Stockdale reunion

This year we had a Stockdale reunion. first of it's kind and definitely not the last. we had a perfect spot at Lake Shasta right below the Dam. It was beautiful. we had the whole place to ourselves. a pool, the lake, game room, horses, bikes, a dining hall, trails, and fire pit. Perfect for the whole family. we had a great time. The kids loved being around all their cousins, and getting to know all of them better. Cullen and James went to a little water park with most of the fam, went shooting with the boys, and played hard with Cullen's new airsoft gun, he loved it. sophia went swiming, played with emma and livi alot just walking around exploring, (alot of the time i had to try and find her she was always exploring. Lily decided that she wanted to learn to walk and actually took 8 steps by the end of the trip. She got a little sick by the end so wanted to stay close by mommy's side. She loved being around Bella and having another little girl around. We played games every night, watched movies, and ate alot of good food. it was really great that all of us could be together!
This is one of my favs... Adam and Sophia being "afraid" of the bear at shasta caverns.
James unhappy with the craziness of the kids at the Shasta caverns, lily just wanted to walk up all the stairs, so crazy. james: "I don't want to take a picture in here."
Sophia and her bandaged eye, she had a little incident with her eye and the foose ball table. She was fine and looking soo happy on the boat to the caves.
Grandma had everyone paint their hands and put them on quilt squares. Cullen loves anything having to do with paint, messy, gooey, yucky... pretty much anything.
some of the cousins all together playing with Lily, she loved all the attention! More pics of us at the caverns, the kids just loved cousin allie and were so happy she was there with us!

Fourth of July

For the Fourth this year we went home for a couple of days, picked up James and headed back to the Ferrari's on the way to the Stockdale family reunion. we always end up seeing the Ferrari's for the fourth, it always includes fireworks and KFC. that's a must.we had made our "Family Fun" fireworks t-shirts the week before so all the kids could make their own and match. they looked so cute. we went up to the top of the hill at their park to watch the fireworks and Sophia had to potty right when we got to the top so Daddy had to take her all the way back to the house, but they made it back in time. It is always fun when the cousins get together.



But this year besides Diane's red, white and blue meal with giant prawns and steak, she made up a family challenge. Ferraris V. Stockdales. This included a three legged race, donut eating contest, ping pong tournament, and tug of war. It was so fun and we hope to make it a tradition in years to come. The Ferraris totally beat us. But the kids had a good time.

trip to nor cal

James was doing training down in San Diego for 2 weeks so what else would i do but go and stay with Diane so that the cousins could play all day everyday and we could cook and play rock band every night. it was great. the kids love it, i love it. and it got my mind off of being at home and james not being there. so here are some pics of our trip.
We went to the academy of science museum in San Fran. it had everything... an aquarium, rain forest, planetarium, stuffed wild animals, real penguins, great dim sum, and a roof that grows food... totally fun.
oh yeah and a play room for all the little kids. it had a tree house, and pirate boat with kitchen and play food, sea animal dress up and an area just for little lilies. but Lily just liked chewing on the fence.
this is just a cutie eating a toquito while the older kids were running around getting their wiggles out.
at the aquarium part they got to see and feel it all. even what it feels like to be stung by a electric eel. so cool and all the kids loved it.
a normal occurrence at the Ferrari house. all the kids in a blanket i think watching Star wars. which they pretty much did every night. too fun! but after they went to sleep it was rock band until the wee hours of the morning.