Saturday, September 20, 2008

Our Trip to Morro Bay

This is is how I grew up camping. That's me in the chair enjoying the fire and the cool of the coast. See the trailer? So what if it's parked in a "parking space." It's next to the ocean and that's all that matters. Right? This was our trip to Morro Bay. Janna stayed home with Jackson, so it was just me, Jared, Jaden, and Jacey camping with Grandpa Hart and Grandma LaNell, and her son Ted, and his son and step son, Jett and Kirt.

The tree in our campsite gave the kids endless entertainment. That's Jett, LaNell's grandson, and Jared on top.
Here's a bird's-eye view.
It took Jacey a loooong time to finally get the courage to meet this nice dog that was staying next to us. That's Jett next to Jacey.

Uncle Ted, LaNell's son, was nice enough to give all the kids rides on the motorcycle. They all thought it was the coolest thing. This is Jaden. And here's Jared. Check out Ted's cool neon stripe.

Morro Bay isn't the kind of "Sunny California" beach that most people think of when they think of California, but it is beautiful, even if it is overcast a lot of the time. Here's Jaden lifting the famous Morro Rock.
Jaden and Jett had a great time playing together.
I took a surfing lesson this summer, so I was determined to practice what I had learned. I'll just say I look a lot better holding the surf board on shore than I do trying to ride it in the ocean.
We look good going out.
Jacey and Morro Rock.We took a trip to San Simeon. This building looks like a church on the beach, but apparently it's just a storehouse.We hiked out onto the San Simeon Peninsula. It was absolutely gorgeous.Here we are at the start of our trek. The beach below is where we just came from. That's Grandpa Hart and Kirk, Ted's stepson, and Jared, Jaden, Jacey, and Jett.Jacey was nice enough to walk with Grandpa. He had a hard time keeping up. All right. I'm just kidding.Our journey took us through some
treacherous forest.Sometimes we didn't know which way to go.But eventually we made it to the end of the peninsula, and it was well worth the effort.
After San Simeon, we had lunch in downtown Morro Bay. Jared and Jacey met a new friend.

Jacey wanted her new friend to come live with us forever.
We enjoyed the scenic harbor.
And the view of the rock.
On our last day, Jared, Jaden, Jacey and I traveled up the coast to see the elephant seals. The kids were disappointed that they didn't look more like elephants.
They were also disappointed that they didn't do anything except lie on the beach. Do you like Jacey's outfit? She spent three days in it. After the seals, we went to a restaurant in San Simeon. I'm sure we looked and smelled like we were homeless. Oh well. We had a great time and made fun memories.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Jacey Starts Preschool

Jacey started Preschool last week. She is in a Pre-K class. She was mostly excited. It's good for the social butterfly to get out.
And since this month is her birthday month, I thought I'd add some recent pictures of the little darling. This is how I caught her eating corn on the cob on the couch. She was not posing.

Silly


She is such a happy girl.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sweet Moments

Sometimes my kids can be so surprisingly sweet to each other. Jared who frequently calls Jacey "a pain" or "a pest" heard from his room that she was sad and having a hard time going to sleep. He went into her room and asked her if she wanted him to sleep with her to which she said, "yes, yes, please!" He slept on her floor for 2 or 3 nights and she LOVED it. Awwww--makes my heart melt. Jaden is even more dependant on Jared at night. He has a hard time sleeping if Jared is away--probably because they've always shared a room. I just hope that can always be close and love each other this way. And that Jared can always be a good example to his younger siblings because they SO look up to him--whether he likes it or not.
It's really dark in there.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Happy Birthday Jacey!

Monday was Jacey's 4th Birthday! She had a great day. She woke up camping at Morro Bay with Daddy and her big brothers. She came home VERY dirty and we spruced her up before her party. We didn't do parties this year for birthdays, but she insisted she have a party with "lots and lots of people." I couldn't resist, so we had a fun cake and ice cream party with some friends and family.
She couldn't decide on a theme--we had Princess plates, Tinkerbell napkins and a Barbie cake.


Jacey is such a wonderful addition to our family--she is why we have 4 children. John's attempt at another girl--he just loves her soooo much. (We love Jackson too and wouldn't trade him for the world) She is happy, sweet, cuddly, fun, cute-- everything I could ever ask for in a daughter.
Happy Birthday Jacey!