Class break in Tahoe!!

 So one week in this monstrous lengthy year, Chris gets a break from class to do nothing but enjoy doing whatever he would like to do, and that week happened to fall over 4th of July...so we got those days off too!! Score!! Chris's friends from Maryland came to enjoy it with us and so we headed out to Lake Tahoe and rented a cabin to enjoy the sights and scenery in comfort!! So our week consisted of fly fishing,a visit to a free children's museum (because of being in the military!! Woo-hoo!!), ping pong, hot tubbing (not Mommy though) some family (minus Mommy again) mountain biking and Parky got to enjoy it too!!

This ought to be fun!!

So with a new baby coming, Chris and I decided to do some looking around at "What's in with today's baby" at a pretty awesomely huge baby store in San Jose, and while he and I found ourselves (mostly him) stressing over the prices of re-buying things we used to have, but sold because Daddy couldn't decide he was okay with another kiddo until recently...Kyle has some fun with the fake baby that the store has for parents to try on with carriers, etc. and pretending to be a baby himself!! 

Yosemite pt. 1

 So as you will read in post 2, we had a fun weekend with yummy food to boot!! First picture here is pineapple upside down French toast, and then the last one is Dutch oven donuts!! Good times were had by all...our stomachs included!! :) Oh and the one with Dalin drinking some muddy looking water is a spring we found that was called "Soda Springs, but Dalin said sadly it did not taste like soda...soda water maybe but that's not too tasty!! "

You're up to date now!!

When you read this post, you're currently up to date with the Strommer Family happenings on the west coast!! We were lucky enough to snag the last site for months available in Yosemite national park campgrounds and we jumped at the chance to see these beautiful and famous sites before Chris leaves in Sept. for a month long class trip to Korea, and after would be too cold to venture there to camp!! When you think of Ansel Adams, you think of black and white photos, and many were taken here in this park...so many in fact that there was a museum dedicated to his pictures there.  We saw one that was selling for $40,000 (because it was an original) but I say that my husband can take anything he can take for a WHOLE lot less....for example the number 5 picture here of the iconic Half Dome (mountain that The North Face company is named for) was taken by Chris and as far as I can tell, the exact same picture taken by A.A. was $30,000!! Ridiculous, I say!!

Last days

Another year down, two more schools each under our belt!! Dalin is always the friendly one and always makes friends so quickly. Each kid adjusted just splendidly and made some really good friends. We will start another school year here but will move on again to who really knows where before they finish....*Destinees school didn't have any "last day celebrations" hence the no pictures of her

Track Awards

So last Saturday was my kids last official track meet, but today they got their medals and certificates. I am so very happy that I put my two boys in track this year, and maybe even helped them realize something they may be good at. Dalin even qualified for a Northern California track meet that brings together all towns in northern California and their track teams (The only reason Kyle did not is because of age. They start qualifying them at age 9) I hope he does well!!

An Eventful FHE

For those very few that may read this and not know what FHE is, it stands for Family Home Evening, and is just a way in our church of trying to ensure that at least one night a week families' sit down together for dinner and have a lesson and a song and maybe a scripture and maybe some fun afterwords. We sometimes fall short but tonight I had an important message I wanted to share with my kids. Since you can't read most of the writing on the paper (did it in pencil) I will translate. I started out with the orange pieces of paper as a puzzle hidden around the house that the kids had to find the pieces and put together to see their next clue. Their next clue written on the puzzle was to go to their beds and find either an orange red or blue piece of paper and bring it downstairs... Now the clue of telling them to come downstairs was written in one of those funny picture word puzzles that maybe you can see in one of the pictures. It was kind of hard for Kyle so Destinee helped him. The next picture puzzle was written on Destinee's piece of paper telling her to go get the dessert. I then had them arrange the pieces of cake on the table to spell out a word that had letters traced into the top of the icing. Then I had them open their red blue and orange pieces of paper to reveal a letter I had written to them about a very special person that I hope they would meet soon!
So would you like to know what the letters were that they had to unscramble? YBBA4!! Get it?