Beach Baptism 2008

Every year our church has a baptism service at the beach in Santa Cruz. It is a really great time to relax, enjoy friends, and watch people from our church community get baptized in the Pacific Ocean. We met up with our friends, The Kaysers again to enjoy the afternoon.

Emma and Adam playing in the sand

Emma loved running into the shallow water. Daddy was close behind. Mommy took the pictures because she does not enjoy the cold 60 degree water all that much

Emma and Adam Running into the water!


Waving to the camera

Mommy braved the water for a quick family picture

After playing and eating, there was a worship and sharing time and then it was time to head into the water for the baptisms

"We are going to watch people get baptized"

Our pastor and two helpers get ready for one baptism

Many braved cold water and big waves to show their dedication to God

Emma cheers everyone on
After the baptism service, Daddy and Emma took advantage of the windy day and flew their kite into the setting sun


It was a beautiful service and a great time with friends!

Someone let the animals out of the zoo!

This morning we had a yard sale planned with our great friends, the Kaysers. Emma and Adam pretty much had the run of the house! Here is what Daddy found when he checked on them...

Emma's animals have escaped!

Emma climbs into the cradle to escape from them

Come on Adam, climb in!

We're Safe!
We made about $140 in our yard sale, but more importantly, our garage cleaner :)

"Lazy Sunday"

At the beginning of the summer, our church wanted to encourage members to go to the Saturday Night Service. Here are our music and compassion pastors in a little video to promote it.

Camp Avalanche Ranch

Breakfast in the car!
Emma and I have been going to the ranch this week; otherwise know as our church's Vacation Bible School! I have been working with the recreation crew playing games while Emma has been having fun in the 2 and 3 year old class. Emma gets to play, do arts and crafts, sing, and listen to bible stories. She loves all of her teachers and is worn out by the end of the morning. I snuck in to Emma's class during one of my breaks this morning and this is what I found!

Emma giving some love (I love the boy in the background with turtle in his nose! :)

One more treasure

I think my favorite treasure that I found on the camera today was this video taken by my brother while playing with Emma. I don't think that he knew the camera was set to video, but it was too cute not to share!

Emma, the budding photographer

Emma loves taking pictures, so a lot of times we give her our small camera to play with. We mostly find pictures of her fingers, but here are a few that were kind of fun
.
Mommy reaching for the camera

Emma's view while shopping in the stroller

Emma's dress

Peek-a-Boo!

and lastly, a picture of our good friend Sydney taken in Sunday School
I think she will be a great photographer, if only we could teach her to take her finger off the lens!

I found some treasure!

If you consider pictures a treasure... I used our old small digital camera this morning and when I uploaded the pictures, I had some that we had taken back in the spring. For some reason, on this morning, Emma decided to practice her posing...

Take my picture Mommy!

"Speak no Evil"

Posing

My Favorite! If only they were not taken in our bathroom!

One more day in New York

On Monday, Daddy and Grandpa went to play some golf, so the girls relaxed at home and Emma got to get creative. Grandma found some paint in the house and Emma made her a new picture for the refrigerator.



You can also see some the great toys Emma got to play with all weekend. We had a great time! Thank You Grandpa and Grandma for such a fun time!

Niagara Falls

We spent Sunday with Grandma at Niagara Falls. Emma loves water and boats, so this seemed like the perfect combination. We parked on the United States side of the falls and then made use of our passports by walking over to the Canada side where all the action is. We had some lunch and then headed over to our first stop "Journey Behind the Falls"

"Is it raining?"

No, we are just really close to "Horseshoe Falls"

Emma did not mind getting a little wet to get a good view
We headed down into tunnels built behind the falls to get a closer look of the amazing waterfall

Emma and Grandma model their yellow ponchos

"Is this the way to the waterfall?"

Horseshoe falls, up close and personal
After come out of the tunnels, we off the get some cool refreshment

Emma gave hugs to the Hershey's Kiss

"Hmmm, which flavor do I want today?

Chocolate Mint it is

Eating with Grandma
Time to head back into the United States for another adventure.... The Maid of the Mist boat tour

The boat gets really close to the falls for another view

The view from the bridge going back to the USA


Emma and I model our new ponchos, blue this time

The falls were beautiful with rainbows everywhere!
We had a great time seeing this natural wonder and spending time with Grandma, too!

A day at the Rochester's Strong Museum of Play

After sleeping in this morning, we headed off to a great museum in Rochester that was made for Emma. She got to run around, play, and meet some of her favorite friends...

This is the closest we will ever get to quadruplets!

So.....you want to race?

a new fishy friend

Can anyone guess what front stoop Emma and Daddy are on?... Here is a hint



Who are the people in your neighborhood? Well today Emma was one of the people on Sesame Street...

Driving a cab of very special customers

You can pay me in cookies!
She also got to visit Elmo's World where she and Daddy had some fun on TV with...

The Count and,

Elmo!
Last stop in Sesame Street was a visit to Big Bird's Nest

Daddy... your hogging the feather bed!
Sesame Street made us a little hungry, so we let Emma do some shopping at the make believe Wegmans

Emma choosing some interesting things for lunch

Then daddy checks her out...$23.52 please
The museum had tons of other things to explore... but we could tell that Emma was "all done"

More time with the Berenstain Bears next time...
Stay tuned... tomorrow Emma visits Niagara Falls!