Here are a few pictures from our trip.
Smart girl
10 years ago
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Trip to California
We just returned last night from our trip to California for the kids' spring break. It was a blast and a much-needed vacation. We left Tuesday night at about 6:30, stayed in the Econolodge in St. George, then drove on to California, arriving at San Clemente State Beach, campsite 103, at about 4pm. Our online reservation worked beautifully--we prepaid and just drove right in.
That night at the beach was extremely windy--Wesley complained about the sand whipping against his legs so hard it hurt--and it did!. So after a bit of splashing in the wind, we were ready to come in and cook our dinner.
We spent Thursday at the San Diego Zoo and Friday at the San Diego Wild Animal Park--using our annual membership which expires next month. We all had a full day and a blast watching the Orangutans play, riding the zoo busses, the sky tram, and seeing countless endangered animals. Friday it rained most of the day--so we did some new, inside activities at the Wild Animal Park, and generally had a good time.
Saturday was our pack-up and play at the beach day. With help from everyone, we had everything packed in our van-topper by about 10:30am, and were on the beach by 11:00. The weather was perfect, although the water was a bit chilly for swimming, so we played in the sand and splashed in the waves a lot. I had a blast with the boys, ran on the beach, and helped Robert dig a tunnel big enough for Alaina to easily stand up in and for me to crawl through with plenty of room to spare. Becky read her book, and relaxed with Timothy and Alaina as they both took naps in between. Although she didn't get close to the water, she did have a good time playing and running in the sand. A wonderful, relaxing day for everyone, until we finally left at about 6pm.
Saturday night we stayed in a Barstow Econolodge, enjoying our only fast food meal of the trip from Carl's Junior. A special treat! Sunday we drove home, attended Sacrament meeting in North Las Vegas, and watched The Testaments and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe on the way home. That was quite a bit of driving in one day for little Alaina and Timothy--but we survived, arriving home just a bit before 10:00pm.
I can hardly wait to post some pictures! We took plenty, and they're darling--some wonderful memories of time together. Overall and excellent trip with just the right combination of activities, and a great camping location. Wish I could rmemeber all the cute quotes and comments from kids--they all have such unique and fun personalities. It's a blast to be with them!
And Becky is a trooper--an amazing woman to put up with that camping and other adventures with that many kids and the cool weather! What a super person.
That night at the beach was extremely windy--Wesley complained about the sand whipping against his legs so hard it hurt--and it did!. So after a bit of splashing in the wind, we were ready to come in and cook our dinner.
We spent Thursday at the San Diego Zoo and Friday at the San Diego Wild Animal Park--using our annual membership which expires next month. We all had a full day and a blast watching the Orangutans play, riding the zoo busses, the sky tram, and seeing countless endangered animals. Friday it rained most of the day--so we did some new, inside activities at the Wild Animal Park, and generally had a good time.
Saturday was our pack-up and play at the beach day. With help from everyone, we had everything packed in our van-topper by about 10:30am, and were on the beach by 11:00. The weather was perfect, although the water was a bit chilly for swimming, so we played in the sand and splashed in the waves a lot. I had a blast with the boys, ran on the beach, and helped Robert dig a tunnel big enough for Alaina to easily stand up in and for me to crawl through with plenty of room to spare. Becky read her book, and relaxed with Timothy and Alaina as they both took naps in between. Although she didn't get close to the water, she did have a good time playing and running in the sand. A wonderful, relaxing day for everyone, until we finally left at about 6pm.
Saturday night we stayed in a Barstow Econolodge, enjoying our only fast food meal of the trip from Carl's Junior. A special treat! Sunday we drove home, attended Sacrament meeting in North Las Vegas, and watched The Testaments and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe on the way home. That was quite a bit of driving in one day for little Alaina and Timothy--but we survived, arriving home just a bit before 10:00pm.
I can hardly wait to post some pictures! We took plenty, and they're darling--some wonderful memories of time together. Overall and excellent trip with just the right combination of activities, and a great camping location. Wish I could rmemeber all the cute quotes and comments from kids--they all have such unique and fun personalities. It's a blast to be with them!
And Becky is a trooper--an amazing woman to put up with that camping and other adventures with that many kids and the cool weather! What a super person.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Journal update
Here's a brief journal entry about the birth of Timothy, adventures with the kids, and my job.
It’s hard for me to believe that I haven’t written at all this year yet. I’ve helped the kids a bit—but I guess we’ve just not managed to adjust our Sunday schedule with the afternoon church change to make it happen.
Anyway—I should at least write something about the birth of my 5th child, Timothy Eugene. He’s as cute as can be. Becky is an incredible person, with courage and strength that’s really amazing. People in Church keep calling her a pioneer—for good reason. She’s really amazing at handling crises. And has guts—drove to Colorado with a van full of kids yesterday!
I remember vividly holding her around the back with my arms around her shoulders and squeezing her to support as she sat on the birthing stool and pushed to help Timothy come out. I could just feel her working and putting all the energy and effort she had into it. Plus I can tell it must be incredibly painful. The whole experience was humbling to me and recommitted me to doing the best I can as a father and to helping her. Just wish I could do more to help.
Alaina has been darling holding and taking care of Timothy, and the boys also have been very helpful. She’s a bit of an adventure, though because she wants to help so much—carrying him around, changing his diaper, doing so many things like that when she’s just not big enough to be completely safe. The other day I acquiesced to her on the diaper-changing, and allowed her to help me change him right on our bed. Big mistake! Soon after I got his diaper off, he peed and it squirted on his clothes, the bed sheets (we don’t have any kind of plastic protection on our foam pad), and my pillow. I had to change the sheets, and wash my pillow before I could go back to bed!
Last week I got a raise! It's pretty modest, as expected, but still nice to have. It’s interesting, this year I was rated “meets expectations,” last year I was rated, “exceeds expectations,” but the raise this year was exactly the same as the one last year. Good thing I'm working for lots of reasons other than the money. It keeps getting harder to leave this job, and I feel I can really do some good things, even though there are plenty of frustrations. Plus, I enjoy the flexibility and opportunity to meet and learn from great people, and it’s nice to actually have a decent job with benefits.
It’s hard for me to believe that I haven’t written at all this year yet. I’ve helped the kids a bit—but I guess we’ve just not managed to adjust our Sunday schedule with the afternoon church change to make it happen.
Anyway—I should at least write something about the birth of my 5th child, Timothy Eugene. He’s as cute as can be. Becky is an incredible person, with courage and strength that’s really amazing. People in Church keep calling her a pioneer—for good reason. She’s really amazing at handling crises. And has guts—drove to Colorado with a van full of kids yesterday!
I remember vividly holding her around the back with my arms around her shoulders and squeezing her to support as she sat on the birthing stool and pushed to help Timothy come out. I could just feel her working and putting all the energy and effort she had into it. Plus I can tell it must be incredibly painful. The whole experience was humbling to me and recommitted me to doing the best I can as a father and to helping her. Just wish I could do more to help.
Alaina has been darling holding and taking care of Timothy, and the boys also have been very helpful. She’s a bit of an adventure, though because she wants to help so much—carrying him around, changing his diaper, doing so many things like that when she’s just not big enough to be completely safe. The other day I acquiesced to her on the diaper-changing, and allowed her to help me change him right on our bed. Big mistake! Soon after I got his diaper off, he peed and it squirted on his clothes, the bed sheets (we don’t have any kind of plastic protection on our foam pad), and my pillow. I had to change the sheets, and wash my pillow before I could go back to bed!
Last week I got a raise! It's pretty modest, as expected, but still nice to have. It’s interesting, this year I was rated “meets expectations,” last year I was rated, “exceeds expectations,” but the raise this year was exactly the same as the one last year. Good thing I'm working for lots of reasons other than the money. It keeps getting harder to leave this job, and I feel I can really do some good things, even though there are plenty of frustrations. Plus, I enjoy the flexibility and opportunity to meet and learn from great people, and it’s nice to actually have a decent job with benefits.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Family Blog/Journal
I've been remiss lately in not keeping my own journal updated, and have noticed many people have started using blogs as basically a way of keeping a record of their life and thoughts. And, as I've thought about my journal, I've decided I don't really want to write anything that I wouldn't want my immediate family to read anyway.
It turns out it's now free and easy to do a private blog that only a few people access--with no technical know-how, and you can have multiple people publish to it.
I've invited all our Hadfield family members and given each of them permission as publishers to write directly to this blog. I'm hoping we can each post entries, favorite websites, even pictures and videos.
I see this as a different purpose from our discussion group we tried awhile ago. I'd like to see this as a shared family journal--to just give updates on what's happening, share pictures, and if we want, we can also discuss various topics.
This is, I hope, a great opportunity for us to learn from each other and share news. If you want, you can use it as your family history journal, like I'm going to with mine.
It turns out it's now free and easy to do a private blog that only a few people access--with no technical know-how, and you can have multiple people publish to it.
I've invited all our Hadfield family members and given each of them permission as publishers to write directly to this blog. I'm hoping we can each post entries, favorite websites, even pictures and videos.
I see this as a different purpose from our discussion group we tried awhile ago. I'd like to see this as a shared family journal--to just give updates on what's happening, share pictures, and if we want, we can also discuss various topics.
This is, I hope, a great opportunity for us to learn from each other and share news. If you want, you can use it as your family history journal, like I'm going to with mine.
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