AR Award Mikayla

Mikayla received an award at a school assembly today for reaching 50 points in Accelerated Reader points.  This is a huge accomplishment for a 3rd grader.  Very few 3rd graders reach this many points.  Great job Mikayla.

Mikayla and her teacher Mrs. Crawford

Mikayla's Award

Columbia-Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we had reservations to go camping in Columbia since the girls were out of school for Spring Break.  Unfortunately, it rained nearly every day during Spring Break so we canceled our camping plans (we went to the snow instead) and rescheduled them for this weekend.   It was a hot weekend.  Last weekend we needed snow clothes and this weekend we were in shorts and wishing we could get in swimsuits and go swimming.  Unfortunately, the swimming pool at the campground was closed.  They don't open their pool until Memorial Day Weekend. 

Saturday we did some adventuring.  The plan was to go on a hike.  Ashlee got on her Ipod, found a hike on the South Fork of the Stanislaus River, wrote down the directions of how to get there and we were off in the truck to find the hiking trail.  Needless to say, we never found the hiking trail.  We ended up on some one lane uphill, twisty mountain road.  We found a waterfall and a nice view.  We even found cell phone service out on this road in the middle of no where. 

The waterfall:

 The view:

 Since the Ipod directions didn't work so well.  We decided to use the GPS to find the trail.  The GPS led us to the Stanislaus National Forest Office located in downtown Sonora.  I think it's time to update our GPS!  Well since we were half way from the campground and half way to Pinecrest, we decided to head towards Pinecrest and check out the campgrounds along the way.  We eventually ended up in Pinecrest.  It was hot, the girls wanted to get in the lake, but hey What happened to the lake?  Apparently they drain Pinecrest Lake in the winter time (we didn't know this).  So here is what the lake looked like.  They got to play in a little bit of water, but not much because we weren't prepared for swimming!

On the way back to the campground we stopped and got some ice cream in Mi Wuk Village and then headed back to camp to meet  my Mom, Terry, Grandpa Billy and Kay for dinner at El Jardin Mexican Resturant in Columbia. 

That was our short, but sweet weekend getaway trip to Columbia.  Thankfully we made it home without any problems.  As soon as we got home, John unhooked the trailer from the truck.  Went to get in the truck to go to the rabbits, went about 4 feet and the truck died.  The next day we had to have the truck towed to the shop.  Apparently some sensor in the fuel filter housing unit went out.  Luckily we didn't end up stranded somewhere!

Weekend Getaway-Snow Sleding

Our friends have a cabin in Mi Wuk Village and they invited us to go with them for the weekend to their cabin so the kids could play in the snow.  We have had a pretty wet week here and that meant snow in the mountains.  The kids and John had a blast.  After a couple trips I was good, it was too rough on my back. 

 

 Ashlee and Sarah

John and Ashlee

Mikayla and Heather

Mikayla

Ashlee taking a break

Mikayla just fell off the sled, she isn't making a snow angel.

Mikayla and Ashlee not cooperating for a picture together.

Jenna, Brooke, Mikayla and Heather

Ashlee and Sarah

John and Ashlee

Sarah and Ashlee

Mikayla hitting a bump and going sideways into a ditch.

Ashlee and Sarah

John just can't take a picture without a goofy look on his face!

One of many wipe outs by Ashlee and Sarah.  They almost had a huge wreck.  They were going down the hill narrowly missed a t-post, headed for a tree missed the tree and then stopped right before hitting a propane tank. 

A wipe out at the end of the hill.  John and Ashlee.  John's theory all weekend was to see how fast and how far down the hill could he go. 

A picture of everyone before leaving  all 11 girls. 

We all survived without any major injuries.  Just some bumps, scrapes and bruises.  We were discussing on the way home how much fun it would be to have our own family cabin.  But for now we can keep dreaming about it......

Easter

Here is a bit of how our Easter went.

Saturday night the girls colored eggs.  This was the first time Mikayla ever colored eggs. This is the first time we have colored eggs since Ashlee was 2.  I guess I was slacker in the egg coloring department.  I have probably scared my children for life!



 Sunday morning the girls awoke to treats from the Easter Bunny.  A game, flip flops, candy and crackle nail polish.

 Then it was time to find the eggs the Easter Bunny hid throughout the house.

Unfortunately I didn't buy the girls any cute Easter dresses for church.  I guess I slack in that department too! And I didn't take pictures of them in their church clothes with their hair curled either.  Maybe next year.

After church we went to my moms for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt.

The girls can't go to grandma's house without riding these.  So we all got to be drove around by Ashlee and Mikayla.

The Egg Hunt.  This year only Mikayla and Ashlee were there to hunt eggs.  They didn't think that was as fun.  They missed having their cousins there to hunt eggs with them.