Swimming at Grandma's

As Andy was out of town all week, we headed to P-town to swim for the afternoon during the last week of school...


Kate fell asleep in the car coming home, then woke up to walk inside. I left the room and came back to this. This is really only photo worthy because I don't have those kids that fall asleep like this. Some parents do, but we don't. When I walked in the room I couldn't believe she was really asleep until I approached her. I spent the next half hour getting the other 2 ready for bed and worrying that she'd go to the bathroom on our new chairs. I was immensely relieved when I picked her up and she was dry. Why couldn't she sleep like this 3 years ago during Church?

Kate's last day of school...

It's been a busy, sad, happy, proud and very nostalgic week. There are countless emotions that accompany watching your kids finish a year of school, especially kindergarten and the first year of preschool. They both finished on the same day, which I think I am happy about, as I'm not sure my little heart could have handled that much emotion spread out over multiple days. A few tears may have been shed. Why does one cry at kindergarten graduation? A question that can only be answered after you've attended one.

I haven't uploaded Lauren's photos, but here some pics of Kate on her last day of school at their song and video presentation...

Charlie seems to be the ever-present photo-op at these things...he spent quite a bit of time doing this before the kids came in...

Quite proud of herself...



And this is what ornery boy did the whole time...at least he stayed off to the side (on threat of harm from his mother) so that he wasn't in everyone else's pictures like he was at the Easter presentation...he did whine the whole time, but at least the kids were singing and he wasn't noticed or heard by others as much.

Lauren's faux-birthday

Lauren celebrated her "faux" birthday the last week of May, as she has a summer birthday after school has ended. Started with a custom crown, then she picked 6 friends to be her candles that danced directly around her, while the rest of the class circled around outside, all while singing some kindergarten birthday song.



I haven't been to Disneyland in many years (yes, many years), but the whole scene reminded me of the Tea Cups at D-land. The tea cups circle individually, while the whole thing twirls around. The 6 candles twirled all around her, while the outside circle did the same. If it wasn't so cute, I may have been nauseous.



She picked fudgecicles, Charlie and I arrived with our little cooler to deliver...

More birthday hoopla to follow...

A beach vacation

We reprised our beach trip vacation in Ventura County again this summer with some of our most favorite people in the world. In this life there are friends, and then there are friends that you can spend 5 days with under the same roof. We feel blessed to have some of those kinds of friends.

We didn't see the sun too much, but it didn't bother us at all. Last year was a little windy, but this year was pretty perfect. It was warm enough for the kids to swim and sit on the beach everyday. We collected sea shells and rocks by the buckets (how's that rock garden going Valerie???), taught the kids how to find sand crabs, and spent all 5 days trying to keep the kids away from the dead seal that washed up right in front of our beach house. Despite our repeated requests to have him removed, there he stayed in all his dead and rotting glory as our constant beach companion.


The kids, especially Noah, spent a lot of time "surfing" on this boogie board...



These two played together quite well...


I love the hair--so dirty and salty that all the strands are stiff and separated.

We love each other, oh yes we do?

We can call these next few "anatomy of a family picture"...



Don bought a bunch of macadamia nuts at the local farmer's market, and taught all the big kids how to crack them with a rock. Needless to say, the family room needed vacuuming. This year we had 8 kids--ages almost 6--5--4.5--3.5--3--2, 19 months, and 13 months


Last year we spontaneously went on an evening walk along the water after dinner and the kids were winding down for bed. Guess it's become a tradition? We did it again this year on our last night there...all 8 kids...


Despite the photo to the contrary, Charlie does love me.

The future Bunker-Hyer union, as planned by their parents--Noah and Kate.

Same picture, same prospective union, last summer's beach trip...

The next generation of Bunker-Hyer unions--Charlie and Charlotte...


We took the kids to a local park in Oxnard one afternoon to take a beach break. They ended up being VIPs at some little girl's birthday party. The party was being thrown by her grandparents, and it was mostly adults, so when our kids wandered over to the pinata, they were immediately invited to the party, handed the pinata stick, cake and party favors. It was quite comical. The kids were in heaven. I can't even remember what the little girl's name was.




What's a college group reunion without rock band?

Chris is THE best vocalist of the group. He gets kind of violent-looking...

The 4 big kids all slept in the same room on a bunk bed, trundle and separate twin. It was "fun" getting them to sleep each night. Poor Noah was on the top bunk and had the farthest to go when trying to race back to bed when they heard us coming to scold. He got moved to other bedrooms twice as he was caught on the ladder. Poor scape-goat.

Don taught the kids how to skip stones in the water...

Flying kites on the beach this summer...

Flying kites last summer...

Our house is the 3 story directly in front of Andy and Charlie...

Our beach house this year had an indoor jacuzzi that the kids loved. Nothing like coming in from a day on the beach, sandy and cold and getting into a spa...the photo pretty much sums it up...
Not enough room in the tub for all the kids that needed baths at the same moment--a deep kitchen sink took care of the overflow...

Same thing happened last year...as I've gone through my photos from the trip it's ironic how many are so similar to this same trip last year, without plan. The only thing that's changed is all the kids are a year older. Hard to believe...
Days like these are the ones to look back on in old age. It was fun to just sit with my friends and watch my kids with their friends play on the beach. Like some old commercial says, "priceless." And Riries, be there next year. It was a blast, but it could have been that much better with you 3.75 there. We missed you!