Pigtails!

Today, Mommy, Eva and Sophia were all sporting pigtails! Yes, Sophia's hair is long enough in back for pigtails (just not anywhere else)!! : )

Here is Sophia...

Slip-n-Slide

Eva had received a slip-n-slide for her birthday. Both girls enjoy it and climb right on to the "sleds" that came with it. They haven't got the knack of running and sliding, so Daddy just pushes them. How fun!

Last few days of vacation...

Auntie Alisha and her nieces : )

One last day at the beach before we left. This was is Laguna Beach, near where Alisha lives. It is a really nice beach and very easy to get to.

July 5th - Third Day of Vacation

Crystal Cove Beach

Today we visited Crystal Cove State Park to spend more time at the beach. The girls LOVE the beach, but what kids don't I guess? : )

Here Daddy is the "bucket man" getting water.Sophia thought she would "try" some sand... YUMMY! Say CHEESE!!!
I had dug a big hole with "castle walls" around it and Sophia thought that was the best place to be. She crawled right in and stayed put!

Some pics of our little family! : )

Eva with her shovel.
Crystal Cove also has tide pools that we walked down to. The tide was coming in, so we didn't get to see too much, but we did find some hermit crabs!

July 4th - Second Day of Vacation

Knott's Berry Farm!
There were only 2 of us that had been to Knott's Berry Farm before - Auntie Alisha (she lives in California and generally goes once a year or so) and Grandpa (but he hadn't been there since Senior Ditch Day back in the 60's! Needless to say MUCH had changed). We all had a lot of fun and it was especially fun to watch Eva and Sophia enjoying themselves. Eva is getting taller so she can ride more rides and with the Camp Snoopy area, there were more rides for her to go on! Here are some rides that the girls enjoyed...

The Red Baron

I was trying to tell Eva to pull the lever so their plane could go up, but she seemed to not mind that her plane was the only one not flying high. : )

Grand Sierra Scenic Railroad

Huff and Puff
This was probably the most fun ride for me to watch Eva on - she had to "pump" her own mining car for it to move around the track! Check out the 2nd picture - I captured her determination! : )

Can't remember the name, but it is a "mini-scrambler". I love Eva's expression!

The Merry-go-Round
Always a favorite with the girls!

Here Eva was waiting in line with Shane to ride a small roller coaster - she wanted to wear Daddy's hat : )

Butterfield Stagecoach
Both Eva and Sophia thoroughly enjoyed riding the stagecoach! This is just a picture of the stagecoach traveling around the park. Shane, Eva, Sophia, and I got to ride on top, right behind the drivers. Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Alisha got to ride on top in the back. After we had ridden on the stagecoach, whenever Sophia saw the horses she got SO SO excited!!

Shane and I also road on quite a few more "thrilling rides". Here is a small list with links to the rides on the Knott's Berry Farm website:

Supreme Scream
Ghostrider
Xcelerator
Silver Bullet

All I can say is FUN FUN FUN!

July 3rd - First day of vacation, part 2

After the petting zoo, we walked over to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. It was founded in 1776, however part of the church was demolished during a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 1812. They are doing a great job preserving this place and it is so beautiful...

Eva was in the act of swinging her arms here...

Ah, the GIANT goldfish... well, we didn't see the sign until AFTER we had fed the fish a bunch of cheerios that had fallen on the ground. "No feeding the fish people food."
Oops. Hope they are okay!

After the mission, we headed to the beach down there to have our first look at the ocean this trip. It was actually a little breezy and was late in the day, so it was a tad cool. Such a nice reprieve from our Arizona heat!

On to day 2...

July 3rd - First day of vacation, part 1

For the Fourth of July weekend, we headed to California to visit my sister, Alisha. On the first day, we headed down to San Juan Capistrano for a petting zoo, the mission and some beach fun.

Zoomar's Petting Zoo was so much fun! The first area we went in was the little goats. Now, you can buy carrots, apples, and lettuce to feed the animals, and the goats know it! They pretty much come right up to you for food...

especially when Auntie Alisha purchased a lot of the "salad"! : )

There also were 2 large pot-bellied (?) pigs that came out of their shade for food every now and then.

Isn't Auntie Alisha silly?

The next area included the guinea pigs and the rabbits. This was very fun for me and Alisha since we had guinea pigs when we were younger. Sophia and Eva really enjoyed them!

Look deep into my eyes....And then we had Eva go on a pony ride. Boy was she excited about that! She wasn't scared either (of course it was a little pony). We now wish we had let Sophia take a turn as well : (

On to the next activity...