Happy Birthday Kaya!

Kaya turned 5 yesterday, June 25th. It was such a fun and busy day. When she woke up there was a special birthday balloon on her bed, and it didn't leave her side all day.


Then we started the morning off with a trip to the mall with Aunt Kaylee and Aunt Corynne. Kaya had asked for a Build-A-Bear so that was our first stop. She made a cute ballerina bunny, named Brown Bunny.



Next the 4 of us made a stop at the Disney Store where Kaya spent some of her birthday money on a Prince Eric doll. Now Ariel will not be lonely at our house. Kaya was so cute with her purse and balloon and shopping bags. She was so thrilled to be on a big girl shopping trip.


We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, although, Kaya requested a Happy Meal and so we smuggled one in for her. At the end of our lunch, the waitress surprised her with a darling birthday sunday and they sang to her. It was very cute.



That afternoon, Kaya had her 3 best friends over for a tea party. The girls decorated flip flops and cakes. It was so cute to listen to their little conversations as they played together...it was SO different from the last party I threw for Brad and his friends :).



Finally, we ended the day with a family barbeque. Matt and Corynne, Kaylee and Kyle, and the 5 of us were all together. It was so fun to be together as a family and make the day special for her.



Kaya opened presents and we had cake and ice cream. It was such a full day but was so much fun for all of us!



We are so happy that Kaya is in our family!

Kaya's Ballet Recital

On Saturday Kaya had her ballet recital. It was a long day for her because she had 2 performances. She did a wonderful job dancing and she looked so cute with her ringlets and fairy wings. She was also thrilled with her flowers that we gave her at the end of the show. We love our sweet Kaya so much.

The ringlets...


Kaya with Zoe and Bailey


Waiting backstage


Precious


Bravo!

Our Triathlete

Also on Saturday, Brad participated in the Morgan Hill Triathlon for kids. He did it last year and was excited to try it again. He swam 50 meters, biked 2.5 miles, and ran 1/2 mile. He fell on his bike the night before and had to race with a nasty scrape on his knee. We're so proud of him for jumping in that pool on such a cold morning and finishing the race! He finished in 25 minutes, 22 seconds. Go Brad!

Registered


Excited to jump in!


Swimming hard


Biking


Crossing the finish line!


Wearing his hard-earned medal

Berry Picking

The summer is flying by. In fact, it's going by so quickly that I'm a little sad already. School will be here again before we know it. I am enjoying having Brad home. He is an awesome helper with his little sisters.

Our weekend started on Friday morning when we drove down to Watsonville with a few of our friends to pick berries. The kids had a great time and picked 8 pounds of strawberries! I have some pies and jam to make... Ashlyn was so funny. She diligently filled her bucket with greenish strawberries and when she found a juicy red one she would sit down right there in the dirt and eat it.

Ashlyn grazing...



Brad and Sarah


Our own little Strawberry Shortcake

Kaya's Kinderclass Graduation

Kaya recently graduated from Kinderclass. She is excited for Kindergarten, but will miss Miss Nancy who is the best preschool teacher ever!

Kaya and Zoe



Kaya and Miss Nancy



Ashlyn will be starting Kinderclass soon...

Hawaii 2009!

We kicked the summer off with a family vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii! We stayed at a really fun resort where we were able to swim, waterslide, and play in an ocean lagoon with fish and sea turtles. There were even dolphins at the hotel. It was wonderful...we hope that we can go back again someday...

This is where we stayed.



Brad quickly made friends with the sea turtles. Every morning we would find them swimming in the lagoon and we would feed them leaves and flowers for breakfast. In the afternoons the turtles would hang out under the waterfall and so we'd kayak out to see them. Brad and Kaya named lots of the turtles and became especially attached to one named George.



Kaya was our super slider of the trip. She was so excited to be tall enough to do all of the waterslides. We couldn't get her off of them. She collected her wristbands from each day and had quite a collection at the end of the trip.



By the last day, Ashlyn got brave enough to join us on the slides. Although, her favorite was the "sandy beach" pool.



The report on our trip would not be complete without mentioning the "Mo Mo". This is really a crane of some kind, but Ashlyn immediately named it the "Mo Mo" and the name stuck. She insisted on seeing it several times a day...



Every morning we would eat breakfast overlooking the ocean.



And we'd eat lunch near the dolphin's pool and watch them swim.