Finally...we did it!

So, how long have we lived in CA? Well, it took us a while, but we finally took the kids to the beach for the first time! We wanted to wait until Michael wasn't eating everything in sight! There were mixed reviews...Michael loved the sand, but they both were a little scared of the big waves! So, they stayed away from the water for the most part.

We ended up setting up camp pretty far from the ocean, but that's where they felt safe...close to see but far enough from it. Eating lunch at the beach...

Trying to make a sand castle.

More Beach Pictures

Michael saw a boat out in the water....

Michael loved the sand!

Getting Ready...

The kids love hats...just love them. We were packing getting ready for the Labor Day weekend, and Brittany & Michael kept taking items out of the suitcase and trying them on...here they found their hats (actually, Michael has a different one but he had unpacked it and couldn't find it. Needlesstosay, we didn't find it until we returned from the trip). Love the hat with the glasses...ready for the beach!

What do you do with left over birthday balloons? Brittany & Michael sit on them (believe it or not, they never popped!).

Daddy's Birthday

OK, so I need to catch up on a few months here....lazy August...or just plain laziness?

Anyway, here are a few pictures from Jamie's birthday party.

Here's Michael smashing his cupcake (it had ice cream in it) with his hands...too cold to eat?
Brittany saying "cheese" while she waits for her cupcake to melt some.

She loves sweets!! She had no problem eating the entire cupcake!

Decorations.....

The kids help decorate the sign (colored it); they loved it!

Family Reunion (Still)...

For one of the dinner, all of us were "driven" to the place by horses. This is one of the wagons. This is the wagon we were on...

This is Michael on the wagon; he was so excited to see the horses!

This is our picture at the "dinner"; we were taken to the woods by the lake to have a steak dinner. Michael is actually looking at the corn on the cob which was cooking over a fire! It was a lot of fun!

This is Shannan and Brittany. Brittany just loved Shannan! She still asks where she is and if we can go to her house to visit.

Reunion Con't

Brittany swimming with cousins (Davey & Josh). Michael playing ball with cousins (Davey and Josh).

This is Michael on the plane home.

This is Brittany sitting in her own seat on the plane; she thought she was such a big girl!

This is the kids eating again (Eric & Brittany).

Family Reunion

OK, so I've been pretty lazy lately. I could blame that it's August and hot, but the truth of the matter is...I've been lazy. Anyway, here are some updated pictures. We had our Bloomquist family reunion a couple of weeks ago in Branson, MO...yeah, I never heard of it either. It was fun to visit with family and for some it was the first time they met Brittany and Michael.

There were six children who are roughly the same age; they sat eating their dinners together. This is Michael and Mary Jane (my niece Melissa too).
This is Josh, Davey and Michael.

This is my brother and some of his family (Katie, Laurie & DeLyle).

This is my grandmother, Susie, holding Brittany.

Me and Brittany, of course.