The kids were being really cute one night so I got out the camera...
One of Nate's favorite games--sit on you and bounce up and down:
The day after Joe finished the bar, we finally got to use our zoo passes that I'd bought months before.
Checking out the tiger through the viewing window:
I think that picture captures some of the exhaustion Joe was feeling. :)
The kids got to take turns feeding the giraffes.
More pictures:
We had a fun (hot) day at the zoo!
After a few days at home, we headed up to the mountains to stay with Mom and Dad at their place. We had a wonderful time spending some time with them and just being all together again!
One day we went on a little hike up above Donner Lake. It was gorgeous and we all had a blast. We need to do that sort of thing more often!
We thought this bridge was cool:
Nate loved doing very his favorite thing: throwing rocks
We found this other little lake and played around there
Joe trying to catch a lizard:
There were a bunch of these little water snakes around:
Elizabeth caught a tadpole.
She is pretty fearless when it comes to critters.
The kids were begging to see some snow and we finally found some
SNOW!
Yes they did eat some. It couldn't be helped. Nothing like months-old snow!
We also spent some time at the pool. Thanks to my best friend Kari, the girls' swimming skills have improved a lot. They both went down the waterslide by themselves this year with no floaties!
Even backwards head-first!
We also celebrated Joe's 30th birthday a little bit early since his birthday would be full of packing. I made an eclair cake that he requested after he had some made by our friend Kim. The girls insisted on writing on the cake but the frosting didn't survive the refrigeration very well. It was kind of a lame 30th birthday but there wasn't much we could do about it with the move and everything.
My four favorite people
