Red Bluff Weekend

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We were in Red Bluff last weekend to hang out with family, eats lots of food, drink lots of beer and watch lots of children. My favorite activities! :)

The Matthews arrived with their 1 week old lambs who required round the clock bottle feeding. lots of helpers here.

Oma had some more landscaping put in so the beloved horsey swing is over a beautiful new grass area. makes the backyard picturesque for farm kids life for the grandchildren!

the kids are all so close (15 in 10 years but 13 of them in 5 years!) it's interesting to see who pairs of with who - it's different each time we all get together. This time, Kate and Francie were BFF's

and JJ was buddy-buddy with "Claraline"

the kids spent lots of time out in the barn watching over the baby lambs

Ellie put the time in to teach them how to drink from a bottle

Patrick, Clara and Maisie tearing things up (in the dress up favorites of course)

Kate stopped long enough to let me take her picture

two more trouble makers

and a hard-working, deserving a break dad (he might kill me for posting - but looks so cute when he's snoozing :)

dinner time chaos

and sunset super heros

"give me your mean face" (love)

Tiny Tess taking her photo-of-the-week on her 6 month birthday, and her signature JanKnit

morning swinging in PJs

how many kids can we fit on the airplane

Maureen and two baby girls (Molly and Lauren)

barn kids

Mary(Jane) had a little lamb...

ok all the Mary's have little lambs (thanks for lending Ellie and Kate)

and after a quick overnight, we stopped at the Long's ranch to say hi and grab some almond wood on the way home. Sutter and Chandler gave us a tour of their new barn and 4H animals

JJ is securely over her fear of horses!

and Tess loved the barn

not afraid!

lucky she has such nice sisters

Sutter showing off her prize lamb - ready for the show almost

she was so sweet with the girls!

lots of fun in Red Bluff, as usual. Be back to the dirt and fun soon!

Canada Ice Fishing

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We had an awesome adventure to Banff Canada the first week in March! We had some airline miles to burn and a free week so we scouted around and picked Banff (ok I admit I it wasn't the poolside pina colada trip I was imagining - but my husband won) We invited Oma, Jannie and Grampa to join us - four kids, ten adults hands = real vacation! I have so many pictures so breaking it up - here are the photos from our full day of ice fishing out on a frozen lake in Calgary - quite the adventure!

plane ride was pretty easy, less than 3 hours! But on a small plane with 2 and 2 seats on each side so we were all spread out. It took us about 45 minutes to print our boarding passes and get an infant pass too. Turns out it causes some problems when 5 of 9 travelers are named MarySomething Heffernan! Don't even get me started on customs...

we started out the drive from Calgary airport to Banff with two Suburbans for all of us and all of our gear. We took JJ and Tess - the grandparent mobile had the big girls

Backree on the other sled

what a tourist

some of the scenery

We drove out about an hour to go ice fishing! The girls were so excited. I had been cooped up in the hotel the first two days while the crowd took the big girls skiing but Tess and I decided to brave the cold and adventure out for some fun. I was so proud of Jannie and her willingness to do this crazy stuff with the girls too! (Not that she hasn't always been adventurous- but the great outdoors Heffernan style is pushing it!)

Grampa and JJ - ready to rock the long trail down to the lake. Looks just like pictures of holding me and my siblings bundled up in the snow - except in color ;)

trekking

Jannie and Grampa - the guide taught us to say WHISKEY when we smile! :)

the girls and the bait hitching a ride

Brian and Oma - the expert fishers!

I swear Tess is in there somewhere

OUT in the middle of a frozen lake. Took me a bit to get used to this...

we found our ice hut

the lone boys

and the girls inside the hut - don't worry the ice holes were only 6 inches wide

we let the girls and the grandmas fish for while in the hut - it was a little crowded!

here fishy fishy

Dad didn't last long without a fishing pole in his hand

Tess says "what the heck are we doing out here mom? the hotel was so warm!"

FIRST FISH! Didn't take long!

purty. JJ was not a fan

Grampa warmed up Tiny so I could have a turn (didn't catch anything, I never do!)

Jannie didn't either - we are not the fisherwomen I guess. Left that to Oma and Heff and Grampa!

but we made sure grampa got a turn - just like the old days on the Lake Tahoe pier!

the girls ventured off to make a fresh hole in the ice with the guide

Happy girls

very happy dad

they have the patience I don't

Jannie is bundled up in that ice hut with a heater and JJ - smart girls!

Tess and I just kept busy taking selfies of ourselves and watching the fishing. She's thrilled ;)

hot chocolate break while dad mans the pole

Maisie back for more action

Jannie and her girls

Maisie was so proud of the "rainbow" she made in the snow

and snow angels

OMA caught this fish - Jannie held it for a photo and when I Instagramed this pic she got all the fish-catching credit - just to set the record straight Jannie wants to make sure everyone knows this was Oma's fish!

yum yum

not giving up - she wanted to stay there all day

so pretty

lunch time!

Family photo

and that's a wrap - back to the hotel for afternoon cocktails!!!

Cousin Visit

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We had a great visit from the LA cousins a couple weekends ago. Isabel, Thomas and Ilona got lots of time to play in the creek, build forts, walk downtown and help pick the girls up at school. We had dinner one night with Mark and Clara and the girls were back to their mischief! They somehow emptied the contents of their organized closet (my dot system!) onto the floor and jumped on it. Aunt Mary was not very happy :) but it was great for the kids to have so much time to play together! We love all the cousin time we can get.

creek play

building a fairy fort (we strung twine up and stuck branches and sticks in between them - I might have gotten into this as much as they did :)

Maisie having some Maisie time

Thomas and a walking stick

big girls hard at work

snack break picnic

little T

little woodland creatures

Maisie and Izzy

JJ on the teeter-totter

love the girls laughing together in the background - and Crazy J face of course ;)

Emmy and Tess having a moment

lessons in physics

Big girl JJ throwing rocks

and then... the ice cream truck showed up! (Emmy has him trained to make a special loop by our house everyday :)

i mean what's better than Dora and Tweety "ice cream" that's been sitting in a truck getting freezer burn for who-know-how-many-years?

oh and Sponge Bob

the our nice neighbor invited us to come pick some Meyer Lemons from his abundant tree. Yes please!

they had visions of a lemonade stand. I had visions of a Sidecar ;)

lemonade won...

Thomas is a silly one!

BFF's - since birth!

eatin' all the M&M's

love my big girl

and super jealous of her four arms ;)

wait a minute....

cute trick ladies

they were in rare form

out from behind the camera - rare unless Andrea is there! Me and Ilona

and cute with her momma

walking downtown

Bumble/151/PLAY visits

this was them trying to "clean up" THE BIG MESS. I guess I stopped being mad long enough to take a photo :)

bedtime stories

and school pick up Tuesday morning!

family photo op

thanks for the fun visit guys!

we had way too much fun!

Tiny Eats

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We started Tess on baby food this month! I waited til 6 months with Francie and Maisie but JJ was ready at 5 months (and helped her sleep better!) so we tried Tess too. She was smacking her lips looking at food and seemed hungry for something more. I tried a bottle last month too, and a few times since but she refuses - but now that she takes food she can stay with Emmy in the mornings while I go to work which is great for both of us! :) She loves apples, pears and bananas. Not a fan of rice cereal or squash yet. We tried a yummy one at Bumble last night

ah the messy baby feeding stage - fun to start... then you have to do this THREE times a day? ;)

bananas - she likes it I swear.

and she LOVES the new Big Dipper Baby Food we are carrying at Bumble now!! can't get enough :) (post on home page)