September 2011

LA JOLLA SEA CAVE:

I have approached this cave from the sea, but never from the land. The tunnel was the most impressive part. We also went to the Brockton Villa for breakfast and went snorkeling that day. Gosh was that water cold.

THE MIRAMAR AIR SHOW:

We have watched it before, from our hillside in Tierasanta, but this was the first time we got to watch it on the tarmac. I was really impressed with the Harrier plane, it is much more impressive in real life than it was in the movie True Lies.

DAD READING STORIES:

Neil loves reading stories to Lainie and Seth, and they love hearing them.

DATE DAYS WITH THE KIDS:

Neil got to do a father-son "date" with Seth, taking him on a hike to Guajome Park. Pam took Lainie out for hot chocolate and had to go to three places to find one that was open on a Saturday in Fallbrook. Finally, we settled for frozen yogurt.

TALL SHIPS FESTIVAL:

We took the train down to San Diego for the Tall Ships Festival. Here is one of the boats we saw.

FAMILY PHOTO ON THE BOAT:

We got our picture taken on one of the boats at the San Diego Maritime Museum.

SETH ON THE TRAIN

He sure loves trains!

OCEANSIDE PIER

Here is Neil with the kids, walking to the end of the Oceanside Pier to Ruby's restaurant.

August 2011

HOTEL DEL CORONADO WITH THE COOKS:

We got to have a few visitors in August. Patti Cook, my old roommate, came visiting with her family. They stayed near the Hotel Del Coronado.

WADING IN THE SURF:

Lainy liked to pull the Cooks' son Riley around. She might turn out to be a bossy one. Of course she has been to the beach before.

BIGFOOT:

Seth likes trying on people's shoes. He could almost manage these.

SOAKED AT SEA WORLD:

Our friends, the Nelsons, came down from Portland Oregon to visit us and go to Sea World. They sat in the front and got wet . We sat above and stayed dry.

FASHION FAUX PAS:

Seth shows us there is a reason why guys in the military shouldn't wear pink, or for that matter, his friend Natalie's old shoes.

SUMMER WORK PICNIC:

Here we are at Neil's work picnic near Point Loma, right next to the ocean. I always wanted to go to a company picnic. Teachers don't get to have those.

COME TO CALIFORNIA!

Elaina looks like a travel poster, beckoning you come to California and enjoy the beach. We did beach bonfires in Oceanside with our ward for family home evening.

Yellowstone Trip 2011

Our big trip this summer was the Ricks family vacation to Yellowstone, which included stops at Vegas and family in Utah.

This is my new most favorite thing at the Bellagio in Vegas, the world's largest chocolate fountain.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo, which had a great pool. That is how you deal with Nevada heat.

Kolob Canyon is a great stop off of the 15 after Cedar City. I am 5 months pregnant.

Seth and daddy riding on the boat across lake Jenny in the Grand Tetons.

The view of the Tetons from the Lodge where they were about to hold a Federal Reserve summit.

Here are Laina, and Seth with their cousin Dana, getting close to a bear in Yellowstone.

Pamela and Neil in front of Upper Yellowstone Falls.

Grandpa enjoyed sitting with 6 of his then 23 grandchildren. We had 29 people on this trip, including 4 of Pam's six siblings and Neil's brother Paul. My favorite activity was going out to dinner with the 14 adults and leaving he kids at the condo.

Here is Lainy at the Norris Geyser Basin, where we went with Pam's sister Liz and family.

Grandma and the girls: Katie, Dana, Laina, and Pam. We are standing in front of Upper Yellowstone Falls on the north side of the canyon.

We saw many elk on this trip. This elk was enjoying the flowers off the Upper Fall trail.

Laina with cousins Bryce and Dana in a Teepee at the Wolf center.

The alpha wolf. Even in captivity, the wolves have a cast system.

The North East entrance to Yellowstone. Oddly enough the northern part of the park gets the least amount of snow.

Pam and sister Liz sitting with our 2 two year olds that are 2 months apart. I got pregnant when I found out Liz was pregnant so we have at least one set of first cousins the same age.

Seth standing on the shores of Lake Yellowstone.

We saw lots of buffalo on this trip. This one was nice enough to pose for us.

Neil at Old Faithful Lodge with Elaina and Seth.

Seth and his cousin Ethan taking a Bath at my niece Elisha's house in Logan, UT.

While leaving our hotel in Saint George Seth insisted on pulling the luggage himself.

We stopped at the Americana shopping center in Glendale, CA to see my friend Ann.

July 2011

July was filled with fun summer activities.

Monday nights in the summer mean ward family home evening bonfires at the beach. STAY AWAY FROM SETH! He has melted-marshmallow, sand-covered, sticky hands, and he gets into everyone's food with them.

CELEBRATING JULY 24TH at the stake Pioneer Day celebration.

Elaina enjoyed a ride in a handcart, while cousin Katie follows behind.

They had an impressive model of the Nauvoo temple.

Seth loves his baths.

We went to antique car shows in downtown Fallbrook.

We went to Screen on the Green in Grape Day Park in Escondido with my friends Katie Cruise and her kids, Cabot, and Eliana. Neil and Seth enjoyed sliding down the grape slide.

We went and saw the sidewalk art in old town Temecula.

We went to Moonlight Beach to see the annual Swithchfoot concert. We caught the last song as usual. Neil, Seth, and Elaina loved playing in the waves.