A Week in Oxnard

This year for our family vacation we didn't travel far; we spent a week at Tim's parents house in Oxnard. It was the perfect getaway now that we have Terra. I think it would have been a nightmare if we had to travel by plane somewhere. When we went to Seattle in May she was 6 months old and I could still rock her to sleep. Now, at 8 months I can't do that so easily and she is now crawling, so traveling by plane would have been interesting.

We headed out to Oxnard on Sunday afternoon. Tim was driving down from Tahoe where he had spent all day on Saturday cycling 100 miles and completing the Death ride with his good friend Eric. All their hard work paid off and I am so proud of them and what they accomplished. So, the whole family (13 people including 2 babies) met up in Oxnard to start the vacation off right by celebrating Cindy's birthday.

On Monday, some started the day off by kayaking around the harbor and some after working out at the gym went to get pedicures (that's me!).

 Tim dipping his toes in the water.

Tim getting in some much needed relaxin'.

On the first ride around the harbor Tim took Madison and Trent in his kayak.

Things were going smoothly...

 And then Scott fell out of the kayak.

Tim said that he did ask Scott if he was ok before taking pictures of him.

Tim riding solo on the next adventure around the harbor.

Jeff and April went kayaking on the second trip.

When they came back from one of the rides John's chair had blown into the water.  Tim thankfully rescued it.

After kayaking, we relaxed by the pool.

Tim relaxing.

In the evening, we went to Topper's Pizza and then some went miniature golfing.

Jeff trying to get a hole in one.

Cool guy Zach! 

John's turn.

 Trent so excited about his hole in one!!

Some said it was the longest round of miniature golf they have ever played...I am pretty sure a good time was had by all.

On Tuesday, we lounged around the house and some went to the beach. It was a beautiful day for the beach, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Madison and Trent braving the choppy sea.

Trent and Papa digging a hole and making a sand castle.

 Cuties!

 Trent just watching the waves.

On Wednesday, we packed up 3 cars of people and things and headed up to Santa Barbara for the day. We had so much fun! We walked the main strip down to the pier where we had lunch.  Then we went to the Sea Center to explore the sea life. From the Sea Center we rented a few surryes and rode (and raced eachother) around the beach. On the way back to the cars, we found a Claire's and had Terra's ears pierced.  All in all is was a great day!

Terra trying on Auntie April's hat before we leave for Santa Barbara.

Tim and Trent on the pier.

Cool kids!

Not so cool Trent!

Trent petting a leopard shark.

Tim's turn.

Everyone petting the sea life.

Trent and Madison seeing what they can find from the sand that was brought up from the ocean.

And then the silliness began at the Marine Puppet Theater. I love how much he loves and enjoys life.

All 13 of us on 3 surrey bikes...let the adventure begin.

This was just for picture taking purposes...I held Terra during the bike ride.

Terra before getting her ears pierced...all smiles...and then after...she was screaming her head off, but it didn't last too long.

Madison got a second hole pierced in her ears.

After a long day in Santa Barbara we headed back to Oxnard for dinner at Fisherman's Catch.

On Thursday, Terra decided to wake up extra early. We walked to Coffee Bean and then around the neighborhood. Tim was up early to and went for a bike ride with John. Some went to see a movie in the afternoon and others just relaxed at the pool or house.

On Friday, everyone except me, Terra, Scott, Fiona and Zinnia went deep sea fishing. The fishing group was up and out by 6 a.m.

Ready for their adventure.

 Heading out of the harbor in the early morning.

 Dolphins swimming by.

 Jeff fishing.

 Madison.

 April happy about what she caught.

 Trent's big catch!

 Jeff's catch!

 Zach was the first one to catch a fish.

 Cruising around the Channel Islands.

Trent enjoying the view.

Tim and Cindy

Cleaning the fish for Zach and Tim to try.

Yummy!

 That is one weird looking fish.

From the stories of the day it seemed everyone had a great time!

The non-fishing group ventured to downtown Ventura. We went to the San Buenaventura Mission.  Founded on March 31, 1782, it was the ninth Spanish mission established in California.  Mission San Buenaventura was planned to be founded in 1770, but the founding was delayed because of the low availability of the military escorts needed to establish the mission. In 1793, the first church burned down. Today, only a small section of the entire mission still stands; the cemetery to the left of the church is covered by a school (source Wikipedia).

Two what looks to me like monkey puzzle trees, but they say pine trees which are over 100 years old.

 Inside the church.

 Beautiful flowers.

After touring the mission and then having lunch Terra and I headed back to the house and enjoyed some time in the pool.
On Saturday, we enjoyed swimming in the pool and then went to Golf n' Stuff to play laser tag, race the go carts and bump people in the bumper boats. 

 Terra just chillin' in the pool. She loved floating around.

 Trent the shark is going to get Terra.

Laser Tag...don't mess with this bunch.

 Go carts.

Kisses for Terra.

 No smiles from Terra, she had just woken up from a nap.

 Madison and Trent in the bumper boats.

Now Terra was smiling.

Playing at Golf n'Stuff was a great way to end our vacation. We headed home Saturday afternoon and the closer we got to San Gabriel the hotter it got, which made me miss Oxnard.

Pontoon Boat

The day after the 4th of July we headed out to Castaic Lake to spend the day cruising around on Todd and Ashley's new pontoon boat. The lake wasn't crowded, which was nice. We cruised around the lake for awhile and then found a spot where Trent and Jake swam around and we relaxed. After the relaxing was over and we had heard enough from Jake and Trent about when they were going to ride the intertube, Todd powered up the boat and we went intertubing.

Getting the boat in the water for the first time.

Terra wasn't too sure what was going on and why she was being stuffed in a life jacket.

Cutie!

 Todd and Ashley 

(you would think Todd could look a little happier on his new boat.)

 Justin and Dad chillin'

 Tim and Terra

Me and Ashley

Very relaxing.

 Jake and Trent aka the fish...

 Terra didn't go in the water, she just cruised around the floor.

 I look so white!

 Ashley and Jake

 A Mama duck and her ducklings.

 Jake and Trent playing in the intertube...and asking about every 2 minutes to start the boat, so they could go for ride.

 Trent having a blast in the intertube.

 Love this picture!

 Jake all smiles!

 Justin's turn.

 I wasn't having any fun at all.

 Ashley having fun too!

Tim trying to do some tricks.

We all had a great day out on the boat.

Terra...8 months!

Our little Terra is becoming quite a character...much more demanding than I ever remember Trent being.  Maybe it's a girl thing. She is definitely a goer and when put on the floor all she wants to do is get somewhere, usually after Trent and his iPad.

Here is a clip of Terra crawling around my brother's pontoon boat. She is crawling to my Dad or to tacos that were nearby. This was on July 5th and in the past few weeks she has gotten so much faster. She isn't up on her knees, but that should be any day now.

Terra is now eating meat and she seems to like it. People ask me oh does she like this food or that food and I say yes, she probably won't when she is able to talk like her brother.  He used to be a good eater and then he learned the word no. 

Here is a video of her eating puffs. Yummy!

 Just chillin' in the afternoon.

 Terra looking quite comfortable while taking a nap on Grandpa's bed.

While visiting Grandpa, Jake was so good with Terra and strolled her around the house to keep her from fussing or getting into his toys.

Terra clapping and enjoying playing with her toys. 

Terra's top right tooth finally broke through this past week and her other top tooth is close to breaking through too. She is going to look so cute with her two top teeth.

While on vacation this past week, Terra got her ears pierced. I have been wanting to do it and knew without traumatizing her too much needed to get it done soon. So, we were in Santa Barbara for the day and there was a Claire's and we did it. Terra's cousin Madison got her ears pierced too, so she now has double earrings. Terra was fine when the girl was marking her ears, then she started to get a little fussy when the girl remarked them and when the time finally came to do the actual piercing she was screaming her head off. I am going to go with that the screaming had to do with the way Tim had to hold her while getting pierced and not the actual pain of the piercing. It was very hard for me to stand by and see her cry knowing that this was totally optional, unlike her screaming when she gets immunized. We got through it and she calmed down pretty quickly and the end result is so cute!

So pretty! 

Terra is also trying to master the sippy cup, so far she is doing a pretty good job. I think she gets a little water out of it, but mainly it just feels good on her gums.

Can't wait to see what another month brings...I can't believe she is only four months away from being 1 year old!!

4th of July

I didn't get any pictures of fireworks, Tim or Trent, but I did get plenty of pictures of Terra in her cute red, white and blue outfits. The 4th was a pretty relaxing day for us.  Tim went on a bike ride, we had a yummy lunch at Tops, relaxed before going over to Todd and Ashley's for the evening of good food and big fireworks.