Some Simple Fun!

Maryn, Camille, and Dominick came over to play with Paris, Brenden, and Sophia while the adults attended Frank's funeral. They played dress up, polly pockets, superheroes, and really just had fun simply being together. After lunch I laid out some paper and fingerpaints and together they all worked on a birthday poster for Billy! Camille said that her hands felt "juicy."

With this bunch, you don't need a lot to have fun. Here they all jumped into the dry bathtub to pretend that they were mermaids and mermen. They certainly are a cute bunch of kids... don't you think?!

A Cousin's Day to Play!

Auntie Meredith and Auntie Amber decided that 110 degree weather was too hot to spend a day at just any old park... so instead we visited a local "water" park in Ripon. Water fountains shoot out of the ground and run all day long. The kids played for hours! We had a picnic and at the end of the day finished off with an ice cream cone from Thrifty's!

Paris, Maryn, Sophia, and Camille take a little break from the water...

Sophia, Aunite Meredith, Dominick, Camille, and Maryn relax on a nearby bench...

Sophia, Maryn, Paris, Brenden, Aunite Meredith, Camille, and Dominick enjoy their ice creams!

A Fun 4th of July Weekend!

Mike, myself, Paris, Sophia, and Brenden all went to the Wetenkamps to celebrate the 4th! We swam, BBQ'd, had face painting, sang karaoke, and ended the night with a few simple fireworks of our own. It was a cozy gathering and as you can see... lots of fun!

Paris, Brenden and Sophia had a sleep-over with Billy and Layla on the 4th, so the next day I came back and we partied some more! This time Papa, Auntie Meredith, Camille, and Maryn joined the party! We swam some more and BBQ'd some more! It was a simple, relaxing, fun weekend!

Beautiful Morgan

This precious little girl is just so beautiful and infectious that I couldn't help but take a million pictures of her perfect little face. Rachel didn't want Morgan to stain her white shirt, so she was given vanilla ice cream. It looks like vanilla suits her just fine!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Brenden, Paris, Morgan, and Sophia enjoy a yummy Thrifty's ice cream!



Now that Auntie Rachel is such a close neighbor, we have been able to find more opportunities to get together! On this day we went to lunch and then to Target for some pet essentials. What is a hot summer's day without a little ice cream to finish it off?

It's All About the Family!

Mike, Amber, Paris, Brenden, and Sophia at the Sundial Bridge.


Meredith with Dominick and Camille outside the Shasta Caverns.

Sophia, Camille, Andrea, Layla, Paris, Eddie, Dominick, Billy, and Brenden after our Shasta Cavern tour.

This year's reunion was a complete success. We really missed those of you who couldn't make it. It was an extraordinary week! Just about every night turned into movie night, karaoke night lasted well past 11:00pm, the food was spectacular, Eric brought a "parachute" that was an instant hit, and poolside was a constant party. Since so many of us were missing this year we decided not to call this our "Family Photo" but instead, the reunion photo! We are so blessed to be a part of such an awesome one-of-a-kind family! Thanks goes to Kori and Meredith for all of their hard work and planning! The only way we could possibly improve on this week would be to have everyone present! As always, it was a blast, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Thompson Reunion 2008!

First things first... thank you so much to a WONDERFUL Grandmother and Grandpa that made this nearly perfect week possible! We started the week off with a small "60th" Anniversary party for the two of them. They actually just had their 59th anniversary, but Grandmother wanted to celebrate the 60th just to make sure that she got to! Kori had the great idea of having a cake made for them with their wedding picture on it... isn't it beautiful!?

Fun in the sun! It was HOT, and believe me... we took advantage of the pool! It seemed that every free moment we had was spent in the pool. Also... just about everyone took their turn trying to conquer the "bull!" Even Grandpa took a crack at it... and eventually succeeded! You can't keep a good cowboy down!

What to do? What to do? Well, let's see, the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, tour the Shasta Dam, karaoke, treasure hunt, talent show, Shasta Caverns boat ride and exploration, movie nights, and homemade popcorn! How did we even have time to swim?

Thompson Olympics 2008! We broke up into teams, each person on the team competed in an event. The events were milk chugging, bubble blowing, marshmallow stuffing... and of course; bull riding. Brooke won the milk chugging contest, Andrea blew the biggest bubble, Andrew stuffed the most marshmallows, and Dad (David) rode the bull the longest. However, honorable mention goes to Andrew who was his own team and competed in ALL events. He rocked it!

First REAL day of Summer Vacation!

So... how did we spend our first day of summer vacation you ask? Well, we cleaned house, pulled weeds, washed off sidewalks and then thought that after all of that HARD WORK that we deserved some FUN! So we ate popcicles, followed by some face-painting. Ever since I did the face painting on Easter my kids have been begging me to do it again. I brought my paints to school on the last day and spent 2 hours painting most of the kids' faces from Kindergarten through 3rd grade! This time, it was just me and my 3 sweeties at home, so they got some VIP treatment from mommy. Brenden wanted me to paint him as Wall.e the robot, but I just didn't know how, so he opted for the clown instead, and Paris of course asked to be a cat. Sophia loves anything purple and frilly, so she went with the butterfly. It was a fun first day at home with my kids. I'm glad that summer is finally here! Yay!

A Visit with Grandma Elsie

On Sunday June 8th, Mike, myself, and the kids ventured down to Merced to pay Grandpa Elsie and Grandpa Frank a visit. Grandma looked and sounded great. We talked to her for about an hour and let her know about all of the things that kids have been up to. She was happy to have visitors. We plan on visiting far more often! Frank is pretty sick, just laying in bed unable to talk. We will be praying for him and his comfort.

Brenden Graduates Kindergarten!

June 5, 2008 Brenden Michael Thompson graduated Kindergarten at Knights Ferry School! He's been asking about this day since his first day at school, and now that it's here he can hardly believe it. Yep, my little man is offically a 1st grader. I don't think that I can believe it! My kids are growing up too fast! Paris and Sophia had their hair twisted up in pin curls and as they described it: "felt like princesses." Papa surprised us and showed up for the big day too! At the close of the ceremony each Kinder was given a HUGE lollipop! Of course Brenden was very proud of that! He vowed to eat the whole thing all by himself.

Happy 2nd Birthday Dominick!

Adorable Dominick turned 2 years old on Saturday May 31st! We were at the Wetenkamps celebrating Jared's recent achievment, but still took some time out to sing to him. He is just so precious! We are blessed to have this little fella in our lives! Happy Birthday Little Man! We love you SOOOO MUCH!

A Fun Weekend!

Rachel and Morgan came up for the weekend to attend Kate's graduation and also to party with Jared Wetenkamp who graduated the academy! Congratulations to Jared for all of your hard work! He has requested that we now refer to him as "Officer Wetenkamp."
Rachel and Meredith went for an early morning run on Saturday morning, and while they were gone Morgan stayed and played with the kids and I. She is just such a beautiful girl that I couldn't help but snap a few pictures!