Week One
The first week of July we hung out at home. I was off Monday and Tuesday with the kids and we went to our usual spots including Lawrence Hall of Science and multiple parks. Wednesday was 4th of July and we made a very spontaneous decision to head to Santa Cruz. We always have a great time biking around town and the beach, hitting the boardwalk and spending some time with great grandma Claassen. Thursday and Friday Kevin was off and watched the boys.
Week Two
The kids went to camp Badgett for the week. My parents house has become somewhat like summer camp with multiple activities including bow & arrows, bb guns, go karts, Frisbee golf, deep spotting, frog catching, etc. Samuel's spent most of his time perfecting his use of the bow & arrow and the bb guns while Oliver spent most of the time in the kiddie pool! Everyone was exhausted at the end of the week (kids and grandparents!).
We picked the kids up Friday mid-day and drove 15 minutes to Bass Lake. We had two additional families join us at the cabin for the weekend. We had a great time swimming, castle building, sitting around the campfire, and just hanging out.
Week Three
On Monday morning we drove from the cabin to Modesto and met G&G Claassen. We handed over the kids, kissed them good-bye and then they headed up to Reno. The kids spent the week in the Reno condo loving the attention, going to the discovery center, rafting in the river, and apparently chewing lots of gum. The report back from Samuel included the purchase and consumption of 4 different types of gum!
On Friday afternoon Kevin and I joined everyone in Reno. We celebrated Oliver's 3rd birthday (see separate post) and spent time hearing about the adventures from the week. We did make it to Circus Circus where the highlight was Samuel tossing a ring and winning the largest stuffed bear possible! This is actually the second time he has won--the first he was pretty little so we were able to decline the massive stuffed animal. Not this time. He knew exactly what he had won.
Week Four
We spent most of the week at home. Cousin Anna watched the boys a day and we cashed in on our babysitting swap and had some friends watch them one day. The end of the week we headed to Los Angeles for cousin Austin and Rachel's wedding. It was a huge Badgett family reunion with all but 1 cousin in attendance. The kids had trouble deciding between Uncle Bryan's pool, burying themselves in the sand or staying in the hotel as the bigger highlight!
Week Five
We were home roughly 12 hours before Kevin met G&G Claassen to do another hand-off. This time the kids stayed on the farm in Sanger. Much fun was had pounding in nails, feeding the cows, playing in the sand, going to baseball games, staying up late for movie night, and playing with Mutzi the dog.
The kids made it back home for about 18 hours before we headed out for week six: camping in Yosemite! This was our family vacation so it gets its own post!
