Mackenzie and Samara

Look at these giddy girls. They had so much fun with each other at their sleep over.

Mackenzie said it was a great day! She got to eat her favorite food (pizza) for dinner. Then they made cupcakes and ate some. They were then indulged with ice cream and a cool purse filled with all kinds of goodies. She stayed up late watching movies, playing on the wii, and chatting with Samara.

In the morning her mom made pancakes which had an "M" on it and had her hair done! She was in seventh heaven!

Brotherly Love

Mackenzie went on her first official sleep over last night at her best friend's house. As you can imagine she was so excited and was counting down the hours until she could be dropped off. The girls had their whole night planned and were super excited.

Now Dylan on the other hand . . . he was so super sad that his sister was going somewhere he was not. He understood why he couldn't go, but it didn't help the situation. He pouted and whined when we dropped her off and the entire night kept asking when she would be home. Enough to drive me crazy and I decided that Mackenzie may never go on another sleep over unless her brother goes too - ok - I guess that's not fair to her. But seriously I wanted to scream by the 23rd time he asked how much longer till his sister comes home. C'mon dude - you should enjoy the "only child" time with your mommy and daddy! We took him out to dinner, he got to go to his favorite store Target and buy a toy, and I let him stay up late and play video games with his dad! He enjoyed all these activities but he always remembered someone was missing!

Then, at 6:10 the next morning I hear sobbing coming from his room. I open the door to ask why he was crying big crocodile tears and his response? "I miss my sister!" Seriously? I explained she would be back that afternoon and that he would be ok. Later that day I asked why he was crying so much and he said, "She's my sister and I just love her so much!"

So sweet. I have to type these posts so that I can remember how much he loves her because I know there will come a day when he won't want anything to do with her! I hope that's not for a long time.

The Ranch

This is an absolutely stunning ranch located within the Cleveland National Forest. There are 10 families that reside on the 4,500 acre ranch. Eight of the 10 homes date back to the 1920 and 1930's. There are long horn steer, deer, and wild turkeys roaming the ranch. There are also many horses on the property that roam free in the valley. Such a breathe taking place.

We saw some deer.

Old stables

Old School House

Relaxing in the hammock in the backyard of the Meyers.

It was a beautiful day at the Corte Madera Ranch. The kids got to go for a little horseback ride as well.

Such a confident first time rider!

Big Bear

For Spring Break we decided to head up to Big Bear and enjoy the snow one last time. I couldn't believe how much snow was still left on the ground from the last snow storm. As we were driving up the mountain it was spectacular. The kids were so excited to see all the snow just on the side of the road! The weather was great during our stay too. It was about 60 degrees in the day so the kids could just run around with a long sleeve shirt and didn't have to be all bundled up and could move about freely! They were really happy about that!

We rented the cutest little cabin at Pine Knot Ranch. It was a great place with a huge yard with a hill for sledding. They also had a little barn with 2 llamas and 2 bunnies that kids enjoyed feeding. The kids had so much fun just romping around in the snow and exploring/experimenting with the snow. They stayed outside for such a long time! For those of you who Kenzie and Dylan - they love the outdoors anyway - so to add snow to that mix was just heavenly for them. Especially because there were patches on the ground that were melting and quickly turning the ground into this slushy muddy mess. Will and I just watched them and were betting who would fall face first into the mud puddle!

The kids were tickled pink to take a bath in this luxurious tub. We lit the candles, turned on the jets and they got to watch Disney channel at the same time. They thought this was SO cool. Dylan asked if we could take the tub home with us!

Our future home in Big Bear - LOL! Not on a teacher's salary!

The kids tormenting - I mean petting the bunnies.

Mackenzie feeding Dolly.

We also took the kids to a tubing park and they had a blast. Thank goodness for the belt that you can ride on to take you back up the hill. Can't imagine walking up the hill to the top for 3 hours straight.

Going up the hill with Daddy.

Time for a quick rest before heading back up.

I think we will make this a yearly event! Next year we are hoping the Sippels will join us!