Montana 2011!!

Being reunited with Uncle Mike is always a highlight of our MT trip:) Paris is holding her special white bear that Omi has kept for her in MT since she was a baby.

Here Mason is showing Omi how he is learning to read.

Omi spoiled the grandkids with this awesome race car.

Out on a fun walk with Aunt Pam and Omi.

The annual picture in front of the ram at Sugar & Spice!

Our much anticipated first lunch at our favorite restaurant of all time, S & S with Krista and Nick. The kids love and adore their cousins:)

Paris and Omi doing morning yoga stretches with an audience.

Checking in at the Yellowstone with Omi.

Alex diving off the board.

Paris, Alex, Krista and Mason chilling at the pool.

Mason catching some air off the board.

The whole family went to Candytown USA. Omi gave each of the kids $5, and they got busy picking out their favorites (and, amazingly enough, even came in under budget)

In the evenings we enjoyed many thunder/lightening storms, which we don't get much of in Walnut Creek. Here the kids got soaked (on purpose) in a down pour.

The kids took up where they left off last summer in their fort above Omi's shed. They spent a lot of time eating, decorating and playing up here.

They were very happy to have Trent join them!!

Here are some of the decorations.

Enjoying dinner with Mike and really enjoying one of Aunt Pam's awesome cookies.

Family picture outside of Omi's house.

Alex and Uncle Dan getting ready for the football.

Alex is proudly showing off his missing tooth to Uncle Mike... and, luckily, the tooth fairy found him in MT:)

Paris enjoyed giving a quiz from her American Girl magazine to Uncle Mike and Omi... and many others throughout our stay.

Enjoying the morning out in Omi's beautiful backyard.

We got to go behind the scenes to see where the magic happens at Sugar & Spice thanks to Aunt Pam:)

The kids got a lesson from Krista on how to operate the drive thru window. Alex even took an order from Omi when she drove through.

Here's Mason manning the ship.

Eating one of our many delicious meals at S&S

... back to the American Girl quizz:) ... Krista's turn.

Watching Omi make yummy waffles for breakfast.

Mason and Mike having a heart-to-heart.

The kids loved seeing Jim, or as Alex sometimes puts it, "grandpa".

Pam and Dan spoiled us all with a delicious dinner of barbecued/smoked sliders and many fun accompaniments to celebrate Omi and Mike's b-days.

Pam made this masterpiece!!

They even set up a slip-n-slide for the kids.

... and they got to try out Pam and Dan's awesome, new hot tub.

Our annual day at The Reef in Billings.

Alex and Paris went down the slides nonstop, together and separately.

... Mason, who is the most daring of the three, missed the cutoff and wasn't happy about it (pictured here: he kept checking t0 see if he was tall enough). He enjoyed the other slides and wave pool though. Hopefully next near he will make the 48"!!

We all got to see Mike's new and beautiful home. The kids were very enamored with Mike, his girlfriend, Katie and the house:)We all enjoyed stopping by the cemetery to leave some things for Grandpa.

Paris left this note, a hair clip and a crab shaped silly band. Mason left a Palm tree silly band and Alex left a snowboarder/skateboarder silly band. Each had special significance:)

My mom and Paris spotted this amazingly huge cloud one day.

Saying goodnight to Omi.

We enjoyed another yummy dinner at Omi's, complete with fresh corn delivered from Iowa, by Jim:)

and made smores for dessert.

Aunt Pam and Paris hanging out

Going out for our final walk around the neighborhood before we left the next morning:(

... and saying goodbye to Uncle Mike and Katie.

We all enjoyed seeing Aunt Eleanor, who is doing great.

... and then, back to reality. This envelope full of school information was waiting for us when we returned home. This is the first year that Paris, Alex and Mason will be at the same school:)

Last night we had a dinner bbq at our friend's neighborhood pool. Here they are making smores for dessert with their friends, Megan and Connor's Dad. We were there until almost 10:00 they loved swimming in the dark.

Paris attended girl scout camp a couple weeks ago. She LOVED it and was most excited the day she came home with a "bullseye button" because she got a bullseye in archery:) She made this cute tye-dye shirt there too.

We took our annual trip to Berkeley Adventure Playground.

Here's Mason going down the zipline

Trying out a makeshift teeter totter.

That's Alex at the top of this sturdy-looking structure.

And, of course they all sawed, hammered and painted.

Then we were off to fly kites at the Berkeley marina.

Alex recently called me up to his room to show me how he displayed his scary scooby- doo figures.Another check off our bucket list... Fairyland in Oakland.

Mason is a very accomplished artist- he especially loves glue sticks, elmers glue, tape and paint. Every day this summer he has created something out of paper, rocks, glue, sand, glitter, markers etc...He is very proud of this guy that he cut out and decorated.

This is a sticker collection page that he adds to regularly.

He painted this on a little easel, which made him feel like a professional.

These were items that he collected from a park (the tooth picks were ours) and brought home and glued, using an entire bottle of elmers. It took days for it to dry out in the hot sun:)

Another painting.

Action shot of Alex punching...

... and Mason kicking.

Paris and Mason worked on this rock/pinecone/sand creation.

This amazing tree blooms in the summer a few blocks from our house. I always pull over and take pics because I think it is amazing!! Looks like a cotton candy tree.

Paris swimming at her friend Madi's house. When I picked her up they had an elaborate and long performance to show me. The girls, along with Madi's sister did a dolphin training exhibition... Madi and Paris were the dolphins:)

Hamster Update: Here are the four babies huddled up when they were about 1 week old.

Here is a baby at 10 ten days old, with fur but eyes still closed.

... and here are two of them with their mom.

... and the hamsters at about two weeks with Paris and Madi.

Belts, Babies and Hip/Hop

Alex and Mason both passed their belt tests on Saturday and advanced to yellow belt and orange belt. Mason is very proud to be a belt above his older brother:)

Paris, Alex and Mason (lined up in this pic) started taking hip/hop classes. This is a blurry photo taken through the glass but you can see they are hitting a pose here. I couldn't wipe the huge grin off my face while watching the entire class.

Our family has grown overnight ... adding 4 tiny, baby, hairless hamsters. Here is mom, Picolina, and the four babies.

Not a clear picture, but you can see where his eyes will be and his little legs. They don't open their eyes for 10 day.

Here are Alex (tie dye shirt) and Mason (gray shirt) taking the boys only hip/hop class.

4th of July at Alameda Beach

We met our friends, the McCreary family, at the beach for the 4th. The kids carried on from 12- 8pm nonstop... it was a very nice and relaxing day for the adults.

Mason and Connor, enjoying lunch and manly conversation.

The water at the beach is warm and shallow so it makes for great swimming!

Megan and Paris on boogie boards-

It is a little hazy here, but there are beautiful views of San Francisco from the beach. Paul and the boys were taking a walk along the beach.

Alex-

Hard to see, but here are Alex and Mason with sparklers.

... and Paris doing a glow stick/ sparkler dance.

Yesterday we had Paris' school friends over to play.

Paris (complete with corn dog), Madi and Amelia.

The boys had a very big squirt gun war going on.