Our Hike to Stuart Falls

 Saturday was the perfect day to spend with the family hiking to Stuart Falls. I haven't done this hike in a while so it was fun to do it again with the kids. They were awesome! We were so proud of Nate and Lucy! Lu did the whole thing on her own, and Nate made it the entire way in and most of the way out! 

 One of the kids was talking about how much they loved the trees and mountains on our hike. Nate said he did too and then proceeded to hug the next batch of trees. He also loved climbing up every rock and tree root and the jumping back to the trail. On one of his jumps he tumbled a little. Lucy was behind him and out of no where says, "That's like a tenth of a deduction Nate." Can you tell we've been watching the Olympics?

The water was seriously SO cold. It felt great to get wet after our hike. The kids had a blast playing in the water and cracking Kung fu Panda jokes. :)

Everyone on the trail kept telling Lucy she was doing so good and would point out that her shirt said Just do it. She would correct everyone and say, "it says Just Keep Going!" Lucy, You make us laugh. We did keep telling her to just keep going, and she did. Way to go girl!

Such a fun day! I am so glad we got to spend it together! 

This pretty much sums up our Summer...

I took this picture the other day and thought this captures a lot of memories of our summer! Ice cream, cousins, swimsuits, messy hair, and warm weather! I tell ya, we are in TROUBLE when school starts! 

"Is this the Life?"

A pitstop in Vegas.. We loved the lazy river and sandy pool. The kids have been obsessed with American Ninja warrior this summer and were anxious to find Mt. Midoriama while we were here. Josh kept telling us, its just by the pyriamid thingy and MGM. We have to find it. Unfortunately for them, the finals were filmed a couple weeks ago, so we weren't able to spot it. Lucky for us, that just meant more time at the pool!

Then off to Southern California for a relaxing summer vacation at the beach!

The kids loved the koi pond. They were huge!

Does it get any better than this? Golf, Basketball and the Ocean- all in one shot!



Our Die hards! The water is of course freezing, but they were determined. Once they got in they never got out!

Lucy loved chasing waves. Those cute little legs ran all day long!

Nate was enjoying finding seaweed and sand crabs, but I think the best part of his vacation was the sand. He would roll all over in it, throw it, eat it, bury himself in it, whatever! and no one even stopped him!

Josh must have found a thousand sand crabs. The funniest part about this is, he was the most popular kid on the beach that day. By the end of the afternoon, kids were bringing more crabs to him to add to his collection. Kids were coming up to me asking where my kid was with the crabs and would get him out of the ocean to show off the collection! That night at the pool kids were talking about him in the hot tub to their parents... It was quite funny.

Lucy has been telling us all summer, "Ahh, this is the life!" We laughed so hard when Nate leaned over to me (after burying him in the sand) and asked, "Is this the life?" It then became the theme of the trip!

Every night, Bryers triple cookie sundae icecream while watching the Olympics.

This IS the Life!

 A little yoga on the beach :)

The all time BEST summer vacation ever, until next year!

Things to Remember:

*Josh's Las Vegas directions to Mt. Midoriama

*Perfect 75 degree temperature.

*Boogie Boarding all day long!

*Catching Sand Crabs

*Ice cream everynight while watching the Olympics

*"Is this the life?"

*Lucy flirting in the Hot tub. (We are in trouble!)

*Towel sea creatures on our beds from our housekeepers.

*Laguna Beach sand

*Corona Del Mar waves

*Lucking out on great parking spots both days at the beach.

*$5 bribes for not annoying anyone in the car. Best money spent the entire trip :)