Fairyland

In June we went to Fairyland in Oakland. We were picking up Uncle CJ that afternoon so we thought we would go that morning and check it out. Well, as you can see from the pictures, the kids had a great time even though it was clearly built in the fifty's and needed updated in the worst way. But, it was very cheap and the kids thought it was really cool that they got to unlock the storys with their "keys" and hear a small part of each fairytale. Definately something to check out with your kids if you ever are in Oakland.

Here they are unlocking the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff". Of coarse the keys were an extra cost. But totally worth it I guess since it entertained even my six year old.

Here we are at the entrance. This is actually taken after we were leaving and Luke clearly isn't happy. He wanted to get something from the gift shop and I had told him "no". That is the reason for the grumpy face.

Who doesn't love a carosel ride?



And here we are on the Jolly Trolly. Caitlynn even enjoyed the ride so Luke tried to take a picture of her and I. Hence the bluriness.

They had this really fun tunnel that had all of these musical instruments that the kids could run through and play. Also it had this really cool mural painted of all of the pixies throughout the tunnel. This was one of our favorite spots.



Here we are at the Peter Pan spot. The kids had fun climbing Captain Hook's Ship.



The Alice and Wonderland one was also a fav. They had this card maze that the kids had to run through. Got me excited for the new movie coming out in December.

Here we are listening to Old Mother Goose...

...Little Miss Muppet...

...and finally in the whale's mouth for Pinochio.

Russian River June 09

For the past three years our good friends have invited us to go to their family's cabin up in Sonoma County in Healdsburg (we like to call it Russian River). We have so much fun and the weather is always perfect. We go up on a Friday afternoon and usually take the kids to the adorable candy store downtown for some treats that night. Then after the kids go to sleep the grown-ups play some fun board games until one of us falls asleep. The next morning, Jason and JR go golfing and then Jenny and I go shopping at all of the cute overpriced boutiques. We grab lunch and then meet the guys and kids at the river for the rest of the afternoon. It is so fun and we always have a great time. Thanks Halls for creating such a great tradition for our family. We miss you guys already!!!

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July in our new neighborhood! My sister flew out from N.J. to help us move and JR's little brother C.J. was visiting as well. So we had some family in town and that always makes the holidays more fun.
It started off with a great brunch and presentation at the nearby church. Then Brooke and Luke and some of the younger kids in the neighborhood had a lemonade stand in front of our house. After that, they kicked off the night with a fun neighborhood parade. The kids did EVERYTHING themselves and they had a great turnout from the elderly people and parents. It was fun to see their teamwork and how much fun they had with their new friends. I loved that even though we had only moved in two days before, the neighbors made us feel so welcome and we all celebrated our country's freedom together. I think that sums up what America is all about, joining together to make our land a better place to live. God Bless the U.S.A.!!!!!!

P.S. Because we had just moved in, we hadn't unpacked our camera yet so we had to use my Iphone to take all the pictures. That is why the pictures are so beautiful. Enjoy!


Brooke sitting on J.R's lap waiting for the "boring stuff" to end so we could eat something already.


Uncle C.J. and Luke sporting their shades.


Aunt RiLee holding Caitlynn. BTW, thank-you so much for helping me pack, move, clean and then unpack my new home. You are the best big sister ever. It was the easiest move I have ever done. (probably b/c you did most of the work)


Our family 4th of July picure. What do you expect with an Iphone and the sun blaring in our eyes. It is better than nothing I guess.


Luke and Brooke's Lemonade stand. I think they made a few bucks.


C.J. wanted me to take this picture of his neighborhood "friends". All I see are all the babysitters I can use. Shweeeet!


All of the neighborhood kids getting ready for the parade.


Brooke in the parade sporting the All American Flag.


Happy 4th of July!

As cute as a Cat!

Here are the pictures of Brooke and her class before their ballet recital. I did take some of the actual recital but of course the batteries ran out of my camera about half-way through so I am glad I got these ones. Isn't she a cutie!

Luke looses his first tooth!

Finally, after six years of working on getting them all in...



...they are already falling out!

(Too bad it wasn't one of the silver ones in the back.)

It happened on the morning of Sunday May 30th. This happened to be the same day that he got to give his first talk in Primary. He really wanted to talk about how he lost his tooth and that the tooth fairy was going to come that night. But after much persuasion, we finally decided that he should talk on the subject they suggested which was "baptism". But at the end of the talk he made sure and gave the primary the biggest smile ever. It was really funny. Congratulations Luke.

Update

Hello Everyone!

Just thought I would send out an update on our little family. Here goes:

Well we are moving July 1st to Palo Alto. No we are not buying, and yes we will be paying more in rent. Don't ask why, we don't know either except that we will be 1.3 miles from JR's work, the schools are phenomenal and oh, and the Lord informed us in His still small voice that we needed to. (Side note, we will also be 2.3 miles from the Stanford Shopping Center, and lets be honest here. That was the real reason.) We feel really good about the move and can't wait to be closer to JR.

Luke is finishing Kindergarten in 3 weeks. He is doing great and can't wait for summer to begin. We have been going to my friends pool almost every Wed afternoon and now I don't have to keep an eye on him when he jumps into the deep end. He is bigger than most 8 year olds and has more freckles than he likes. He hates to read and JR thinks he has actually regressed in school. Well not really but he doesn't seem to be taking school as seriously as he did at the beginning of the year and quite frankly I am done with the school schedule myself. Lets just say he isn't the only one ready for summer to start.

Brooke. Well she is getting more and more opinionated and JR thinks she is already going through puberty. She insists on wearing dresses most days and on the days she isn't in a dress, she wants to go shopping to buy a new one, and shoes to go with it. I am not kidding. She trimmed her hair again and keeps asking me why her hair isn't long like her friends. She is as cute as ever and snores louder than Luke did before he got his tonsils/adenoids out. So, someday soon she will have to go and get those taken out too. She missed the cutoff for Kindergarten by six days and so she will be home again next year. I am coordinating Joy School with some of the moms in the ward down in Palo Alto and Brooke can't wait to start(little does she know summer hasn't even begun so it will be awhile)

Caitlynn is such a joy in our family. We really can't get enough of her eight month self. She has started solids and is loving them. Especially the ice-cream that I sneak into her diet. She is sitting up and cannot figure out crawling for the life of her. She LOVES seeing Luke when he gets home from school and he loves carrying her around and playing with her. Brooke and her are BFF and sometimes I catch Brooke having tea parties with Caitlynn. Brooke likes it since Caitlynn can't move and will sit and giggle at her. She says MAMAMAMAMAMA a bazillion times a day and won't even try to say DADADADADA. Sorry hun, I think that if you were home more often she actually might recognize you and really try to say it. No, JR and her have daddy/daughter time every Sunday while I go into Primary. When she sees JR in the morning she just kicks her legs and giggles. I am almost positive she is going to be a daddy's girl when she grows up. Oh, another thing is that she looks like a boy. EVERYONE comments on how cute my little boy is. What can I say, she does look an awful lot like Luke. Hopefully she likes freckles more than him.

As for me, I am just enjoying not being pregnant and am loving having Caitlynn to take care of. I am trying to start packing. It just stinks that we can't afford to buy a house yet. Why hasn't the real estate slum hit the penninsula yet? Sometimes I wonder what the heck we are doing here but really there is nowhere else I would rather be at this time in my life. I have loved living in San Bruno but cannot wait to live where the weather is DIVINE year round-did I mention the shopping down there???? No, I am really sad to leave my friends and life here but am up for a new adventure I guess. I am just enjoying life because it has been really good to me.

JR-well he finally outgrew the 1993 Toyota Tercel and bought himself a new BMW. So, really there isn't much else to say about him because all he does is work and sits in his new toy. No, he is really happy to not have to commute 60 miles everyday. (well sort of) Since K&E opened their office in Palo Alto a year ago he has been working down there. He likes the change in atmosphere and his secretaries love it when the family comes to visit. It is very relaxed, like the rest of Silicon Valley and he is hoping to be able to see the kids a little more after the move. He loves his job (really-I think he is crazy) but they treat him pretty well and he doesn't complain. Except he is getting some grey hairs and asks me almost everyday if his hair is receding. Of course it isn't hunny!!! You look better than ever to me!

And that is us in a BIG nutshell. We love visitors and welcome any and all who want to come our way. We love you and hope that your lives are being blessed. Feel free to send me a little update with your lives.

Take care of yourselves,
Ronna Edwards and family

We're Moving...

...But not too far away. Yes, the rumors are true, the Edwards are moving to Palo Alto. There have been lots of reasons as to why we should and shouldn't move but when you get that peaceful feeling after months of trying to ignore it, then you can't deny it any longer. So, we signed the lease yesturday and we move on July 1. I am having sooooo many emotions and feelings about this move. I am going to make a list here of why we shouldn't move and then a list of why we decided to do it anyways.
Why Not List:
1. You have alot of awesome friends and they have been so supportive this past three years. Why on earth would you need to make more???
2. You live 10 minutes from San Francisco.
3. You love your ward.
4. You live 5 minutes from the airport.(Nice since I went there over 18 times in March)
5. Your kids have fun friends.
6. Carpool is arranged (thanks to Sara who I will miss dearly)
7. The weather never gets too hot or too cold.
8. We are 10 minutes from the beach.
9. Our rent is only $2500 a month here
10. We started going house shopping and were going to be able to buy a house in this area.
11. There are some great running trails a mile away from my house.
12. We finally found all the great hole-in-the-wall restaraunts that the whole family loves.
13. AND the most obvious reason I don't want to move is because I don't want to pack up my house and move it 30 miles south.

So, why on earth are we moving???
1. We will be closer to JR's work. (1.4 miles to be exact) And even though his commute wasn't that bad, being able to see daddy for an hour more a day is a big deal.
2. The schools are some of the best in the country because of silicon valley and the dot com companies.
3. Because the Lord told us to.

And that is that folks. I really don't have any more reasons then those three. But we did get a smokin deal on rent for a great home in a great neighborhood (thanks to a friend in the ward down there, oh and because we are full tithe payers I am assuming) I made a pledge with the Lord, if he could find us a nice house for under 3100 a month I would do it. Since I have been checking Craigs' list everyday for the past 3 months I knew it was impossible. And guess what? The next day we heard about this house and everything fell into place. So how do you deny that???? You don't. You just do it and trust that the Lord has a plan for you and if you are willing to follow it, you will be blessed. Hey, it has worked thus far and I feel so blessed to have my life.
Love to you all!
PS, if you don't hear from me for awhile, it is because i am packing my house and getting ready for the move. But please make a comment and let me know why I am not crazy to be doing this. When I am in the midst of packing my house and cleaning, I am afraid that the peaceful feeling I had might not be as clear as it had been when we signed the lease. It is always good to have some reminders.
Ronna