Weekend

Caleb and mommy on the beach at Lover's Point
Jelly fish at the aquarium. So amazing to watch.
My oyster boys! 
The real fish at the aquarium are nice but the ones we can play with are even better! :)
Kaden dressed up as Nemo
Caleb dressed up as an Octopus
This is not a piece of floating seaweed...this is a Sea Dragon! Think of a Sea Horse with plants all over it! 
Papa Van, Grandma Shawn, and Kaden at Pebble Beach

Hey, so we're still alive just in case anyone was wondering! Thursday night, Papa Van and Grandma Shawn drove up to spend the weekend with us. We had a great time and had so much fun showing off Monterey...they've been here before but not with Kaden and Caleb as tour guides! The highlight of the tour was of course the aquarium where we did manage to bring our camera this time and take some pictures! Unfortunately, it's hard to get good pictures of the sharks (the boys favorite) since it's so dark in there, but hey at least we got some this time. We also got to try out some fabulous new restaurants and such. It's just fun to feel like we're starting to settle into the area. 

  This week will be busy as we have harvest picnics, festivals, dentist appointments, picture appointments, Arbone parties...etc. But Praise the Lord for the energy and strength to do it! :) Hope everyone had a good weekend and thanks for the prayers...everything with baby seems to still be going well. 

PS. Friday night was my 10 year reunion! Let me just say, that, that night was the weirdest most bizarre night of my entire life bar none! I can't even describe what it was like to see all these people 10 years later, the memories, how everything was SO much the same and SO different at the same time...Weird!

April 27, 2009

We wanted to let everyone know that God has chosen to bless us again and we are expecting another little one. We are 13 weeks along and thankful for God's hand over this little life. We've been in the ER twice (in our 12th week) with unexplained bleeding, but after 3 ultrasounds and consulting with our OB, everything looks good. The baby is healthy, beautiful, and kicking around and as far as He can tell there's no explination for the bleeding...we're calling it God's miracle. Our due date is April 27th...which seems very, very far away! :) Thanks for your prayers and rejoicing with us! 

Big Sur

We stopped a couple times on the drive just to get out and look at the view...I'm not sure what Kaden is pointing to I just love the expression on his face, it makes me giggle. :) 
We stopped by the river before heading further up the road...we would have stayed longer but we weren't allowed to bring in our own picnic stuff, we had to buy food there...so we found a free place to eat! :)
Beautiful blue birds kept darting down to eat the bread we threw to them. They were pretty brave and greedy...some of the birds picked up 3 or 4 pieces before they would fly off! I'm sure we weren't supposed to be feeding the birds since we're not even allowed to feed ducks, but oh well,  it was fun and I didn't see any signs!
There's a deer in the middle of this picture if you look really close! It was actually fairly close to where we were eating lunch so the boys got quite a kick out of watching them. 
Who knew rocks could be beautiful!
Walking along the beach...yes we did go pick pumpkins in shorts and a t-shirts, and go to the beach with sweatshirts! I can't figure out the weather here!

Water comes surging through the hole in the rock formation below. This beach is also famous for it's sunsets. As the sunsets it shines through this hole onto the water. Sounds so romantic...maybe we'll go back without kids and get pictures!
I think this beach would be perfect for filming a pirate movie! There's all kind of cool caves and rock formations, so beautiful. It's hard to see cause our camera isn't the best but the greens and blues in the water we're just amazing. 
Beach brothers...I just love Caleb's little dirty, sandy feet!
The forest and the ocean...a great combo!

 Saturday, Matt took some time off of studying to take our family up the Big Sur coast drive! It is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever seen as you wind down the coast on top of cliffs hundreds of feet above the ocean...it's also very dangerous so you have to go slow, and probably not for those who get car sick as you hit lots of curves (which the boys thought were so fun)! What was really special is this is the drive that my dad used to take our family and any and everyone that ever came to visit us when we lived in California!  I can't even count how many times I've driven this road but it's breath taking every time...if you don't believe me, believe that my two boys sat in the car for over an hour both ways with no "entertainment" except looking outside and never complained! :) We enjoyed a picnic on the forest side of the mountain and saw some neat wildlife and gorgeous Red wood trees, and then drove down to Pfiffer (I'm sure that's not the right spelling) beach just to enjoy the ocean for a while. It's one of those places you can't describe with words. God is so evident in the beauty of His creation! 

 

Pumpkin Patch

The boys trying to figure out which way to go in the corn maze
They had SO much fun running through the corn maze. The corn was taller then Matt so it was a great place to run and play. I think it's the farthest and the longest Caleb's ever run without asking to be carried!
On the trail
The Young Life pumpkin patch had Peanut characters up all over! So cute. 
Pumpkin down
Pumpkin up
Pumpkin down...those things are heavy!
They had so much fun picking out their pumpkins. Kaden had to pick one for home and one for school...and Caleb tried to pick the whole field. 
posing for a picture in the pumpkin coach  
Showing off all the pumpkins we brought home

Monday afternoon the Van Hook boys and I went to the pumpkin patch for some good fall fun! The boys were so happy to run through the corn maze and get to pick out their very own pumpkins! Life is so much fun when you get to live it through the eyes and excitement of your children! Thank you Lord, for your grace and mercy and Your good gifts each day that we so often take for granted! Happy Fall everyone!

Good Friends

Jedrix and Lisa by the Sea Lions. 
Caleb and Gracyn playing in the baby touch pool...those are not real fish! 
Kaden and Caleb posing like little baby penguins!
Baby Gracyn checking out the Sea Otters with Daddy. 
Pretty baby Gracyn at Lover's point! Pretty like her mama! 
I don't think we ever got everyone looking at the camera at the same time! : ) 

  Over the weekend Jedrix, Lisa, and their precious daughter Gracyn came to visit! Our first over night visitors! We had so much fun and we were only sad when the visit was over and they had to leave.  We took them to some of our favorite spots...The sea lions, the aquarium (where we took like 4 pictures...it was SO crowded there was no way to get a good shot...so next time for pictures :), and lover's point. Just wanted to share a few pictures from the weekend. 

More from the beach

view of the bay...and some random people :)
Caleb sitting up right in the sand. 
Caleb after he face planted himself in the sand...he didn't cry but he wasn't to thrilled at the crunching sand between his teeth! :)
Kaden burying himself in the sand
Kaden's sandcastle masterpiece

We spent some time last Sunday on the beach so Matt could get some studying done...I know, I know what a sacrifice! This beach should look familiar to Julie, Brooke, and Bethany since this is where we always went in Marina...but then again maybe all beaches look the same! :)

  Not a whole lot to report this week. We had my former youth pastor and his family over for dinner last night which was so much fun. I love being able to look back and see how far God has brought me! :) 

  We have friends driving up to stay with us over the weekend so that will be a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll hit the aquarium again and chances are I'll remember my camera this time! :) Hope you all have a good weekend as well.

  Jesus loves you.

House Pictures

Front view of the house. We are the duplex on the left (the one without the tree which Matt is very sad about since he wants to decorate it for Christmas )
The park in our front yard
Living room area (although I just got some new pillows to pull in some more aqua colors. )
Other view of the living room
The  "Cave" ( the area under the stairs that we have turned into a toy area)
Kitchen  (smaller then our last kitchen but laid out pretty much the same)
Dining room (this room is really long and the rest of the room were using as an office-Kaden's desk is in the corner of the picture) but we haven't got it all set up yet, so I spared you the picture)
The area at the top of the stairs that I can't figure out what to do with. There's no plugs so we can't make it a reading nook and we don't really need the toy space...any suggestions?

So there you have it a short tour of the house! :) I spared you the bathrooms and bedrooms since they aren't much different then our old house.  We're feeling pretty settled in and now are doing the fun things like trying to find new dentist and doctors. 

  Hope everyone had a good weekend and Monday! :)

  Jesus loves you

Candy on Canary Row

Caleb was especially excited by the  life size Cinderella cut out in the candy store!
Both boys were excited by all the candy in the candy store. They each got to pick out two things...a tootsie pop and a tootsie roll! 
Kaden was especially excited by the fireman statue 

Standing proud by one of Monterey's finest....yes, I know it's just a statue! 

Friday night we hit the town and headed down to Canary Row for dinner and just to walk around. Canary Row used to be a bunch of canaries where they canned things like...fish...since we are two feet from the ocean. Anyways, they've taken the old building and restored them and made them into fun shops, hotels, restaurants, and the aquarium. Anyways, it was fun to walk around and enjoy the night by the beach and watch the people. The boys were in the mood to pose for pictures so we got a few of them with the random statues we saw. What is it about tourist traps and weird statues!

P.S. this is my 300th blog! :)

Forgot again!

So frustrated right now because the boys and I spent an amazing and fun filled morning at the aquarium, where the boys dressed like fish, played down in a coral cave, splashed in the tide pool, pet a bat ray, crab, starfish, watched the sharks and hammer heads, oohhed and awwed over the jelly fish and stood amazed at God's creation...and I forgot my camera! ahhhhh...so the memories live on in our minds...until next time when I WILL bring the camera! :) 

  Speaking of pictures, I'll try to get pictures up of our house this weekend! :)