It's the Journey...: October 2011

Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Lesson in Kindall Family History - July 8, 2011

I made a plan to meet up with my Dad and my Aunt at the Lafayette Cemetary, which has been there since the mid 1800's. I don't have any photos from the cemetary, but we went there so they could show me the family plot where my Grandma Jean, Papa Lee and other relatives on my Grandma's side of the family are buried. After visiting the cemetary, my Dad took me over near my Grandma's old house to show me what used to be family land. It is quite a facsinating story really! My Grandma Jean's grandparents, Oliver and Julie Dore came down from Canada (originally, they were from France) and found a place to settle and grow an orchard of trees on several acres of property right behind the house that my Grandma lived in with her family for over 50 years (it was just sold after her passing in February of this year). We drove back the 10 minutes or so from my Grandmas's house to find all the homes that are now on the old family land. We spoke to this older gentleman whose parents bought the property from a relative of Oliver and Julie Dore. The windmill in the photo above was on his property that he inherited from his parents, but it used to be on the property that my Great, Great Grandparents owned, shown below.

Right across the street from that man's house is this home with the gate out front. This old oak tree has been there since Oliver and Julie Dore's time and their home used to be to the left of the tree. My Dad has a really old photo of the home, which I used that day to help imagine what the family house looked like back then as I scanned the current property. Julie and Oliver Dore had something like 9 or so children and some of them are buried in the cemetary with my grandparents, including of course my Great Grandparents, Lillian and Frank Dore. I really enjoyed finding out more about my family's history that day...it was truely like taking a step back in time!

Spending Time with the Cousins! - July 7, 2011

Picnic in the park!

Joe lookin' cute! :)

Scooter time for the big guys!

After the park, we stopped by Walmart and grabbed a slip and slide. It was that kind of weather!

Benji going for it!

Jacob after his slide.

Gabriel and Benji!

Ayden and Jake drying off in the sun!

In the car on the way to Grandma Gayle's house.

At Grandma's for dinner.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Eye of the Tiger! - July 5, 2011

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Meeting Lily! - July 5th, 2011

This was definitely a trip of meeting the newest little family members in my friends lives as well as my family's life! We got to go over to my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Marc's house to meet little Lily, my cousin Matt's first child with his wife Vanessa. I feel like I have been following her life since birth thankfully due to Vanessa's awesome blog, but we have not managed to get together in person until now (well, back in July)! She was almost two in July of this year and she is a doll! Ayden and Gabriel got to play with the old duplos that I used to play with when I visited my cousins. It was a short, but nice visit! We were sneaking in a visit before Matt, Vanessa and Lily had to head to the airport to catch a plane back home to LA.

At the Lukacs'! - July 4, 2011

After the visit with Damian and Liam, we drove down to the East Bay area to visit my sister and family for the week. These guys always have such a great time together! Of course I barely saw Ayden again, except for meal times. These older boys are always off doing something!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Visiting Damian & Liam! - July 4, 2011

My good friend Damian from highschool had his first child with his wife Jill, a little boy named William (Liam), about a year and a half ago(in July). I have been wanting to meet their son since then of course and we finally made it to Sacramento for a visit on the 4th of July, right after we got off our flight. Unfortunately, Damian's wife Jill had to work that day, she is a nurse and didn't have the holiday off. We flew into Sacramento for our trip this time so that we could rent a car and drive down to the East Bay to visit my sister, mom, dad, etc. and then up to Chico to see the family there.

Liam, Damian and I.

All the kiddos! Liam wasn't very excited to be sat down on the couch for a photo. He doesn't really know us very well, I'll give him that! :) jk

The looks on Ayden and Liam's faces both crack me up!

Damian is always a goofball!

Katherine's Baby Shower! - June 30th, 2011

All the neighborhood girls came together to celebrate #3 for my next door neighbor, Katherine. I have to say she is a brave woman! She now has three children under the age of 3! Her oldest will be 3 in November, her middle is about 15 months (as I type this in Oct.) and her youngest is now almost 3 months. Wow!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Independence Day Block Party on the CMD! - July 3rd, 2011

We were thrilled to find out that two families on our street were planning a block party on the 3rd, conveniently the day before we were going to leave for our trip! So, we could celebrate the 4th of July one day early! Here are Gabriel and Quentin all ready with their lawn chairs!

The Dads!

Gabriel and Jake enjoying a popsicle!

Ayden doing God knows what in what looks like a regular jump rope activity. :) The girls are going "Ummm, Ayden?"

The Three Musketeers!

Waiting in line to fill their water balloons!

Waiting for the fire works! The fire works show was awesome, complete with the kind that rocket into the sky right in our own neighborhood!

Sprinkler Time! - June 30th, 2011

The heat really set in towards the end of June and Ayden was out of school for the month of July. We just had to keep ourselves busy from June 30th-July 3rd since we planned to leave for our trip to CA on July 4th. On this particular day, a little sprinkler time in the front yard was in order!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Last Day of Kindergarten Video - June 30th, 2011

Monday, October 3, 2011

End of Year Kindergarten Party - June 30th, 2011

Ayden posing for a shot with Miss Todora. All the kids received an award from Miss Todora. Ayden's award was "Deep Thinker!" Anyone who knows Ayden really well knows how true this is! :

Out on the playground before the pizza picnic lunch!

Dog pile! :)

He's always willing to do the hard work! :)

Here we are with Miss Todora and Mrs. Woodruff, Ayden's teacher and assistant teacher.

Special friend - Tyler! It was hard to see the year end...it was a special one indeed! Ayden made some really special friends!

They say the cutest things...

10.09 - Teacher at preschool: "Ayden, where are you from? (during Celebrating Cultures Week at preschool)

Ayden: "I am half of a Puerto Rican!"

6.1.09 - Ayden over dinner tonight, "I love these Rolly Ollies!" (Ravioli's)

1.22.09 - Ayden: "Mom, upstairs I heard God talking in my heart!"

1.19.09 - Ayden: "I am a scientist at legos cause I have a creative brain to make them."

12.21.08 - Ayden: "I am a really good expert!"

"Israel is not in the United States, but it is still on the Earf (Earth)!"

"When baby Gabriel was born from your tummy...let's be grateful that God gave us a baby!"

6.6.08 - Ayden:"Spiderman and God have special powers...they can control the earth!"

I love how I have filled his head with the power of God! :) He (God) comes out in his thoughts as right up there with Spiderman. :)

5.13.08 - Conversations with Ayden:

Ayden: Mom, why is it cloudy out today?

Mom: Well, the sun is there, but it is behind the clouds.

Ayden: Oh, the sun is playing hide and seek!

5.7.08 - Ayden was getting ready for bed last night and he found his children's bible on the bathroom counter and recalled his "reading" from his nap/rest time that day. He said, "Jesus and God are our friends!" I said, "Yes, they are!" He proceeded to look at the cartoon photos on the front of the book and tried to guess who was Jesus. He pointed to Noah and said, "That is Jesus!" Then he pointed to Moses and said, "That is God!" I told him that God is not pictured there, that he is up in heaven. It did make me quite proud that he was reading his bible during rest time! :)

3.18.08 - Ayden and I were talking on the way to school and he was talking about where we were going and we had also just passed our church. He said, "Only I go to school and church." I said, "Well, Momma and Daddy go to church too, but we don't go to school anymore, we are all done with college, high school, grammer school and preschool." He replied with, "When I go to college, I can go to Stanford!" I laughed and said, "And when you graduate from Stanford, you can find a job like Daddy." He then said, "I can find a job at Stanford...I can do art or painting or stamps!"

This cracks me up, it is like a combination of what Daddy did (Stanford) and the things that Ayden and I do together (crafts, etc.)! I have to admit that we did feed him a line a few weeks ago about going to Stanford when he grows up! :)

2.27.08 - He also has been curious about more complex issues and concerning himself about the future. He said today, "When I am older, I will have hair on my cheek like Daddy." Another cute thought of his was, "Daddy has to work so that we can have toys, food and our house and other things." Of course he learns these things from us, but it is cute the way he processes them. :)

2.11.08 - I was putting Ayden to bed tonight after he read his books to me. He often does this because he memorizes how his favorite ones go and he reads them to himself or rather recites the sentences from memory. :) We were trying to quiet down, which is often difficult for Ayden to do (surprise, surprise!) and after sitting there for a few moments, he reminds me that we need to pray. I said, "Who do you want to pray for?" He said the usual folks and at the end, he said "And tank you for ebrebody in our wife (life)!" This is how he ends most nightly prayers.

Oh and by the way, Ayden went pee-pee on the potty all day today! Not just a small portion of the day. We are making slow progress!

2.6.08 - Ayden was helping me vacuum the stairs. He did the whole flight of them and when he got to the top, he said, "When you've got yuckies, you have to clean them up! Then you can have juice or water or somsing (something)."

It's the Journey...