Easter Sunday - An Unexpected Ride

We spent Easter Sunday attending church where the kids sang.

  And then off to lunch at the Keenans.  While finishing up our meal, a neighbor friend came by to ask if anyone was up for a boat ride (she owns her own boat and the Keenans live by the backbay where the boat is docked.  We just had to walk on over!) 

 After our recent fabulous boat outing, we were thrilled to accept the offer and board the duffy boat. 

So thankful to our wonderful friend Judy for inviting us...and for not dropping our courageous Jill :)

It was a beautifully warm and sunny day.

And a fabulous ride with our trusty teenager behind the wheel.

Truly, a perfectly relaxing trip with friends and family.

 Andrew took my camera and played a bit...

This was not at all our plan for Easter but what a blessing!

Here's hoping we can get out on the water again very, very soon!

Thank you, Judy, for your willingness to host us on Easter Sunday.  We had a blast!

Jesus, Friend of this Sinner

I was blessed this morning to serve the homeless.  Volunteers make and serve breakfast every Sunday morning at a nearby church where they then attend a church service. 

I confess...I didn't want to serve this morning.  I had my own ideas of what would be fun today, of what I wanted to do today...but I had committed myself, said I would help weeks ago so there I went...And there, I was blessed...With every smile, every thank you, and every God bless you, Jesus filled me with his joy, his heart to serve His people.  A-maz-ing!

We are connected to this organization through my friend Stephanie because for years her dad served these people.  For years he was sick, dying from cancer, and he continued to serve.  Today Stephanie and her friends served...we're carrying on your legacy, Ben, as best we can, as only Jesus can do in each of us.

When we were done and I got into my car to head home this song was on the radio

...thank you, Jesus, friend of sinners, for loving on this sinner this morning!

Our Easter Weekend - Easter Eggs

Check out these goofballs that colored eggs at Grandma's house on the Saturday before Easter.

There was soooo much egg coloring going on!

 We had hard boiled and blown eggs.

 And we used a clear crayon to write secret messages like this one - Autumn wrote I love you, Mom!

 Please excuse Adam's lack of shirt...he was swimming.  It was a cool spring day but these kids can't resist a pool!

 Check out all those colors!

And then for a snack break, Sara made dirt sundaes, ewww!

They were actually really yummy (and adorable) but the best part was Jill, "Is it ACTUALLY dirt?"

And because we hadn't done quite enough, there was an Easter Egg Hunt!

It was a beautiful day; the kind of day where you're just so thankful for family and spring and eggs and color and dirt and...

Star Wars @ Discovery Science Center

Our science museum has a special exhibit right now:

 This was not an option.  We were going.  We bought the tickets and scheduled a day to visit right around Andrew's birthday.

 Here our princess shows us her magnetic car, which she was the first to build correctly to hover.

(note flash was not allowed so the pictures are a bit dark but considering the lighting, I was pleased with what I got!)

 And here's Andrew riding the museum's life size hover craft.

 There were many actual Star Wars Movie props, accessories, and costumes on display...very cool!

My favorite character :) 

 "Help me Obi-Wan, you're our only hope."

 (The bobby pins got annoying so her buns were undone at this point :)

Jason built this robot and then downloaded instructions to command it to go from start to finish (input time and direction to go step by step.)  It was a very cool activity...I actually wish everyone would have waited for me to have a turn.

 Adam and a very cool land speeder (don't we all wish we had one of our own!)

 I could have spent a lot more time just staring at each individual piece.  It was a great exhibit.

...and oh yeah, there was science involved.  Jason watched many videos on the "how to." 

And his favorite exhibit - the one that had nothing to do with Star Wars!?! 

He liked this look into transportation for the future (appropriately, he had just been asking me what I thought people were trying to do in the world of transportation for the future, no joke! 
I love when life's questions get answered :) 

Chopsticks

As we've studied China these last few weeks, it was time for some Chinese food and...chopsticks!

 I was so impressed with everyone successfully using them (Yes, Beth cheated here and stabbed the potsticker but she used them correctly to eat the chicken fried rice :)

 Adam had seconds and thirds using his chopsticks with a rubber band around the end to make it easier.

 Jill also used the rubber band wrapped modified chopsticks and loved them!

It was a fun, yummy dinner!

My Grandma's Cousin

We had the privilege of being with extended family a few weeks ago.  One of my Grandma's cousins from Norway was in town visiting.  I just love hearing my Grandma speak Norwegian with her cousins.  This is Liv and my Grandma:

She was in California to visit her daughter Tove. 

This is me, my cousin Rachael, Tove, and my cousin Sara. 

**Disclaimer - I keep calling people my cousin but many of these cousins are 2nd cousins once removed or first cousins twice removed, etc...we're all family and you'll just have to trust me on that.  We actually drew a family tree and these kids here are fourth cousins!!!

Tove came to the states to go to college, married an English man, lived in California, had two boys, moved to England, had two girls, and ended up back in California two years ago (That's a rough summary.)  Unfortunately, she's in Northern California so we don't see her. 

The last time we were together her two boys were babies and I had only Jason.  Now these boys are 8 years older and a lot taller :)  They thought it was funny that they played together as babies and ended up enjoying each other all day.  Here they were making letters with their bodies...very creative play when you have no toys or electronics to entertain!

The girls were a good match, too.  Beth had 7 year old Caitlin and Jill had three year old Emily...although we found three year olds really like to be the only three year old around getting all of the attention so we may have to wait a few years for them to become good buddies :)

All in all, a fabulous day...because as great as it was to see everyone and to catch up...I also got to eat lefse :)

Boating

Last weekend we took a boat on a cruise around Newport Harbor.  We rode in the deck boat behind the kids in this photo:

It was a beautiful day and such smooth sailing...smooth enough for everyone to do a little driving.

It's a good thing we had a navigator though because there are multiple boats, islands, and bridges in the harbor.

Although navigating through the tunnel under the bridge was a bit hairy.  Everyone watched to see if Daddy could get us through (which he did perfectly, of course :)

We got to see some wildlife.  A sea lion swam around us and then hopped up onto the dock for some sunbathing.  We just circled around the area watching and observing him swim and sunbathe...

Everyone loved the boat, the wind, the sun...couldn't ask for much more!

It was a very relaxing afternoon...except maybe when Jill was at the helm. 

Andrew gave her full control...we went in a circle!