Emme turns 5

Today we celebrated Emme in style with a tea party and face painting. Her requests were pink decor, Nutella sandwiches and Taylor Swift music. It was the perfect party for our little princess. 

Antioch Water Park

Hard to believe our summer is almost over. Trying to get in a few fun trips on our free days. Today we headed to Antioch to check out the town water park. Lots of fun slides and Emme was able to ride almost everything. She was happy to slide as long as I went with her, so I got to ride all the slides too:) Finn was his usual crazy self and stayed busy the whole day!

Safari West

Today we surprised the kids and took them on an African Safari....in Santa Rosa. The next best thing right? :) Kenzie was very excited to get a close up look at all the animals. Emme and Finn really liked the truck. I was just happy to have Jim home for a family day. 

Living Room Campout

Watching a movie is always more fun in the tent! 

Sewing Projects

Today I enjoyed a relaxing day at home and worked on a few sewing projects. Luckily my repair man was close by to help with my slightly fickle machine. 

Baseball Buddies

It's so much fun to play ball with your friends! Even if Mommy is sitting on the sidelines under a blanket freezing her butt off! 

The Long Drive home

We've made a big circle across the west. It's always hard to sit in the car for long days. Last night we stayed in Salt Lake City at a holiday inn that had an indoor water park. We let the kids stay up late. Finn spent the entire evening riding the water slide! This morning we headed out early. We stopped to see the Bonneville salt flats and let the kids explore. It's an 11 hour day home (yikes!).....but we're all ready to be in our own beds. Wish us luck! 

Arches Day 2

This morning we woke up to snow! We planned for cooler weather.....but we did not bring snow gear! We were so happy to have our camper and that our heater worked. It was nice and toasty. We headed out for breakfast and to say goodbye to the Ouimettes. The kids have had so much spending the week with their cousins. Emme talks non stop about Julia which sounds kind of like "Dooia" 

After breakfast we headed back into the park and walked "Park Avenue". This hike is named for its resemblance to NYCs skyscrapers. There are rock formations on either side you and a long narrow walkway. It was beautiful, even in the rain. Apparently Moab only sees 7inches of precipitation a year...and we saw 2 of them:) This trip has been such an adventure for us. I feel like we only got a taste of the mighty 5. We will definitely have to come back and explore again. 

Arches National Park day 1

We ended our week at Arches. We spent our day taking short hikes to see "The Windows" and "Balanced Rock". Then we went to check out the campground. This was by far the coolest campground we've stayed in. The campsites are built in between the rocks. While we set up camp, the kids spent the afternoon climbing and exploring. 

We ended our day with a hummer ride up slick rock canyon. The kids loved this, it was like a roller coaster ride in slow motion with cliffs on either side of us. All you heard were squeals and laughter coming from the back. We made stops along the way to take in the scenery and get a view of the Colorado river. It truly was one of the coolest/scariest things we've done with our kids.