California; Thursday at the beach

Thursday we went to see our friends the Toiaivao's who were also in Calif.  They were staying out at Santa Cruz. 

 

 

 We visited with them for a while, they fed us lunch :), and then went for a drive on the coast.  It was such a beautiful day! We stopped at a few different beaches along the way

This was just a look out beach,

This beach had a bunch of para-surfers the kids thought that was pretty cool, but it was super windy so we got back in the car.

This spot was a little hard to get to, but we all managed to make it down, and then do some exploring before the tide came in.  Beautiful light house in the background.

Finally we stopped at Rodondo beach, which is the exact spot where Reece proposed to me just a few years ago.  We had so much fun, we didn't want to leave

got a few shadow pictures, kinda cool

We also got a really cool shot of the whole family!

Finally kids started getting a little cold...

so we packed up to head home, but oh, what a wonderful day!

Colorado

Our first trip of the summer was out to Colorado Springs to visit Jonah and Sharley, and one of my Besty friends Jodi.  The kids call her Queenie.

The ride out was terrible, but once we got there we had so much fun!

The plan was to go up to Sharley's in Denver for a day, then drive down to C.S. When that didn't work out Sharley and Jonah drove to Colorado Springs to see us.  They even treated us to dinner, Thank you Huntsmans!  Jodi was sweet to let us come a day early.

I don't know where to start so I'll just follow my pictures.

Jodi had chickens, but while we were there she had to bring them to a friends house because they are "not allowed" where she lives. The kids were sad to see them go, but not as sad as Jodi.

While in Colorado Springs we got to go to the zoo

at the zoo we played with elephants,

fed the giraffe's,

 played with the lions,

 flexed our muscles,

 

 pet tarantulas,

 and played at the kiddie park

 

 When we got home JoJo was wasted

The zoo was amazing, so much fun!

Each morning while with the Cochrans, we went out for our run, then over to the park, and then came back and ate some delicious food.  We kept eating the whole time, it was awesome!  Here we all are enjoying some cornbread cake.

Another fun thing we did was go to a children's museum in Pueblo.  The kids got to make crafts, paint, put on puppet shows, and build things.  

They really enjoyed it!

 On the way home from the museum we ate at Cracker Barrel

 Then stopped by the address of Great grandma's old house.  COOL!

Just writing this post I'm feeling spoiled.  We did so much!

Cochrans live on base, so we went to the airplane museum

 

 

We played at a water park one day

 we played legos

 

we played super nintendo, made suckers, went to watch gramps play basketball.  So much fun in one week, it was a great way to start our summer! 

A big thank you to Jerry and Jodi for having us, and treating us.  You two are amazing and we love you!