Adventures in April

Chuck had two weeks vacation scheduled in April so we were able to do all kinds of fun things during that time off. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to.


We took a trip down to San Diego and went to the San Diego Zoo with my Mom and the rest of the Fraley family.
Ashton hates wearing hats, but it was so sunny that day we had to pretty much force him to keep that hat on.
He loves animals, so we made sure to visit the petting zoo.
I haven't been to the San Diego zoo since I was about 3 years old. I obviously don't remember that trip, but it must've happened because here is the family picture to prove it. haha. The elephant exhibit is still in the exact same location. But they are currently working on a much larger/spacious exhibit for these amazing animals.

I'm the littlest one, but if you know my family, you already knew that. I love this picture because there are so few with all five of us kids and I love the way Keith is wrapping his arms around us "little kids." I also love Jeanette's hot pink shorts!! haha



The morning we were heading off to San Diego Zoo, we were startled awake at 3am by a crazy car accident that left our back yard/block wall a bit damaged to say the least. Unfortunately for our next door neighbor, the damage you see here is mostly their wall. In fact, the big chunk you see teetering is now just a big gaping hole in their back yard. The large bush/tree in their yard couldn't hold up the wall any longer and all of the bricks eventually came tumbling down. Our property line starts right where you see the gray cement light post, and directly to the right of that. We're missing 5-10 bricks in our wall, but in no way did our property suffer as much as theirs did. No one was injured in the accident, besides a blood nose the girl had from the airbag. It's not documented yet whether or not she was intoxicated, but our street isn't very busy, especially at 3am, so.... we'll let you make the call. It's been over a month since the accident and the wall is in exactly the same condition, if not worse. We're starting to believe that you're not necessarily "in good hands, with ALLSTATE!" (No offense to anyone who has or works for Allstate insurance, that's just the insurance carrier that the driver has, and they have done a great job in disappointing us... and stressing Chuck out!)




After we got back from San Diego, we drove up to the Silent Valley RV Resort, near Idyllwild, and spent a few very relaxing days camping in the Fraley family motorhome. We had a great time. Ashton loves anything outside so he was a very happy camper.
Here's Chuck grilling some dinner.
Ashton's ready to take the wheel.
This was the squirrel that stole Ashton's graham cracker after he kept throwing them on the ground. I guess it's finders keepers when you're in the woods.
Stopping for a snapshot on one of the many hikes we took/
He also likes swings... can't you tell.



When we got back from camping we had to try out Ashton's new inner tube in the hot tub. I don't think he cares what we stick him in, as long as he gets to splash around in the water.


The second week of Chuck's vacation we went back down to San Diego to spend a few days with Uncle Tim. He lives right across the street from the beach so it's always nice (and relaxing) to go spend time with him.

Ashton loves to hand out with Uncle Tim, which is nice because that always gives Chuck and I a bit of a break. Those two boys could hang out for hours... and they DO! =)


We had a barbecue outside on Tim's patio and needless to say, Ashton definitely got his fair share of grub.
We just put up his play pen in the shade on the patio and he was happy for hours, as long as we kept tossing a few pieces of watermelon at him here and there.

Here he is in his food coma. He's awake, just resting for his next round of watermelon and carne asada.
Peek-a-boo.... He liked sitting on Chuck's shoulders because that made him tall enough to peek over Tim's patio fence.
We took a break from eating and went on a walk (across the street) down to the beach.




During the last week of April, Jeanette, Mom and I went to a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel Show to see his musical guest for that evening, Neil Diamond. He's one of Mom's favorite singers so as soon as I got the email that he was going to be a guest on the show again, (we also saw him 3 years ago at a Jimmy Kimmel taping) I ran over to my computer and immediately requested some free tickets. Yes, it's free to go to most TV show tapings. Here is a picture of our "girls night out." After the concert was over, we went across the street to the Hollywood & Highland shopping area and ate at California Pizza Kitchen. YUMMY!!



Here is a video I took during the concert. I used my cell phone so the quality is only fair, but you get the gist of the fun that we had. Our taping will air on May 23rd. So make sure you look for our tiny heads in the big crowd of Neil Diamond fans!

p.s. I purposely wanted to capture my Mom dancing in the shot (on the left), and Jeanette swaying her head back and forth (on the right).. haha. They're TRUE fans! And yes, that's my whiny voice singing along with the chorus towards the end. Don't worry, I have no goals/dreams of becoming the next "American Idol."