Cali Trips

We have been so lucky to go to California twice this year already. On the first trip we got to see a lot of family. We stayed with Nicks mom and his dad, plus his brother Ryan came up as well as his brother Chad and his wife Trisha and their daughters CeCe and Alyssa and their son Tristan. I also got to meet Nicks grandma and grandpa for the first time. They loved their great grandchildren! Madison had a blast following CeCe around and her and Alyssa got along really well. We also went to Disneyland where Madison just had to have a Cinderella shirt and about 100 churros. On our second trip to California we spent all of our time in Laguna Beach. I absolutely love that eclectic little beach town. We had a lot of beach time, it is Madison's favorite thing next to spending time with her grandma, ate a tone of good food, and hit Sea World. It was a great little vacation and we can't wait to go back!

I just love this picture. One of us always had to stay pretty close because Madison has no fear of the ocean.

Wyatt spent most of his time eating his toes. He was not a fan of the ocean.

While Madison was getting wet up to her neck, CeCe and Alyssa would get close enough to get their toes wet and then run away screaming and laughing.

We had to do some serious bribing to get her away from the water but eventually it worked and she snuggled up with her daddy on the warm rocks.

I'm not sure if Madison had more fun eating the cotton candy or feeding Nick.

Now we were lucky to get this picture of mom because she is so busy taking pictures herself. So we took a picture of mom taking pictures.

You may be thinking that this picture is of Uncle Ryan and the kids, but in fact it is of Uncle Grandpa and the kids or at least that is what Madison calls him. We all seemed to think that it suited him too. This is when Madison started to draw on herself too, "Uncle Grandpa does" Thanks Ryan.

We were really bad about taking pictures on this trip, so this pic is of dad and Wyatt when he came up for Wyatt's blessing. Everyone thought that they looked so much alike, it must be the baby blues.

Madison loved Grandpa Chiniquy's dog, I am not sure that the feeling was mutual.

Page Family Visit

We had such a fun time with my Mom, Dad, Gpa Page and Colie when they came to visit this summer. Madison loves having them around. She has at least one constant play mate 24 hours a day. It is getting harder and harder when they leave though. Mom almost went home minus one pinkie finger because Madison would not let go.

We spent a lot of time hanging out in the back yard, either eating, swinging, napping, picking veggies or strawberries, playing badminton or croquet, and swimming.

Colie was such a good sport.

Boy time.

I think that Madison and Bear had the most fun playing badminton. Bear was like those little guys that fetch the tennis balls, he was not helpful though because usually the birdie was still in play when he snatched it out of the air.

This was pretty funny because earlier that day Colie was talking about how she was excited to play intramurals while she is in Whales because "it isn't so competitive". I believe that the only racquet casualty we had was due to her...

Do you believe that face?

We also went for a little walk and let Madison play at the park. It was great, she had Dad going through this little tube slide, where was my camera then!!

Madison and Wyatt were exhausted after so much fun. We can't wait for you to come back again!

Summer Piping

Here are some of the pics from the LFD Pipes & Drums summer concert series.

Their first big gig was playing for the NAIA World Series on Memorial Day. It was cool that Nick got to play on the same field that he won a National Championship on (his uniform has changed quite a bit, but I think that he can pull off a skirt just as well as he could the tight baseball pants)
The groupies.

They also played during a flag raising ceremony at the Idaho State Veterans Home on Memorial Day. They sounded great! Here is a link to their web site where you can watch videos of them performing and see more pictures. www.lewistonpipesanddrums.org/home.html

Fun in the Sun

As you can see, Madison definitely has Nicks California blood. She loves the water! Wyatt, on the other hand, loves his nice warm bath, and that is about it. It took me awhile to get him used to the pool but once he decided it was okay he had fun floating around in the dolphin.

I made the mistake of starting a water fight with Nick yesterday. Madison and I snuck into the bathroom and made some water balloons and then waited for our chance. Needless to say, I was soaked and Nick.....was not. The fact that he was an amazing right fielder with impeccable aim and currently a fireman, where he gets plenty of practice shooting things with water, did not even cross my mind. Thank goodness Madison stole the hose from him. It was a bit easier dodging her squirts then Nicks. She was determined though!!

But then she started to get cold...

And a little bit colder. It was nothing that a warm towel and a mommy hug couldn't fix.

Wyatt was thrilled that he stayed out of the fray, even though by the looks of him, he was the one who needed to be sprayed off with the hose! We ended our night with an exciting game of badminton, again I need to think twice before challenging Nick, and some chill out time in front of the waterfall. What a great day!