Lions!

Here is the one and only boy table!

Little girls!

Big Girls!

Kelsey and Lilly - they were twins tonight!

Garret before his melt down!

Waiting for their balls. These girls were serious about bowling!

Ella, Bret, Carlee

Not sure what Blog spot is doing - but ok here are the biggest girls w/ two cute little boys!

In reverse order - for reasons only blog spot knows!!! Or maybe it's been so long that I don't remember how to blog anymore!

The girls used this on their second game. It was much easier - and kept their spirits high!
Here's Garret after his melt down. Sue let him play with her I - Phone. Technology will sooth any Crew male!

Aren't they cute! Thanks Emily for doing Lilly's hair!

A Day on the Lake

What a fun day on the lake with friends, grandma, an aunt and cousins!

I wasn't sure how Garret would react to tubing -but he loved it!

On the way home Lilly told us that tubing was more than fun, it was awesome.  In fact she didn't want it called fun at all.  It was too much more than that for her!

The big kids were a thrill to watch!  The boat picked up more speed and the girls loved it!

Martin and Sam - thanks for everything!

Sam is an incredible wake boarder!

In the early afternoon the kids switched to kayaks.

Lilly begged, and I relented.  This was a big mistake.

It was windy and she effortlessly moved across the lake.  Her big brother came to her rescue.

He and Madison worked to tie Lilly's boat to Bret's.  I was pretty impressed...

until it became clear that now Bret was in trouble.  He was able to get Lilly to shore and give her to me.  Why I didn't jump in the kayak, I don't know.  He was very confident that he could get both kayaks back to the dock.  But no, now Bret was much farther than Lilly had been.  I ran back to camp for help - yes, ran!

Martin and Sam to the rescue!!  Sue too!  Thank you Sue!

O.K.  silly computer deleted my last picture, but it's of everybody making it back to shore in the boat.  Thanks Yeomans for a special day.  It reminded me of my high school days on Lake Tulloch.  Glad my children were able to experience some of the same type of fun!  Looking forward to next year already!!