Jumping for Joy

Jumping for joy at the High Camp, Squaw.  Ben, Dan, Josh and Miles.

Ben and Josh

These photos were taken on our way to the Miners Foundry for this event and I had my friend Georgette tweak the settings a bit, since I'm getting excited about diving into some of the photo editing options out there.

Santa meets Ben 10 aliens

3 boys dressed in costume, Swamp Fire, Santa and Heat Blast.

An Afternoon at the movies

Watching a 3-D movie with Nana...  

Josh's Ice Cream treat

Hot Chocolate

My little blog research assistants can sometimes be very helpful, these photos were for a post on Java John's, one of the local coffee shops in Nevada City.  But let me just say that while they look cute and fabulous, the behind the scenes action on the research for the gift giving blog post wasn't quite so picturesque.

Ben and Clara, Purdons Crossing

Ben and Clara walking along the South Yuba Trail near Purdons Crossing.

Josh, fall leaves

Happy Fall

Sheer joy!

Halloween Treasure Hunt

Halloween fever is growing around here (thanks to Nana and her haunted house).  I put the boys to work for the Outside Inn's new Halloween themed treasure hunt.  I needed some photos of for the Outside Inn's blog, and they didn't seem to object.  The prize for finding all the items is a piece of candy, so they were game.

Ice Cream Covered Josh

Josh, at the Celtic Festival in Grass Valley. 

 For more photos from the event see my Outside Inn blog post, this photo didn't make that post. 

sleeping boys

I have a tender spot for photos of sleeping babies and children and I really should take more photos of the boys asleep.  What this photo doesn't tell you is that the two of them are sound asleep in my bed, because "there's a monster in there" said Josh and "I'm lonely" said Ben.  What it really means is that they miss dad, but only 4 more sleeps till he comes home.

Hero Factory Boys

Ben, age 6

Ben at the bottom of the Outside Inn pool

• Age 6
• Loves swimming, would prefer to spend most of his time under water
• Obsessed with Ben 10 aliens, legos, Superheroes
• Loves reading chapter books, including Deltora Quest, Narnia and James and the Giant Peach
• Enjoying being on a soccer team, but isn't the most competitive of players
• Loves learning
• Has a limited diet, but will try one bite of anything, as long as there's a cup of ketchup to go on top of it
• Very protective of his little brother
• Knows how to operate the television, netflix and apple tv better then I do
• Enjoys drawing and taking pictures
• Loves to set up "shop" and barter with you to buy his favorite toys and books

Josh, age 3 1/2

A fun photo of Josh up in Lake Tahoe taken my our friend Titch

• Age 3 1/2
• Obsessed with dinosaurs
• Loves swimming, especially naked
• Loves building zoob, lego and Lego Hero Factor creations
• Enjoys books
• Loves dressing up, the current favorite is his dinosaur Halloween costume, but others in high circulation are Batman, Ben 10 Swapfire and anything with a cape.
• Will eat just about anything, "I love green beans", "I love corn", "I love noodles"
• Favorite time of the day is snuggle time in bed, especially with Dad
• Loves drawing pictures, and if he's concentrating hard he'll stick out his tongue
• Happily wears his crocs or chacos on the wrong feet
• Bounces/skips or runs, rather then walks
• When he gets excited his little eyes get really big and and he has a hard time explaining himself

Legoland

We went to Legoland last month with Uncle Miles and the boys were in heaven.  We thought it was going to be more of a lego educational museum, so we were a bit surprised that it's a full fledge amusement park.  Josh loved the dinosaur roller coaster, Ben loved the dragon ride, Dan liked the water ride, Miles liked the helicopter ride with Josh and I liked the mini lego world.  It was a full on adventure and all parties were exhausted by the end.

Underwater Pool Fun

Jones Bar, South Yuba River

A little summer swimming down at Jones Bar on the South Yuba River.  

Lower Scotts Flat Lake

Dan, my mom and the boys went on an adventure out at Lower Scotts Flat the other day, all under the spirit of Outside Inn blogging adventure.  Here's a link to the their difficult research job.  Glad someone's out enjoying the beautiful summer weather while I'm at work.

Ben's 6th birthday

Ben's 6th birthday, a small pool party with Tavish, Kaden & Quinn.  The menu included hot dogs, fairy bread, fresh fruit and chocolate cake with raspberry ice cream.  Good times had by all.