Christmas

The Hay Gang had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Gram and Pa. Gram always gives the Gang new PJ's to sleep in on Christmas Eve. This year she took the kids shopping for the PJ's. The Gang loved that because they could pick out the jammies that they wanted. This picture was taken at Grandma and Grandpa's house before we went home to sleep. We had pizza for dinner took baths and then on our way home we went looking at lights. Then everyone went home and settled in for a long sleep before Santa came and brought us wonderfrul gifts. The Gang had a hard time getting to sleep, but sleep did come and before we knew it we were up waiting for Grandma and Pa to come over for the unwrapping.
The gifts that Santa brought us. Wow were we surprised!
Santa brought us new stockings. The Gang was thrilled with their new stockings. We had to buy a special stocking holder because we use our fireplace and we can't put anything flamable near it. So, we had this stocking holder with our old Christmas Stockings on it. We had breakfast with Gram and Pa and then played with all our new stuff. We met up with family for dinner at the Sizzler. My neice works there and had to work Christmas so we all decided to have dinner there with her. It was fun. Tom's brother stopped by for a nice Christmas visit. He had never seen Henry so it was fun introducing the two. After dinner we went to Grandma and Pa's for another present unwrapping. Everyone had a magical Christmas and we were so happy to get to spend it with family. We love that we have a little Gang of people to celebrate our Saviors birth with. The season is very magical and it is such fun seeing it through the eyes of our children. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Donny Osmond sings Mary Did you know

This was sent to me by my friend Ali. I hope you enjoy it. As you're doing your last minute shopping think of him and keep his spirit within in your heart.

Happy Holidays from Signing Time!

Now we can wish our friends Merry Christmas in Sign Language. Check it out and learn some favorite Holiday words.

A van, 5 kids, 2 DVD players, lots of food, and 2 parents

Well I guess it is time I updated everyone on the Oregon Thanksgiving trip. First off we had a ball, and want to thank our Oregon relatives for a great time. We started off to Oregon on Tuesday night. I had packed lunches for eating in the car so we wouldn't have to stop. Everyone was very happy to start eating. Most of the gang wanted to eat about 10 min. into the trip. I said no not until we get to the airport at least. Julia and Henry went right to sleep and we had a pleasant drive. We stopped in Redding for gas and potty. The kids watched videos and the drive was very uneventful. We spent the night with my parents in Weed. That was a very good thing because I don't think we could've gone much further that night. The next day we woke up and there was ice on all the cars. Macie and I were wearing capris. I had forgotten to take into account how high we were. Macie rode with Grandma and Pa the rest of the way to the Oregon homestead. We only stopped once for a potty break and then to eat right before we went to the relatives.

There were so many relatives that people were staying in hotels, guesthouses, trailers, extra bedrooms, and bunking down with the kids.

On Thanksgiving we went to some friends of my Aunt. They have a building on their property that is like a grange. We had a fire, food, drinks, visiting, a gift exchange, and fireworks. We even had the traditional Mama and the Papa's CD while cleaning up. I usually help with all the clean up and am involved with the prepration, but with the Gang I have I was very busy keeping up with Matthew and everyone else.

We visited all day Friday and drove home Sat. The kids did really well. We only stopped for one meal, gas and potty. When we got gas in Ashland we got ripped off. You see, in Oregon they fill the tank for you. We asked the cheap gas, but somehow we got the $3.89 gas. ?????!!!!! We ened up getting 350 miles on that tank. So now Tom thinks maybe we need to buy the super expensive gas for better gas miliage. We are in the middle of the first tank about town experiment. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Anyway here we are back at home getting ready for Christmas. We will be getting our tree on the 15th and our house is decorated for the season. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Grandma and Henry

The kids waiting to open their gift

Great-Great Uncle Charles, Charolotte and Henry

The Holiday Picture

Well, I have to say that this year I am a bit early on the annual Hay Gang picture. I usually like to do the pictures in December because let's face it that is the Christmas season, but I realize that getting 5 kids beautiful and smiling during December might be bit crazy. I had the picture take last year at the end of November, I just hope I don't start taking the picture in July. :) As you can tell this picture is a classic. Matthew took one step into the portrait room and said to himself "how can I make this a memorable night? Let's see I can run around screaming no at the top of my lungs, I can make silly faces, I can lay down on the floor and roll to my back while screaming. I think any of those would be great. How about I do them all?" We got this shot and I thought for sure that would be all I get, but the photographer was fab. She was able to get a group shot with Matthew looking half way decent. I like to have little groups within the big group. I got the girls, boys, big kids and little kids. I was thrilled. Julia held Henry in the little kids picture, she had to hold him a long time due to Matthew trying his tricks out. All of a sudden we heard a thud and Henry was on the floor screaming. Julia was done. The picture of the boys Thomas held Matthew tight and held Henry who was screaming due to the floor incident. Our tradition is that we take the picture and then go out to dinner. I was so exhausted that we just went to the food court in the Mall and they had McDonald's. The Gang had no problem with that. I guess the Season has begun for the Hay family. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love those sweet, cute smiling faces.

The Bigs

The Littles

The Brothers

The Sisters

Thanksgiving

We love Signing Time! The kids are going to share these new signs at our family Thanksgiving in Oregon.

5 months old

Our little Henry is 5 months old. He is such a giggly smiley little boy. He keeps us laughing with all his giggling. I love this picture because as I was trying to take it he couldn't see my face and he was frowning, but once I moved the camera away from my face he would see me and smile. Of course, when I moved the camera I was not able to get his picture framed correctly. I will get the hang of it my camera is new to me, I got it for my birthday in July. It is a Nikon D40. I love it.


Where is my mama?

Halloween October, 2007

The Hay Gang getting ready to Trick or Treat up the neighborhood. They were very excited to see all the neighbors. We also went over to Grandma and Pa's neighborhood trick or treating. Pooh thought it was great that people would open their doors up and pass out candy. He even walked into a few homes. He was so cute that people would just let him into their homes. The gang would sign and say "Thank You" when they left people's homes. All in all it was a great night.

A Cheerleader, A Football Player, Cinderella, Pooh Bear and A Dragon

The Gang went to a Halloween Carnival at Church. It is an annual event. Our ward usually has the carnival with the annual chili cook-off and dessert cook-off. The kids were so happy to sport their costumes before the official Halloween Day. Macie sported my old cheer leading outfit that I wore my senior year (I graduated in 1981). We had to pin it of course. Thomas wore a niners outfit that we borrowed from our friends the Bates', and Julia became Cinderella (Santa brought her the outfit for Christmas). Matthew also borrowed the Winnie the Pooh outfit from our friends, and Henry went as a little dragon. It was very warm and summer like on Sat., so the kids were hot in their outfits. They sure looked cute. I snapped one picture of the gang and Matthew decided that that was enough. I only got him by himself and then the other four together. Tonight we made lollipop ghosts out of tootsie pops, paper towels, tape, and drew faces on them. We made a bunch to pass out on Halloween. I'm not sure I will get a better picture than this one. I think it's sure cute. At the carnival they ate cotton candy, participated in the cake walk and each one won a plate of cupcakes and cookies, they touched shrunken head, troll eyes, octopus tentacles, and wet stuff, whacked a deacon (aka whack a mole), and had oodles and oodles of candy and fun. I'm sure it will be a blast next year as well.

Matthew as Winnie the Pooh and the Gang having fun before the carnival.

Macie, Henry, Thomas, and Julia

Signing Time Halloween Signs

We love Signing Time! and are so excited to learn Halloween signs from Rachel. The kids are very excited about Halloween. We still are unclear here at the Hay House what everyone is going to be. Henry will be a dragon, Matthew will be a bumble bee, Julia thinks she'll be a princess possibly Cinderella, Macie and Thomas are undecided. We have a Halloween carnival to go to on Sat. night. I think we will share some of our new signs with our carnival friends.

Adventures of the Hay Gang

This weekend started out innocently enough. We sent on a road trip to my nephews football game. Brad plays for Humboldt State University and we just had to go to a home game. I grew up in Eureka and his school is in Arcata. So we hit the road. Of course we didn't get out at the time we had hoped. We left a half hour later than planned. The trip up was great, the kids behaved and we stopped for gas and a picnic. Then onto to the hotel. (Thank heaven for travel DVD players). During our ride we saw Princess Diaries, National Treasure and the family favorite Signing Time! Happy Birthday to You. The weekend was fun. We swam in the heated indoor/outdoor pool, went sight seeing, found shells on the beach, and saw the house that mommy lived in when she was a girl. Brad's team lost, but at the game there were 2 jumpy houses and the gang jumped for 3 solid hours. They slept great Saturday night. Tom and I even got to sit and talk while we ate a hamburger (quietly of course), but it was nice. Sunday we got to go see Brad's dorm room. Wow, Humboldt sure does dorm rooms great. His room has a kitchen and a living room, along with a bathroom and bedrooms. He has it made in the shade. Then the real adventure began. My Dad noticed that we had a tire that was low on air. We filled it and headed home. We stopped for gas and had to fill it again. Tom thought we should be okay getting home. Well we got around Clear Lake and Julia threw up in the middle of nowhere. We cleaned her up and a highway patrol came by and said that we should probably change the tire. What???!!!??? In the middle of nowhere. We had a spare and we pulled off the main road to change the tire. Tom did all the changing and I fed the gang and had people go potty. All while this was going on we were on the look out for Grandma and Pa. They were about 45 mins. behind us and we were hoping to see them so they could stop and be apart of our adventure. As it turns out we missed them and they missed us, but when we got going again they turned around and followed us home. We were going very slow and people were passing us left and right. The kids has fun with this adventure as well. On the way home we watched Charlotte's Web. Good luck Boppy on your other games. Hopefully we'll see you play next year. We look forward to another Hay Gang Adventure. :)
Matthew having the time of his life in the jumpy house. The flat tire fit in the middle of Julia and Henry.

Birthday's

Well Tom is fast approaching a milestone. On Thursday he will officially be 50. Yes, I wrote the right number. I find it hard to believe that he is 50. We celebrated last night with my family and Tom's brother John and his wife, Erin. We hadn't seen them in a long time. We took all the kids with us to the restaurant. They were very well behaved and Tom and I were quite pleased with them. The restaurant we went to was a BBQ place and they put a cowboy hat on Tom and took his picture. I have found this new way of doing scrapbooks online. I used http://www.shutterfly.com/ and was able to make Tom a book of the kids for his birthday. It is a book all about the gang and their Dad. He loved it. Anyway it was a fun night and we hope for many more birthday's to come.

It's a Scam

Well, I am a victim of a scam. I recently have found a site called Cafemom where you can connect with other moms that have your same interests. I joined a group called Thrifty Moms and was excited when I saw a post about cheap diapers. Now, I am always looking for a deal. With a family of 7 I need to save money where I can. The site looked legit to me and the price was incredible (my first mistake was believing I could get diapers for that price). I place an order and was blissfully happy about another day of saving our family some dough. Well I read about it being a scam on Thrifty Moms the next day and I went into a panic. I called the company and of course, there was no one answering just a machine. I left a message, and I think it wasn't a very nice one at that. Anyway more moms are posting about it being a fraud so I cancel my credit card and report the company to the security company they are using. I think they are using the security company fraudulently. I am going to also report them to an Internet Crime Complaint site. American Express has been very helpful. I'm just mad that the company has my name and address. We learn from our mistakes. The lesson I learned is to be more vigilant in researching a company before I purchase and not be sucked in by too good to be true prices. Here's to getting good deals in the future. :)
I am not going to post the company name here because I don't want to give them any sort of advertisement. If you want to know who they are email me and I will let you know. Happy bargain hunting.

Let's all cheer for Football !!!!!

My nephew, Brad, goes to Humboldt State University and plays football there. He played last year at American River Jr. College and now he is on to a four year university. He left for Arcata at the beginning of August and our gang hasn't seen him since then. Well, we got the opportunity this weekend to go to his game at Menlo College in Menlo Park and we took it. We left Friday night and spent the night at a hotel. We stayed in the same hotel as the team, his parents, and my mom and dad. The Hay gang had a ball, and they were so happy to see Boppy aka Brad. They swam and had sleepovers in Auntie's room and Gram's room. It was a fun game, Humboldt won!!! This was their first win this season so it was a good day. Brad did really well. We couldn't believe how big and strong he is. He had a sack and some tackles. Yippee, Brad. The best part, to me, about Brad playing for Humboldt is that my dad played for Humboldt and I was born while he was a student player. He then went on to coach for Humboldt. My family lived in Eureka for 13 years before we moved. We are taking the gang to the Humboldt homecoming game in Oct. I'm excited because I get to show the gang where I grew up and maybe take them to the beach as well as getting to see Brad and his dorm room. It will be fun for the kids to see Brad in his new environment. I'm hoping that they see college as a place that they will want to go someday. It is never too early to start the college planning. :)

Jacks Fans!!!!

Pa, Brad's Nana, Gram , me, Henry, Tom, Ali's friend Ashley, Matthew, Uncle, Boppy, Auntie,

Thomas, Emily, Macie, Ali

Julia





Uncle, future Jack Matthew, Boppy

More Supervision Needed, Right?

Yesterday was the day Tom and I decided that the car needed to move back into the garage. For close to a year now we haven't been able to put the car in the garage due to us storing furniture for other people, moving beds in and out of the house, and using the garage as the cardboard dumping ground of the Hay House. We started work around 9:00 a.m. and set about putting things out front to sell to the traffic that passes by our house. We usually do very well at this, but yesterday we only sold one item. We must have some real junk this time. :) We then packed Tom's truck he borrowed from work full of dump items and he went to the dump. When he came home we packed the truck up with items to take to DI (a local second hand store run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and then back to the dump to dump a computer. While he was gone I rearranged the shed giving us more room, folded laundry and fed the kids. Then we cleaned the garage and the van finally moved back into its home. We can't believe that it is back there. In fact, someone at church today said that he thought we were out of town because he didn't see our van out front on his way to church. We showed him. :)

Anyway while this was going on you might want to know where the Hay Gang was. Well, they were out front with us picking up apples that had fallen from the tree, playing in the driveway and Henry was in the stroller. They were in the front and then in the back playing basketball, riding moving toys, and just being kids. When we came into the house at one point we found Matthew looking like this

We also found marking pen (supposedly washable) on the walls and tile floor. We got it off the walls and floor, but Matthew well, that was a different story. I dressed him today in a little suit and cute dress shoes thinking people would look past the war paint and focus on the cute little man. No such luck. He was noticed and he just smiled at everyone who snickered his way. What a little rascal. We are very fortunate that nothing more happened. The lesson learned? Never let a 2 year old know where the markers are kept. Anyway lucky us we have a car in the garage and a little boy with fading war paint. Oh, happy day!!!!!!

It Does Get Better

Another week goes by and nothing major has happened just regular Hay House stuff. I ended up working for my cousin, Melynda on Sat. and had a great time talking and working with her. We found out that the car will cost $1600 dollars so poor Tom has to put up with the Saturn a few more years. $1600 is a whole lot cheaper than buying a new car. He was thinking that now with the Saturn out of commission he might be able to get a good ole used truck but no such luck. Tuesday we had a visit from our adoption agency and I found out about it on Monday so we kicked into high gear around here. The house was very livable and the floors were no longer sticky, yeah. :) Julia started her new ballet class on Monday afternoons and had a ball, Matthew went to his physical therapy and had the speech teacher come to our home. On Thursday I went to a co-op pre-school and shared a lesson on sign language with them. I taught 3 little boys how to use their manners. We learned about "Magic Words", please, thank you, sharing, your turn, and my turn. These little boys are friends of Julia's and I hope that as I continue to teach them they can communicate more with her. She loves it when people attempt to sign with her.
There is a piece of news that we at the Hay House would love to share, we got our new Signing Time! DVD's and they are everything the gang had hoped they would be. Look for us at Birthday parties to sign Happy Birthday, party, candles, wish, and the all important cake signs. We can't wait for those party invites (we learned that word as well). :)
My niece, Emily, babysat for me today as I went and got Julia a new mattress for her bottom bunk, and I started the, shh don't tell the kids, Christmas shopping. I had a great time being out on a school day all by my self. Thanks Emily.
Well, the Hay Gang had a good week and it does get better, thank heaven.

Can it get any worse?

Yesterday, Friday, was a strange and crazy day. Matthew woke up at 5:00a.m. and I gave him Motrin and water. He was burning up. We think he is getting some new teeth. Tom got up with Henry around that same time and fed him. We got back to sleep around 5:45. Now, were not sure when it actually happened, but Matthew's nose started bleeding. He has been having bloody noses for a few months now, and we have seen the ENT and our ped. Dr. They have told us just to wait and see what happens. We woke up to blood all over the floor, sheets, and our bedroom door. I tried for 2 1/2 hours to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile I had to call a friend to pick up Macie and Thomas for school, put Julia on the bus, and feed Henry. I called and made an appointment with his Dr. and tried the ENT. Of course, on the way to the Dr. the bleeding stopped. I had dropped Henry off at a friends and I went to pick him up. Then I took the kids and went to K-Mart to pick up an outfit that I needed to wear because I was working for my cousin who owns a restaurant. I was going to help cater an anniversary party. Tom came home at 2:00 so I could rush up to Auburn to get to Strings by 2:30. Then it happened, Tom's car stopped with me in it on the Freeway. I was almost to Newcastle. I called Melynda and told her that I wouldn't be at the event. I was very bummed. The cars were whizzing by me while I was waiting for the tow truck. With AAA you can only be towed 5 miles well, it ended up being 9 miles to our automotive guy. I had to pay $36 for the tow. We still don't know how much the car will be. I got home and collapsed it had been a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Tomorrow can only get better. We rented a movie and made a good dinner and had an at home date after the kids went to bed. We saw Premonition and thought it was good, strange but good.
Anyway here's to better days. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya Tomorrow, you're only a day a way.

Don't forget to Vote for Rachel

Rachel Coleman has been nominated for Mannington's Stand on a Better World. Please visit the voting site and vote for her http://www.standonabetterworld.com/vote/detail/rcoleman.html
Voting ends on September 7, so please vote for Rachel.

Signing Time!

Caterpillar Dreams - This is my favorite Signing Time! song. It reminds me of Julia. She is our butterfly.

A Fun Day

We worked in the yard all morning and into the afternoon on Saturday. With the new baby and all we haven't been able to do much yard work or any clean up work for that matter. The last time the lawn was mowed was 2 months ago when my nephew mowed it as a surprise for us. We were very tired and hot when the work was completed. The yard and patio looked so great that we BBQ some chicken and then Tom filled up a little kiddie pool we had. It was a huge surprise for the kids. When they saw the pool they started jumping around and wanted to get in immediately, but we made everyone wait until after dinner. Tom had also gone to the grocery store before dinner and bought some ice cream which is a staple in this family. He made the gang milkshakes to drink out on the patio while playing in the pool. A big game of Simon Says was played and Julia was the grand champion. Of course, we had to play many more times to see if there might be anymore grand champions, but they didn't seem to do as well as the first time. Tom had to go through a lot of instructions before he got any of them the first time, but the times after he got them on the first try. Anyway, it was a fun filled day and Julia just kept signing swim over and over of course with the word now signed with emphasis. She can be very demanding. :) The Hay House had a fun family work day. Here are some pictures of the action.

Matthew looking cute and having fun in the backyard.

Henry kicking back and having his usual 6 ouncer.

The Simon Says game. Who will be out first? Uh Oh where's Thomas is he out? :)

Julia, the Hay House Simon Says grand champion.

Signing Time -

-

Happy Birthday from the new Signing Time! Series 2. We can't wait untill ours show up at the house. You can pre-order the new series at Signing Time! Also don't forget to vote for Rachel for the Mannington's stand on a better world contest.

School's Here!!!!

Today is the first day of school and gang was ready to go very early. I made them a hot breakfast (I'm not so great at this particular task), and they were very shocked at finding eggs on their plates instead of bowls of cold cereal. I will probably be getting to cold cereal in a few days. :) They dressed in their brand new clothes and shoes and waited for the 1st day pictures out front. Of course, Matthew didn't go to school today, but he wanted to be in the picture. Macie is in 3rd grade and has Mrs. Flannegan, Thomas is in 2nd and his teacher is Mrs. Wallin, Julia is still in Miss Bonnie's SDC pre-school class. She got to ride the bus today, but the bus was late so I'm not sure when she actually got to school. The bus was supposed to pick her up at 8:03, but didn't come until 8:30. Hopefully it will be on time tomorrow. I was very happy to send them off this year. What with getting the new baby in June, this has been a very tiring summer, and the kids needed to get out of here and go have some fun. Here's to another school year!!!!!!

Macie showing off her new third grade apparel. She loves her new haircut and new High School Musical messenger bag.

Thomas and his new duds with a spiderman backpack. Looking good my man!!!!

Julia is all smiles. She can't wait until she sees Miss Bonnie. She picked out her new outfit all by herself. She even got new High School Musical shoes with Troy Bolton on them.

Dancing and Smokey the Bear and Rides oh my!

Well Friday we watched the High School Musical 2 movie, and everyone here at the Hay House had a great time. We loved all the singing and dancing. They also watched it on Sat and Sun nights. Julia loved Troy and Gabriella, Thomas loved the part where Troy sings Bet On It, Macie loved Sharpay singing Fabulous. Then on Saturday, Julia danced with her ballet class at the State Fair. She was terrific and loved being on stage. The whole gang had a fun time riding the rides and walking around. We stayed longer than we thought, but when you're having fun you just gotta go with it. Grandma and Pa, Auntie and Uncle came to see Julia and to hang out with us and have fun. Auntie and Uncle treated the kids to pony rides and Grandma and Pa treated us all to ice cream. We also had hand squeezed lemonade. Yummmers. Auntie and Uncle took the kids around the Smokey the Bear exhibit and the kids learned all about smoke alarms. They each got a free handkerchief for going through the exhibit.

Julia the dancing bunny

Julia, Matthew, Pa, Smokey, Henry, Macie and Thomas enjoying the Fair

The rides were fun, Matthew loved the pony ride, Julia was so happy to ride a pink elephant, Thomas dug the ponies, and Macie went for wild spinning rides.

The Fair was fun and we were all very tired when we got home. Now we can't wait until school starts on Tuesday.

Bye Bye Couch

Well, it finally happened. Our niece, Ali, has moved out on her own, and she has taken our living room couch and chair with her. Well, we did give it to her. She earned it two years ago when she babysat for us all season of the Music Circus. We paid her in couch and chair. I really didn't think it would stay with us for this long, but now the day came and went and we have no couch or chair. I didn't think I really used it all that much. It is (was) in the living room and we rarely go in there or so I thought. It wasn't 2 hours after we waved good-bye and signed (Julia) I Love You to the couch that the mail came and into the living room I went to sit and read the mail. Oops, I guess I have to go read it in the rocker in my room. I hope we at least have a new one by Christmas. This couch and chair were the first items we bought together after we got married. The couch

The kids found old favorites and a bunch of junk under the couch.

Bye Bye old friend. :)

Vote for Rachel Coleman

Hey everyone the creator of the Hay Family favorite DVD's Signing Time! has been nominated for Mannington's Stand on a Better World award. Please vote for her. She could win $10,000 for the charity of her choice which of course is the Signing Time! Foundation. To vote for Rachel use the link http://www.standonabetterworld.com/vote/detail/rcoleman.html You can only vote once so make sure to vote for Rachel Coleman. To check out the Signing Time! Foundation go to http://www.signingtimefoundation.org/ . Go Rachel !!!!!!

We can't wait!!!!!

The Hay kids are soooooo excited that High School Musical 2 is due out on Friday. We get to find out who their teachers are for next year on Friday also, but that doesn't even compare to the excitement over High School Musical 2. Yesterday the Music CD to High School Musical 2 came out and of course we were at the Wal-Mart buying it. We listened to it on the way home, and they somehow knew the words to some of the songs. Disney sure knows how to do the PR. They have "music videos" of some of the songs on their channel and have been showing them for a few weeks now. The CD came with a bonus DVD of some of the rehearsals for the new dances. We have watched that 2 times and have listened to the CD a number of times. I guess we will be ready for Friday night. Julia's favorite character is Gabriella, Macie loves Sharpay (I'm not sure why maybe all the fancy clothes and glitz), Thomas likes Troy and Chad. Matthew loves dancing to the music. So, we wait around here for Friday.

Donner Lake Picnic

We had a great day Saturday. We went to Donner Lake for Tom's company picnic. Of course, I had to pack as if we were going for more than just one day. We looked like 2 pack mules walking into the beach. Tom's company has been having this picnic every summer for the last 3 years. They provided us with food and drinks, games, hats, leis and fun. The kids wanted in the water so badly, but Donner is always so cold I wasn't sure they needed to get in. They were sure. So, they swam and played in the sand. We all took a break to eat the roasted pig, prime rib and the summer picnic mainstay hotdogs. The kids loved the fruit salad and dessert. Tom and I think that next year we will go up earlier in the week and camp for a few days at the Donner Memorial State Park Campground. My only requirement for camping is showers and yes, Donner has showers. We are looking forward to a family vacation.

Macie and Thomas were on a swim team this year so they wanted to show off their swimming abilities and swam out to a buoy. They had tons of fun swimming a little bit out on their own.Julia had a great time sitting on the beach eating all the candy she got from the pinata.

Matthew was very cold at the end of the day. He was shivering.

Henry hung out in his stroller most of the day. He also hung out in the front pack with me.All in all it was a great day. On the way home no one fell asleep. We couldn't believe it someone usually falls asleep. They were full of excitement from the day. When we got home everyone had showers due to the sand in hair and all over bodies. Then we served up sandwiches and the gang went to bed and were fast asleep. What a day!!