Visiting Great Grandma Fiene

On our way home from California we decided to spend a day or so with Hans' grandma in Cortez, Colorado.  On Saturday she took us to the pool at the rec center.  She told us it was an indoor pool, so I was thinking it was just a big lap pool.  Boy was I wrong.

 This pool had a cool water play-scape, lazy river, a small lap pool, and a big slide.

 John actually went down this slide all by himself.  Hans waited at the bottom of the slide and when John came shooting out he said, "That was fun, but I don't want to do it again."  I'm surprised he went the first time!

 Anders spent the afternoon talking with Great Grandma Fiene.  Those two had a great time entertaining each other.

 On Sunday we went to church with Grandma Fiene.

 We thought we would try to get a family shot, but Gus was just a little upset that Hans wouldn't let him wear his hat.  I'm pretty sure Hans is yelling at Gus through that gritted smile he has.

Great Grandma Fiene and her Fiene boys.

We had a great time with her and the boys look forward to visiting again.

Four Corners

On our way from San Diego, CA to Cortez, CO we passed right by Four Corners and just had to stop.  For those of you who have never heard of Four Corners, it is the place where four states meet.  Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado all come together in one spot.  It is possible to be in four states at once.

Anders loves having his picture taken.

 A boy in each state.

John just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that they were each in a different state.  He kept saying, "How did you do that?  Is this real?  Are you joking with me?"

Eva, Machara, and Michael

 The Campbell kids.

 Energetic Eva

 Mesmerizing Machara

 Magnificent Michael

I love this picture because of Michael's expression.  I think he is done having his picture taken.

Cousin Photo-Op

On our last day in California, we thought we should try to get some good pictures of all of the kids.

 As if it isn't hard enough to get a good picture with 6 kids, I decided to add paper to the mix.

 Anders had a hard time staying in one place.

#5 is gone.

 I foolishly thought it would be a good idea to have the kids lay in the grass in height order.

They ALL thought that was a bad idea.

I think this was the winner of the bunch.  Here are the 6 grandchildren in birth order.

Padres Game

Andrina had us rocking and rolling during the short time we were out in California.  I'm so glad she had things planned because, while we would have been content just staying at the house the whole time, it was nice to get out and do some fun things.  Andrina found out there was a mid-day Padres games while we were in town and thought we should try it out.  This was the first time Gus and Anders had been to a baseball game.

 We drove to the nearest Coaster station and waited for our train into San Diego.

Waiting for the train.

After about an hour train ride and a short trolley ride, we were at Petco Park.

 Earlier in the week an employee of Petco Park offered to give us a tour of the facilities.

 Since it was a mid-day game, there were hundreds of day camp kids there.  Hundreds.

The tour turned out to be a bust and not very kid friendly.  But the kids found way to entertain themselves.

 Gus tried to pick up John.  Gus said he needs to get stronger.

 Finally at our first set of seats.  I say first set because, when these seats were purchased, we though the kids would be able to play in the area referred to as "the beach".  This was not the case.  To curb the possible revolt we had on our hands, we exchanged our tickets to get "beach seats."

Warming up.  And don't ask me who this is.  This was the most baseball I actually saw and the game hadn't even started.

Happy and in our new seats.  I love Machara's face in this picture.

 Who needs a baseball game when you have sand?

 Hans needed a picture of his $10 beer.

Padre Cheerleaders

These two were yelling and cheering and chanting for a long while.  They even got the crowd around us cheering.

 Waiting in line for baseball cards.  The funny thing is that, when they actually got the cards, they weren't Padre cards.  They were just various trading cards.  John actually came home with Colorado Rockies baseball cards.

 I didn't put on sunscreen.  I got burnt.  I'm not very smart sometimes.

This was cool...but it took up a large portion of the beach. The park staff had a hard time keeping the kids out of this area.

 Nearing the end of our stay.  We had some tired kids.

 Anders likes his back rubbed when he goes to sleep.  He decided to rub Gus's back while he fell asleep.

On our walk back to the coaster we passed through the Historic Heart of San Diego.

It was a fun day wit lots of great memories.  This also started John on a baseball kick.