Winter Break

On the last day of school before their two week Christmas break, both Lauren and Milli had little Christmas programs.  They were so cute, and they both did awesome!  

 On the first day of break, Stacia's Activity Day girls were going ice skating, so I took all the kids along.  They had a blast.  They were all very timid at first, but by the end they were skating around like little pros!!

Brooke and Stacia

Lauren LOVED it!

All the kids :)

 A few days later we all decided to go to the Santa Barbara Zoo.  It was a beautiful day, It is still so weird to me that this is winter, but I am enjoying every minute of it!

Watch out Stacia, there's a Giraffe behind you!

I always knew he was part monkey :)

Lauren and Micah

They had a really fun dinosaur show.  The costume was pretty good, if those human legs weren't sticking out, the kids would have been a bit scared.

Lauren loves the Elephants!

Stacia and Brooke

They have an ant hill that the kids can slide down.  They love it, and would play all day just on that.

We also spent a day at a natural butterfly preserve.  All those dark clumps of "leaves" are actually thousands of Monarch butterflies.  It was a truly amazing sight!  They migrate here every December and stay through February.

We walked out to some cliffs overlooking the ocean.

The kids had fun climbing trees.

 On our way home we stopped at the Santa Barbara Mission.  It is beautiful and we learned some history.

Birthday's

For my birthday this year my cute family got me a bike!  It was a complete surprise and I love it!

Bobby took me to a super fancy party!  Ok it was his work Christmas  party, but it was still fun to go out :)

Dave and Cheri` Merkley

For Bobby's birthday we woke him up to open a few gifts.

Then we surprised him at work with balloons.

And the kids decorated a cake!

Make a wish!!

Way To go Stacia!

Bobby Made a deal with Stacia that if she would read all of the Illustrated Bible Books then she could get a new bike.  Well needless to say, she did it!  It only took her about two weeks and the day she finished, Bobby took a long lunch so he could help her pick one out!!  

Sea World

For fall break this year, the kids and I drove down to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ginn.  One of the days we were there we spent at Sea World!  It was a wonderful day, the weather was beautiful and since we went on a Thursday, it was not crowded at all!  

The first thing we saw was a legless lizard.  It looked just like a snake to me  so I was surprised the kids would get so close to it.  I learned that one of the biggest differences between a legless lizard and a snake is that the lizard has hips.  Crazy.

Let's get dizzy!!

We saw Elmo and Grover which was really fun for the kids, except Lauren, she liked them from a distance but she wouldn't go near them :)

Lauren, Milena, Stacia, and Landon with Grandpa Ginn

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the kids got soaked at the Shamoo Show, and they were even wearing ponchos!!

The kids love the tide pools!  There is so much to see in there !

The boys about to take flight!

WooHoo!

This vacation was right before Halloween so grandma made Rice Crispie treats that the kids could mold into fun Halloween shapes.

Yum!

Fun Grandma time :)

And of course Grandma made the kids their favorite breakfast, Dutch  Babies!!  Thanks Grandma!