Egg Hunts!!!

Last week the boys had some fun Easter Egg Hunts with their friends! Ryan had one at school on Wednesday and was beyond excited to head out and hunt!

They were everywhere!
Ryan and his 8 eggs! Austin had a lot of fun watching and didn't even try to steal any of them! Such a good boy! Checking out his eggs with his buddies! After leaving Ryan's school, we headed to playgroup where we were having an Easter Egg Hunt at the park with all of the kiddos! Off goes Austin! Ryan was the biggest and oldest kid there, so he was running everywhere to find the eggs! All of the little ones and their baskets of eggs! Ryan checking out his loot! And Austin sure didn't waste any time digging into his candy!We had a lot of fun preparing for Easter and going on the hunt with our friends!!!

First trip out...

... in our new tent trailer!!!

We had been wanting one for a while now! We really enjoy camping and being outdoors, but tent camping is getting a little old and annoying with kids. We were so exited when the opportunity to buy one came up. We decided to take it out while Grandpa and Grandma were here and we had a great time!!! After our fun ride in Felton, we drove to beautiful Capitola and set up camp at New Brighton State Beach.
Ryan and Austin were soooooo excited, but were upset that they didn't get to sleep on the big bed since Grandpa and Grandma were visiting. Next time!!!Austin collected pine cones... ...while Ryan rolled around in the grass!!!

After setting up camp, we walked down the trail that had been nearly wiped out by rain and mudslides...

...to the beautiful beach!!! When we got to the beach, there were all these cool little huts people had built with drift wood! Justin and the boys immediately headed down the beach! Ben, Patti and I followed behind and tried to catch up to them! Ryan wanted his shoes off ASAP so he could run from the waves. Austin would not let go of Justin's hand and was definitely reluctant to get his feet anywhere near that water. We had an amazing time! Trying to keep Patti warm was difficult, but we managed! We can't wait for more trips out in our new tent trailer!!!

Roaring Ride!!!

The first full week of April we had Grandpa and Grandma Drinkwater visiting from Washington! It's kind of become a tradition that they come during Grandma's spring break, and we LOVE their visits to California!!! While they were here Justin had all kinds of projects planned, but we made plans to take a break from those projects and do something fun! On Thursday the 7th we headed up to Felton in the mountains above Santa Cruz to Roaring Camp Railroads!

Grandma, Grandpa and Ryan being silly!
They have a steam engine that pulls open train cars through the beautiful red woods and up the mountain. The boys were BEYOND EXCITED!!! This is where we rode Thomas last summer, but Ryan had his eye on the black steam engine the whole time we were there. He was sooooo happy to get to ride it this time! Austin didn't care what we rode, he just wanted to get on a train! ALL ABOARD!?!
Grandma, Grandpa and Austin ready to ride! Ryan immediately secured his spot directly behind the engine! Grandpa, Austin and Daddy! Off we go!!! Up the tracks, over this rickety old bridge... ...and through the beautiful forest!!!
Ryan was so excited when the conductor came to take his ticket!
The train climbed to the top of Bear Mountain where we were able to get off and look around!
Ryan inside of an old redwood tree!!!
Austin in the tree, but he preferred sitting on the log! While on top of the mountain, the boys got up close to check out the engine! After our ride down the mountain, we got a family picture with the train.

We had a great time on our train ride, but the fun didn't stop there! Check back later to see what else we did!

Zootastic!!!

A few weeks ago Ryan had the week off of school for a mid-winter break, or something like that, so we enjoyed a fantastic day at the zoo with some friends!

Austin...

...Ryan... ...Scarlett... ...Payton... ...Reyna... ...and Brody... ...all had a great time!!!

Silly boys!!! We made our way around the park...

...and often found Ryan as the ringleader of this crazy bunch!

They had a lot of fun checking out the animals...

...and playing on all the statues!

"Look Austin!"

"What?!"

We came upon this area with a bunch of trees, and these kiddos turned into a bunch of monkeys! Austin the monkey!

Ryan the baboon!

As we were heading out to leave, we found the boys climbing into the wagon together! It was so cute! I started to pull them and we sang together the theme song from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates!" "Yo Ho matey's away!!!" After our fun at the zoo, we headed to the park for a picnic! We had a great time there as well! Austin wanted to make sure Reyna got to her car safely! What a gentleman!

Thanks for going to thezoo and the park with us everyone! We had a great time! The "Free Entry" day was just the icing on the cake!