Beach Day With the Cousins

Andrew and Jon climbed up to a cave

Justus


Grandma Engell with Annie




David loved the water

Building sandcastles

David was cold in his wet clothes so I took them off


Annie, so cute!

Aimee with Annie and her Mom

Me and David

Me and Andrew


Sunset

The Zoo

On Saturday we all went to the zoo with Andrew's sister Aimee and her family. His mom and sister Aleah also came with us. We all had a fun time. It was fun to watch the children enjoying all the animal. Later that same day we also went down to the beach and had a picnic and played in the waves. Pictures from the beach will be in the next post.

The Three Cousins


David and Justus


Grandma Engell with the grandchildren


Annie and David


The Tiger


Aleah with Justus, me with David


A Tortoise


Watching the Flamingos


Annie


Pretty Parrot


Andrew and David

Tea Cozy

My sister has a cute etsy shop where she sells handmade tea cozys. They would make great gifts. She also sells beautiful card sets.

Gingerbread Cottage

Melissa and I had such an enjoyable time creating this gingerbread house. First we looked online at many pictures of gingerbread houses, cottages, and barns. We decided on a basic style we liked and created a pattern. Then we went down to the candy shop and bought lots of fun candy for decorating. Melissa baked the gingerbread and I worked on clear candy for the windows. I made three batches; the first batch I burnt, the second one turned out good but I didn't think Of pouring it right into the window holes, so I made on last batch and poured it into the windows. Finally the windows were perfect! Then we put it all together with icing. After that we let it sit overnight to harden. The next day was the fun part, we decorated the house and landscaped around it. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Melissa making the dough

Constructing the house


All the colorful candy

A cute snowman and sled

The finished cottage


The gingerbread house at night. We put some battery operated tealights inside and they glow through the windows.

Sunset

In the Tree

The Guys

David Sees the Ocean

We took David to the beach last week. He wasn't really feeling very well that day(he had three teeth coming in), but he really enjoyed the beach. It was probably the happiest part of his day!

Melissa the Photographer

Cousins

David has enjoyed visiting his cousins while we have been in California. Here is a cute picture of Annie and David riding the rocking horses that Jon made. Jon and Aimee have a really cute store where they sell handmade wooden toys.