The Knepp's

Friday, June 17, 2011

Day 4: Ronald Reagan Museum & Cook Out

Day 4- We went to the Ronald Reagan museum and took a private tour for free (my cousin's grandma on her dad's side of the family is a tour guide there a few times a week)! It was so neat! I wish we would of had more time there- but a museum isn't the most 16 month old friendly place :) We were there on the 7th anniversary of his death and Nancy Reagan was there that morning putting flowers on his grave. There was a lot of extra agents there that day and security was high.

What they wore for the inauguration.

Model of how the oval office looked when President Reagan was in office.

B was in Heaven :) Police car and Police motorcycle :)

The AirForce 1 that President Reagan used is at this museum.

We were able to tour the inside (super cool), but not take any pictures in it.

Chopper :)

Family!

The view is gorgeous (even though this day was overcast).

Someone donated 17 acres for this museum to sit on- there was problem though b/c none of it was flat.

They had to blow up some moutains (not even joking!) to get the ground flat enough for the place to sit!

The boys playing outside on the patio area.

President Reagan is buried here.

Those are the flowers Mrs. Reagan put on that morning.

He died of Alzheimers.

After we left there we went to my dad's cousin's house- Kathy and her husband Jeff's for a cookout.

Brycen enjoyed sliding down the wooden steps.

Unfortunately Corbin loved the steps too! What a mess!

My cousin Sara and I- she's just a year younger than me.

Me and almost all my CA cousins... Greg is missing.

Kristen, me, Ryan, Sarah, Bridgette, Max, Robbie, and Kenny.

We had such a good time catching up with everyone! I hadn't seen some of these cousins' since I was in 6th grade!

Day 3- Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, & Hollywood

Day 3- We got up and went and got donuts at an Iranian donut shop. They were delish! Different than Indiana donuts, but still very good!

We then left for some sightseeing :) First we hit up Santa Monica Pier. Cool Place :)

Beach looking off the pier- I have no idea how those people were swimming b/c it was only 60 degrees outside!

Family on the pier

We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant on the end of the pier overlooking the water and then headed out to Venice Beach.

If you've never been to Venice Beach- words and pictures just can't do it justice.... ask Ryan! It was his first time and he was shocked!

The beach is sooo deep to get to the water- so pretty!

Craziness.

There was a maijuana shop and a botox shop (scary on venice beach) right next to each other.

Hippies?

Corbin loved the sand and thought putting it down his shirt was HILARIOUS!

He screamed and said, "no no NO" when we tried to leave!

B always up for playing in the sand!

Sand angels!

After we left there we headed to Hollywood to see some sights.

This is the first sight we saw... and Ryan's favorite picture of the whole trip- lol.

Mary Kate and Ashley are an inside joke- so I had to take this :)

I was sooo sick by Saturday evening that we went back to my aunt's and I crashed in the bed. They went to get take out for supper and got me some medicine. I literally felt like I couldn't move. It was awful! I used a whole box of kleenex and was pretty miserable.

I got up the next morning feeling a little better thankfully!

Day 2- Disney & Bubba Gumps

Day 2: We got up and headed to Anaheim to Disneyland. Those tram drivers from the parking lot to the park sure were GROUCHY! I guess since they weren't inside the park they didn't think they needed to fit into the "happiest place on earth" category! Great way to start off our morning, ha!

Boys waiting on the tram :)

Corbin fell asleep for a couple hours while we were there (thankfully!)

This one cracks me up!

Waiting on a small coaster ride

Bridgette (My cousin Max's fiance') and Brycen... of course he finds a girlfriend every where we go!

Corbin woke up from his nap a much happier boy!

Corbin loved the rides!

Both boys' favorite ride was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Right before leaving the park!

Such a fun day!

We went to Bubba Gump's for supper- such a fun place!

B loved the boat his food came in :)

and C loved his food :) lol

Dad, Mom, Me, (corbin in a high chair you can't see), Ryan, Penny, Brycen, Bridgette, & Kathy

It was another late night, but such a fun day was worth it!

Day 1- Flying & Mexican

I guess you could consider this Day 2 since we actually stayed in Louisville the night before, but I don't have any pictures of that - so I'm going to go with Day 1 :) Our flight left at 6:00am Thursday (June 2nd) sooo we stayed close to the airport and took a shuttle there the next morning.

Corbin looking out the windows before our flight.

Brothers :)

After our first flight (which wasn't very full) the pilot asked Brycen if he wanted to come up and help him fly the plane before we got off :)

Corbin did very well on the both plane rides. I was so nervous about how he would do, but it went okay! The first one was only an hour and 10 min. so we were up and down, but the second one was four and a half hours! Yikes! He slept the first two so that helped. We just had to keep him busy after that! Lots' of snacks and passing him back and forth, but no screaming occured! Whew!

We got into LA X at 11:30 (Cali. time- 2:30pm our time). We had to go pick up our rental van and drive to my dad's cousin's house. We were all just beat! We got settled in and ran to Walmart for a few things we needed before it was time to get ready for supper.

We met up with a bunch of family at Don Cuco's for some Mexican food (nothing will ever beat Mi Pueblo!).

It was so nice to see family, but we were all sooo tired we went back to my cousin's and went straight to bed!

My boys after dinner (Corbin's not a fan of pictures!).

We left 95 degree weather here in Indiana and arrived in Cali. just in time for what they call "June Gloom" and temps in the low 60's! We were freezing and wished we would of packed some warmer clothes!

16 Months Old

Corbin turned 16 months old while we were on vacation. Crazy!

Mr. Corbin still has majorrrr attitude! We have our hands full with this one! No is his favorite word and he shakes his hands in front of him like an umpire saying you're safe at home plate! lol He also sticks his chest out and yells so loud his veins pop out! It's pure craziness! I'm hoping, no scratch that, praying, it will get better as his communication skills improve.

The day we left on vacation I had to take Corbin to the dr. b/c he had a slight fever and I didn't want to chance anything since we'd be gone for 2 weeks. Thankfully, I did b/c he had slight ear infection. We started antibiotics that day. He also got FOUR teeth on bottom (eye teeth and molars) while were gone (and one on top is very close to coming in). I'm sure this accounts for some (most?) of his grouchiness... they look so painful! He now has a total of 14 (almost 15) teeth! What a mouthful!

He weighs 24lbs 2oz. Size 4 diapers still... wearing 18-24 month clothes and size 5 shoes (when we can actually get him to keep his shoes on!). The boy is soooo funny- he cracks us up with his antics! He hates wearing shoes and takes them off (or gets mad if he can't get them off), but he LOVES to bring everyone their shoes (and he usually takes ours to the right person!) and he hands it to you and says, "tank ou" (thank you). So sweet!

He is such a climber... he always has been, but it's just gotten worse! He has now figured out how to climb on the kitchen chairs (yikes!). Thankfully, he is pretty good about figuring out how to safely get down too... We stopped using the high chair b/c he wouldn't eat very well in it anymore and kept trying to climb out! We are now using a booster seat at the table and he is doing great with that (and it's easier on us too then moving the high chair to the table each time!).

He still loves his sippy cup. He gets a cup of milk in the morning and one before bedtime. Otherwise, during the day he has mainly water with a few drops of juice (unless Daddy is making the sippy and then he gets more juice, tsk tsk daddy!). He says uiccceeee for Juice. I love hearing him ask for or say things.

He only has about two toys he will actually play with and otherwise he's always on the go just running around and chasing his brother :)

He's still not very picky about his food (most of the time)... for example on vacation he ate Japanese and didn't blink an eye!

He LOVES the water. He has NO fear! We went to an indoor water park in AZ and he would stick his face in the water and crack up laughing, he loved the water slides and wanted to do them by himself (Mr. Independent).

He is such a blessing (attitude and all) to our lives. I can't imagine how boring life would be with out him :)

I am anxious to see how his personality keeps developing!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

First/Last

Brycen on his first day of Kindergarten & on his last day of Kindergarten.

This year has went way too fast- time, please slow down!

Splash Park

Memorial Day weekend for us wasn't filled with cookouts and free time this year (last year we spent it moving out of our old house). This year it was spent working outside on the dirtwork/moving trees/etc. I also spent a lot of time getting us ready for vacation. On Monday evening after Corbin got up for his nap my dad had taken the backhoe back and I told Ryan I thought he could spare a few minutes for us to take the boys to the splash park :) He was up for a break so we headed there for only about an hour, but it was around 5pm and not crowded so that was nice!