Math homework help with Pa

Yay for grandparents!

Cousins!!!

Clara, Robin, Ellington and August

Unicorn v.2

By Molly

Unicorns!

Zach, Lulu, and Indy

Sitting on the porch.

4th Grade School Picture

Awesome, as always!

She's flying!

Nana and Clara picked out this awesome leotard and this mini trampoline for her birthday! And now the nine year old is flying!

More Nine

More pictures of the nine year old. 

Gym Mat

Clara's "big" birthday gift was a gym mat, which immediately was put to use for countless flips, cartwheels, and other acrobatics. Robin enjoyed it, as well. 

Happy Birthday Clara!

She's nine! Wowie wow wow! And she's flippin' awesome. Literally. :)

She's taking off with gymnastics, flipping, cartwheeling, spinning, balancing, and more!

She's taking off with school, reading, mathing, and charming all her teacher's!
She's taking off with friends and family, biking to the store with a friend, playing with her baby cousins, negotiating with her sister, and going on adventures with her parents.

We love you, Clara! I can't wait to see what you'll bring to the next year!

Pacman Sisters

(yes, I know only one of them is shown. They are both playing, one didn't want to be photgraphed.)

Lizard close-up

Little Lizard!

After dropping clara off at gymnastics, molly spotted this tiny lizard. On a whim, she put out her finger and the lizard hopped on!

We're Back

Well, we've actually been back for a week. We've had time to unpack, start school and work, and I've started the task of sorting through all the amazing pictures. If all goes as planned, I'll get them posted in a few days. In the mean time, we're still glowing from the trip (although the glow of the new school year is threatening to over power the trip glow!!!).

Highlights include: three big climbs: the Kelso Dunes in the Mojave National Preserve, Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone, and Lassen Peak in Lassen; discovering the less crowded state parks (especially Sinks Canyon in Wyoming), visiting with our family members living very different lives from ours and from each others (cowboys and suburbs!), and playing Spot It.

The picture below is from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was hot, and Clara wanted to go back, but I made everyone stand for a group shot. Can you tell?

Back to School - together and on their own!

Both kids went back to school this morning, and for the first time in four years they are at separate schools again! Molly biked off to 6th grade at Willard (with Zach), and Clara and I walked over to start 4th grade at Malcolm X (well, she started 4th grade, I just walked over there). She can't remember who her teacher is, but she's thrilled that she "gets" to be in one of the new portable classrooms (they're doing construction on the main building so for half of the year she'll be in a temporary building). :)

Willard Centennial Mural

We got a head start on Molly's starting middle school on Tuesday by helping complete a tile mural for the school's 100th anniversary today! Molly said we have to do a really good job since it's going to be there for a really long time....

On top of the volcano!

We climbed to the top of Mt. Lassen! It's beautiful! And very tall. And, apparently considered active. Hopefully not while we are here!
Heading home tomorrow! Amazing trip, excited to have our own beds. :) And rooms. :)

Crater Lake

We made it to Crater Lake, but by the time this message posts we will be on our way to Lassen since there's no cell service in the park!

There was a definite change in energy when we got into Oregon on our way to Portland, and I've noticed another big shift since we started heading south. I think we are all feeling eager to be back in California, back home, and getting ready to head back to school and work. But before we do, we have one last park to see!

Airstream in the landscaping

We planted the airstream in uncle Wayne and aunt Susan's garden for the night, and now we are headed for a night with friends on the outskirts of town (where it's also a bit cooler!)

Gone Fishing

Learning to fish in Idaho, courtesy of Zach's aunt Jeanne and uncle Richard.

Happy Birthday to Me!

What an incredible way to turn 40! We are in lovely Yellowstone, Zach and Clara made pancakes for breakfast, then we headed out to scale Mt. Washburn, a big beautiful mountain with a view of the entire park. It wasn't easy, but we all did it, and we even found our 100th geocache up there! We rounded out the day with a lovely dinner at the Grant Village restaurant, overlooking Yellowstone Lake, showers for all of us, and a few rounds of the new camping-themed Spot It that they gave me for my birthday. So far, 40 is treating me well!

Wyoming Family

I managed to get a group shot of almost the entire clan out here! Dean and Sy had to leave this morning to go back on the mountain; Duane's with and eldest child are away at a wedding; and Katy's kids are at college and at home in Montana. But everyone else is there!
Left to right: Jake (Sara's son), Sofi, Zach, Molly, Clara, Uncle Darryl, Cousin Katy, Seth (Duane's son), Cousin Sara, & Cousin Duane. (And that's Three the dog in front).

Big Horn County Fair Rodeo

Last night was the rodeo night at the fair. Sy competed in mutton busting, and Jake competed in the steer riding (he won!). We also watched roping, bareback bronc riding, barrel racing, and bull riding.

Waterslides at the Big Horn County Fair

With cousin Jake looking on...

Pig Wrestling

Capped off a beautiful day with cousin Sara's family with a trip to the county Fair to watch Sara's son in the pig wrestling competition. (His team came in second).

Sinks Canyon

Last night we made a stop o er at Sinks Canyon State Park, which is beautiful in itself, but also boasts a geological oddity. The Popo Agie River (pronounced so it rhymes with "ambrosia") hits a wall of stone and appears to disappear (shown in picture), only to reappear a quarter mile down the Canyon in a calm pool.

This morning, the kids completed the Junior Ranger program before we hit the road again and headed to the Greybull area for more family visits. Well be here a few days, which is good because we all hit a driving wall this afternoon. My cousin Sara has two kids, and after an initial bit of shyness they were all soon running around the ranch.

Utah cousin fun!

Gabardi Family - Salt Lake City

Once in the Salt Lake area, we were treated to a wonderful picnic with all of my Salt Lake City area family. From left to right: Zach, Sofia, Molly, Waymon (Kandice 's husband), Clara, Uncle Joe, Brooklyn (Joey's daughter), Aunt Cyndi, cousin Joey, Kaylee (Joey's daughter), Kenyon (Kandice's son), cousin Kandice, and Kandon (Kandice's son).

Yuma State Park thunderstorm

On the way up to the Salt Lake area we stopped at Yuma State Park to make some food and enjoy a thunderstorm under a shelter.

Bryce Canyon!

We did make it to Bryce Canyon for a night, with enough time for a beautiful hike through the Hoodoos.

Spot It tournament: game three

The two people playing the tournament were, as you might expect, if you've read the previous post on the tournament, were Sofia and Zach. They played to the last round, which Sofia conquered.

They're playing!

The winner of the championship!

He makes a funny face after the game

Spot It tournament: Game two

Game two: Zach vs Molly
Zach emerged victorious.

We played this game at the campground. I lost two games, one by 15 points!
- Molly

Weeping Rock Panoramas

A great day hike off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, complete with hanging gardens, mule deer, and goofy panorama shots....

Spot It tournament: part one

Game one: Clara vs Sofia
Sofia emerged victorious.

We took a hike and did game one. We also saw some beautiful wildlife and hanging gardens!

-Molly
PS: the previous post was also done by me.

Spot It tournament

On our road trip we've gotten into the game Spot It, maybe you've heard of it. So I decided to do a tournament. Here's the invitation that I gave to the Zanklins. 😀

Arrived at North Rim of the Grand Canyon!

Stayin' Cool in Zion!

And staying another night. Yay!

Watchman watching over us

Settled in at Zion, beautiful site under the Watchman rock formation and right by the river. Only a little bit tricky backing it in. :)

Quote

Molly said
"No, Clara, wolves don't have unicorn horns!"