Mr. & Mrs. Fix It

Our car broke down...again. We had it towed into the shop to figure out what was wrong. The alternator is broken and we needed a new battery (b/c jumping it five times apparently takes out all the juice!) They said it was going to cost us about $600 to fix. We decided to tow it home and try to fix it ourselves. *Just to clarify, by fix it ourselves I really mean call my brother Jacob and watch him fix it. We are helpful in buying the parts, making pointless comments, and providing the appropriate tools at just the right moments. So today I was out "helping" they guys fix the car and I don't think it is going to be as easy as we thought. Imagine that! At least my brother seems to know what he is doing.

Misadventures

After a week visit from the Trotter Family, life is back to normal. Marianne and the kids left on Friday and my kids are now completely board with plain'ol mom! We had lots of fun with the Trotters. We discovered that there are not many kid friendly places in Las Vegas. We went on a tour of a chocolate factory. That was totally boring for the kids. Who would have guessed that the process of making candy could be so boring to a group of 4-6 year olds? They did perk up at the end when they got a taste test. From there, we went to the Hoover Dam. My father in law warned me about this before we went. Why do I never listen? We were about two miles from the dam when we hit the traffic. It took over an hour to get to the dam. And when we got there the kids were less than impressed not to mention the terror a mother feels when her child tries to jump up on a ledge to see what is on the other side. That was a fun day trip! At least I was in good company, Marianne and I had lots of time to just chat. Another day we went to Red Rock Canyon. This was really cool but again not the best thought out plan. Poor Marianne is 7 months pregnant and we had to carry the little girls most of the way because it was not stroller friendly hiking. The kids did enjoy the hike and looking at all of the desert plants. Our last big outing was to take the kids to see the water show at the Bellagio and then to the lion habitat at the MGM Grand. Yeah,Las Vegas is not kid friendly. I'll never do that again. We didn't even make it to the lions. The most fun was just hanging out and laughing about all of our "misadventures." It was great to see the kids play together. It's funny how they seem to just pick up where they left off. We all had a great time and we miss Ohio a little more now.

Rub-a-Dub Fun in the Tub

The kids had so much fun at the beach that when we got home they wanted to go swimming everyday. So, finally I gave in and let them go swimming in the tub.

Fun In The Sun

While we were in California we went to visit my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Bryan. We had so much fun seeing the sights. One day we went to Zuma Beach in Malibu where we went boogie boarding...yes that's me in a wet suit. Trevor even braved the waves but I don't think we got any photos of him. The kids loved playing in the waves and sand. We also went to Ventura Harbor so the kids could see all of the boats and walk on the beach one last time. It was a great trip!

Finally!

Photos of our California trip. These were taken at Disneyland 2/15/08. Enjoy...