The Nail Polish Incident

While on vacation with my family in California we had what we like to call the Nail Polish Incident. Kylee was sleeping on the floor right next to my side of the bed. And since we had just moved out of our apartment and went straight to the hotel we had all of our stuff in our hotel bedroom...including my nail polish. Normally the nail polish is up high, but this was not a normal situation. Steve and I woke up at 6:30 am in a panic at the smell of nail polish only to find Kylee, her bed, and Roberta ("Berta") her pink rabbit covered in puddles of nail polish. Kylee sweetly said, "Mom, look I did it!" She was so proud that she had painted her nails (and Berta's) that there was no way we could be mad. She thought she was being such a big girl.

The amazing part was that a pillowcase was the only damaged item from the hotel and they didn't charge us for it. Because Berta was so stinky and stained we had to get a new one. But, we couldn't find a replica so we had to go with another animal. Steve and I chose a monkey and crossed our fingers that she would be OK with it.

Well, it was love at first sight. This little pink monkey is lovingly called "Monkey Berta" in memory of Roberta the Rabbit and all the sweet memories she brought.

Touring Cali With the Duncan Fam

After checking out of our apartment in Livermore we met my parents and siblings in Fremont where we stayed at a hotel for a week to do some vacationing. It also just happened to be Cody's birthday!!! Big 5!

The birthday boy had In-N-Out Burger at the very top of his birthday wish list.

Afterwards we played some birthday games back at the hotel. Brooke made a "Pin the Propellor on the Airplane" game to go along with Cody's other big birthday wish: to have a 747 Birthday. (That's what his Grandpa Airplane has been training to fly all summer.)

My kids cannot get enough of little Duncan.

On Sunday we went to church and then hung out at the hotel for a bit before heading out to the Oakland Temple.

The view of the city from the temple grounds is really cool. This is my parents with all the grandkids.

And here is the whole gang:
Top Row: Brooke, Steve, Bob, Sara, Cody
Bottom Row: Aubrey, Kylee, Dean, Ellen, Tiffany

Another view from the temple.

View of the Bay area from the temple.

The next day we went to Six Flags!!

Checking out the sharks.

Riding Thomas the Train. The first ride Cody went on.

Cody on Harold the Helicopter. The second and last ride Cody went on.

Hanging out in the Splash Zone to watch Shouka the Killer Whale.

Shouka was awesome. And when they say you "may get a little wet" you should take that to mean that a wall of water will crash on top of you multiple times. Getting splashed by the tail of a killer whale was definitely a highlight.

The next day we were off to our favorite beach: Rio Del Mar.

The super awesome castle. Steve sprained his ankle on his first go on the skim board so the rest of his beach time was devoted to making this.

Happy Beach bums

The next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There was a lot of cool stuff to behold there.

Loved the jellyfish.

And the baby sea horses were cool too.

Hanging out in Cali was a lot of fun. It was a great way to end our summer in California. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Last of Livermore Pics

When we were moving out of our apartment in Livermore Steve turned on a movie in order to listen to the music, but the kids wanted to watch the movie. You can see them trying to watch the movie while the laptop lid is down. When we realized they wanted to watch the movie we lifted up the lid.

We borrowed a little bike for the summer from a family in the area thinking that Cody would enjoy it. He rode it once and then didn't want anything else to do with it. But Kylee thought it was really cool.

The kids are coloring at our card table/dining table. They put in a lot of hours coloring since they didn't have too many toys.