Tennis Time!

Sports are an interesting subject in our house. Neither Ken nor I particularly care to watch/follow any sport beyond the occasional baseball game or the Olympics. We also didn't grow up being particularly sporty...Ken played some basketball and I mainly stuck to tennis and a little volleyball! Now in our adult life we are definitely into athleticism but more in the way of leisure - taking a hike, biking along a trail, beach frisbee, swimming in a lake, etc. So when it comes to the kids we haven't really jumped up and down to get them into sports like football or basketball mainly because of our own indifference to those traditional sporting choices. But we are definitely a family on the move, so this summer I decided I needed to sign my kids up for some type of sport to keep them moving. But paying $150 each for a week of various sports camps was such a big turn-off. Maybe I'm just new to the world of sporting but it just seems like too much of an investment. Thus the idea to give the kids tennis lessons myself was born!

Two rackets + 21 tennis balls + mommy coach = $40 = Way better than $300!!!

Here are my little tennis prodigies:

Good form Leah! (Ready Position)

Levi wants tennis to be baseball...but I'll work on him ; )

My little ball hoppers!

Dazzling Danish Dudes!

After a week in Anaheim we concluded our trip with a quick trip north to a quaint little town north of Santa Barbara called Solvang. It's a Danish village that reminds us a lot of Leavenworth. Ken's family is Danish so Ken and Ted had a good time perusing the Danish items and of course, the Danish treats! We also visited Ken's Aunt, Uncle and cousins who live in nearby Lompoc.

Leah and I had a good laugh about the doggy drinking fountain. Being a teacher I had to take a picture of this misspelled sign. I hope everyone had a nice "indepence" day!

Solvang Silliness!

Ken's Aunt Judene and Uncle Coe have a cute dog. Levi couldn't get enough of his new playmate!

Last time Ken saw Cousin Eric, he was taller. Not so anymore!

Cousin Janelle has a ways to go!

Here are those Dazzling Danish Dudes...Four Peterson boys (Coe, Ted, Levi and Ken)

After Solvang we headed home and faced real life again. Our whole trip was so much fun...it was really hard to come home.

Beach Bums and Swimming Sweeties

We had two favorite pastimes while in California after our big Disneyland adventure - beach bumming and swimming. The kids LOVED the wonderful sandy beaches in California and the sunny weather.

Here's our attempt at an "us" shot - those never exactly turn out the way you want!
Here are the kids at Huntington Beach experiencing big California waves. Of course they couldn't experience them too much because I banned them from going in over their knees!

Levi was in sand heaven...we're still finding sand on him from all his rolling around and sand angels.

A rare occasion where Leah sat on her towel instead of being in the ocean or sand. Ken and I, on the other hand, really enjoyed our towels!

Levi's sand creation!

This is at the Santa Barbara Beach. The kids found a little shrimp thing...still not sure exactly what it was.

Santa Barbara had less waves and lots of boats. We ate lunch out on that pier to the right!

Here's the pool! Both kids are such better swimmers this summer. We were so impressed! Even Levi swam the whole length of the pool without a flotation device.

On our deck longing to go swimming!

Thus concludes the beaches and pools part of our trip!

Freaky Flying and Dizzying Disneyland

Leah and Levi accomplished two "firsts" for the "baby" book on our trip to California - First time flying and first time at Disneyland. It was my first time at disneyland too (don't forget to add that to my babybook mom). This post will take you through these two amazing firsts!
Three Peterson "boys" on the plane. (Ken's parents Ted and Naomi came with us on our trip. It was so much fun traveling with them!) Leah and grandma! (This was before the plane took off. I couldn't take any pictures during the first part of our flying adventure because my dear daughter was holding onto my arm for dear life. She warmed up to the idea eventually!)

Mom and daughter!

Oops, mom and daughter again...I can't figure out how to delete this!

Ted and Naomi in front of our resort!

After a day of flying we settled down to a nice dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Unfortunately, Levi was too tuckered to enjoy the experience! (Yes, he's really asleep!)

Ken, on the other hand, was not too tired!

This begins our day at Disneyland! Levi refused to turn around for a picture so grandpa joined him in facing away!

Since we'd arrived at 8 a.m. (opening) there were no lines for Splash Mountain. Thus began our adventure of traumatizing our children on rides. Ken hadn't exactly remembered all the details of this ride since he hadn't been to Disney since he was 10ish. So we whisked our kids down the path and loaded ourselves into the log all smiles for our happy little log ride. The nightmare that ensued was, well, let's just say we made it out alive but honestly I'm surprised our kids went on another ride all day. They did not appreciate the thrills of Splash Mountain. (A little background...L&L have really only been on a few kiddy rides at the fair. And all of you who know Leah, know that she can be, well, very sensative to discomfort).

Here's Leah proud that she's tall enough...when I look at this picture I feel a little sick inside about how much she hated this ride!

A little Winnie-the-Pooh therapy brought the kids back to The Happiest Place on Earth.

Leah does not like roller coaster but can't get enough of the tea cups. I, on the other hand, hate the tea cups but could do Splash Mountain all day.

The famous princess castle!

Minnie Mouse's House

This is our favorite. We came around a corner and there was Mary Poppins and no line waiting to see her!

Ice Cream break!

The Buzz LightYear ride (Leah's favorite)

It's Small World (the song still runs through my head at least 10x a day)

Cooling off in a fountain!

The Little Mermaid (cracks me up that Levi has his arm around her all awkwardly)

We had MANY more pictures of Disneyland but I decided to spare you all too long of a post. We were there for 11 hours total and the kids had a blast! Here they are that night while watching the fireworks at Disneyland. Unfortunately, Levi didn't quite make it...again!

Tune in next time for more California posts!

The Gospel of God

Before I start my posts about all the fun times we had in California, I wanted to share my enjoyment from the real "happiest place on earth". I don't want to downplay the main reason we went to California, which was to gain more Christ by attending the six day semi-annual Summer Training (a conference where Christians from all over the world gather to study a portion of the Bible). The training was on the Gospel of God, especially focusing on the gospel on the book of Romans. I had never heard the gospel in such a deep and enjoyable way. The gospel is just Christ! When we preach the gospel to others, we should be bringing them Christ. But in order to bring Christ to others, we need more Christ ourselves. We need to be living a "Christ-filled" life so we can shine Him forth in our contact with unbelievers. There were so many enjoyable messages given related to this so I'll hopefully be able to share more in the coming weeks!

Get ready for some serious blogging...

...the Peterson People have returned from California. 

Upcoming posts might include:

Dizzying Disneyland Day

Becoming Beach Bums

Silly Swimming Sweeties

Dining Danish Dudes

Or maybe we'll just be lazy and uncreative and post a smattering of pics from the trip. But either way, I want all our Peterson People fans to know WE'RE BACK!