California Road Trip Day 1

We started our California road trip in Sacramento. We arrived very late at night(ahem 1 am our time), so we headed straight to bed. The next morning we woke up at a reasonable time and made the 1.5 hour drive to San Francisco. Thankfully, the late flight allowed us to all make the quick adjustment to California time.

Due to the foggy weather, we opted to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to check out Lombard Street, the crookedest street, first. The look of amazement on Reed's face as we crossed the bridge was priceless.

The bridge didn't look like this when we made it back over the bridge.

It looked like this....

But thankfully, after lunch, things cleared up and we got a good view and good pictures of the bridge. : )

We had lunch in Sausalito at the Salsalito Taco Shop that we had been too years ago with the Carlocks!

Lombard Street, although we didn't get a great shot of the crookedness. Just trust me. ; )

Carson fell asleep on the way back over the bridge, so Reed and I headed into Ghiradelli for some yummy ice cream.

And then we hung out in the park a bit while Reed worked in his book.

After a little break, we made the walk down to Pier 39 to see the sea Lions.

We had originally thought that we would ride the street car this trip but the lines were just too long and the kids were on the verge of being done with sightseeing.

So we opted to drive south of the city and find a local playground.

Carson and Reed were in heaven.

And, we finished out the first day with a yummy burger from In-N-Out.

Winter Park 2015

We spent the week after Christmas in lovely Winter Park, CO with my family. We skied and hung out with our family and our friends, the Rush family, who makes the trek to Winter Park every year. We loved it out there in spite of the negative degree wind chill and the obvious lack of oxygen. ; ) We will certainly go again in the future.

The evening few from our place.

Reed ready for his first day of ski school.

View of the mountains and ski slopes on the drive up to the place we stayed. So pretty.

Morning view.



 

 

Jenga!

 

 

 

The sunrise over the mountains on our drive back to the airport.

Reed is 6(and a 1/2.....almost)!

 

Yeah, this is probably the most delayed post ever, ugh. I have had most of this stored up in my notes app of iphone just waiting for me to take the time to sit down and actually put it on the blog. Man, I need some organization in my life. I digress. This is not about me, this is about the super call boy that we get to spend our days with. We are so very lucky!

Height:
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At 6:

• Reed is a pretty good reader but often gets a little lazy and tries to guess the word instead of sounding it out or just throws his hands up in frustration. Normally, if he takes the time to actually sound the word out, he gets it. Silly boy. Santa brought him the first Harry Potter book and he is really loving reading it with us every night. 
• He loves school. Phew! I asked him one day if he would mind if I picked him up early to go an appointment or whatnot and he said "no, I would miss something". So far, he's received two report cards and our boys is doing great. Might want to work on controlling his talking though. Poor guy has lots to say. : )
•  He seems to be making new friends really at school (obviously written closer to his birthday, August 29th). We were worried about the transition from a great group of preschool kids to strangers but it hasn't been a problem at all. He loves playing with his new friends. He has a group of little boys and one little girl that he plays with every day. Usually the game of choice is tag. Shocker.
•  He is one smart little cookie who remembers everything. Most of the time, if he brings up a new kid's name, he usually knows what class they are in, the theme of that class, etc. He is very observant. Just the other day at Chick fil A, we were talking to a girl and her mom who is a 1st grader at the same school Reed attends. He didn't know the little girl, couldn't tell me her name, but he did know whose class she was in. That kid! I wish I had his memory!
•  He is certainly more sensitive to death in his older age. Poor little guy has dealt with a good bit of death the last couple of years. Usually we let him know that there is no more pain because the person is with God in Heaven. The death of our sweet cousin, Barbara, caused him to break down and sob. The hope of seeing her again and knowing that she was with The Lord didn't cut it this time. It broke our already broken hearts. We will certainly be more cautious next time with his heart.
• He continues to love all things Star Wars, which is only exasserbated by the new movie coming out in December. Star Wars is everywhere and he wouldn't have it any other way. He and his dad had a boys' afternoon and went to see the new movie a couple of days after its release. He loved it while there but wasn't really pleased with a few things that happened. He says he never wants to see it again, this particular Star Wars movie, not all of them of course, lol. I am sure that won't last very long.
• We are still having a tough time with him on occasion. He is incredibly moody and angry at times. Most of the time, he just needs more sleep but it wears on all of us nonetheless. I see him growing and changing all the time and I look forward to the day when I can write that this is behind us. The last few days have been so good for us. He does tend to have a much shorter fuse as bedtime nears, but we are all working to make the days as smooth as possible. He is getting there, I just know it.
• Outside of these outbursts that are decreasing in number, he is the sweetest, most thoughtful, caring kid. We try our best to open our hearts wide and absorb all the wonderful moments that he gives us to fill our buckets up for his next outburst.
• He has pretty good penmanship. His print is probably more legible than Chris's. Ha, don't tell Chris that, lol.
• Reed is working on losing his first tooth. It is his top right tooth. I am honestly not ready for this total big kid development, but he is super excited. I have started snapping pictures of his sweet baby teeth smile, so I don't forget it. And also, I pull out to make a video every time he wiggles it, just in case it comes out!
• He is currently playing his second season of basketball. He is still timid on the court(he got this from me, dear) but is slowly making progress. He has become a little more aggressive this season and definitely prefers to play defense over trying to get the ball and score. He is such a good little ball player at home. I look forward to when he can show others just how good he is.
•  Lately, when he gets into trouble, he always says "you hate me, nobody likes me". I feel like we are dealing with a teenager already, ha. We make it very clear how much we love him and that we are only getting onto him to teach him the right way to behave. 
• Reed loves his little sister, who idolizes him. It is so fun to watch them play together, especially when they aren't arguing. He is so sweet to her most of the time. Hugging her and checking on her when she is crying and making sure he asks how her day was. Warms my heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara Hankins

Barbara and Guinn with their kids and grandkids

Barbara and Guinn with their children, Patti and Adam.

On Sunday, November 1, 2015, we lost a beautiful member of our family. Barbara Hankins went to be with her Lord and Savior a week ago Sunday after a battle with cancer. She was taken away from her loving family way too soon and will certainly leave a gaping hole in all of our lives.

Barbara was one of a kind, that's for sure. After reading all the wonderful things that people said about her on Facebook, I thought to myself.....if people say half the good things that they said about her, about me, I would consider it a life well lived. Barbara's certainly was. Barbara loved everyone and everyone loved her. We should all aspire to be the kind of person that she was.

I have lots of special memories from my childhood and adulthood that involve Barbara. She was a special part of our family and will be greatly missed. Here are a few things that I will remember.

I'll remember how fiercely she loved her family. They were her everything. She was so incredibly proud of her kids and grandkids. She took great pride in all of their accomplishments. Everything they did made her so very happy. She also didn't want to them to have their hearts broken or for them to be mistreated. She would have jumped through fire for every single one of them, no questions asked.

I'll especially remember how much she loved Guinn, her husband, without end. She was a loving, dedicated wife. Always making his favorite coconut cake or making sure he had the meal that he wanted on any given night. She was once away from him when he broke his hip and vowed to never be away from him again and she wasn't. If you ever saw Guinn, you saw Barbara. They were very rarely separate from each other. She worried that she might not be with him if something were to happen to him and she couldn't bear it.

I'll remember how very much she loved music. She probably knew the lyrics to every song that came out before 2000. She loved to sing and would occasionally do a little dancing.

I'll remember how well she was at completing a crossword puzzle. I was pretty jealous of her knowledge of all things.

I'll remember all the wonderful get togethers at her house, be it Christmas or Thanksgiving or just a party for no reason. Barbara and Guinn were and are people who other people want to be around.

I'll remember spending a good bit of my summers, along with brother, riding our bikes over to Barbara and Guinn's house because we wanted to hangout with them. We'd call and ask if we could come over and the answer was always "come on!"

I'll remember all the fun times had with her at her and Guinn's lake house during the summer. I'll remember people piled up all over the place because everyone was welcome.

I'll remember how much of a worrier she was. I'll remember her hiding in the lake house when her grandkids were on the intertube. I find myself being a little bit like Barbara in this respect.

I'll remember how selfless she was. I'll remember how no matter what was going on with her, she would respond with "I'm good, Brookie, how are you?"

I'll remember how she told you that she loved you every chance she got.

I'll remember her infectious personality, the animated way she would respond....."shet up", "shuh uh".

I'll remember how she never really called anyone in my family by the name they went by. Gary Reed for my dad, which are his first and middle names. Lurlene instead of Arlene for my mom. Brookie for me and Marcus for my brother.

There is no doubt that I am forgetting many more wonderful things about Barbara. I just wanted to make sure I got a few things down to remember a lady we all loved very much and will certainly miss all the days of our lives. We are all better because we knew her and I certainly hope to honor her memory by living my life more like she lived hers, giving and showing love to all. We love you, Barbara! We'll see you again soon.

Barbara with just a few of the many other people who loved her very much.