Memorial Day hike

On Memorial Day we did something that I had been wanting to do for a long time - take the kids on a hike. We started at Grant's favorite place - the chickens which is just at the base of the foothills.  There are lots of hiking paths in the hills and most of them are quite wide.  The trail is steep in spots, but we took it slow.  Our first overlook was over the neighborhood not too high up.  

A break for some water around another bend.  They weren't sure if they wanted to go much farther.  

This is my favorite picture of the whole trek.  I love the grass on the sides and the hills behind.  

At this point the trail flattened out quite a bit and they could run.  This is when they decided that they could go farther. 

They each had to take turns taking a picture of us at the top.  There was actually a trail that went a little bit higher on the hill, but we wanted to make sure they had enough energy to get down.

This was their least favorite part as it was quite a steep hill down.  I walked really slow with Grant because he freaked out anytime that he or I slipped a little bit.

Andrew and Claire spontaneously helped Grant down another steep part.

We came down a different way than we went up, so we had some different views.  We all had a great time and decided we should definitely do this again.  Next time we can try another trail.  In the afternoon we went over to the pool and swam and hung out with some friends.  It is always great to have a day off!

A beach bonfire

My friend Heather organized a beach bonfire/s'mores night in Monterey.  It wasn't a huge bonfire or anything, just enough to keep warm and roast marshmallows.  A bunch of us met for dinner before we got to the beach.  It was a bit windy out, but not too bad when we arrived.  Luckily, it was a short walk from the car to the beach since we were carrying chairs, blankets, s'more supplies and extra clothes.  Some of the kids wanted to check out the sand dunes so Sara took them over there.  

Meanwhile Andrew played some football with Danny and Nate.

Trying to get kids to pose for a picture.  Keeping them out of the water was also a challenge.

They went up and down the sand dunes numerous times until it got too dark.

Grant with his friends Calvin and Julia.

Despite telling him numerous time, Andrew still managed to get his shoes and pants wet.

More sliding, rolling and jumping.  When we got in the car there was sand everywhere!

We all watched the amazing sunset.

Finally it was time for s'mores!

There were lots of kids with sticks!  I think there were 7 or 8 families there.

Delicious!

 No one wanted to leave, everyone had a great time chatting, keeping warm around the fire and roasting (or sometimes burning marshmallows).  We all decided that we need to do this again this summer.  It was cheap and easy - except for the massive amounts of sand in the car the next day.

Andrew's 10th birthday

It is hard to believe that Andrew turned double digits this year!  His birthday came up fast after Claire's birthday, Easter and Spring break.  My mom made dinner on his birthday and lemon bars for dessert.

The problem was that Andrew blew off the powdered sugar from the bars when he blew out the candles.

He was very excited to open his gifts.

He got two tickets to a Giants game in June for him and Danny.  He loved this last year, so we decided to do it again.

Grandma Kiehn got him the electric scooter that he really wanted.  He also got a new baseball game for the play station and some books from my parents and us.

After it was charged, he loves to ride it around the street.  It goes up to 9 mph.

We decided to get him a new bike since was too small.  Luckily we found one that he likes on sale.  This bike has gears and he is still trying to figure out when to change them.

For his party he wanted to go to the movies with friends.  Before they got this tray of popcorn and icees they had Hot Dog on a Stick at the mall.  He took his friends Zach, Vinnie and Joseph from school.

Sea Otters swim team

Claire decided to swim on the neighborhood cabana swim team this summer.  My siblings and I did this every summer growing up and have great memories from it.  Luckily, my friend Sara who watches her after school, also has kids that swim, so she is able to take them to practice at 4:00 pm.  I wasn't sure how she would like it after she had a rough start.  The first couple of practices were overwhelming because there were so many kids.  There are a little more than 200 kids on the team!  She got more comfortable in the water and really started to like it.  Here she is at practice waiting to do diving practice off of the blocks.

Some of the kids won't jump off the blocks, but she didn't seem to mind.  

She kept practicing over and over.

Our first meet was a practice meet with only our team.  They call it the donut meet because every swimmer gets a donut after they swim their first event.

She learned how to line up for her heat and where to wait.

Finally it was time for her first event - backstroke.  It is a Larsen family specialty.  Her age group swims 25 yards.

She knew how to hold on to the edge and when to go.

She didn't stop the whole way to the other end.  I kept reminding her before the event that she needs to make sure that she ends the race on her back, not on her stomach and she did it.  Before the season she didn't know how to do back stroke.

She also did freestyle.  She doesn't know how to do backstroke or breast stroke yet.  Hopefully she will learn them this season.

She did really good and didn't stop or pause during the race.

She got last place for her backstroke which isn't too surprising since she is a new swimmer.  But she got 14th place for freestyle.

She got up at 6:45 am for our first meet without trouble.  It was an away meet and you have to be there before 7:45 am to check in, so we left about 7:10.  The meets start at 8:30 am and depending on how large the teams are they can go until 2:00 pm.  She had a great backstroke race.

Both of Andrew and Claire's teachers at school have kids on the swim team so we see them all the time at the pool.  It is hard not to call them Mrs.  The girl with Claire below is actually Andrew's teachers daughter.

Great start!

She got 3rd in her heat for her freestyle race.

Although she got last place in backstroke, she was able to improve her time by 1 second at the first meet.  We left before the freestyle times were posted, but I think she did better in that as well.  It looks like it is going to be a really fun season and it is nice getting to know some more people in the neighborhood.