Grandma’s Outing

When Alyson was here, my mom wanted to take the oldest four granddaughters out for some fun.  My mom loved to ice skate when she was a girl and always tells the girls stories of that.  The next closest option that seemed do-able alone was roller skating.  Kristy also agreed to come along – which ended up being not only fun to the girls, but helpful with all the “issues” that can arise with new-skaters!

My mom impressed the girls with skating around the rink!  I have to admit, I’m not sure my mom has ever let ME see her skate around the rink!  They went to Roller Towne which is where I went all growing up, in Visalia. 

How cute are these pictures??

 

Back to School!

I have tried to make a “Back to School Dinner” a tradition for the girls.  So this year, I asked their preferred menu and here were their main requests “mashed potatoes, steak, ice cream and brownies”.  Sounded good to me!

But when the day came to buy and cook…I just couldn’t make it happen.  Tucker had been out of town and was going to pull in right at 5:30.  Knowing that we wanted to do dinner, blessings and early bed… I made the decision that our back to school dinner this year would be at Cattlemen’s (a steakhouse).  Cost us twice as much, but no prep or cleanup sounded worth it at that moment!  And it was :-)

 

So at dinner we talked about a “theme” and I introduced the girls to “BTF”.  BTF means Be That Friend.  Be THAT friend you would like to have.  Be THAT friend to others who makes them feel loved and accepted and not judged. 

 

Then we came home and had brownie sundaes!  And sadly, I didn’t take a picture at dinner….and this is the only pic at home that turned out:

 

 

 

The next morning, we were up early and ready to go!  Quite the abrupt end to our summer vacation, but they were all excited.

Jordyn: 4th grade Mrs. Jimenez

Lexi:  2nd grade (round two) Mrs. Stone

Peyton: delayed Kinder since she has an Oct bday, and she is in Preschool!

 

 

 

Peyton was unexpectedly hit with nerves!  She was crying and said she felt sick.  But I knew she would be fine once we left…and I was right.  She RAN up to me after preschool and said “Mom, can I come back again tomorrow??”.  She is going MWF.  Her teachers are Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Booey and the director is Mrs. Weber.

Bye Alyson!

Alyson was able to stay with us for three weeks.  And we sure had a blast.  We always cherish the time the cousins all get to spend together and since we only really get Alyson out here once a year, we make the most of it.

 

Lindy and Kylee flew back to UT with Alyson and stayed with Carly for a couple days, so these pics were as we were saying goodbye to them!

 

(typical Grandpa pose)

Pismo Beach!

Lindy and I took the six kids to Pismo last week.  Just did a 12 hour day trip.  The weather was cool, but not overcast and the kids had a blast playing in the water! My mom kept Kylee at home so she wouldn’t have to crawl in sand all day, so our youngest kids were 4 – not too bad.  The wind was pretty strong for a while and gave Lindy an earache.  Luckily it died down! 

 

And of course we ate at Splash.  Longest line I’ve ever seen in all my time going there!  And with six kids!  It was worth it :-)

 

The night before we left, Jordyn and Alyson had a sleepover at my moms.  And Lyric had a sleepover at our house.  Well, I am not exaggerating when I say that Lyric and Lexi woke up FOR THE DAY at 3:15 AM!  They couldn’t go back to sleep because they were so excited.  I was so mad, I could not believe it.  All I could think about was how tired and grumpy they were going to be!  But I have to admit they did pretty well considering!