Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Orange Blossoms

On April 13th, we drove out to where the orange groves are to see the blossoming trees. It's just south of us in a little town called Reedley. There were acres and acres of orange trees. I wish you could take a picture of smell--it smelled so good! Like nothing I've ever smelled before. It was great. I wish my house smelled like that all the time! Anyhow, we stopped to get a better look (as usual) at the orange trees.Some were packed with oranges, we think they are the juicing kind which have a differnt season than the navel oranges. But there were also trees full of oranges that were still covered in blossoms.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Zoo Day

On April 10th, the boys and I decided to go to the zoo. The Fresno Chaffee Zoo is actually quite nice (nicer than Hogle, I think). Logan was fascinated by the monkey and orangutan cage. They were all swinging around on these fake vines, and Logan would get this look on his face like he was worried they were going to fall or something. It was cute.


They also had a Petting Zoo, with sheep and goats. The boys got to brush the animals too. It was crazy--non of the animals moved while the kids were there. When Jake saw a goat that was lying on the ground asleep, he said, "oh, it's dead."


Then we got to visit Stingray Bay, where you get to touch some stingrays and sharks. Jake thought it was very cool, and Logan just likes to play with water!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Yosemite National Park

On Sunday, March 30th, we took yet another family drive, this time venturing north to explore Yosemite National Park.


It was an amazingly beautiful place full of trees and huge rock walls and waterfalls.


This one is called Bridal Veil Fall. I think there is one in Utah named that too.

We can't wait to go back this summer and do some camping and hiking.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Easter 2008


Easter was a little different this year not being in Utah. But we were lucky to have my parents and my brother and sister visit us that weekend. The boys had a great time hunting for eggs in the backyard.

Two days before Easter, Abe came home from work with 4 baby chicks! The boys thought they were so cool. Abe took one of the chicks and stuffed it in a large plastic egg, then gave it to Jake to open. Jake was quite surprised! It was really funny. Logan loves chasing the chicks around the yard. Luckily they're usually pretty fast (I say 'usually' because by the end of the next week we were sadly down to only 3 chicks).

Monday, April 14, 2008

Spring Blossoms


Sunday, March 9th, we drove out to some of the neigboring orchards to see the blossoming trees. The nectarine trees and the almond trees were all in full bloom. It was quite a site to see acres and acres of snow white almond trees. And the ground beneath them was dusted with falling blossoms so it looked like it had just snowed. The air smelled very sweet too.

Monterey Bay







On February 18th, we took a drive to Monterey Bay. It's only about a 2 1/2 hour drive, so not too bad. While it was a warm day in Fresno, it was cool and windy on the coast. But we still had fun. We walked along Fisherman's Wharf, then checked out the shops on Cannery Row--where they had a couple of real trains the kids could climb on, and then drove a little ways down to a nice big beach. The boys had fun chasing the waves and attempting to build a sand castle. It's nice we get to take all these mini trips to fun places!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Sequioa National Park









On February 9th, we took a little drive to the mountains. They aren't very far, but a lot of times you can't see them from where we live due to fog (and smog, I'm sure). Once we got to higher elevation, we ran into snow. Jake was more excited than anyone--"There IS snow in California!" Up until then, we'd told him that it doesn't snow in California (which is true for where we live), so we had to explain that it only snows in the mountains. The kids (and Abe) had a great time playing with the snow throwing snow balls and such. Then we went and saw some really big trees. There was even one you could walk through! We had a great time getting outdoors for a bit. We can't wait to go back again!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

In the beginning...

Well, you asked for it--and here it is! The (un)official blog of our family! I have to admit it's a lot funner, er, more fun than I thought it would be. And now the whole world can see what the heck we're up too all the way out here in California. And life goes on...but this is the beginning of something...we'll see where it goes.