At Home with the Tracy's: Summer 2014 week four cont.

This week was one of my favorite weeks of the summer. Jake finally made it over to CA and that was the longest he has ever been apart from the kids, and me! It was tough but with so much going on and the help I received from my family, it made it a lot better than if I was alone with no help and no fun distractions :)

We celebrated my aunt Julie's birthday and Jonathon's at the Island water park the day after Jake arrived, and also met up with other friends there. My aunts came as well and we all just had such a fun day acting like kids. Jake and I and the boys went on the big family water slide, Caleb's first time, and had a blast. I screamed the whole way down because it really does feel like you might flip over, or that might've been Jake and Jonathon pulling it to scare me... Caleb was pretty proud of himself for making it through haha.

Bella loved riding the water toy animals but held on tight to dad because they were big and kind of wobbly

The boys enjoyed the kid slides in the kiddie area, I think daddy did too ;)

Here's Bell on the giant crab slide, looking at those behind her like, this is mine, please go elsewhere :)

He always does this sign with his hands when he's proud of himself, like, rock on!

After hours going on slides, floating down the lazy river, and playing with the kids we were wiped out. We wanted to go down the family slide one more time before we left but on our way up I started to feel so lightheaded and weak. I'm anemic so I have dizzy spells and have had several fainting episodes as well. So, recognizing this, I got nervous. Jake and the boys and I were already almost to the top of the stairs when I could feel a black out coming, and I suddenly lost hearing, I knew I was about to faint so I grabbed Jake and told him, I'm not going to faint way up here with all these people! He held me and I sat down with my head between my legs and regained some composure. I could barely walk but I got on the slide because it was the fastest way down. Jake didn't want me too but I was too stubborn so we went and the whole time the boys were looking at me like, is she going to faint while we're going down the slide, swerving left and right and up and down! Haha... luckily I made it and we left shortly after. I went to bed with a fever (in over 100 degree weather?) when we got home. The next day I felt fine, weirdest thing ever.

This week we had a fun play date with my brother and his dog Bearnard! My brother has trained him so well, he's such a cute dog and part of the family :) Bearnard swam and played with the boys, they just adore him and can't wait for their own. Some day, when Bella's a little bigger.

Also this week I enjoyed a girls night out with my aunts and cousin Emily! It was the best. We went to Tahoe Joe's (yum!) and had so much fun laughing, telling stories, and my cousin and I got to catch up! She's leaving on her mission for our church to Romania soon, I'm so proud of her! She was like my baby, I was ten when she was born and I would feed her, hold her, and play with her as much as I could growing up. She's so beautiful inside and out. In this picture we are sharing the Ski jump chocolate cake, if you haven't had this amazing dessert you're missing out!

My aunt Janet here on the left is the oldest of the seven kids in my moms family. I just love her, she sang with the Tabernacle Choir and every time we would see her on TV my kids would shout and point, there's aunt Janet! They thought it was pretty cool :) She's so talented and fun and sweet. My aunt Sharon, to the right of my mom, lives in Oregon and it was so neat spending quality time with her, she's so fun and the kids got really attached to both of my aunts. She is right above my mom in the line up, third from the last. My aunt Julie and my mom are the last two. The order of kids is exactly like the family in The Sound of Music and they think that's pretty cool! :)

Best Day! My favorite days always consist of being by the beach! Life's better at the beach! We took a weekend trip to Monterey with my parents and enjoyed a relaxing and cool weekend going to our favorite places, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, Dennis the Mennis park (best park!), finding shells on the beach, visiting the Monterey Bay aquarium, walking down Cannery Row, eating dessert at Ghirardelli (my favorite!) having dinner at Bubba Gumps, making a bonfire on the beach, soaking in the jacuzzi at our cottage at night, and visiting my parents' stomping grounds :)

This area is one of my favorites. I grew up coming here often my whole life. My grandparents lived here for many years. My mom was so lucky to grow up in one of the most beautiful places in California. My dad owned a golf shop here when they met, he's nine years older, and she was a senior in high school. There first date was in Carmel by the beach where they talked for hours ... and now there they were where it all began, with their grand kids in tow :)

Fisherman's wharf

Look at all those seals! How nice to just lay in the sun all day relaxing :)

Taffy being made

Beach babe! This was her first trip to the beach! She didn't know what to think and wasn't a fan of the sand. She just sat in it and poked it. Eventually she got comfortable and started to play but she cried when she tried walking on it. It was so fun to watch her experience her first day at the beach. It got a little chilly and windy towards the evening so she wasn't used to that either. She did love throwing the sand at us though and watching the waves and birds with mommy :)

We celebrated Jake's brother Zach's 29th birthday while at the beach. He passed away almost three years ago due to a drug overdose and we sure miss his sweet and thoughtful spirit. The boys know about their uncle and were so happy to celebrate him.

Finding crabs with grandpa!!