Tennis Everyone

I guess the tradition started back at BYU when Joey and Nate had a tennis class together. Their text was titled "Tennis Everyone." Now when we go on a family vacation it is a MUST that the boys get together for "Tennis Everyone" -- and take some ridiculous pictures.

They played years ago in Maui,

 

a few years later in Sea Ranch,

 and, again, this year while we were there.

This time they started off a little conservative,

but it didn't take long for the posing to get silly.

 

The Truck

 There was a major tree cutting project going on across the street from our house at Sea Ranch.  Noah was in heaven.  As if the ocean and beach weren't enough, it was like we had ordered up huge trucks for him watch and play on as part of the vacation.

 

In the early morning or after the workers went home for the day, we'd take Noah over to see the truck.  He ran to get there.

This truck cured any bad mood or boredom.  He was always happy to go see it.

 

We didn't mind the noise from all of that tree cutting because it made for a very happy guy.

Here's a little clip of him exploring the truck:

Tie Dye and Talent Show

The tie dye portion of this all started with Annie making shirts for the girls a week before our trip.  It later expanded to all of the family dying shirts while at Sea Ranch, just in time to wear them for the family talent show.

It was just like we were at Enrichment Night, with Annie as our leader.

Or, maybe it was like preschool because all of us were calling her name like little children asking for help.

 

Either way, she did a great job coaching us through the process.

Fast forward to the next night when we all sported our new shirts.

 

The talent show has become a family tradition when we're on vacation.  It's a bit more of a show, than a display of talent -- at least for some of us.  But it is always a good time.

Sammie and Abby started off the show with Irish dancing.  It was hilarious and impressive.  They are good little dancers!

K.C. showed a real display of talent by singing a song.

Noah's talent was a bit impromptu. I didn't know if he'd cooperate to say a few words and sounds that he knows, but he proved to be quite the showman.

Grandma read part of Frog and Toad, a Boyce family favorite when the kids were growing up.

After everyone had performed, Annie and Becky finished the show with a great duet.  We can always count on them to give us some real talent.

We interrupt Sea Ranch for an important message...

Forget Sea Ranch for a second, because this family has some big, exciting news!

Very late Friday night I got this in a text message:

My sister is engaged!

We are so happy for Kristina and Jason.  Let the planning and celebrating begin!

At the Tide Pools

Exploring in the tide pools was another 'must' during our time at Sea Ranch.  The three of us went out one morning to a spot we'd been before.  It was much more challenging to get to with a little one, super windy, and there wasn't much to see. 

But we did track down a starfish and let Noah hold it for the first time.  He didn't know quite what to think of it, but was curious nonetheless.

The next day, we headed to a much better spot with all of the family.  I love that Grandma didn't hestitate to get into the water a bit to explore.

I taught the kids to gently touch the anemones and watch them close up.

Noah thought that was pretty fun and laughed every time he touched one.

Olivia wasn't super thrilled to be holding the starfish, but she held on long enough for a picture.

We had a great time exploring together and finding lots of creatures.  Everything, even tide pooling, is better with family!

Kayaking

It's hard to take pictures when the camera is in a dry bag most of the time, but we captured a little bit of our kayaking adventure up the Gualala River.

It started out incredibly windy, but that improved quickly.  Grandma, Joey and the girls jumped into a canoe and the rest of us had kayaks. 

He looks happy, but this kid was a screamer a good portion of the time.  That will happen when you wake up before 6 a.m. happy and ready to start the day.  He was definitely tired and probably should have just gone down for an early nap instead of kayaking.  But I'm glad we took him.

We stopped to eat lunch and play in the river a bit. 

These uncles were more than happy to splash attack Olivia.

Paddling back the crankiness started up again, but Noah soon surrendered to sleep.  With both of us wearing life jackets, it was tricky to find a comfortable sleeping spot, but he managed just fine.

Point Arena Lighthouse

One afternoon we left Noah napping with Uncle Joey and headed north to the Point Arena lighthouse. 

 

These girls did great hiking up 115 feet of stairs to the top.

We're happy any time we get to do something with these guys since we don't see them often enough.  They win a major prize for driving with us to and from Sea Ranch with a sometimes crabby Noah in the backseat with them.

It was a little tricky getting down those first stairs with Brennan, but Tyler and Brittany made it work.