A Horner Holiday

One of the great things about living on the River is that it's a fun place to visit!  So we get to entertain visitors quite often.  Most recently, our daughter Terri & her family brought some friends with them from Utah for a little vacation get away.

They left the kids with us while the adults headed to San Francisco for the day.  (You'll have to check Terri's Blog for that post...)  It was record breaking heat that weekend so we busted out the new waterslide & invited our cousins over for some fun!

The old one was starting to show signs of wear so I ordered this Crocodile Isle.  It is similar, but I'm not gonna lie...I don't love it.  I actually decided to return it. So I got the kids off the new slide & set up the old one which is still tons of fun...

After the new slide dried out, I folded it up, boxed it back up & called the company to see about returning it...they said, "Sure, no problem, but there will be a 50% restocking fee plus $100 shipping."  Are you kidding me?  That's just nuts!  I was disappointed to say the least.  So now we will have two very similar slides for the kids to play on.  I guess with our numbers, that's not such a bad thing.

It was a very hot day & we continued to try & cool off with some popsicles...

The next day, Paul took to the adults down the River...after all...that is why we built this house on the River, so Terri wanted her friends to have the full experience.

Christi's mom, Lulu, also came to spend the night so they joined the fun, too.  Ty's job this summer is to take pictures of rafters as they come through the rapids, so his buddy took these for them as they went through the Gorge.  These aren't the most exciting ones (I'll let Terri post those), but at least you can see everyone.  

While the grown ups were playing on the River, we played dress ups, rode bikes, & went for a walk, but it was so hot, we busted out the slide again...

I love listening to Paul read his Dr Seuss book to the kids when they come to visit.  He is so animated & the kids get so excited to hear his silly voices & see his expressions as he reads to them...

The last day, we took the little kids on a little River float, too.  I feel like we have a million pictures like this, because well, we do...this is what we're all about...rollin' on the River!  Jude wasn't lovin' the life jacket, but the girls were very excited...

It took Jude a while to calm down & when he did, he fell asleep!

That's all he needed was a little power nap, because when he woke up a couple minutes later, he was fine!

Liv-love was quite comfortable on the water...she wanted to do it all!

She is going to be a "Wilderness Girl" just like her mommy, right T?  Thanks for spending your vacation in our neck of the River...we loved meeting your friends & having you come & play with us.

A Wicked GNO!

Wicked came to Sacramento!

I thought it would be fun to take our local daughters & daughters-in-law for a Girls Night Out to see the play, so in order to justify the expense, they agreed to accept it as their birthday present for the year...

So Happy Birthday Dara, Nicole, Christi, Rochelle, & Amy (who is behind the camera). :)

After the show we celebrated at Rick's Dessert Diner...YUM!

This place is awesome!  All kinds of cakes, pies, & ice cream.  Amy had a slice of German Chocolate Cake,  Rochelle had a slice of Mixed Berry Pie, Christi had Cheesecake, Dara chose the Red Velvet Cake, Nicole had a Fruit Basket Cake, & I chose this scrumptious Chocolate Mint Cake...

Yes, that's my crazy self singing "Happy Birthday" to all of them.  Thanks for a fun GNO ladies - love you all to pieces & hope your collective birthdays are/were terrific!

Congratulations Christi!

Our daughter-in-law, Christi, recently graduated from BYU-Idaho with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Science. 

Whoo Hoo!  We are so proud of her for hanging in there & working hard to meet this goal...she even made  the school newspaper!

In honor of reaching such an accomplishment, we decided to take them on a celebratory weekend away.  They chose to go to Monterey & Santa Cruz...so we made sure to check out all our favorites along the way.  1st stop, the Monterey Bay Aquarium...

We are pretty sure this is the best aquarium in the USA!  Their exhibits are incredible!  There are sharks, a giant octopus, rays, & a variety of sea anemones that look like something out of a Dr Seuss story & much, much, more!

They have an incredible hands on "touch pool" where you can feel the different underwater critters.  The velvety rays are always popular...

We even saw Nemo & Dory...

The "wave cave" is pretty cool, too...

The jellies are my favorite.  They are so delicate & graceful as they pulse through the water.

Christi & Ty hadn't been to the Aquarium in a long time...it was a good day.

We walked around Cannery Row for a little bit (the candy store is always fun, but I couldn't decide what to get...I ended up with a caramel apple).

Then we headed to Fisherman's Wharf to eat at Isabella's yummy Italian & seafood.

Afterwards we drove down to stay in Carmel.  We found a cute little hotel near downtown, so the next day we decided to check out the shops.  It was a beautiful day, no overcast which is not typical for Carmel/Monterey!

There are some pretty crazy shops in Carmel...we had great fun looking...the hats & boots were a little out of control!

We stopped by the beach before leaving Carmel & took the famous 17 Mile Drive on our way to Santa Cruz.

Of course we couldn't pass by Capitola without stopping at Pizza My Heart for lunch...Ty found a friend...

The Boardwalk was open so the kids rode some rides & walked along the beach...

We walked along the wharf & listened to all the barking sea lions below & found some seafood for dinner...

Of course we stopped at Marini's for a sweet after dinner treat & walked back to our hotel which was right near the wharf.  The next morning we decided to explore the tide pools at Natural Bridges before heading home...

It was fun to see all the crazy critters & anemones.  We were happy to be able to celebrate with Christi & Ty.  We think education is very important & we recognize how much effort & discipline it takes to see it through...we are proud of you Christi!  Congratulations!!!