Out With a Bang

I know that summer is not technically over until September 22nd and believe me when I say that here in the desert it does even start to cool off until October. However, with school and other activities resuming next week, our family still had one last mini-trip to make. And it has been so busy with work and back to school preparations (not to mention the kids both coming down with colds) that I am only now getting the chance to recap LAST weekend.

It started off on Friday with Jake's T-ball ceremony. Then on Saturday we headed to see Joe's family so we could all go to a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes game. They are a high A class minor league baseball team and a farm team for the Anaheim Angels. We had heard that the minor league games can be more fun for the kids than major league games because they have more activities and you are closer to the action. This turned out to be true. The kids had a blast! Jake was quite taken with watching the game up close and Jadyn fell in love with the Quakes mascot, Tremor:

Here is a picture of the action:

And here are the kids and I enjoying the game:

On Sunday, we packed up and headed out to the river. It's hard to believe that this is the first time we took the boat out all summer. Having said that though, I think you will hear about us going more frequently come next spring because now that the kids are older it is SO much easier and they enjoyed it SO much more. Jake of course not liking loud noises, plugged his ears when we were on the boat but he did not complain about the wind and although Jadyn did not particularly enjoy the boat ride, she buried herself in my chest and was comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that when we rode all the way up to Laughlin, she fell asleep. That's right, she fell asleep despite the winds whipping through us and the large hum of the jet motor. I couldn't believe it. Once beached, the kids swam around with their life jackets on and threw pebbles in the water. Even better, our hotel was right on the water and had it's own pool, which we took advantage of multiple times when not on the river.

View from our room of the pool and river beyond:

Playing on the beach:

Swimming in the river:

Plugging his ears on the boat:

Kicking back on the boat:

Time flies when you are having fun and we have certainly had our share this summer. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was planning all the kids Fall activities, something that seemed so far into the future. Now here we are preparing for Jake to go back to school on Wednesday. And our niece Madison will start kindergarten on Monday. That just blows my mind. It seems not so long ago that her and Jake were rolling around on a blanket together learning how to crawl. Like I said, time flies when you are having fun.