Nectarrific

Cindy — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:41:00 +0000

Science Fair 2008
Jack was part of a science fair for school a week or two ago. Here he is with his project. He built a volcano and showed that vinegar mixed with baking soda makes a bigger explosion than vinegar mixed with water.

Cindy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Tyler's enjoying the pool, too. Here's he is in his beloved boat.

Cindy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:19:00 +0000

A New Swimming Pool
Thank you, Grandpa Dick & Grandma Vera!!! (It's huge)

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:54:00 +0000

This doesn't have anything to do with Easter, but I thought it was cute.
It's Jack and Gabe having a little siesta outside in the shade last week.

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Happy Easter 2008
Here are some fun shots of us, the Millikans, enjoying Easter in Pasadena. It was super hot and J-Ma & G-Pa's garden was beautiful.

Tyler with his egg hunting basketMommy & Tyler

Jack spots and egg & goes for it!

Gabe scored in the Camellia

Grandma "J" & Grandma "A" covered in silly string & confetti

J-Ma also got a good dose of silly string

Jack dumping confetti on Grandma "J"'s lap

Gabe taking a turn with Grandma "J"

A silly stringed Tyler

Three cute boys with their baskets

Our Easter Family Photo

Happy Easter 2008
These are some shots of us Millikans playing around in the backyard in Pasadena hunting for eggs and stuff...

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Sitting By the Pool on Easter
This is a sweet shot of Tyler sitting with his Grandma Joyce (J-Ma) and two Great Grandmas, Barbara Jones (on swing) and Elizabeth Andresen (to Tyler's left). Three generations!Gabe having some iced tea

More time in the pool - they've just spied the snacks Grandpa brought out

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:34:00 +0000

An Indoor Easter Egg Hunt
All on his own, Jack set up an Easter Egg Hunt for all of the guests at our Easter party. He was VERY proud of the success of his event, and for good reason, we had a blast finding the 50 or so eggs he and Gabe hid all around the house.Great Grandma Andresen with her spoils. She found a lot, but Geoff and I played as a team and "won" (no actual prize, Jack informed us) with a total of 11 eggs. Go team!

Geoff with Tyler - dressed in their Easter finery

Tyler having fun with his squirt bottle - I like the mischeivious expression on his face!

We giggled watching Tyler walk away carrying his basket all on his own, dropping bits of it here and there

A dinosaur the "Easter Bunny" - seen here in her jammies, put in Tyler's basket

Jack found his basket with G-Pa's help way up in a tree. He had to climb for it, which he LOVED

Gabe found his, too - in the mini forest of Redwood trees

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:26:00 +0000

Easter Morning
This is a shot of Jack & Gabe awaiting the "go ahead" to run outside and search for their Easter baskets. They are standing at the window having a "pre-look" until everyone was ready to go out together.

Easter morning. J-Ma, Jack & Gabe sitting together awaiting the big moment....going out to hunt for Easter baskets.

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Other Fun Things We Did in Pasadena

J-Ma reading the boys a story before bed
Tyler having a treat after lunch

Gabe noticed that his after-lunch treat looked like an umbrella

Some time at the park (a huge park that is directly across the street from J-Ma & G-Pa's house)
Jack with Tyler

Daddy & Gabe on the aptly named Monkey Bars

Cindy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:58:00 +0000

Easter 2008

Here's the pool part of our Easter weekend in Pasadena. It was HOT, HOT, HOT there so we were happy to have remembered that J-Ma & G-Pa have a blow-up pool stored away in the garage...what relief from the heat!

Tyler looking funny with the hoseThe boys got a whirlpool going...Tyler thought it was hilarious, and G-Pa thought THAT was hilarious.

Spectators

Jack-6, Gabe-4, Tyler-23 months

More whirlpool

The other fun activity was running and jumping in

This was Tyler right after his first "jump", which was more like a climb over the side of the pool and then a topple in (much colder than he expected, I think!)

Jack taking a jump

Three sweet boys

Gabe is waiting his turn in the background - I think it's funny the way he's standing.

Here's a shot of Tyler's "jump"

Wow, Gabe - that looks worth the wait!

Suddenly, they spot a bee on the side of the pool

The end...of the pool...for the day...

Cindy — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:50:00 +0000

Spring Break Playdate

Today Teacher Mary, Kelly and "the girls" came over to play since they're all on Spring Break. Here are some cute shots:
Aliyah & Anjoli Kelly & Avonli

Jack with Avonli

Avoli - I know, I took so many pictures of her - but how could I not....look at her in that headband!!! So cute!

Aliyah & Jack

Avonli (again - need I say more?)

Cindy — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Cindy — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:14:00 +0000

SPRING
Spring has sprung in Newbury Park. Here is a collage made from various shots of the flowering plants and trees in our backyard. There is nothing like the first peach blossoms of Spring. Hopefully we'll get some actual fruit this year. Our cherry tree actually has some blossoms on it - wouldn't it be fun to grow cherries in our very own yard!

Cindy — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:46:00 +0000

Spring Squirrel
I was out in our backyard (quietly) taking pictures of our flowers (for the next post) and this little guy scurried right over to check me out. He sat there looking at me long enough for me to snap his picture - unfortunately, I got him just as he was ready to take off, so I didn't catch the super cute shot of him looking right at me and sniffing about. Spring has sprung!!

Cindy — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:04:00 +0000

Saturday Water Play

We haven't had a chance to buy our yearly "cheap pool" yet, but it was and emergency - today was !hot! So, being the resourceful family that we are, we filled tupperware containers with water and the boys "swam" in those. Talk about a "cheap pool"!!!

Cindy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:35:00 +0000

Disneyland (again) 2008

I had a free ticket to California Adventure at Disneyland, so I took the boys on Tuesday. Jack and Gabe had a REALLY good time, and I still haven't heard the end of it. We tried "Mullholland Madness" for the first time and it turned out to be our favorite ride. Here we are on "Soarin' over California" - a tried and true favorite.In line for "Soarin' Over California"

At the Redwood Forest park - surprisingly, we spent almost 2 hours right here at this little stream. I just sat there and talked on my cell phone - a real treat for everyone involved - good thing we had remembered to bring a change of clothes!

Cotton Candy - yippee!!!

More of the Redwood Forest park area - it wasn't 5 seconds later that we were told to get off the rocks...oops!

A fake-fruit cart. I think we would have been told to get off the fake-fruit cart, too, but I didn't wait long enough to find out!

Cindy — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:44:00 +0000

Sunday Morning Cuteness

This morning before church I took the boys outside to play while we were waiting for Daddy to finish with his shower. I thought they were so cute in their (kind of) matching blue striped shirts, so I ran in to grab the camera. In the bottom shot, you can see that Jack is playing with his loose tooth. On the way to church he was telling us how he could spin it around a few times and it would just stay in place and not try to spin back. Now THAT'S a loose tooth! Needless to say, it fell out during Sunday School class this morning.

Cindy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:36:00 +0000

Cindy's 36th Birthday Party

The boys couldn't bear the thought of Mommy's birthday passing without a pinata. So, while Mommy was out with her friends today, Geoff took the boys to get a pinata and silly string
(the other important part of a birthday party). After picking Gabe up at school this afternoon, we strung up the pinata and celebrated. After that, we went to Islands for Mommy's favorite fish tacos. Yum!

Cindy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:29:00 +0000

New Bikes

So, bikes are our big thing right now. Jack got a new bike last weekend after he outgrew his old one. It's super shiny and he just adores it. I wish you could have heard him exlaim "it's RED!" when we pulled it out of the box. He is completely thrilled over it. Gabe inherited Jack's old bike so we refurbished it for him with a kick-stand, new tires and a water bottle. Bless Gabe's heart - as far as he's concerned, he has a special new bike, too. The truck is Tyler's version of a bike - it has been for a long time. He pushes it all around town - and believe me, anyone who's ever gone on a "walk" with us knows, that is NO JOKE!

Cindy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:20:00 +0000

The Bike Train
This creation has been one of the kids' latest favorite activities. Jack & Gabe made it up - they tie the trike to the back of Gabe's bike and the bike-rider pulls the trike while Tyler stands on the back and hangs on. The bottom shot is a video so just hit play - turn on your sound so you can hear Tyler saying "Jack-Jack".

Cindy — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:07:00 +0000

Disneyland!
Saturday, February 16

Geoff's brother Todd & his wife Hilary came from Santa Cruz to spend a week at Disneyland. They invited us to join them for a day. We had so much fun - here are the shots.

Tyler on Tom Sawyer's IslandA yummy dinner together after a long & fun day

The boys playing on the big white boat cruise

Todd (with Asher on his shoulders), Ethan, Tyler & Hilary (pregnant with Baby #3)

The guys

Tyler really liked Tom Sawyer's Island

Getting ready to raft to T.S. Island

Geoff & the boys

Asher Gabe & Jack

Hilary (& Baby), Ethan & Tyler

Cindy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Tyler's Daffodils
I reckon there isn't much cuter or springy-er than a baby with Daffodils

Cindy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:07:00 +0000

Wrightwood Ski Trip - Mountain High

Jack taking Tyler for a rideKelly with Anjoli

Jack with Gabe

Jack with Aliyah

Geoff with Tyler

Jack on the ski lift with his class (after he'd been promoted to a more advanced class!)

Anjoli & Gabe in ski class

Who needs boots anyway? Time for Geoff to get some new gear!

Gabe on the "lift"

Cindy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:05:00 +0000

Jack & Aliyah - 2003
Tyler & Avonli - 2008

Cindy — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:30:00 +0000

Mountain High Ski Trip
We just got back from a 3-day trip to Wrightwood with the Person Family. Here are some shots of us sledding (ski shots will come later) and enjoying some "Lodge time". Jack & Aliyah are 6, Gabe & Anjoli are 4 and Tyler & Avonli are almost 2. We had a great time!

Gabe & Jack keeping busy in the car

Aliyah & Anjoli

Aliyah & Gabe

Mommy & Tyler

Tyler with his girls

Avonli was particularly into snuggling with Geoff on this morning

Jack & Aliyah having a silly giggle moment

Gabe couldn't get enough of puzzle time this weekend

Jack in the kitchen (one of his favorite things is cooking)

While the guys took the older kids skiing, a bath was a good activity for these two

Avonli was more interested in feeding Tyler than she was in feeding herself

The view from our back deck

Off to the slopes

Sledding in our backyard

The kitchen scene