California - Part 1

We had an amazing spring break and it's hard to believe I'm just now getting around to blogging about it (I guess that's what amazing weather in Juneau will do - there's no time to be inside on the computer when it's absolutely gorgeous out! And it's been gorgeous for WEEKS!!!)

My mom and Mike rented this AMAZING house in Dana Point!  It had a million dollar view and was big enough to accommodate the entire family.  There were 3 living rooms, one amazing upstairs deck that overlooked the Pacific Ocean and a wonderful downstairs play area for the boys.  It was an ideal location and house.  :)  I took a video of the house so I'll post that soon.  Here are a few pictures (actually, let's be honest there are A LOT) from the first half of our trip.

Happy travelers!  

Our trip didn't start out that great with an hour and half delay in Juneau due to mechanical issues, but we managed to make the most of it.  We quickly found friends in the gate and through a wonderful stroke of luck we were seated next to 2 other families traveling with small children and they all managed to entertain each other to Seattle. But the most amazing part of our two flights was this......

Yep, that's Jaeger Ray snoozing in first class.  Thanks to Daddy's MVP status we all flew first class from Seattle to Orange County.  Oh my gosh - we were treated like Kings and Queens and we loved every second of it!

Even though we had such a great flight, we were so excited to get off the plane and be greeted by these 2 smiling faces!!!  Yea for Grandma and Grandpa.

Besides seeing family, Dane was super excited to see real lifeguards.  We've been watching this cool show on The Weather Channel called Lifeguard and Dane has now added lifeguard to his long list of potential careers.  So Grandma and Grandpa took us to San Clemente Pier and we got to meet not one but two REAL LIFE lifeguards.  Pretty exciting for our little man.  Dane also got to sit in a lifeguard chair and "watch" just like a real lifeguard. 

Dane and Jaeger also got to sit on this very cool lifeguard ATV.  It's just like the ones they use on the show!  

We spent many many hours playing firefighter.  Dane absolutely loved having Uncle John and Aunt Caitlin there to play firefighter.  Here are Uncle John and Firefighter Dane in action.

And Firefighter Bingle Bonnet getting in on the action!

Jaeger Ray LOVED hanging with Grandma...

Our trip wouldn't be complete without Jaeger causing some kind of mischief.  Yep, that's sand from the outside sandbox INSIDE the house!  That's what happens when you don't pay attention closely enough.:) 

The rest of these photos were taken at Montage - a special place near and dear to all of our hearts. 

Stay tuned for more pictures of our fabulous trip!

The new Hollywood?

Anyone remember this guy?  Hollywood #1

Watch out Firefighter Dane, there's a new Hollywood in town!

 And if that's not proof enough - this Hollywood even sleeps with goggles on!

Happy Easter

Our Easter wasn't exactly how we planned this year, but we managed to still enjoy our beautiful sunny day. As many of you know, our dear friends were a part of a pretty scary ordeal on Easter Eve (read about it here) and we got a call at 1am to come pick them all up as they had been evacuated from their house. None of the adults got more than a few hours of sleep that night and as you can imagine no one was up for the sunrise service we normally attend at Skater's Cabin. The four kids did partake in an Easter Egg hunt in the morning courtesy of the Easter Bunny and the rest of the day was spent outside in our own beautiful backyard soaking in some vitamin D. We did manage to muster enough energy to head to church for dinner which was really nice.

Despite all that had happened the night before the best part was that Dane still thought it was the best Easter ever and here are his 3 reasons why:

"The Easter Bunny was here!"

"Kellen and his family are here and they got to have a sleepover!"

"I got just what I wanted" And here's Dane with just what he wanted...

Dane building the forest police Lego set!

Jaeger's favorite part was definitely the chocolate bunny!

Here are a few more pictures from our pre-Easter festivities....

And here are the boys practicing their egg finding skills. One sunny morning a week or so before Easter I decided to put their snacks in plastic eggs and hide them in the backyard. They LOVED this and we had to do it two more times that day!!!

I absolutely love this last picture of Jaeger Ray - look at our little monkey balancing on the rock wall.

Now this is the way to exercise!

Weekend Wrap-up(s)

These last several weeks have been so busy that it's been hard to find time to blog! (Or maybe, it's my slight addiction to a new game called Words with Friends...)

A few weekends ago, we had two birthday parties in one day.

Dane with his "Dora the Explorer" themed binoculars!

And here are the boys at the pirate themed party in the afternoon.

We had such a wonderful day filled with cake, party favors and games galore, but when we talked about what we were thankful for that evening, all Dane could talk about was seeing this earlier that morning....

(and there was a police car on the other side!!!!)

It still amazes me that after two years, Dane is still completely and utterly obsessed with all things FIRE!!!

The following weekend was absolutely goregous! Clear blue sunny skies on Saturday meant a family walk on the Flume and a trip to Castle Park.....

Here's our sweet Jaeger Ray enjoying a ride on the swings.

And last weekend, I was able to enjoy a girls' night out. My sweet friend, Tristan choose to celebrate her birthday at the Shrine of St. Therese with a good 'ol fashioned slumber party! It was a wonderful evening (and morning) filled with good friends, fun games, great conversation, yummy food and no responsibilities! I had such a great time and I'm already looking forward to Tristan's next birthday. :)

I was having too much fun and managed to only snap a few pictures, but that morning in true Alaskan fashion we saw a whale and this eagle perched on the tree right outside the window.

The voice of an angel

I absolutely LOVE Jaeger's sweet voice, so I tried to capture it with this little video. And watching this video while he's throwing a royal 2 year old tantrum is helpful in keeping me calm. ;)

Happy Days!

We've had lots of happy days around here lately and thank goodness for that because we've needed a BIG dose of happy to help offset the scary stuff we've been dealt. Thankfully, Daddy have been a SUPERSTAR since all of that scary stuff happened and no one has to feel the least bit scared anymore. :) Please take a moment to join me in a three cheers for Daddy chant!!! :) Yea Daddy, Yea Daddy, YEA DADDY! We love you more than 1,000,000 new security systems.

So, let's move on to the rest of the happy stuff.....

Birthdays have been grand. We love Daddy and we especially love his cake!







Ice skating.



Dane's first sleepover with his best buddy. (Sadly, most of the pics didn't turn out that great, but I did take a pic of where they slept. They had such an amazing time - pizza, ice cream sundaes and of course, a pillow fight. Doesn't get much better than that! Surprisingly, that's not Dane's fire truck pillowcase - I guess Kellen and he were meant to be!)


Valentine's Day.



Thanks for all the love and support during this crazy time! We love you all and are so thankful to have each of you in our lives. :)