Going Green

You know those annoying guys that come to your door and try to talk you into solar panels on you roof?  Well . . . we got talked into it and we are going solar!  It has been a long process and we still are not connected.  We had our first appointment with them probably back in March.  The company that we are going with (American Solar Direct) then applies with the state for all of the grants, has it checked out by the electric company, checks eligibility, etc.

At the beginning of June we finally had the solar panels installed.  It took about 3 days for a team of about 5 or 6 guys to install all 17 - that's right, 17, panels.  We decided to go with a little bit larger size package because we don't use the air as much as we would like and hopefully this way we will feel like we can use it more.  Even though there are a ton of panels, we can hardly even see them.  The way our house faces the street and with how our roofline is, the next door neighbors are the only people who could really even see them (which is another reason why we decided to go for it).

The worker's on top of the roof.  This if from the neighbor's drive way and was really the only way to see it.

We are leasing the panels, for 20 years, with a fixed monthly payment.  We will receive a statement monthly from the electric company saying if we used more than we generated, but we will now only pay the electric company 1 time a year.  We calculated that it will likely be a wash for us the first year or so, but after that, if the prices of electricity go up much (which we are expecting), then it will be saving us quite a bit of money.

We had the City code inspector here a couple weeks ago and it passed inspection, so we are expecting the electric company to hook it up in the next week or so!  We shall see how it goes.

San Diego! (Part 2)

Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, we heard some howling.  We woke up to some coyotes in the next campsite (a little ways away).  They had caught a fawn and Kyle needed pictures.

 
Wednesday was probably my favorite day of vacation - SEA WORLD!!!!!  I hadn't been there since I was very little and I really enjoyed it, as did the rest of the family.  Katelyn really enjoyed the dolphin show.  My favorite was the exhibit that had the polar bear, beluga whales, and walrus and you could see above and below water for each.  We spent a full day there (Brooklyn fell asleep in the stroller for a while) and before we left the girls played in the Sesame Street Play area.

Hoping the polar bear will dive into the water a second time.

Riding the aerial tram.

Meeting Cookie Monster - exciting and a little scary.

On Thursday we went to La Jolla Cove, where we walked around and ate some lunch and then to the La Jolla Shore beach.  We loved that all of San Diego's beaches have free parking so we didn't feel we had to stay all day.  A big difference from the beaches we usually go to.  After a nice afternoon at the beach, we headed to Seaport Village, where we ate dinner close to the water, took a nice walk, rode the carousel, and had some ice cream.  It was a great ending to our vacation.

She wanted to pose for a picture in the shelters that they had a the Cove.

Friday morning we packed up, let the girls play at the campground playground and then we drove home.  (However, not before Kyle put the truck key in his shorts that he packed in the bottom of the truck and had packed everything in the truck before he realized it ;-).  Love you, honey ;-).)

San Diego! (Part 1)

Last year we took several long-distance vacation, so this year we decided to stay local - and we had a great time.  We went camping a couple of hours South, about half an hour from downtown San Diego.  And yes, by camping, I mean a tent.  Tenting works well for our family (although it is a lot of work).

We headed to San Diego the afternoon of Father's Day.  We had a little delay driving down there as a fire broke out along the freeway that we needed to take to our campground.

The fire - right were we were trying to head (here we are on an overpass turning around).

Monday we headed to the Safari Park.  The Safari Park has a 20 minute safari, but is also somewhat like a zoo with mostly African type large animals and birds.  This was a bonus for the trip as we were not really planning on it, but then a half price deal came up on LivingSocial.  This was the first real amusement park the girls had ever been too.  We had a good day, despite the heat.  I think my favorite animal was the elephants.  We were able to see them drinking and also spraying themselves off with their trunks.  We also stayed to watch the Cheetah run, where they get a Cheetah to run full speed - pretty cool.

Katelyn and one of the two female lions (don't worry, there was a thick glass window in between).

The male lion and another female laying down.

On the tram for the 'Safari' ride.

They had lots of baby elephants.

The girls with the elephants in the background.

The Cheetah after it's 2nd run.

On Tuesday, we headed to Mission Beach.  We did some biking around Mission Beach in the morning and stopped at a park to give kite flying a try.  Kyle was able to get one of the kites up, but the girls lost interest very quickly.  In the afternoon, we ate lunch on the beach and spent a couple of hours enjoying the sand and the waves.  Then we headed back to the campground for dinner.

She loves the sand!  (And the water!)

Building with Daddy.

Stay tuned for updates on our last few days of vacation in another post.

Father's Day Weekend

The day before Father's Day, was our church's annual 'Amazing Race.'  Kyle's team won a couple of years and  . . . . (drumroll) . . . . . my team won this year!  We had a lot of fun.  Kyle's team came in 4th, I think, so pretty solid out of 12 teams of 4.  There were 12 or 13 stops and tasks, which took about 3 hours; it is quite an adventure.  (Sorry, no pics, I was too busy running.)

Sunday was Father's Day.  I made a couple of things for Kyle.  He enjoys laying on the floor to play with the kids, so I made him a shirt with a car track on the back and included a few matchbox cars for the girls.  I also made a candy jar with Reese's Pieces (why he really likes).  He also got a new season of 'The Office.'

The label printed a little big, but I had someone else print it for me, so I couldn't fix it in time.  I got the idea from pinterest from http://kids-clutter-and-chaos.blogspot.com/2012/06/fathers-day-love-you-to-pieces.html?m=1.

Another Pinterest idea from http://thebluebasket.blogspot.com/2011/09/tutorial-car-shirt.html#more.

After church we went to my parents for lunch.  Then we headed home to finish some packing and we were off to San Diego for a week of vacation.  (Check back soon for vacation posts.)

Fun Photos

Here are a few random photos of the girls.

'Washing their car.'

Bonfire in the backyard with the first icee pops of the summer.

We picked up McDonald's as a reward for not crying at the Dentist office!

Someone likes the ketchup more than the food.

The girls love to read together.  They are often in a corner or on the couch reading their own books or Katelyn 'reads' to Brooklyn.

I believe she said she was a pirate?  I've never seen a pirate in a purple dress and snow boots, but she was having fun ;-)

A fun day with the cousins.  We went to see Auntie Sam & Uncle Kyle's new house and my sisters Laura & Kristin were also there with their kids.

Palm Springs with the Hubby

Each year, the first weekend of June, Kyle's work has an 'End of Busy Season Event'.  While Kyle's busy season basically went through the end of June this year (which was an exception), it was still a welcome break for a few days of no computer.

Last year we took the kids and were confused as to why some of his co-workers left there infants/toddlers at home.  By the end of the weekend, being trapped in the hotel room at 7 for bed and during naptime (at which times we were not able to talk so that the girls could sleep) and having a kid who didn't particularly enjoy the pool in the 110+ degree weather, we were wishing we had done the same.  So . . . . this year we opted to leave the kids at home with Grandpa & Grandma.  Of course, when we leave them at home, it felt like there were way more kids that came along this year, but we still enjoyed being out past their bedtime and not worrying about naps for a couple days.

Because we did not have the kids, we decided to take the tram ride to the top of the mountains and do some hiking.  There were great views near the top of the tram area and the weather was probably in the upper 60's to mid-70's, which was perfect for the about 5 miles of hiking we did.  That weather was much better than the 100+ degrees that it would have been if we spent the day by the pool.  The tram was pretty cool as it goes right next to the steep mountainside and the platform inside the tram turns 360*.

A view of the valley behind us.

Kyle always likes to take the scenic pictures.

What a good looking guy! ;-)

We had a great weekend, but I'm not sure that I could convince Kyle to ever spend one of our vacations in Palm Springs, even if I wanted to.  He is not a major fan of the heat and welcomes pretty much any other season (in SoCal, there is pretty much only one other season besides summer).

Brooklyn turns 2!

At the end of May, we celebrated Brooklyn's 2nd birthday!  I can't believe that she is two already.  Kyle took the day off from work (or at least enough of the day so that we could spend some time as a family together as he was still super busy at that time) and we took the girls to the Santa Ana zoo for the morning.

Both the girls fell asleep on the way to the zoo and we had a hard time waking them up.

Snack time!  Happy birthday Brookie!

Brooke loved watching the turtles swimming in the water.

We had never been to this zoo before and it was a nice change for us, although I'm not sure that we will make it back as a lot of the exhibits were really hard for the kids to see over the shrubs, etc.  When we were almost done with the zoo, we went to the park by the entrance and ate our picnic lunch.  Then we headed back into the zoo to ride the train and let the girls play in at the playground before heading home.

Riding on the train!

Mommy & the birthday girl!

That evening, we had my parents, my sister and nephew, & my grandma over to help us celebrate with a birthday dinner.

Lots of help from sissy opening the presents.

She got a fireman dress-up outfit.

Katelyn wanted to try it out too.  When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she always responds doctor or firefighter.

The two year old!  I think she blew out the candle on the first try (with minimal spit!) - Way to go Brooklyn!

It was a busy, but very enjoyable day!  We love you Brooklyn!

A love of hiking

Kyle & I really enjoy hiking.  It's not something that we are able to do very often because we don't enjoy carrying the kids on long hikes and he isn't able hike during busy season, which is usually the best hiking weather.  In May, when Kyle started taking Saturday mornings off of work, we were able to get a couple hiking trips in.

We went with some friends up to Lake Arrowhead for breakfast (we love the Waffle House there) and then we took the kids to a mile long loop nature trail a couple miles away.  We had a great time and I think the kids really enjoyed it as well.  At that point, this was the farthest the kids had ever walked (since then we have done a longer hike, but I will get to that in a later post).  Here is a link to a similar trip last year with Kyle's parents.

Katelyn & Caleb are good friends.

The kiddos on the nature walk, looking at the forest.

Brookie enjoyed marching with the sticks.

Later in May, we got a babysitter (I love that my cousin Jessie is home from college in the summer to play with the girls!) and went hiking in Claremont.  It was a 5 mile loop and perfect for us on that day, which got pretty warm later that day.  I didn't get any pictures of this hike.