More California Fun

Knowing that we would be spending the weekend on our 'camping trip,' we decided to spend a little more time in California at Grandpa and Grandma Gillette's house. We flew in to Fresno on Wednesday and spent most of Wednesday and all of Thursday with them.

Grandma picked us up at the airport and after some lunch and some relaxing, we jumped in to the pool to cool off a bit. Thursday was spent hanging out with Sarah, Reed, and Kieran. They came over around 9:30 (about the time Kelley and I finished our 9 mile run through the oranges!) and the kids played all day! Great-Grandpa Dean and Great-Grandma Didi stopped by for a short time, as did Uncle Mark, Auntie Penny, Greg and Melissa. Uncle Jon came over too and stayed for dinner!

So excited to see Grandpa when he came home from work!

Bedtime stories

 We spent lots of time playing this game: Shut the Box

 Future soccer star?

 Hugs for Auntie Penny

 Playing with Daddy and Uncle Mark

 Cousins!

 We could see this huge plume of smoke from the fire that is burning up near Hume Lake/Kings Canyon/Grandpa and Grandma's cabin

 Haleigh's turn at Shut the Box

We were also able to get in a quick visit at Thousand Hills Pet Resort and see some of the new things that have been started there over the past year, meet up with Amy (our former baby-sitter) and her daughter Kailey, and have dinner with some of my good friends from Visalia.

 Kailey and Kyle

 Kailey and Annaliese

We met up with John and Alecia Vanden Berg, Julie and Travis Cardoza, and Michelle Elrod (her hubby Steve was off fighting the fire.) We walked to a local taco place to pick up dinner and the kids got to ride in style!

 Annaliese, Kamryn Vanden Berg (21 mon), Christian Cardoza (19 mon) and Haleigh

Michelle and I

 Heading back to Grandpa and Grandma's house...apparently it's a lot of work to have so much fun with friends!

We flew home Monday evening; overall, the girls did really well on all our flights. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a delay in Seattle but I found this little play area where they could run around a bit before having to sit on the plane again. And as much fun as we had, I think we were all glad to be back in our own beds again!

4th Annual Gillette-Feffer-Prentice Camping Trip

When we started talking about moving last summer, we also talked about the importance of keeping the Gillette-Feffer-Prentice camping trip a yearly tradition. We started planning months ago and found just one weekend that would work for everyone...and since Jenn is 37 weeks pregnant, we decided to skip the 'camping' part of the trip and instead all camp out at the Prentice household.

Friday afternoon we all arrived at Russ and Jenn's house...We grilled hamburgers and ate chocolate cake for Eleia's 2nd birthday (none of those pictures turned out...must have had the camera on the wrong setting!) Then it was time for bed. We were cautiously optimistic and put the 4 older kids in Holden's room together...

 Bedtime stories with Auntie Jenn

The sleeping arrangements: Eleia in the pack-n-play, Josephine on the air mattress in the middle of the room, Holden in his bed, and Annaliese on the air mattress at the foot of the bed. Eleia ended up moving into the living room with Adam and Ashlie but the other 3 were able to make it work! 

 Saturday morning cuddles

 Holden, Annaliese, Eleia, and Haleigh all playing together

 Breakfast time!

Late Saturday morning we headed out to Oso Flaco Lake for a short hike. The kids all did great and it was nice to get outside and see the ocean and sandy beaches again!

 Josephine and Annaliese will both be 4 at the end of this year, and Holden will turn 3 in January.

 Holden and Annaliese...these two love each other! You'd never know they haven't been together for the last year!

Jenn, Ashlie, Kari and Haleigh

A little relaxing was in order once we got back home... the guys got in some Hearts and Jenn, Ashlie, and I tried to play Skip-bo...but by the time we got it out and figured out how to play, the movie was done, the napping children woke up and it was time to think about dinner:)

 Since these two don't nap anymore, they got to watch Frozen together!

Russ, Adam, and Kyle

Saturday night's dinner plan was to buy pizza and have a bonfire at the beach. We made it out to the beach, which was crazy busy and found ourselves a little spot to build a fire. Unfortunately, it was also crazy windy and not that much fun...so we packed everything back up and headed back to Russ and Jenn's house where we built a fire in their outdoor fire pit and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores without having to eat sand:)

Kelli Vanderhoof stopped over to say hi

 The jeep is definitely a favorite toy:)

 Group hug!

It was another successful 'camping trip' and it was so wonderful to see these dear friends and spend some time together. Crazy to think that next year when we do this there will be 2 more kiddos in the mix! (That would be another Prentice and another Feffer, just to clarify) Thanks friends for making this weekend so much fun!