UCLA

I took the kids (and that means Jack and Annie as well) to UCLA today to see the old stomping grounds!  It started a bit rough with 2 crying little girls but after a little while, they pepped up and had a blast!

We stopped and played around the water fountain, climbed trees and visited the sculpture gardens.  One of my favorite places when I was there.

They went up and down the most beautiful stair case I've ever seen (well, I am a little bias) and peeked in at the men's soccer practice!

I love Royce Hall and the view towards the library so I made everyone take a picture! :)

Jack took one of my favorite pictures EVER!

We went to Kerkof (the coffee hang out on campus) for some coffee and ice cream and met Auntie Lou Lou there.  She was one of my bridesmaids, fellow teammate at UCLA and Freedom and now coaches the Women's team!  I love this girl like crazy and so did the kids.  Lou got to meet Mabel and Mabel warmed right up to her.  I knew she would.  

We are now off to Mabel's 1st dentist appt and Amelia's 1st cleaning.  Jbird is a pro so he should be easy!  I'll let you know how that goes.  

Monday Beach Day

Another great day at the beach!  We met up with our other neighbor Kristie and her daughter Alexis.  Amelia fell in LOVE with "sis" and this was the happiest, most independent she's ever been at the beach.  Hope they come next week! :)

From left to right: Amelia, Sis, Annie, Mabel, Jeremy and Jack!  

My how they've grown!

Since my sister Courtney doesn't have a blog I will go ahead and update about her kids.  I cannot believe how big all these kids are getting!  Teddy started his 2nd year of preschool today and he will be 4 in November.

Georgia is in 2nd grade and Cece started Kindergarten!! I can't deal with these sisters!  

We miss you!!!!!

The Witch

So my mom threatened to call the old lady, some people use Santa and my life has changed due to the WITCH that Auntie Megan thought of.  It started as a fun game but the kids were scared of her voice and what she said and now it works like a charm to keep Amelia in line.  For those of you who know little miss Amelia, this is VERY helpful.  It has changed my life!  Thank you Megan!  Here is the super scary witch who will call if you're bad and may even visit you if you're really bad!  Isn't she scary :)

The best part is that Amelia is scared to death but she wants the witch to take Jeremy sometimes.  He was being a stinker last night so I told him the witch was going to take him to her house to spend the night and the funniest little smile spread across Amelia's face.  She said, "yeah, I want him to go"!  Ah, sibling love!

Reinkemeyer Family Reunion Trip 2011

As you know, we were in Missouri for the family reunion since last Saturday.    We got home late this afternoon and we're wiped out!  Here are my pictures from my phone.

Waiting for our plane last week!  We had a bulk head row so we were able to spread out a little and the kids could play at our feet.  All of them fell asleep during landing!

We flew into St. Louis and stayed the night with Ryan's cousin Brandy, her husband Gregg and their sons Zach and Luke.  We swam a lot in their pool which has a big shallow step (closest to me) and a waterfall the kids love to jump off of.

We went to the City Museum which is an old 10 story shoe factory turned interactive crazy, dark tunnel, slides, water fountains, hidden  walkways kind of place.

We headed to Jefferson City (2 hour drive) on Sunday and it was HOT!  And I mean HOT!  Over 100 + humidity.  Yikes.  We spent lots of time in the pool thanks to Aunt Dedie and Uncle Dick!  Mary's sister and brother-in-law were out of town but they told us to use their pool.  And use their pool we did!

Jeremy did awesome swimming and Mabel is a water baby!  Amelia likes the stairs but that's one less I need to stress over :)

Ryan spent summers as a kid at their family (Meinhardt side) cabin at the Lake of the Ozarks! We went back for the day, rented a boat and had a BLAST!

Here are Jbird and Ryan on the dock.  Ryan jumps off the top but Jbird goes to the next step down!  Pretty daring if you ask me as I went up there and didn't jump from the top step like he did.

Amelia took a little while to warm up to the boat and she didn't like it when we stopped and it rocked (she said her belly hurt) but once we got going she kept saying, "make it go faster"!

We went to the Capitol!

It was a week of 1sts!

Jeremy's 1st time riding in a convertible!

Mabel's 1st time on a 4 wheeler!

Mommy's 1st tractor pull!

Mabel's 1st family reunion!  She walked in waving hello so as you can imagine, she enjoyed it.  The best part is when the tables are cleared the kids run around like crazy!  

We spent lots of quality time with Auntie Megan, Uncle Jeremy, Grandmommy and Beck and Nellie!  

Making cake with Grandmommy

After the reunion, we headed back to St. Louis to stay with Brandy and family again so we could relax today and not drive 2 hours before the flight.  Cute cousins this morning before we left!

Thanks for a good time everyone!  We miss you already!

The Farm

Missouri Trip

Well, a part of the trip!  We've been here for 4 days, visited St. Louis, done a lot of swimming, applied LOTS of sunblock and stayed inside when we're not in water because it's SO hot!  I will update St. Louis pictures when we get home because they're on my phone! 

We went to dinner with the Meinhardt side and we got some adorable pictures!  Here they are!  Thanks Auntie Megan.

Amelia doesn't look happy but that is her new "cheese" face!  Cute isn't it?

The Meinhardt side. Left to right; me, Uncle Bob, Ryan, Uncle Jeremy, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cindy is sitting with kids, Cousin Shawn, 2nd cousin Ava, cousin Molly and Auntie Megan.