Back to School 2009/2010 To Thanksgiving

Well before school went back into session with India beginning middle school (6th grade) and Gabe back at San Juan Hills for his Junior year. We took a quick family jaunt down to San Diego to visit Balboa Park. Where we visited the Aerospace Museum (Where we got to see the DaVinci Exhibit), The Automotive museum and The Museum of Man.

Then back to school. Unfortunately Gabe left before I remembered to take his photo.

Next we celebrated India’s 12th Birthday. We went to Disneyland on the day of her birthday then celebrated with friends the next weekend with some Rollerskating!

The Birthday train doesn’t end there… Next we celebrate Matt’s Birthday. We again went to Disneyland. Andrew, Michelle, Haley, and Claire where in town and joined us for the celebration

The fun doesn’t stop there! Matt and I got to attend one of my best and oldest friend Ed’s wedding in San Jose Del Cabo. It was, in a word, AWESOME! The wedding was beautiful and we got to do some really fun site seeing. It was incredibly relaxing and a well needed break and vacation. We even got to release baby turtles into the ocean.

We finish the month of October with some Halloween Fun. Harry Potter, Cho Chang, Pumpkin Fairy and Peter Pan.
India’s pumpkin masterpiece.

Finally the Birthday caboose came rolling in and we celebrated Gabe’s 17th Birthday. We had a great time going to Disneyland to celebrate his big day.

Veteran’s Day found me and the kids celebrating at Mochilato! It has bunches of fruit so it is actually healthy

Up next was an impromptu date to see the Western MLS Finals with the L.A. Galaxy and Houston Dynamo. It was a fantastic game with L.A. winning the championship in overtime. The power went out a couple times which made the game go until after 11pm.

And finally we had a wonderful Thanksgiving at home. We invited the Missionaries over which brought a really great spirit into our home.

What a Summer and Back to School!

“How We Spent Our Summer Vacation” by Jinkee McFadden.

Summer started off with India going to girls camp for the first time. They camped by the Kern river and got to go rafting and do a ropes course. Then we were all off to Oregon for Matt’s Dad’s 80th Birthday Party.

A little video of the event

The first week of August rolled around and Gabe left for the Philippines where he spent a little over two weeks with his Grandparents traveling around the Philippines and going to Singapore. While in the Philippines he got the opportunity to see the biggest cockroach he had ever seen in his life, and while in Singapore he got to explore the largest shopping center he had ever seen in his life. So some BIG firsts for Gabe. During that time India and I took a little girls getaway. First we drove up to Solvang for breakfast then onto Monterey where we did some sightseeing and spent the night. Then continued up to San Francisco where we spent a couple of days Fred and Nora and we also got to see Bree, Chris and little Beau.

Solvang

Monterey Bay

Alcatraz

King Tut Exhibit

The View from the DeYoung Museum

Ghirardelli Square

Chinatown

Then we cut our trip a little short because India got invited to Jonas Brother Concert by our Neighbor Hannah. Here is photo of the girls all dressed up for the concert.

After the vacation it is time for India to gets her Braces!

Then we were off to Utah to pick up Gabe from his trip. Our first stop was a quick overnight stay in St. George. Where we visited the Temple and Brigham Young’s winter home. I had a fig from his tree it was tasty.

Then it was just relaxing for the last couple weeks then back to work for me and a couple weeks later back to school for the kids. And that is how we spent our Summer Vacation.