Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we took Ashlyn to the Pumpkin Patch. It is so much fun now that Ashlyn is a little bit older and could understand what we were doing.

She wasn't too sure about standing in the giant pumpkin. If you look closely you can she her head in the pumpkin's nose.

Ashlyn was amazed at the size of this pumpkin!

We finally found the perfect Ashlyn sized pumpkin.

We had such a fun day!

Los Angeles Zoo

This fall break we also took a trip with our friends Seth and Emily and their kids Nathan and Audrey to the Los Angeles Zoo. It was so much fun to see how excited Ashlyn got over every animal. Here are a few of Ashlyn's favorite animals of the day.

At the end of the day we asked Ashlyn which animal was her favorite, and her reply was "the animals". I guess she just couldn't pick.

Hawaii

One of the reasons that Jarom took a new job teaching math over at Apple Valley High School was fall break, and this fall break made the move over worth it. The three of us took a trip to Kaua'i, Hawaii with Jarom's parents, his sister Jessica and her husband Todd. It was so much fun! Here are a few snap shots from our trip.

There are waterfalls all over Kaua'i and these quickly became one of Ashlyn's favorite parts of her trip.

She learnt to say the word waterfall (or "Wat-er-fall" in Ashlyn language) and when ever she saw a waterfall she would get so excited.

One of the days we were in Hawaii we took a boat trip to Fern Grotto. This is Ashlyn waiting to catch the boat. Ashlyn loves to wear Jarom's hat so she gave Jarom her hat and took his!

Ashlyn was so excited about the boat ride she kept saying "boat boat" that was until the boat started moving then she was a little unsure about the boat ride, as you can tell by the look on her face.

Fern Grotto was fun. It is a cave where on the outside of the cave the ferns are growing downwards all over the cave.

While we were there Ashlyn found a "meow" and as those are one of her favorite animals she had to go say hi.

One of the coolest parts of being in Hawaii is you get to see the coolest things. For instance we took a trip to the beach, and just laying on the sand was a monk seal, and then a few minutes later a sea turtle came out of the water and laid on the beach. How cool!

On one of our day trips we drove up to Waimea Canyon which is also known as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. As you can see it is a pretty impressive view, once you make it up to the top!

For dinner one night we ate at the Beach House. The restaurant is right on the beach. This is Jarom and Ashlyn during dinner as the sunsets behind them. Pretty cool!

We went to Po'ipu beach (the same beach where we saw the seal and turtle) the water was so clear you could see the fish swimming right by you. Ashlyn had so much fun she didn't want to get out of the water.

We also got to see the Spouting Horn.

Lastly I couldn't write about our trip to Hawaii without including the Roosters (or "roostiff" if you were talking to Ashlyn) The roosters are all over Kaua'i which at first is kinda fun seeing them all over the place that is until they are cock-a-doodle-doo-ing at 4am outside your door, but even with the interrupted sleep we had an awesome time. A big thank you to Jarom's parents for letting us all tag along with them we had a really great time.

Today we got to meet the newest addition to the Viehweg family.

He or She is due March 23rd 2009.

Mammoth 2008

For our vacation this year we took a trip to Mammoth Mountain with Jarom's family. We had a blast! It was so fun being able to hang out with each other and enjoy each other's company.

The trip to Mammoth is about four hours. I put off Ashlyn's nap time so that she would take a nice long nap in the car. I had good intentions, but Ashlyn had plans of her own. The convoy (which consisted of Jarom's parents in the car in front, Jarom, Ashlyn and I in the middle car, and Todd, Jessica, Laurel and Laurel's friend Lindsey in the car in back) finally left around three. About an hour or so into the car ride Ashlyn finally fell aleep. I had visions of her sleeping until we pulled up at the condo in Mammoth three hours later. Well about forty five minutes into nap time we pulled into a rest stop where Ashlyn woke up and then never went back to sleep. Let's just say we had a pretty cranky Ashlyn on our hands. Finally we made it to Mammoth and the fun began.

The first day we were there we decided that we would take Ashlyn on a test hike to see how she would do. We decided on a hike that wasn't too far or too hard. We set off and probably got about 300 feet before we realized that it would likely take us until the next afternoon to finish the hike at the speed we were going, so Jarom's mom Carol and I took Ashlyn to walk around the lake while the others went on. We were soon joined by Todd and Jessica, and we had a nice stroll around the lake. The weather was perfect it sure beat the 100 degree weather we were having back at home. We found a neat waterfall and couldn't resist taking some pictures.

This is Ashlyn and I with the waterfall in the background. If you look really closely you can see that Ashlyn is covered in dirt. She keep falling over and then just laughing.

Here are Todd and Jessica at the waterfall.

The rest of the week was filled with hiking, ping pong, swimming, games, and lot's of good food. We were up at Mammoth for the Fourth of July. We drove down to Crowley Lake to watch the fireworks.

This is Ashlyn, Grandpa (papa), and Grandma waiting for the fireworks to start.

It is really hard to get a good picture of the fireworks; this is the best that we did. The fireworks display was amazing and lasted for a long time. Ashlyn loved the fireworks and wasn't at all scared of them, even though they boomed twice because they echoed off the mountains right behind us.

After the fireworks we went back to the condo and had s'mores. We toasted the marshmallows over the electric stove, which worked pretty well. It was the perfect end to a great day.

This is Ashlyn eating her first s'more.

She broke it open and went straight for the marshmallows and chocolate.


As you can see I think she enjoyed it.

Our trip to Mammoth was a blast. The car ride home from Mammoth wasn't too bad. Ashlyn slept for about two and half hours and didn't get real fussy until we were nearly home. Thank you to Jarom's parents for letting us tag along to Mammoth. We had so much fun! Can't wait for next year!

I often wonder how Ashlyn can sleep just about anywhere!

Disney's California Adventure

When we went to Disneyland we had purchased two-fer tickets, and we finally got around to using them.

Everyone got pretty wet after this ride, except Maria who wore a poncho.

This was right before the ride shot them straight up into the air.



This ride was one of Josh and Ryan's (my little brothers) favorite rides.

Before a Bugs Life,

After a Bug's Life.






Still not too impressed, but at least she stopped clinging on to me.





Ashlyn was not too sure of those giant ants.








Ashlyn, daddy and Chip.








Finally a character Ashlyn liked, Sleeping Beauty.










Ashlyn, mommy and Goofy.







My dad during the parade.












Disney's California Adventure was so much fun. The weather was perfect and a good time was had by all. We were even given free passes to stay in the park for an extra hour after it closed. What a great day!