BBQ @ Tessa's

Our friend Joseph which is Tessa's cousin came into town for a wedding so we had a big BBQ at her house last weekend. The kids enjoyed playing with all the other kids. We definately miss Joseph, he is up in Seattle so I guess we will have to be going up there to visit one of these times! Pictures are of course at http://www.public.fotki.com/karibird28

Yosemite

On 4th of July we decided to head to Yosemite National Park. Even though its pretty close to us (3.5 hrs roughly) we have never been there. We made it a day trip and my parents went along as well. They were having a controlled burn at the one end of the valley so it made for some smoky pictures. It was crowded but we all had a good time! :o) The pictures are at http://www.public.fotki.com/karibird28 you can click that link as well (it should work) ! We found a snake, and saw tons of squirrels, as we were leaving the park we saw a few deer... but no bears!

Reno Rodeo

So our 3rd event was the Reno Rodeo because of other things going on the only night we could all go to the Rodeo was the Monday following the Taste & Pirate Festival.. The kids had a good time, Kody only lasted about 1.5 hrs in the bleachers before we had to go. The older 2 girls stayed with my parents to watch the rest of the rodeo. They also were able to go to a signing event and get posters and pictures signed. I was so glad when this week was over! Was a fun action packed week but def. tiring! :o)

Pirate Festival

Fathers Day we got up at 5 am (remember we got home at 1:30 am from the Taste) to head to Vallejo, CA. for a Pirate Festival. Come 5 am I was wanting to crawl back in bed & not go but it ended up being worth it! They had tons of stuff, entertainment, lots of pirates! lol The girls took part in a scavenger hunt where they had to find different things in 30 mins. after coming back & getting points for the things they did find there was a list of competitions they had to participate in to earn more points. The first one was a child feeding thier father a bowl of yogurt while being blindfolded. Dads had to go up one at a time to give their best pirate laugh. Child had to beg for mercy in front of everyone. Then they had a group contest where each member of the group had to get water poured in their mouths & all spit the water out like a fountain at the same time. Was interesting & fun! They came in 3rd place out of 10 groups! So not bad for their first time.. lol Pictures are at www.public.fotki.com/karibird28 After the festival we went to my grandparents for a BBQ and visited with family the rest of the day. We got home around midnight that night. :o)

Taste Of Downtown

On June 20th was the Taste Of Downtown in Carson City, that my work puts on. Its months upon months of preparation for a night of tasting & entertainment. This year there was 37 restaurants and 8 bands. I had to be there at 10 am to help with set up etc. then became photography for the event slash whatever needed to be done.. to clean up afterwards. We got home at 1:30 am. Ben & Tessa volunteered at Firkin & Fox second shift and seemed to enjoy it. We have 2 shifts of volunteers for each restaurant, the volunteers get a T-shirt & a wristband to taste when off shift. A $45 package just for volunteering a few hours! Def. worth it! This started a 3 day run of events for us as a family! More pictures of the taste are at www.public.fotki.com/karibird28 Ben & I tried Sushi for the first time, thanks to Tessa! It was actually good and I plan on returning & trying some other things. :o) That is one nice thing about the "Taste" is you can try these places without having to go there & decide you don't or do like it!