We are official aeronauts!

Apparently the official term for hot air balloon passengers is “aeronauts.” Andy received a gift certificate last year from one of his vendors for a hot air balloon ride for two with breakfast afterward at South Coast Winery. We thought we would save it for our anniversary which is this Wednesday. My mom was here for a couple of days this weekend, so we decided that as long as she was here to watch the kiddos, we should take the opportunity to use the gift certificate. So, at 6:30 am yesterday morning, we headed out for our first hot air balloon adventure.

I, of course, was a bit nervous for no reason. It was actually really fun. I didn't get scared once we were in the sky. It was really beautiful. It was very quiet while the burners were off. The pilot had to turn them on every couple of minutes. I jumped almost every time he turned them on because it was soooo loud. Our neighbors were so excited that we were going that they, along with 5 of the neighborhood kids, hopped into their mini van and drove out to wine country to see if they could find us. (I had to call them on my cell to tell them what color our balloon was.) They said that they saw us and were waving out of the sun roof. Unfortunately we didn't see them.

This is right before we took off. There were actually 11 of us in that tiny little basket.

Our balloon was called Fantasia. It was blue with yellow stars and a moon and had a picture of Mickey Mouse's wizard hat on the very top.

This is a photo I took of the other balloons while we were flying (or floating I should say!)

Here is Andy just after we landed. The red balloon in the background was another one that took off when we did. It was in the shape of a strawberry.

Now I can cross off one more thing on my bucket list. LOL!

Loose tooth and camping trip....

Ryan is excited to announce that he has his first loose tooth. He will probably be starting school in 3 weeks missing his first tooth. (He is already asking if the Tooth Fairy is real.) *Ü*

Other than that exciting news, we are home from our adventurous camping trip and finally settling back in! The laundry is all done and we are now able to get some good quality sleep! Except for Hannah having a hard time sleeping in the tent, we had a great time. There were 7 families that came with us and Hannah was the youngest of all the kids. I was very grateful that everyone was so forgiving in the morning. I can only imagine what they were all thinking with her fussing much of the night!

Here are some photo highlights of our trip...

This is a group photo of all of the families that went on the trip with us.

Ryan with a silly grin.

They really do love each other!

Hannah's favorite part of camping was playing in the dirt.

We went to a really fun water park which was a life saver since it was soooo hot!

Check out this play equipment. It was one big water playground!

Hannah was strutting her stuff in the kiddie pool.Hannah really enjoyed her Slushie. (I think she played with it more than she drank it!)

Welcome to the Stenz Family Blog

I thought it was time that I started a new blog for my friends and family. As you may (or may not) know, I have had a crafting blog for about a year and a half. (If you would like to take a peek at it, the address is lisascreativecorner.blogspot.com.) I enjoy updating it with my latest creations and even post photos and fun things about my family here and there. I thought it would be fun to have a blog dedicated to just family stuff though so that all of you who are not local can see just how much the kiddos have grown. They bring such joy to us that we want to share it with all of you. I can't promise that I will post daily or even weekly, but I do promise to try to keep you updated with the latest “West Coast Stenz” happenings.

Here is a photo that my mom took at the park on Mother's Day this year. (Not too bad Mom! Shel is teaching you well!)
Well, I should head off to bed. Ryan, Hannah, and I are off to Vacation Bible School early tomorrow morning. (I am helping out with the crafts.) I will let you know how it goes. Maybe I will even have some pictures to post later this week. *Ü*
Love and Hugs,
Lisa