Mammoth Lakes, CA

I finally am getting around to putting up the Mammoth Lakes,CA photos from the third week of June. These pictures of the kids during the few days that Ryan was doing his solo backpacking trip.

                      Ava throwing sand at June Lake. It was super windy the days that we were there.

                                                        Twin Lakes View Point.

                                               Collecting rocks on the shore of June Lake.

                                                       Ava making sand angels.

                                     Ryan at the end of his solo backpacking trip near Silver Lake.

                                         We stayed at the Sierra Nevada Lodge in Mammoth.

                               Local Mammoth Creek Park a couple of blocks away from our lodge.

                                               Taking a rest back at our hotel room. Cable!

Charlotte at 21 mo Old

Charlotte turned 21 mo old on July 20th. She is saying more words and repeating a lot too. She is also starting to say 2-4 word sentences. And finally drinking more milk. She will only drink about 4oz at a time and it must be cold plain milk. No chocolate milk or strawberry flavored milk. She seems to be getting very tall  the last few months. Her favorite things to play with are her baby dolls, tiny doll figures, doll house, rocking horse, and drawing with washable markers. She doesn't like getting sticky. She will ask for us to wash or wipe her hands. She can say "wash hands" and "sticky".  Her bottom incisors have also been coming in the last few weeks. She still needs the top incisors and more molars.

Baby Beach in Dana Point

The weather has been nice and hot lately and we are taking advantage of it by going to the pool and beach often. The kids get tuckered out after a 2-3 hours and then we go home for them to nap for 2 hours.  They are both eager to get into the water. It makes me a bit nervous because I can't move as fast with my pregnant belly. I would be very pleased if Ava can at least doggy paddle this summer. She was doing it by herself the last week of our Hawaii vacation last summer and I am hoping she can pick it up again very soon. Maybe we will go to swimming lessons again this summer. Last time Ava took swimming lessons it was just a Parent-And-Me class and she was 18 months old. Baby Beach in Dana Point is great for toddlers and young children. The water is warm, no waves, and is shallow for them to walk around and play.

Charlotte enjoyed playing in the sand and in the ocean as well. I didn't take any pictures of her in the ocean because she was wanting to walk in deep and I had my hands on her the whole time. She walked into the water up to her upper arms. I held on to the back of her arms. At home and in the pool she likes to let her bottom and legs float and tries to kick her legs. She keeps herself  floating up in the bath tub by stretching her arms out straight against the bath tub floor.

We went to the beach with the Maakars and Hawkins. Going with friends or family to the beach with young children is the only way too go.

Baby Grant! Too cute! He was crawling along the water and didn't mind it one bit.

                                   Our sprawled out pad. We had a good lunch and played.

Ryan's Company Summer BBQ

LAN International held it's annual summer BBQ at Doheny State Park. They had great entertainment for the families and we ended up staying till it was over at 7:30PM. The kids were in bed and sleeping by 8:30PM. The face paining, arts & crafts and organized water games were a ton of fun.

Sand Art: a variety of colored sand for the kids and adults to decorate vases and vessels in layered colors.

Ryan helped Ava participate in a water bucket race. The kids ran back and forth with a bucket full of water on the top of their head trying to fill an empty bucket about 40 feet away.

Another nine year old boy in line was so sweet to volunteer to help Ava out too. He ran with Ava and Ryan to try to help her tip her full bucket on water (on her head) into the white bucket at the end.

After getting soaked Ava decided that she had had enough of the water bucket game. Good thing she was wearing a sweatshirt and had an extra towel on hand.

                                          Build your own ice cream sundae! Yum!

                                        Ava also got to get her 2nd face painting ever. A purple butterfly.

Charlotte had a good time just playing with a tiny beach ball, running around the grass, and  checking out other babies at the BBQ.