Santa Cruz

On Saturday, we took a road trip up to Santa Cruz to check out the Natural Bridges Beach Park, which is famous for being one of those rare places that Monarch Butterflies migrate. As things happen sometimes, we didn't arrive to the park until 3pm and there was a $10 day-use parking fee that discouraged us from that. However, all was not lost as my mother had seen a lighthouse down the road and wanted to take some pictures of it. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened as that lighthouse turned out to be a surfing museum, had wonderful vistas in which to take pictures, a whole armada of surfers for my husband to watch AND free parking! All's well that ends well, as they say.

One of the natural bridges made by the ocean along this stretch of coast.

Papa Connelly and the Little Women

Gramma Connelly and three of the girls outside the surfing museum.

Look how tall she is getting!

The Mark Abbott Surfing Museum Lighthouse

In Monterey

It's been a while since I blogged. We have moved from the East Coast to the West Coast since then. Here is a movie of my girlies enjoying the Pacific Ocean here in Monterey, where the weather is always a moderate 60 degrees or so. I will post some more later from the laptop computer where all the pictures from our trip across country are stored.

Enjoy!

Slipin' into Summer (Mom, you might not want to look at this one)

The afternoon after the last day of school has turned out to be the last sunny day we've had in a while so it was the only time the girls have gotten to use their brand new slip n slide. For anyone who has tried to do this, you know it is not a natural thing for your body to want to do. You are supposed to run as fast as you can at this mat covered with water and then belly flop on the hard ground where you will then slide across the uneven surface until you run out of momentum. The manufacturers have made it as deceptively easy as they can with an inflatable boggy board to cushion your belly and a water filled pillow at the end to stop you if you get going too fast. You can fool neither me nor my girls! WE know that this must have been the invention of some idiotic teenage boys with a hose and some torn up garbage bags that didn't have any sense to realize that careening across the ground head first was not a good idea! And no amount of fancy accessories are going to get us to follow suit!
That said, the girls still managed to have fun and get wet in their own unique ways without succumbing to the idiocy!

Jessi and Kaitlyn showing the big girls where they're to end up!

She slips!

She slides!

She crawls?

Jessi was good on the approach but ended up just standing in the spray and getting wet. No sliding for her!

Kaitlyn would run up to the slide, gently get down and then scooch slowly down.

Humphrey Park

The church had a children's activity at the park today. Humphrey Park added a "splash pad" last summer and it is a very fun place to play for all ages. After about an hour and a half of romping around in the water, we ended the activity with a pizza lunch.

Bethany and her friend, Olivia chasing each other through the water.

Malia and Chloe stopping the spray in various creative ways.

Bethany and her best friend Tess getting splashed by a bucket full of water.

Here they are standing still under the bucket as it dumps so I can take a good picture.

Such good sports!

Kaitlyn and Jessica take eating their pizza lunch very seriously.
All the girls eating popsicles after a long day of running around in the hot sun.

Horseback riding

Ms. DeLew, Malia and Ms. Sorkin

Today we got to go to Healing Hope Farm, where Malia's teacher, Ms. DeLew, set up a chance for us to ride the horses there. Laura, who owns the stables, specializes is therapeutic horseback riding lessons. She is a friend of Ms. DeLew and graciously let us come ride one of her horses. Not only that but we also got to groom him and feed him and all the other horses snacks at the end of the day. Everyone got to ride, even Jessi, though she only was on Bailey, our horse for the day, for a couple of steps before declaring that she was "all gone" (all done). I even got to ride around and guarantee myself sore muscles for at least three days! Ms. DeLew and another one of Malia's teachers, Ms. Sorkin, wanted to do something extra special for Malia before we moved and I have to say, they hit a homerun here. We are sure going to miss them and are so grateful for all they've done for Malia.

Jessi's five second ride!

Kaitlyn had no trouble being taller than everyone else.

Malia wasn't so sure about being so high up on swaying animal.

Bethany has natural poise on a horse.

Malia and Kaitlyn grooming one side of Bailey. Bailey trying to eat the brush.

Kaitlyn petting Bailey

Jessica getting a turn brushing Bailey.

Bailey remained very calm despite being surrounded by a gaggle of children armed with brushes and me taking flash pictures every half a minute or so.

Bailey sizing up his riders.

The happy riding crew. Ms. Delew is on the left and Ms. Sorkin is on the right. Both are Malia's teachers.

Malia's Baptism

Malia got baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. The baptism and confirmation were both done by her father. Her friend, Chloe also got baptized. We are so proud of her. Later at home, we had cake and sherbet to celebrate.

Malia and Chloe

Our happy Family

Arnie and Malia right before the baptism.

Spring Break

This last week was the girls' Spring Break and Arnie took off work so we could go on a family vacation. We spent most of our time either hiking or swimming. We all had a great time. Jessica came to expect that every day we would go for a "walk" and is still asking to go for a walk now that we are home. Kaitlyn was finally able to enjoy being in the water with her sisters, provided that she was garbed in a full floaty body suit. This is huge progress from her lingering on the steps, not even letting us hold her in deeper water without a death grip on our necks. As a family, this vacation brought us a great balance of relaxation and quality bonding time.

Our hotel. It is right up against Jiminy Peak Ski Resort.

One of the hikes we went on during near our hotel.

Jessi, my little fearless fish. She thought she could float, even without all her floaties. That is enough to give me a heart attack.

The swim lessons paid off and we had relaxing afternoons in the pool after our morning hikes.

One of our hikes took us up the ski trails where we found lingering patches of snow.

Jessica protesting be in the backpack. If we had let her walk the whole time, we would still be on the trail.