Hanging out at the next door neighbor’s saloon.

Curt & Cindy’s friends Bob & Trace got to the cabin as we were leaving.  Cindy & Curt had their first date at Bob’s house when they were teenagers!

We are headed for L.A.!!!

The coolest tree house ever!  "Ahhh, Sic ‘Em Bears!"

 

We stopped in Santa Barbara to reminisce.

Clarissa & I took our picture together in this sand box when she was 2 & I was 14 years old!  Now, Clarissa is 15 & Noelle is 2 years old (and we got their pic together above).

 

Oprah and Clinton both have houses where the tree line comes forward on the right.  We didn’t see her in her scooter this visit.

Mike & Noelle making their first footprints in the sand.

 

Dancin’ dancin’

Sand crabs!

                      

               

                         

If you’re wondering what’s dorky about Mike’s shirt it’s this: It has a pink stork on the top left side that says, "Noelle’s Daddy" on top of it.  I made it for him when Noelle was born, and it is just plain silly!  However, Curt took home the prize in my book!

Sibling Swap!

 

Later that night, Noelle and Brother Man crashed on the porch together.

The California gang!

Hiding with the cookie jar!

These pictures were taken right when we got off the lake tonight.  Just too cute not to share! 

                        

 

This flower is actually considered a weed – who knew?

 

Anyone want a snack – grape toss!  Go Cayden Go!!! 

 

Noelle favorite new snack – Pirate’s Booty!  We were walking by Jamba Juice yesterday at the Highlands and Noelle screamed, "Pirate’s Booty!"  Sure enough, I looked in the window, and they had Pirate’s Booty on a rack below the cash register.

There were bald eagles everywhere – they were gorgeous!  

 

Noelle with Corbin’s gun saying, "I’m gonna get you!"  Clarissa holding Noelle on her last boat nap.

John, Cayden, & Clarissa about to go on the tubing adventure of their life!

Cindy & Noelle enjoying the sunset.

Intense suspense… wait for it…

Wow!

Noelle giving Momma some lovin’

Clarissa, Corbin, & John

 

 

Noelle’s turn! 

 

   

John helping Curt wipe down the boat (and enjoying the camera).

   

Good-bye cabin & lake – we’ll miss the memories we made here!

Just another peaceful day on Nacimiento…

NOT!!!

 

Mike & Noelle are standing on the lake shore and you can see the rooftop of the cabin in the trees above.  We had a gorgeous view of the lake! 

 

It was so fun watching the kids have so much fun in the mud!

The dock where lots of fun was had by all!

This was Noelle’s version of playing in the mud (see her face?)!

Cindy was trying to teach Noelle how much fun dirt is…

Believe it or not, by the end of the day Noelle was saying, "The dirt’s fun, Mommy!"

I love Cayden in the background and this is one of my favorite pics of Noelle & Clarissa!

 

Clarissa, Mike, & Cayden on Mike’s first tube ride!

Corbin livin’ it up with Clarissa & John

Noelle had a blast watching everyone go tubing!

Melissa & Corbin about to lose control as well as the "extreme" tubers on the right! 

Sweet Clarissa!

 

Random leg – sorry, Corbin!

GO BROTHER MAN!!!

John definitely impressed us on the wakeboard!

Okay, maybe this is my favorite of the girls – they are so cute together! 

Cindy & Noelle going for a ride in the kayak.

Someone’s getting sleepy!

Wow!  GO CURT!

 

Well now, that was fun!

(I accidentally posted the last day before this day, so here is this day first!)  🙂

 

 

 

From my sister Michele:

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts today. We made it to Japan safe and sound with all our luggage. We’ve managed to stay awake and hope to go to bed at a reasonable time tonight. We had a tour of the base, some different Japanese housing, and are headed out to dinner with new friends. So the adventure begins…

We LOVE you Ebert family!

  

 

   

 

   

Clarissa (age 15), Noelle, & Cindy packing up for our first day of extreme sports on the lake!

 

Corbin (age 8 ) about to drive Noelle & Mo down some serious hills to the lake! 

Noelle has never even seen a lake before.  She picks her upper lip when she’s nervous, and for the first 30 minutes she wouldn’t even let me hold her hand (her little fingers were just holding on to that lip)!

    

Clarissa helped her get used to the water in no time!

Brother Man takes the stage!

   

Cayden (age 13) & Brother Man hanging out.  Brother Man and Noelle about to get down!

Working on getting used to the water.

Noelle’s favorite thing today was ‘getting down’ on the party boat.  Let’s just say she got, "Lo, lo, lo, lo…"

We didn’t even have to come in for nap time – boats are the best – she loved her afternoon naps in Cali!  *Like our lake fairy on the life jacket? 

We got back late last night from our first family vacation!  Brother Man came with us to Los Angeles and Lake Nacimiento where we hung out all week with the Ziemke family.  We can’t wait to go back – we had so much fun!!!

Noelle on her first bus ride with John.  She was so proud of her suitcase!

They had the best play place in the airport, and it was a good thing.  After sitting on the plane for 2 hours (I know, crazy, right) our plane was grounded, and we had to switch airplanes (b/c of a leak in one of the ducts).  One of the pilots told us it was the same problem that took down the Columbia space shuttle, so we were happy to wait for another airplane.

 

Silly faces…

 

Noelle decided to provide all of our co-passengers some entertainment.

 

Noelle loved taking her new school back pack with us (thanks Keri)!

 

After a 3-hour turned 7-hour flight, bus ride, two train rides, and an airplane, we finally arrived in LA!  Our first stop was the famous In-N-Out burger joint (yummy!)

 

The palm trees behind us are criss-crossed.  They have this symbol at every In-N-Out (Michele, did you know that little piece of trivia?).

John and Cayden about to enjoy a great burger.

*I’m taking my camera to the shop tomorrow to get all the sand cleaned out, but I’ll be posting trip pictures ALL week (amidst all of our unpacking and activities)!

I wanted to get a picture of Noelle’s pretty blue eyes, so I asked her to look for birds.