Tina's Photo Shoot

It has been so long since Tina has had professional pictures done, figured it was about time. We had so much fun shopping for a new outfit and accessories. Then it was off to the photo shoot. Man, this girl loves the camera! Next to get the family in the studio.

Playing Catch Up

The end of summer finally came and I just lost track of time. Actually, I was making sure to spend quality time with the kids before they went back to school. We finished off the summer with trips to the park with marshmallow gun fights, school shopping, a garage sale and the movies.
Before summer ended we went to see Toy Story 3

I really wasn't sure if I even wanted to see this movie. You know, sequels usually aren't that great. I mean how many times can they come up with a story for Woody and Buzz? It turned out to be a really cute movie! That night started off pretty interesting...we bought our tickets, got snacks and found our seats. Then we began to notice how many adults were seated and not many kids. Finally the previews started and there were no cartoons. Hubby had me check the ticket stubs and...we were in the wrong theatre. The ticket counter sold us the wrong tickets. I couldn't believe it. We quickly got the kids out before any major mishaps and found our correct theatre just in time. The funny thing was we were in a very LARGE theatre and ended up in a very tiny theatre.
After the movie, we asked the kids if they enjoyed it. Kenny said, "that was a really tense movie". I just had to laugh! Hubby also said he had tears, even funnier! Without ruining the movie, at the end you begin to worry about the toys. Now I knew they couldn't end the movie in such a sad way.
Most people know that I get teary-eyed very easily but I just couldn't believe that my fourteen year old and husband were the ones all emotional!
I also found time this summer to take the family to see Eclipse. Tina couldn't wait to see it. She has become such a fan of "the vampires"! One week she'll watch Twilight and New Moon the next. Hubby will come home and say, "Please tell me she wasn't watching this"! I have turned my little girl into a "Twi-hard"! She just cracks me up...if your not in the room watching it, she will come and tell you, "the good part is coming"!
Now you'd think a 4 year old would be a little scared of vampires but this little girl likes scary movies/shows. She always says, "Mom, I'm not scared" or "Mom, I wasn't scared". I told Hubby at least one day he'll have someone to sit and watch all those horror movies with. I can't stand watching all those zombie movies, but he sits through my chick flicks! It's a good trade off.
That's probably enough catch up for now. I'll try to post again real soon.

Another Niece!

Another niece in the family. My brother and his wife just had a little girl. Man, if you had told me years ago that our family would consist of so many girls, I would've laughed (hard)! See I grew up with all boys. My Dad came from five boys and one girl. I had two boys. My Hubby came from a line of two boys. Do you see where I am going! Now four out of six of my siblings have a girl. Same with my Dad's family.
Hey, I'm not complaining! I'm just amazed!
Well here are the pics of this sweet angel sent to our family. She was born on Aug. 2nd and named Soledad Clemencia. Soledad was my Mom's name and Clemencia is my Grandmother's name. What a lucky girl, named after two wonderful women!
Samantha and baby

Look at this angel!

Tina couldn't wait to hold the baby

Kenny's turn

Keeping Busy

I'm trying my best to keep up with posting our happenings. I just can't believe how fast time is going by. In two weeks the kids go back to school. I've been trying to throw some fun things in there before summer ends. Here's a few things we've done. I'm sorry I don't have pics of everything. Like I've said before I'm just trying to enjoy every moment with my family and sometimes that means not being behind the camera.
One day last week we went to the Wildlife Center. We were all very excited to see the animals and learn about what they do there. I'm sorry to say it was very small and we didn't get a whole lot of information from anyone. Although there was one nice man who gave us a little info on some animals. I wish the pics were better but it was really hard to take pics from behind the cage. Here is a coyote with a missing eye.

Here is a bald eagle with a broken wing.

We also saw a raccoon, hawk, and snakes.
Afterwards we headed to our local waterfront and saw some boats. All in all it was a good day with the kids.
Later in the week we headed to Stinson Beach. After all these years of living in the bay area I've never been there. It's right next to San Francisco and Muir Woods, both of which I've been. We made plans with Marci (John's girlfriend), Katie, and Marci's brother and girlfriend. We left our house around 9:45 and ended up on a scenic route. Now, I knew the way but decided to let the kids put it in the GPS. That GPS took us on the LONGEST ride ever! I really thought we were lost and were never gonna see a beach. An extra 25 minutes later we made it @ 12:30. It was a little cool but we were just so happy to be there! We had lunch then headed to the water.

The kids didn't care how cold it was, they had a blast. The girls especially loved running from the waves.

We literally had to pull them away.

We made sandcastles, played beach games and just hung out. The kids can't wait to go back. Tina said Dad has to drive though!!