Saturday, June 14, 2008

Getting Out

We are anticipating getting a little stir-crazy in the coming months while the heat is intense. As of now, we still play in the backyard with the hose almost every day and we are lucky enough to have Jana's family and their perfect swimming pool five minutes away. However, we wanted to go out and enjoy nature a little so here are our most recent AZ adventures. Wait, I'm lying- both of these adventures happened to be in nearby California, just a short drive away.
Dunes day: We don't have any "toys" for the dunes as of now (got to have something for our kids to look forward to in the future) but what kid doesn't love miles and miles of dirt, so we had a little picnic and fun in the Dunes one beautifully cool afternoon:






Then on one rare day when neither of us had to work, we packed up the van and headed to the Laguna mountains for another picnic and hiking day. We had a blast. There is something about nature that brings out the kid in all of us. We played baseball, went hiking and just hunted for rocks and pinecones. Can't wait to do some actual camping this summer!





Nature girl just kept rolling around in the grass and dirt.


Only one very sad point- Mase got a splinter in his finger and there was some LOUD wailing in the wilderness. Man, I can still remember seeing my Dad come at me with the tweezers when I got a splinter- the anticipation was killer! He was back to exploring in no time, though.


Everybody got tired after awhile so they all took 15 minute naps while I cruised over to Pine Valley so we could play at their amazing county park for a few relaxing hours.





To some, these little day trips may not seem like a big deal. But to us, with our crazy work schedules and Ro in school, we really try to embrace what family time we can get. We document these things so our kids will know that we treasure our time with them and tried to provide little opportunities for family fun. That was so important to both of us when we were growing up.

Next month: Braving a week without our kids in Hawaii! Think we can handle it?

5 comments:

mmg said...

I wish I had been there. Looks so fun.

Anonymous said...

I love those times together too. Looks like you guys had a blast. I got Jeremy a super great tent for Fathers Day, we can't wait to try it out this summer in the Lagunas, we should go camping together sometime,that would be so fun~!

Sabra said...

Comment on the upcoming Hawaii trip: Just decide now that you are going to have fun without your kids, and they are going to have an even better time without their parents! This is what I tell myself on those extremely rare occasions!

mmg said...

Only problem is that we didn't see any photos of the gorgeous mother in the family

Tina said...

Cute! Nice that we just talked about your sand dunes day....:)