Warning LOTS of photos on this post!

When I go to a new place I feel like I have to document every aspect of it so here we are camping at Santee Lakes.
There are ducks here, lots of them. It was fun feeding them and watching all the different types. One type liked to swim round and round in mass circles then pair off and make little mating dance-like circles :)This place is big so we rode bikes and scooted everywhere we went.Nate's new jammies camouflaged him on our trailer cushions!Day 2 was sunny and beautiful!This is not an angry face, this is a "tough guy w/police officer glasses" face.This is how we roll, 4 people - 2 bikesFound a cool tree with a tunnel... and a hole out the other sideThis place had 4 different playgrounds. Nate called this one the Wipeout playgroundSome fishing... not sure why Ryan is sitting in the tiny kid chair.Nate liked fishing for about 2 minutesZach was really into the bait. Kept gettin 1 out, tearing it up and tossing it in the lake.He tried fishing too, for about 2 minutesThe boys brought their new Christmas presents from Nana and PapaNate told me this is how he's gonna smile in pictures from now on... luckily he forgot about it.Just hangin out.Ryan climbed this cool tree near 1 of the playgroundsRyan tried fishing a second time with no luck again, but the boys got to watch him cut up a worm for bait.Fishing with PapaThis was our beautiful site:

Oh What a Beautiful Christmas Morning

Side note I accidentally deleted really cute pictures of my boys standing in front of their giant stuffed stockings waiting to open them cuz I thought I already transferred them but I hadn't - doh! Here is a shot moments later with them trying out their new instruments and wearing new sunglasses and beanies. In front of the tree... actually waiting patiently for my to take a photo.Making Daddy wear the new sunglassesYes I wrapped those, they are fishing poles!Their favorite thing: the Batcave!Our tradition is to take a picture standing or sitting in our giant stockings, you cant tell but Nate is SUPER pissed off in this picture. This is about 2 minutes before a major meltdown!We headed over to Nana's house for breakfast and more fun. Here Zach is trying out a lip gloss my mom gave me:All the cousins sittin on the pool table ready for the action!Zach and Chase got this fun game from Aunitie Becky and Uncle Joel (Nate loves it)My mom got all the kids really cute name stamps, Nate tested it out on his tummy (it's still faintly there a week later now)We were super stoked to surprise my brother with a unicycle from us and the Reynolds, luckily he really liked it!Afterwards we headed to Ryan's folks to hang out, we have the same stocking photo tradition with his family. This time Zach wasnt into it:Cousin Mei Mei got a new kitty for Christmas and my boys just LOVED it (hint hint, Ryan - not that he reads my blog)
I have NEVER heard Nate laugh as hard as he does when he is playing with a dog or a kitten. I wish my crappy cat would play with him :(

Nate turns 5!

Our big boy is now a five year old! I took cupcakes to Nate's class to celebrate - he requested chocolate with blue icing, yummy!Here's Nate and his pal Ethan doing some silly dancingWe had 2 parties this year, his friend party had a Buzz Lightyear theme.and of course there were cupcakes.All the kids had to pass a Space Range Obstacle Course Training with special Space Range HeadbandsAll the kids ready to go:One of the obstacles was to shoot Zurg with silly string (Nate's idea)Best Buddy Seth:Getting ready to watch Nate's 5th Birthday video (my favorite part)Someone is excited for more cupcakes!Here's Nate's invite for his family partyWe got our first ever pinata ~ it was an impulse buy that afternoon when we were picking up last minute supplies from Winco.Crazy Smart girls!Pinata head!Nate was super excited to get these Mario Kart rc guys! (So was Zach)Of course there were even more cupcakes...