Polly, Juliette, Paulloo, and friends

It all started this last Christmas when out of the blue Natasha asked for a talking parrot from Santa. To my surprise, Santa actually brought one and Natasha named her Polly.

You can tell just how thrilled she was to get Polly.

Then, for Natasha's birthday she got a smaller version of Polly and she named her Juliette.

Just a month later it was Alyssa's birthday and that's when Polly and friends started to appear EVERYWHERE!

Natasha got Alyssa a little bird like Juliette but this one was blue and Alyssa named her Paulloo.

When I started to notice that they would set up the animals in all different situations I would take pictures. It's like "Where's Waldo" but instead it's "Where are the birds now?" All the pictures that I took were totally arranged by Natasha or both her and Alyssa. I never told them to pose for pictures.

Here we are at the 4th of the July enjoying the fireworks.

I guess they didn't like their previous spot so they moved here to get a better look. :)

Still watching the fireworks.

They both showed up camping with their birds and friends.

Enjoying the campfire together.

Going for a car ride together.

Enjoying the sites. They are looking at McArthur-Burney Falls.

At the base of the falls the girls put them down to go climb on the rocks.

When I was walking around the base of the falls I came across the birds here, in their protected waiting area.

And, last but not least, Polly even went on an airplane ride to Ohio. Juliette came too but she was still in her backpack here.

Who would have thought that these birds would be so much fun to these girls. I think it is really cute every time I see them set up in a new place.

First day of school

Last Monday it finally came, the first day of school. I am proud to say that I survived another summer. The kids were really excited too for their first day. Preston is STILL waiting for his first day in two days. It has seemed like an eternity to him (and me).

Andrew is a big third grader this year. (You can also see his new hair cut here.)

Natasha is a big second grader this year. At first she was disappointed that none of her friends from last year were in her class. However, she has adapted very well and is fast making new friends. She also likes that she can see her old friends at recess and still play with them. She will NEVER have a problem making friends that's for sure!

Lassen - Day 1

Every summer for the last four summers we have taken a big camping trip with Jason's family. Two summers ago we went to Lassen Volcanic National Park and we really enjoyed it so we decided to go back. It started out a little rough though. Only 10 seconds after all the kids got out of the car to set up Preston got stung by a bee. Then about three hours later he was throwing up sick. Luckily it was a pretty mild sickness so it didn't keep him from doing too much. It was also lucky that the campground had a laundromat. :)

After we set up camp we went on a short hike to Manzanita Lake. The trail went right past our campsite.


Adam is Mr. Hiker. I think he was born to hike. I've never seen such a small child be able to walk and walk and walk and walk and never get tired.

We were sitting around the campfire and Adam decided to pick his own spot for his chair. Too cute.

Lassen - Day 2

First thing on the agenda, 3 mile round trip hike to Bumpass Hell to see the boiling mud pots.

Here we are BEFORE the hike. Every one did really great though. Adam walked the whole way. I ended up having to put Preston on my back for the last bit and that was tough. It was worth it though.

Along the trail we saw lots of snow. The kids always wanted to stop and have a snowball fight. We had to keep pushing to move on or we might have been there all day!

Along the trail. We're almost there.

Whew, we made it.

Along side the warm stream.

Preston inspecting the strange water. They all got to put their hands in the warm water.

Just a great picture.

After the long hike every one was tired and Nathan and Renay had just arrived so we just hung out at the campsite. One thing I didn't get a picture of is all the room we had behind our sites. It was just open forest. It turned out that we all brought frisbees so we ended up with four of them. Jason and Nathan really liked to play frisbee golf in the open forest. They would play it for hours. Adam liked to follow them when they played which was nice for me! By the end of the trip Adam had a new word "miss!". Around the campsite he would throw the frisbee and say " Aww, miss!" So funny that he picked that up from watching them play. Also every evening we would see a deer run through the forest right behind our site.

Lassen - Day 3

Natasha and Alyssa were attached at the hip for the whole trip. They played really cute together and of course it involved animals.

Adam liked to play with Ian's car city.

It was so nice to have Alyssa in our car going places - NO FIGHTING! It was so joyous. At the end of the trip when Andrew was back in the middle we didn't even make it 30 seconds out of the campsite before a major fight erupted. So, I really enjoyed going places with Alyssa in our car and so did Natasha.

Our first stop was Subway Cave. It's an old lava tube from Mt. Lassen. Most everyone liked it but we didn't have a good lantern so it was more difficult to see than normal. I thought Preston would really like it but he was absolutely petrified of the cave. For the life of me I couldn't convince him that lava wasn't going to come and swallow us up.

Here is Andrew and Natasha with their foot in a petrified lava bubble. I have this same picture when Natasha was two years old.

Second stop, McArthur-Burney Falls.

Jason and I in front of the falls.

Jason and Adam at the base of the falls. It was so nice and cool here.

Andrew, Mike, and Kaeli getting down close to the water. They had fun climbing over all the boulders.

Alyssa and Natasha admiring the falls.

Just a mile down the road was a lake where we went swimming. The kids liked it because it was HOT. My car said 99 degrees.

Natasha and Alyssa some how got two floaties from someone and they floated out together and had a lot of fun.

Andrew, Kaeli, Alyssa, Preston, and Adam liked to stay near the shore and build things in the sand.

After swimming we stopped at the park's General Store and got some soft serve ice cream.

Alyssa and Natasha by the campfire (never without their animals.)

This night we popped popcorn and all the big kids got a turn.

What would we do without Jiffy Pop??

Here they all are with their finished product. It tasted really yummy too - no burnt popcorn if you can believe it.

After popcorn it was glow stick time!! That was tons of fun. The kids really had fun with them and they liked taking them to bed with them.

Everyone twirling their glow sticks.