First Pitch

Mikos got the opportunity on Tuesday night to throw out the first pitch at the Angels game. It was an exciting night for us. We got to the stadium early and got to go out onto the field and watch the Angels batting practice. Shortly before the game, we got to cheer Mikos on in throwing out the first pitch. He did awesome! William got all geared up and looked adorable (if I don't say so myself). Of course as we watched the batting practice, he started to get vocal about his disappointment and started asking if that was all we were going to do... watch. He wanted to play and most of all slide! Too funny. The irony of it all. It was a fun night and Grandma and Grandpa joined us and Soosa and Russell met up for awhile as well. It was a good night.

Kips

Maddie and Wil have been going to gymnastics at Kips now for one year. They just had family week last week and they got their one year trophies! They were surprised by the trophies and so excited. Especially William as this was his first trophy ever! Big deal. It was cute. Each student got up and their instructors spoke briefly about what they've learned and their strengths. Very cute.

Adventure City

I'd been wanting to take the kids to a little theme park called Adventure City all summer. With time running out, I decided to take them last Tuesday. I spread the word to a couple of friends and was happy when one of my new friends Jamie jumped on board. We got to the park a little before 11:00am. I have to admit I was a little worried when we pulled up. You can't see any rides from the parking lot and it's not in the best of locations. I started to worry that it might be a bust but boy were we pleasantly surprised! We LOVED it!! We spent the entire day there and didn't leave until 4:00. We packed a picnic lunch which worked out great and the kids had a ball with their friends going on all the little rides. We are big fans of Adventure City and can't wait to go back next summer!

A Day in L.A.

A couple of weeks back, we drove up to LA for the day. Mikos and William had tickets to the X Games where they saw a super cool skateboard show. We dropped them off at Nokia Theater in Downtown and Maddie and I headed over to the American Girl store. After doing a little damage, we picked up Dad and Wil and went to Olvera Street for some yummy Mexican dinner. It was a great day.
Dad bought an "egg" from one of the vendors and cracked it over the kids heads. Brought back memories of Fiesta Days in Santa Barbara....
...and so did this little discovery! My pig!! And we didn't even shop around. :)

Maddie Mania!

Mikos just completed a video of Maddie he's been working on for awhile. It's so funny! Maddie took most of these video clips herself last fall. As you'll see, she had a blast with the flip camara. Enjoy!

Minn-e-sO-ta! (part II)

More of our Minnesota trip...lots of boating and swimming and fishing and fireworks and miniature golf and playing with family on Gull Lake! We had the best weather and had such a an awesome vacation. Special thanks to Mom and Dad for their above-and-beyond hospitality and thanks to Mike and Jen and kids for staying the week with us and Amy and Bob for taking time off as well and to Rachel and Andrew too! We love you all SO much and can't wait for Christmas! :)

Minn-e-sO-ta! (part I)

We just returned from two GREAT weeks in Minnesota! Did you hear me? TWO weeks! We had such a fun time with my family. We got to see plenty of everyone and just had so much fun being at the lake with Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick. The photo ops were endless so I have to document our trip in two posts. The pics below are from our second week. We took the kids to Paul Bunyan Land which was more of a hit than we expected. The kids LOVED it. It's funny because it's in the middle of nowhere and the rides are literally from the 1950's but there were no lines and the kids had a blast just running from ride to ride and jumping on.

Note: disregard dates on the pictures. I was using my Dad's camara all week 'cause mine died and pics are all dated 2008. It's going to drive me nutz for years to come. :)

We also hit up the famous Nisswa Turtle Races and also got to attend the Pig Races...all in one day mind you! Good times.We loved getting to see our cousin (and niece) Rachel. She is so sweet to Maddie and William and they adore her. This is the final picture of our trip taken outside of Amy's house before heading to the airport for our trek home.