June in a Flash

I haven't blogged in awhile because life became a little difficult and I wasn't up to it. Things are better now and I am ready to begin recording the good things in life. As I said in my previous post June was a very busy month for us. Stefanie came from Germany and spent the entire month of June with us. During that time we took her to several places, seeing and doing a lot. Here is an overview of the things we did:

In the first week we farmed our kids out to friends' homes and Don and I took Stefanie to Las Vegas for 3 days. We had fun getting to know each other better and saw many of the sights. However, she wasn't extremely impressed with the city and we came home a little early on Friday. But we did see a lot.

We stayed at the Luxor

When in Vegas, gamble.
The first and only time Steffie gambled.
None of us are really gamblers so only $2 were lost the whole time.

This entire Statue of Liberty
stands in the New York, New York hotel and casino
and is made of Jelly Belly jelly beans

A visit to Red Rock canyon was one of the trips highlights.

Our trip concluded with a visit to Hoover Dam.

The view from the dam.

Sierra had a piano recital where she played
"Reflection" and "Honor to us All"
from the Disney movie "Mulan"
and received the "Most Improved Student" award.

Stefanie and I enjoyed a day out together at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

My sister, Becca, got married.

Mr. and Mrs. Jaren Gurr

An afternoon at home making cinnamon and orange rolls.

The goodies....Mmmmm!
Camping in Sequoia National Park.
This is my personal heaven on earth.
Stefanie said it was one of the prettiest places she's ever been to.
At the General Sherman tree.

The largest tree

Looking down from the General Sherman tree viewing spot.
Don's parents came on this trip with us.
It was fun having them along.

One of the 9 deer we saw on the trip.
One of 8 bears we saw.
Homemade ice cream in a bag.
YUM!!!

A trip to Hume Lake in the Sequoias was very pleasant.
While there we ran into our friends from home, Mike and Kelly Caddell.
We had no idea they were vacationing up there at the same time.

Sitting on the beach watching the kids play in the water.

For Father's Day Steffie and I made a peach pie.
Steffie said it tasted a lot like streudel.

The last full week of her vacation we took Stefanie to San Diego and she fell in love with the city. Said she wants to live in San Diego and vacation in Sequoia. We spent four days here and had a blast around the town and at the beach.

Lounging on the beach.

Sand castles.
Buried alive.

The ocean.

Touching the bat rays at Sea World.

Feeding the dolphins.

Climbing the rope nets.

You can do it Connor!

Don coming out of the tunnel.

While in San Diego, we took Stefanie to Old Town to experience a little Mexican culture. We had Mexican food for lunch and she really liked it. The children enjoyed the Mariachi singers that came to our table as you can see by the smiles on their faces.

Connor is delighted.

Sierra enjoys the music while Carson enjoys his soda.

Mission Bay

Don taught Stefanie to scuba dive.

More instructions

Ready, set, go!
They had a lot of fun diving.

We also enjoyed a trip to Balboa Park.

The train ride.

At the atrium.
And a trip to Coronado Island was a first for everyone except Don.

Before she left we took a trip to show her around Los Angeles. It was a fun day trip. We saw a lot of the "popular spots" and enjoyed sharing them with the kids and Stefanie. Unfortunately, Sierra missed out on this one because she was at Girl's Camp for the week.

We tried to see the home of someone famous.
This was the only thing we could see of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's home.

So we moved on to Hollywood Blvd. which looks pretty dirty, but is an LA icon.

The "Walk of Fame"

At Mann's Chinese theater.

Caden and Morgan really enjoyed comparing hands and feet with the stars of one of their favorite movies--"Harry Potter".

We also enjoyed a drive through Beverly Hills

Wishing we had money to own a home like this.

And of course we had to go to Rodeo Drive, baby!

Because the parking was hard to find, Don dropped Steffie and I off and we enjoyed a quick tour of Rodeo Drive together while Don drove around the block with the kids at least 12 times. :)

The proof we really were there.

Stefanie wanted a gift for her sister and finally found a little purse she could actually afford on Rodeo Drive.

We completed our day trip at the Santa Monica Pier.
Loads of Fun!

As you can see, June was jam packed with a ton of small vacations and lots of sight-seeing. We were SO busy, but it was WORTH the MEMORIES. Stefanie left to go home on June 30th and we were really sad to see her go. She has become a part of our family and we are proud to say we have a sister who lives in Germany. We are grateful for the internet and Skype which allows us to keep in touch regularly. We are looking forward to the next time we get to visit with her and are especially looking forward to our trip to Germany in the future.