VERY Busy End of July, Part 2

Our niece Maya Jean was born on June 8th and on Thursday, July 21st Grandma and Grandpa Rogers, and the 4 of us piled into a van to drive down to California to meet her. We officially me our precious niece Maya over dinner on Thursday night. She is PERFECT!

On Friday, Grandma, Grandpa, and the 4 of us headed to the Los Angeles Zoo! IT WAS GREAT! The zoo was the perfect size for us. We were able to get around the zoo in about 2 hours. Abby was so funny and really helped us to get around the park so quickly. As soon as we would get to an animal pin she would look at the animal for a moment and then say, "More animals" and off we went to the next pin. Here are a few pictures from the zoo...

As you can see...the girls had a great time at the zoo...

On Friday night we had dinner with Joe, Remy, and Maya...

Abby and Kera loved seeing their Uncle Joe and Auntie Remy!

On Saturday we headed to the beach for a bit. I love the beach and I wish Abby would of enjoyed it more but she was afraid of the waves. Jim tried to build a sand castle with her but she became too frightened. Regardless, it was a nice time in the sand.

After an afternoon of a few hiccups...we will let those be unsaid...we had a very nice dinner with Remy's mom, Soonie, it is always a great pleasure to see her!

And Abby got her teeth checked by Auntie Remy...all looks good!

On Saturday night I was able to get Remy out of the house for a movie! We say the final Harry Potter. Even though it was just released it was my second time seeing it. Jim and I were able to go out to see it a few days earlier in Vegas.

We initially were going to stay until Monday but we decider to leave a day early but, before we left, we were able to meet for one last breakfast. It was great that we had the opportunity to all be together.

Once we got back home to Vegas we had a few more days with Grandma and Grandpa. Those days were filled with them experiencing Abby's dance class...

And of course, there was pool time...

Thank you very much Joe and Remy for allowing us to visit and meet Maya and thank you Regis and Gwen for coming to town to see us. 

Next up, Pepe and Burrs come to town.

VERY Busy End of July, Part 1

We had a very busy end of July starting with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rogers, then, a road trip to California to meet out new niece Maya (with Grandma and Grandpa Rogers), and then, finally, a visit from Pepe and Burrs.
Grandma and Grandpa arrives on July 18th and the girls were very happy to see them.

Abby played fairies and played with chalk with Grandpa:

Read with Grandma:

Kera got a lot of good snuggle time in:

And of course there was pool time for all:

While the grandparents were here I also got to enjoy a nice morning by myself with Jim took everyone hiking at Red Rock. While they were hiking...I was getting a massage.

One major thing that happened when the grandparents were here is Kera finally started crawling on her hands and knees:

Next, it was off to California to meet Maya!

Family Bike Rides

We finally got a second child seat on our bike so we are now able to go on family bike rides. We have gone on a couple now and they are a lot of fun but, we can't go for long...an hour is about our limit. Here are a few pictures from our first ride that the 4 of us were able to take together:

Kera is on the back of my bike:

And Abby is on the back of Jim's:

Dessert Sunday

Sunday has turned into the one day a week that we allow ourselves to have dessert. Our favorites are banana splits and strawberry shortcake. Take a look at this HUGE banana split that Jim made a few weeks back...

All the fixings:

 Enough to feed an army or at least the 3 of us...

YUM!! Love Sunday desserts!

4th of July Weekend

The 4th of July weekend started off with an attempted hike on the 3rd. We walked out our front door with the intention of walking around our local mountain, a hike that should take about an hour and a half but...it did not go exactly as planned. We thought that we were prepared and Kera was enjoying her first experience in the hiking backpack...

...but not far into the hike Abby decided that she didn't want to walk anymore and wanted to be carried. We only ended up hiking 1/4 of the hike with me carrying Abby the entire way. I was sore the next day! The good news is Chewy had fun...

...and Kera had a good nap...

On the 4th we had our neighbors over for a pool party and potluck. We all had a great time!

I even had a flag craft for the kids...

Abby's flag is the one on the right, just in case you couldn't tell.

After the pot luck we all headed outside for some fireworks. It was a great day with neighbors and friends!

Left to right...Maddie, Sarah, and Abby

Father's Day Weekend

We had a FANTASTIC Father's day weekend this year!

We started the weekend early by making pumpkin pancakes on Friday...YUM!

On Saturday we attended a 3rd birthday party for Abby's friend Maddie. It is always so much fun seeing Abby interact with her friends.

On Sunday...it was all about family time and Papa.

First, there were the gifts:

...frame and picture painted by Abby, all by herself!

Then, it was off the a baseball game. It was our first Area 51's minor league baseball game but, it will not be our last!

 The ball field has a grassy area were we could lay out our own blanket and Abby could run around. We were very surprised that there were not more people there especially since it was father's day. We only make it to the 6th inning but it was a beautiful day and a fun family activity.

What a better way to end the day then a dip in the pool...

Happy Father's day Jim thank you for being such a great Papa to the girls!!

Swing time!

Kera had her first experience with a swing back on June 5th. She was a bit tentative at first but, only after a few minuets, she became a huge fan!

It seems like only yesterday that Abby was taking her first ride on the swing.