Weekend Fun...

So everyone knows its Summer Vacation for the kids and everyone knows how much it would be a great time for me to just relax on my days off and then....everyone knows ME. I don't relax. I don't typically sit still for any time longer than it takes to use the restroom or sleep (typically as little as my body will allow) so why should Summer Vacation be any different.

Early last week I got an email that said "take a friend for free" so I hit up my boss who has two little boys about Rians age and asked her if she might want to join me. Of course she said yes after figuring out some work items and off we went to the Happiest...oh wait. Nope. Just to Six Flags! I was a smart momma this time also and I had Carina take a friend. This allowed for her to NOT have to sit around and wait for all the little kids to ride their rides. YAY!

We were there for a total of 5 hours but since it wasn't that busy at all, we got to take full advantage of all the rides and we also took advantage of the food and our season pass discounts. I think we are starting to slowly totally get the hang of the discounts we are allowed and I LOVE IT!!! Talk about saving money and still having a pretty good dang time!

Something we got to this time that I haven't done ever (that I can remember) is watch the dolphin show. So fun, and although the boys got to sit in the splash zone, it was a bummer that it was so short. I know I know, I should appreciate what I got...but man. They are such awesome creatures.

Anywho, we ended the day with a good soak on the last water ride that all 8 of us could go in and all in all I would have to say it was a pretty good day trip. WOOHOO!

Saturday was a rest day and I have to admit, it really kinda was! I slept until 10am at which time I jumped out of bed and realized I was late to get Neya. Whoops! Luckily she wasn't ready and the parents of the child she was visiting are super cool! Once I got there we came back home, chilled around for a bit then we grabbed some lunch and after that we just took a quick trip to Wal-Mart. We had to buy puff paints to make some shirts for our adventure that we were going to go on Sunday! I had decided that for the first time it was the year I wanted to take the kids to Pride in SF. Of course, I was prompted by my kids aunt taking her kids and I figured. WHY THE HECK NOT! After a long night of shirt making (cause I always go all out for anything that I can use puff paints for!) the kids and I were up early and headed to the city.

First stop we made was to Carina's tia Martizas house. We had about 30-45 minutes to kill after taking 20 minutes to find parking. OH San Francisco parking. I am not your biggest fan! We went there, took some pan dulce from a store in Napa I love and we grubbed down (and left lots of crumbs on her couch). It hit about 945 and we stole a blanket and off we went to find a spot for the parade. This was our first year so we figured that was the highlight of everything. We ended up finding a great spot right at the end near the heart of everything and we sat...and sat....and then sat even longer. What a lame time we had until the actual parade really started! Once it started the kids were totally engaged however it wasn't long before they got tired. So we stayed and watched for about 1.5-2 hours then we bailed to find our friends Ash and Drew and take a few pics and of course stop for one little treat. No parade is any fun if you don't get a snow cone or cotton candy and Sno Cone was the easiest to find.

We headed home after, rested and once the kiddos got picked up Ash and Drew stopped by and we grabbed a drink and some dinner and then just relaxed the rest of the night. Oh and by relax I mean that we fixed my sweet tooth craving with some lemon meringue pie and then tried to watch a movie that I quickly totally passed out during. Oh well. It was fun none the less.

Life is clearly simple and we are just making the most of every day and honestly, I am grateful for every moment. This life of ours feel like its hardly ever calm, very seldom quiet, most likely makes sense to no one but us and I wouldn't change it. Not for anything.

Monday Funday!

So it is not surprise that often we have all of our kids at the same time, but with the recent schedule switch for Mister Luoma we have no only had 3 of the kids at any given time. Obviously not a mish mash, DER, so its my kids or his kids. I sadly do not normally get to see his littles except for a couple hours on Sunday night after they come home but this week we made an exception!

We have our six flags passes,  I have had some busy days and so Monday I went in Extra Early and got off even earlier than expected. No details need to be given on why. Secrets of the trade.

So with that being said I met up with them all at Six Flags and by the time I had gotten there they had already hit up two rides and were well on their way to FUN IN THE SUN! Well at least the little sun we had that day. Hehe. The park really wasn't busy at all and so we got to go on quite a few rides. Its clear to me that Jared, Aidan and Carina are a perfect match at Six Flags as they all love the big rides, but the boys at least got to go together on a few.

We even got to go on the new Tsunami Soaker and WOW. They aren't kidding. Its a soaker! We had a great afternoon, headed to Chevys for dinner, hello, we did not feel like cooking! Then off we went to the house and enjoyed some BBQ S'mores. Although I loving having all our littles at the same time because they (mostly) get a long great and keep eachother company, it is also nice to spend some quality time with a smaller bunch!

Friday I will be taking my littles along with my boss and her 2 sons thanks to the "bring a friend for free" deal they got going on! Seems that although we don't go every single weekend these Season Passes really are paying for themselves and then some!

Enjoy the pics folks and try not to be to jealous of all the fun we had!

I swear his isn't always as grumpy as he looks in pics! 

 

She took TWO pics with the Coyote that day and smiled just as big each time!

Oh the sadness that occurs when you are still standing in the RED! BOO!!

 

Ashley posted this pic below of Alyssa that I thought was just to precious. "now and then" at its finest!

 

Little 'pre s'mores relaxation...

Graduations and a Birthday!

Well, it has been just a bit since I have had a moment to update our blog and to be honest. I still don't actually have a free minute, I am just stealing minutes from my insanely busy day to put our memories up on the blog! After all, what good are pictures if we can't share them and let you be a part of our days!

School ended for all 6 kids the first week of June and Summer has officially begun. We are now the proud owners of....

• 1 Transitional Kindergartner
• 1 First Grader
• 1 Fourth Grader
• 1 Fifth Grader
• 1 Seventh Grader
• 1 Ninth Grader

Basically what this means is High School and Junior High and Elementary OH MY! Yep, everyone is officially a "school kid" and this next year is going to be a fun one. Our first High Schooler and Tyler is the first Luoma kid to head into Junior High! So exciting!!! I am sure we will be doing lots of drop off's at school functions, lots of homework and cool projects and well...even more referring for making sure that everyone stays on top of their school stuff.

School Shopping. SO NOT READY! Haha.

With that being said lets remember that this also means we had some graduations. Rian graduated from Kindergarten on June 4, 2014 and it was great. He and his class sang some songs, told us what they wanted to be when they grow up (basketball player for Rian) and then we promptly ate some popsicles. Sadly, Jared wasn't able to go to Rians graduation but that's okay, he made it to lunch afterwards where he surprised Rian with a super sweet water gun!

 

The very next day we had Carina's graduation and this one was much longer. We sat through many awards, lots of talking from teachers and principals and such and we got to see Carina walk away with some awesome awards of her own, including but not limited to...Honor Roll, Disciplinary (means she didn't get in trouble) and some really cool PE awards. So very proud of my girl!

I cannot get over the fact that my baby is now a High Schooler!

 

 

 

Then as if those graduations weren't enough excitement for the week, this old lady turned 32! Yep. I have been slowly plucking out my gray hairs but the number of years I am cannot be hidden. It felt good this year to be truly happy on my birthday. The saddest part for me was that I didn't get to spend the actual day with my kiddos, but I did get them that whole weekend and we made the most of it! Jared went out of his way to make me feel extremely special all week and honestly, he is the best ever. Throughout the week my birthday celebrations included dinner with Jared one night and then Jared and my family (bro and parents) a different night, a baseball game, visit from a friend, pottery painting and mostly just lots and lots of love! I am lucky and there is not a day I take any of it for granted!

 

 

 

Seriously. The seats that Jared got were AMAZING!!!! 

 

Easily my favorite pic of us so far. I love this man! 

 When we first started dating I could barely get him to be within a 10ft radius of and now I got him taking goofy pics.

 

Carina and I found our new date place, R+D Kitchen in Yountville! Noms!

You know you're loved when your friend drives 2.5 hours to spend a few hours with you for your birthday celebrations! 

And the pic of the week...Goes to this guy in his 90's flannel of course wrapped around his waist to make the look complete :)

 

 Summer is seriously starting off on a high note! We have some plans to camp, visit with friends and really just have a great time. Hopefully we can keep the good times coming!

As a short update the kids and Jared went to his dads for Fathers day where he went golfing and the kids got to watch some softball, swim, swim and then swim some more! I can't wait until I get to head up there and finally chill and hang out with his fam, but of course, the time and scheduling just hasn't worked out. That's okay! All in good time. I have a couple pics of their time there so we will end with their cute smiles!