Surprise Scavenger Hunt

Clue #1:

Clue #2:

Clue #3:

Clue #4:

Clue #5:

Clue #6:

The kids for some reason couldn't figure out what all the clues meant (I think they were distracted by the cookies!) so we had Easton just read the secret message out loud.

Revealing the secret:

I like Easton's smile when it finally clicks and he understands what is happening : )

Yes, that is right!  We are expecting baby #4!  Due to arrive September 15th!

If anything watch this video (30 sec in) for Blair's reaction!

Blair really wants a baby sister.  She has even trained Dyer to say that he wants a baby sister.  Blair has even said that she wants to return the baby if it's a brother.  We have a problem though because Easton says that he wants to return the baby if it's a sister.  Someone will be very excited and someone will be a little heart broken (for a while anyways).  

Easton's thoughts of a new baby:

Blair's thoughts of a new baby:

Blair's actually very observant.  She was noticing that my tummy was getting bigger but she just thought that I was eating too much food!

Dyer's thoughts of a new baby:

Dyer loves babies so I'm sure he will be very excited to have a new baby in our family.  He is actually very sweet to baby dolls (he cuddles/rocks them and will either sing to them or shhh them to let them know that everything is okay) so I know he is going to be a great big brother.  

The Jungle

Easton had a week off for winter break so we were able to do some fun things before we all got sick.  One thing we did was go to The Jungle.  The kids had a blast but I thought it was dirty and really dark in there.  Plus, the food was a bit on the expensive side and it wasn't good.  I'm glad we went but I doubt we will be going back.  I probably have negative things to say about it because I was hoping it would be like The Kids Club (Jungle place) I took the kids to when I was home visiting my family.  It was basically the same concept, but we got a lot less for the same amount of money.  I was disappointed.

Blair

Easton

Dyer

Valerie

Video of Easton and Dyer playing in the ball pit:

Easton and Dyer

Video of the kids on the merry go round:

A quarter wouldn't work on this ride.  You had to have a token, but we were too lazy to go exchange the quarters since most of the rides took quarters.  Valerie instead pushed the kids around.  They still had fun and they got multiple rides!

Dyer playing in a game

Video of Dyer:

Point Reyes

Nate had President's day off so we decided to take the family to Point Reyes to see the elephant seals.  This has been something that Nate has wanted to do since we moved out here.  Valerie came along since she has never been there before.  It was definitely on the cold side (wind anyways) but we still had a great time.  Easton and I got car sick on the way out there (windy roads) but we eventually recovered and had a great time too!

Waiting for the tour bus.  Peek a boo!

Sweet little Blair Bear!  

Valerie let her borrow her bandana because Blair's ears were sooo cold from all the wind.

It was so beautiful there.

When we got there we got on a tour bus and the first stop was to the lighthouse.  You are allowed to walk to the light house but the only problem is once you walk down to the lighthouse you have to walk back up.  It is 308 stairs!  That doesn't include the two ramps!  I was very impressed that both Easton and Blair did all those stairs by themselves!

View about half way down the stairs.

The lighthouse was a lot smaller than I was imagining.  

See the top of that cliff?  Yep, that is what we had to climb after looking at the lighthouse.  

Valerie!

Blair and Easton had fun climbing!  Once we got to the top I read a sign that said something along the lines of  do not climb for your safety.  Oops!  They had fun and thankfully no one got hurt!

Isn't that view amazing?

After the lighthouse the bus took us to see the elephant seals.  I thought we would be able to see them a lot better but it was still neat to see them and their funky noses!

elephant seals

Easton checking out the elephant seals.

Such funny noses!

Talking a swim.

Video:

You can hear just how crazy windy it was!

All the seals on the beach.  

San Francisco Zoo

We took the whole family down to the San Francisco Zoo.  The weather was sunny and perfect and the kids were pretty well behaved.  Which definitely makes it a great day! 

 

The kids outside the zoo waiting for Daddy to buy the tickets.

Dyer getting excited about the zebras!

Video of Dyer:

Our first stop was to watch the bears get fed.  We had to wait awhile but we got front row seats and it was definitely neat to watch.  

Video of the bears:

This just shows how close we were.

sea lion

Koala

Dyer riding a dinosaur

Video of Dyer:

Video of Easton and Blair rock climbing:

I like how Dyer kept going over there and getting his finger stepped on.

Blair rock climbing

Easton digging for dinosaur bones.

Easton

Video of the monkeys:

Easton and Dyer checking out the monkeys.

Video of my little monkey:

Easton and Blair

giraffe

gorilla

Dyer, Easton and Blair

Dyer petting the goat.  This goat just sat right down on that bench.

Video of Dyer petting the goat:

Dyer riding a tractor.  He was trying to find Blair so she could get on the other one.

Easton climbing on the spider web.

Dyer trying to keep up with the big kids.

Blair (crazy hair girl!)

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

I finally decided to chop my hair off and donate it!  Nathan's Aunt suggested about a year ago that I should donate my hair to Pantene instead of Locks of Love.  Apparently Locks of Love charges cancer patients for their wigs (based on their income) but Pantene gives them for free!  That definitely sounded better to me.  I still need to get a package to send the hair in but it should be in the mail later this week!

Here's the before pics:

Sorry it's a little blurry is wasn't until we were taking the after shots that we realized there was finger prints all over the front of the lens.

 And the After pics:

I cut off about 15".

I like my haircut but I think I might try styling the front (bang) area a little differently.  I forgot to take a  picture of the back...sorry mom!

This little dude thinks I look like his Auntie and has been calling me Auntie all night long!

Family Plane Ride

We were supposed to make a trip to Idaho for Nathan's cousin's missionary farewell, but the weather was not very good so we decided to not make the trip.  It was probably a good thing since we later heard of a father, son, and a friend that got killed in a plane crash the same day we were planning on traveling and they were basically flying the same route we were going to take.

A week later we decided to try a small family trip.  The weather was foggy on and off again.  We took off with not much fog but within a few minutes the fog was getting thicker so we turned around and landed.  It was probably a good thing since none of the kids were having much fun.  It takes quite a while to drive to the airport and then even longer to get the airplane all checked out and ready to go.  On the up side we were all able to fit into the airplane (Dyer's carseat included) which we weren't sure if it was going to work or not.

Kids!  Dyer just woke up so he wasn't sure what to think of everything.

Dyer definitely didn't like the earplugs. 

Nathan right before take off!

Our view once we got into the fog.