THE ELLSMORES

Check this out

2012-01-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

I know we haven't posted in awhile. I broke our laptop with my huge bottum and so now we don't have a computer. But this video is so cool you have to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M

Trip down south and train ride

2011-09-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

I headed down south to visit my sister in the middle of September. My flight was good and I took my sister to Bass Pro Shops. We spent some time there and then headed to a brewery, that I just needed to try and it was only 11:00. After getting pedicures and shopping at the outlets, we headed to see all my high school friends. Everyone has kids now so its nice to see all of them. Catching up was great and we truly enjoyed our visit. Sunday we headed to Orange County to go to a baseball game. The Yankees were in town and it was 9/11. It was an emotion time but the game was great even though the Angels lost. After the game we headed to Spaghetti Factory, my favorite. Then I wanted to see what downtown Disney looked like and boy has it changed since I was little. One of the street we were able to go through when I was growing up is now a parking lot. One thing I noticed about being down there was that they have so many stores and housing.

Me and Teri before the game..by the way no tailgating in

the Angels parking lot. we saw someone getting a ticket

View of the Flag from our seats

We decided to go tour the stadium since my sister has never done it before. Picture of us in the outfield

Randy (Tracee's husband), Teri, and me

We headed to the Temecula Wineries on Tuesday. It was nice and they were beautiful. Afterwards we headed to BJs to meet my brother.

Here we are with John (my brother) he looks great!

I came back Wedneday and since lacey took me and picked me up then i stayed the day with them. Gavin and me at BJs. man I can't get enough of that place.

Lexi trying french fries for the first time

Austin laughing at mamma

Saturday we took the girls to Arcata for a train ride. It was alittle train but it didn't matter to them

Family pic

View of the bay

Thats the train we were on. The ride lasted about 20 minutes and went right along the bay

In the kaboose in an older train

Michaela in daddys shirt

Its a little big for her

Trinity Lake

2011-09-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend over Labor Day we headed to Trinity Lake. The drive was ok we had some crying but it was fine. We stayed at the KOA on Trinity Lake, I know what you are thinking KOA but it was great. It had a swimming pool, playground, close to the lake, and a great camping spot. We went out on the kayak first, then swimming pool, and playground. This trip was all about the kids and they had a great time. Mickey had a hard time Saturday night so we headed out the next day. We went to the dam and it was a lot of fun. We got home at 10 on sunday and the girls went to bed right away...best way to travel.

Family pic on Swift Creek
On the lake

Trying to fish

Standing on tree trunk

Dancing on the log

Cute picture of them at the dam

Love the dresses

videos

2011-08-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

Izze riding her bike

At hops in humboldt

hops in humboldt 2011

2011-08-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

Jen and Travis came up for Hops this year and it was great! I told myself that I would get that bad but its so hard. I didn't really have a favorite beer until I tried 6 Rivers Chile Ale which is in McKinleyville. Best beer! It's got a kick to it but good. Scott didn't have a favorite this year and I am not sure about the Kinyon's. Good times by all!

Toasting to our first drinks

Twins! Got the mayor of Fortuna to take our picture
Tradionally picture of us

Now you can tell we are starting to get drunk

At the river the next day

At the fair on the carousel

They are so grown up now!

I did it!

2011-08-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have been training for a half marathon but haven't really trained for it the last couple of weeks. I thought backpacking and other exercises would help well it sort of did but not really. I ran a half marathon this morning. It was up in Mckinleyville on the Hammond Trail and up to Little River, wow 6.55 miles was a long way and doing the full 13.1 miles looked impossible. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. The race started off fine and at mile 3 I felt really good maybe because it was down hill and then by mile 5 I was like where is the turn around. I had some goo at 6.55 miles and told myself not to stop. My hips were really starting to hurt but I kept going. At mile 9 it was time to start going up hill which was not cool. Then I saw the turn around for the 5K and I knew I was close. One mile to go and my knees where hurting so bad I had to really slow down, thought I was going to have to stop. I was so close so I just kept going, my knees never felt that way before, it sucked! I finished with a time of 2:20:44....not bad for my first halfer. I wanted to finish under 2:30. Afterwards I downed tons of water, watermelon, and got a sandwich. After the race I told race officials that I don't think I will ever do another halfer but now I might. Still unsure might have to see how I felt tomorrow. I did see an old friend of Brandi and Lacey's....Olivia Hand. She told me she is a lifer up in Humboldt County. Maybe I will see her again in the future at another race. By the way Scott and the girls didn't make it to this race. Wish they would have been there, next time!

I know I look happy, I was it was the end

At least I finished

Russian Wilderness

2011-08-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed out to the Russian Wilderness for a trip with Elaine and Ross. The Russian Wilderness is above the Trinity Alps and is only 23,000 acres. Its small but beautiful. I thought we could do the whole wilderness but we decided on just going to the Russian Lakes side. There are 5 lakes there and the trailhead is at 6500 elevation and Russian Lake is at 7100. All the books said it was a difficult hike but it wasn't bad. The trouble that we had was elevation...lungs and heart beating really hard. The hike up was beautiful and the views were incredible. Here is our journey!

Us at the Deacon Lee Trailhead...its our traditional picture

View of Thompson Peak the highest peak in the Trinity Alps

Views of the Trinity Alps

Our other tradition picture, Wilderness sign but there wasn't one so this will have to work this time

If you look close you can see the trail on the mountain. thats the Pacific Crest trail that goes from Canada to Mexico. I would like to travel on part of it. Ross told us a story of a girl who is 11 trying to do the whole trail this summer.

Beautiful brook trout caught with his fly rod! This was at Waterdog lake. I couldn't catch anything the first day.

Us in the tent waiting for the rain and hail to stop. Thunder clouds formed all day and then at 6 it started raining. It lasted one hour and then beautiful outside.

The view of Russian Lake after the rain stopped. Love the reflection

Scott fishing first thing in the morning. he caught one rainbow from this lake. the water was so clear at all the lakes that we could see the fish and then cast to it

Ross and Elaine told us about a hike they were going to do on Saturday morning and we were going to go with them but decided to sleep in. When we woke up they were on top of this peak.

Finally caught a fish...rainbow trout...I also caught a brook trout but I lost it before we could get a picture

Lower Russian Lake...we hiked down 500 feet. Thought Scott was crazy for wanting to go there but it was great. We made it down, fished, Scott got another brook trout, I got bites but thats it, had lunch and then decided to hike back up.

Its really hard to see but this is a picture from the lake. The trail was at the top of the ridge line. Great hike!

Me in the meadow at Lower Russian lake

Starting the hike up

A little higher up

View a little higher up

The hike was alot of rock climbing which was my favorite part of the whole trip

Almost there

Like the action pictures

After climbing up the trail we continued on to Siphon Lake which was a mile away. It was a great lake...the fishing was awesome. The size was small but they were biting...Scott used the fly rod and I used a panther martin lure. Some of the trout had blue backs, others looked like the tradition rainbow trouts

The top of the ridge was where Elaine and Ross hiked

Me with my catch

After getting back to camp, All four of us headed out to climb a mountain. Since the views were so incredible with the first climb Ross and Elaine did we knew we had to go on the next one. The hike wasn't that bad, actually was pretty easy. And the views were awesome!

Russian Peak elevation 8600

My favorite picture of the whole trip

View of the lake we camped at

After dinner we hiked around our lake to see the sunset

Another picture, we had an incredible time and are already planning our next trips. Elaine and Ross get to pick the next destination. The wildflowers were incredible too, if you want to see them check out Elaines blog at eellsmor.blogspot.com

Davis Visit

2011-08-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed to the Eel River and this is what I caught. A squaw fish...first fish on the Eel River for me.

We headed down to Davis for the weekend and stopped in Sac to see everyone. Dan had his race so we stopped to see what all the action is like. Uncle Mike met us there and I think Kurt might race sometime. The girls had a great time. Isabelle was on her bike yesterday and was like "look mom at my motorcycle im like uncle dan." it was really cute!

Dan just practicing
All done...i thought he did well not sure how he finished but it was exciting

Us with our kids...gavin was watching racing still

On Saturday we headed to the Davis pool. Its our third year there and it was great. The girls are more active and hopefully next year they will be swimming.

Since we got a waterproof camera I thought we should try it out

Time out for some otter pops

Another picture of us

Video of Scott jumping of high dive...next time I will film in the right direction

Me jumping off high dive...i was really scared this time but scott made me do it!

Lake Mendocino Fishing

2011-07-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

Scott and Chris met at Lake Mendocino last night for a day of kayaking and fishing! They were lucky enough to get a camping spot and spend the night under the stars. Scott got two species last night largemouth bass and catfish. A good sign for fishing. He caught 4-5 good size smallmouth bass. Chris caught some smallmouth, trout, and striper! Nice job guys!

Scott said they were good fighters
Huge, largest smallmouth bass of his life!

Dark colors of a bass

Nice job honey!

Chris with the biggest catch of the day. Long striper but I got you beat Chris!

Umpqua Videos

2011-07-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

We got our old camera to work and downloaded the videos. The video doesn't show the rapids that good but you can get the idea.

Funny video

Ruth Lake and an Ellsmore Wedding

2011-07-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

We headed to Ruth Lake for our summer vacation. This is our second year in a row going to Ruth with Grandpops and Grandma. Elaine and Katya joined us this year. We were there for 3 days and then headed to Paradise on Friday. Saturday we headed to Downieville for an Ellsmore wedding. We got back yesterday after traveling all over.

Yesterday was our 7 year anniversary! Wow! We were driving home from Paradise so we will celebrate it with a play next month.I couldn't get this to work below but its Scott and girls with Cousin Emily (the beautiful bride)

Izze with the grandparents

Mickey wearing katya's swim goggles

Katya catching her first fish!

Mickey holding the a fish

Grandma holding Izze

In our huge tent, it fits 6 people and the girls were on one side and us on the other, perfect size tent for all four of us

Scott and Michaela fishing from kayak, she caught 3 fish but no pictures

Playing the tube

Isabelle with Grandma in the tube

Trying to get a picture of the girls

Scott's fish. thought i should get a picture since i didn't have any but......

Then he caught this one! Biggest largemouth ever...look at the mouth. 4-5 lbs 20 inches long

The girls in the camper...michaela says we need to get one! I agree

Having smores for the first time

They didn't like the marshmellows

Grandma showing us she still has it

Izze looking so pretty

Family picture

Downieville Creek and Yuba River merging!

Everyone on the bridge

Mickey having a good time with uncle rosser

Mickey and mama, she wanted to take a picture in the truck

Scott catching his fish!

Michaela casting with her fishing pole, best purchase ever...brands you need one for gavin

Izze and Grandma casting

4th of July

2011-07-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

We had a long weekend and today, the 4th we celebrated by running! I ran a race in Arcata at the Marsh. It was my first trail run which I didn't know it was a trail run. It was a 5K race and I posted my personal record 32:04. Guess all my training has worked!

Im in the blue shirt in the middle..thanks 6 rivers running club
In front seeing if my ipod was going to work

Coming up to the finish line but the girls and Scott are right next to the photographer thats why I am smiling

Baby Austin Jones. So cute! I am very thankful that I got to go see him and his mommy and daddy! What a great family! Love ya guys. Sorry I couldn't rotate the picture

Large small mouthbass. It was 15 inches long and 3 pounds. It was good to eat too! Scott and I headed to Oregon on Friday for fishing on the Umpqua. 3 years ago we did this trip with Phill and Sandy and caught 50 fish. Our expectations were that big but lucky for us the fishing was great. We caught about 50 fish and I caught about 30 of them. This was the biggest fish of the day. Most of them were small but still fun to caught. Best part was we caught them on artifical worms.

Good size smallmouth

View of the river...see the white water...we went through that in our kayak. We had gotten out earlier because Scott didn't want to go through any rapids...where we got out was horrible...tons of nats and it was gross so this time there was no going around it and so we tackled the beast. I hadn't paddled all day but Scott told me I was going to have to this time. As we are going he must have not thought I was paddling enough and so I started yelling I am paddling and the nex thing I know a 4 foot wave crashes into me and we have taken in tons of water. It was awesome but scary. Scott didn't want to take any more chances with white water so we walked on the side of river. Scott tied up the kayak with rope and dragged the kayak but not everything was tied down and we lost one of our gear bags which had our camera. Luckily I caught up to the bag and got the memory card out so we got that but our camera is shot. The only thing is that we took some cool videos and can't get them off the card. So we are going to get a new camera now probably waterproof.

Good size, only picture I took of Scott

We really like this picture. Fog in the hills and cold on the water. Sunny didn't come out until late morning. I was freezing and still got sun burned! After our 9 hour trip on the Umpqua we still had to get back to our truck. We took a bike and left it at the pull out point but Scott hitched hiked and got a drive down to the truck. We were finally on the road at 5 so we got into Red Bluff at 10:30. It was a long drive but we had a good meal in yreka. We got up at 4:45 and headed to Ruth Lake. Fishing was slow but Scott was all over it. He caught like 30 fish at Ruth. He caught a huge large mouth bass, huge...about 17.5 inches and 3-4 pounds. But guess what we didn't have a camera to get the picture. His largest bass and we didn't get it! I sucked at setting the hook so I didn't get much but the weather was great and we had a lot of fun. We are going back to Ruth in one week so it will be fun!

Summer of adventure

2011-06-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today we declared this summer, the summer of Adventure. We were orginally going to go to the fair today but this idea sounded better. We headed out to Fish Lake today to take the girls fishing for the first time. Its about 30 minutes above Hoopa. I heard about this lake from a volunteer at work who said they caught 40 fish last weekend. I told Scott and we decided to try it out. Going into it we thought we weren't going to catch any fish which was fine but we were amazed.

Picture of the lake, by the way we had to use our kayak, so we got to go kayaking plus fishing

Everyone caught fish. We found a great spot and we caught about 10 trout in 45 minutes. Michaela did a great job but she always wanted to reel

Izze and me in the front of the boat

The rear of the boat

We couldn't get a picture of Izze and the fish. It splashed her with water and she started to cry but I got a picture of the fish

Mickey wanted to touch all the fish

Little blue gill Scott caught

Mickey with the stringer of trout

Family picture with the trout

North Fork Coffee Creek Backpacking Trip

2011-06-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

We had another adventure weekend. Back in January we decided on all our summer trips and sent out an email to family to see who could watch the girls. Elaine choose this weekend and the girls were so excited to see her. Thanks Auntie for watching the girls so we could have fun. We also planned this trip in March. We had been looking at our backpacking book and decided on this trail because it has the best fishing and we had a chance to catch a golden trout. Well as most of you know it has been a crazy year in the weather department and the creek has a crazy amount of water in it. Fishing was not going to happen but we still tried. A month ago this trail was only open to 1.5 miles. We had a good time and here our the pictures to show it!

Alway happy in the beginning. There wasn't a trailhead marker to we started a different way. It was not a good way to start, it was close to the creek and hilly and we were not happy. After about 10 minutes Scott goes up higher on the hill we were climbing and found the trail, thank gosh! The trail was really easy and scenic.
1.5 miles in there is a bridge that crosses the creek. The bridge was nicely build and it was cool to cross this way instead of on a log or wading.

View of creek

Us at the first bridge

He had to try fishing what he thought was good pools, but sadly nothing

We made it up to camp at around 12:30 which we figured was about 5 miles from the trailhead. It was on an island with the main creek on one side and a little creek on the other. It was a perfect camp and just up the way was the crossing of the creek. After having lunch we decided to go explore and we had to cross the creek on this log. It was really slippery but we made it across.

Across the creek was a hill that had tons of deer on it. There must have been some mineral in the ground because they were feeding on it. The deer were really curious. In between the trees is a deer looking at me. It was playing hide and seek with me. The wildlife was great this trip. On our drive in we saw two bears, mom and an older cub.

The deers eating the sand. At one point Scott said there were 18 deer right there. It was amazing to watch.

Saturday we tried to hike up to South Fork Lakes but we got one mile up and snow was everywhere. We didnt make it but we did get a good hike in and saw some cool things.

Fishing again. Not at this location but another he did get two bites!
The look of the trail
Since we couldn't get to the lakes we headed to Schlomberg's Cabin. It looks like a mining cabin, not it good shape but cool to see.

The well at Schlombergs Cabin

We packed up camp early and decided to check out the other cabin on the trail but we couldn't get there because of high water. Here is the log we would have used to cross.

Hodges cabin is back in the trees..really nice cabin that belongs to the forestry department now

Closer view of Hodges Cabin

We were going to stay another night but decided to come home instead. Our traditional picture of afterwards! We decided to fish trinity lake on the way home and i got a small trout and we got a view other bites but thats it. Sunday we celebrate Father's Day with traditional sunday events. We feed the ducks and just relaxed. The girls got Scott a fishing pole which he hopes to us next weekend.

Kayaking in the Bay

2011-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

We went out to the bay to sharpen our kayaking since we are leaving for Oregon in two weeks. Scott decided to fish the out going high tide and we were trying for sharks but got two bat rays and one crab. Here is a video of the bigger bat ray. It takes off during filming, it was hard to film and land the ray but i think the video turned out good.

New scooters

2011-06-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

After running the race on Saturday, we headed to Mckinleyville for Pony Express Days. There was a parade and everyone threw out candy which was the girls favorite part. I guess up here every parade has candy. Then we went to the carnival. I had an Indian Taco which was excellent and everyone else had hot dogs. Later that night Scott and I went out to dinner at the Scotia Inn. It was our first time there and it was excellent. I had a drink called Sex on the Beach and it might be my new favorite cocktail. The burger we had was huge and worth all the calories! Sunday Scott went fishing and caught two more huge black rockfish. When he got home he put together the girls scooters, they were presents from Grammy for their birthday. They both did really well and look so cute in their helmets.

Mickey in the hay maze
The girls playing

Playing with play-dough

Izze scooting along

Mickey looking so pretty

Mickey scooting

Lots of pictures

Atalanta 5 mile race

2011-06-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

In April, Brandi and I decided it was time to start losing weight. It has been a tough 2 months for me but it has paid off. I have lost 11 pounds and my waist looks great! I have changed my diet and eating habits. I have been working out like crazy and running races. I feel like I have made some great changes to my life. I hope to continue with this success and running more races. This weekend the race was in Arcata. 5 miles down in the bottoms. My goal was 55 minutes and I finished in 53:28 and placed 51 out of 142. No bad! Scott is always with the girls at the finish line so it makes it easier to finish. I wouldn't be able to do these with out their support.

Thanks to 6 rivers running club for this picture. Closing in on the finish line
Scott says that I was running to fast to get a good picture

Crossing the finish line

After the race, all racers got a ribbon and flower. This race was cool because it was just female racers. Mostly mothers and daughters...maybe in a couple of years, the girls and I will run it together.

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Chico this past weekend. I am going backwards in my pictures.

On our way back from Chico, we stopped at Crystal Creek Falls. This is after the falls. Mickey was on Scotts shoulders. I was so afraid she was going to fall.

Family picture next to the falls

The falls should be the highlight but it has to be Michaela posing as a super star!

View of the creek. the water is so clear

We stopped at the sundial bridge in redding coming back on monday. There is also a botanical garden by Turtle Bay so we had to see what they had. Here is a beautiful water lily. Wish we had those in our pond.

View of the sundial...we looked up at it and man is that thing tall. it kind of made us sick looking up at it.

Another pretty pink flower

Michaela posing next to this sculpture

The girls posing the sundial bridge with sacramento river behind us

Walking on the bridge

Sleeping in on Monday morning

The Sigonas came up to Chico for a visit, thanks guys! Michaela had to be around Lexi the whole time. She asked if she could hold her and this is what she got.

Cute smile of Lexi but not of Mickey

Gavin and Michaela on the swing together

Gavin and Isabelle together, she actually played with him more this time

Playing the guitar with Uncle Rosser

The last two Memorial Weekends, Scott and I have gone fishing and have made it a tradition. We were going to go to Antelope Lake but I didn't want him to have to catch rainbow trouts again. I know hard life right. So I thought a guided trip would be nice. Scott found a guide and we got everything sent up. We had to be up at 2:30 in the morning but we were fishing on the river at 4:00. It was dark and we needed spotlights so we could see where we were casting. No luck in the early morning. Actually no real luck all day. The day before they caught 50 fish...us 10 fish. I caught this one all by myself. Hooked it and fought it and got a picture with it. It was about 10 pounds and a female so we put it back since it was spawning. My first striped bass and it was good size.

Another female so she went back in

Our keepers...it was fun, wish that Scott would have gotten one on his own but the river was not good to us. The fish was excellent though...we had it on Saturday for the BBQ and then when we got back. If you haven't had striped bass you should really try it. Good times!

Izze being a puppy

Playing the drums at the botanical garden, listen to Scott

fun weekend

2011-05-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

We had a nice relaxing weekend at home. We went to the Loleta Cheese Factory on Saturday and tried some great cheese. The girls loved it and I really liked the habernero cheese, it had a kick but it was good. Then we went into town and walked around and I noticed that a race was going on Sunday. Registration was at noon so I had time to think about it. We headed to the Humboldt Botanical Gardens, which was nice. Not everything is in bloom but it was still nice. So we headed back to Loleta and I got details about the race. 10k with a hill, it was cheap and Scott was encouraging me to do it so I signed up. Afterwards we headed to Ferndale, lunch at the park but then we saw Kristie at a burger place and stopped there instead. The burger was great and then we headed to the park. While we were eating lunch Krisite's mom invited us over because we were talking about horses and how much Michaela loves them. We headed over there and had a great time. The girls loved it and had fun with Kannon. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

The race was hard. I was told about the hill but thought it was another hill. I hit mile 1 at a good time but then the hill came and it was about 1.25 miles. I had to stop several times but once I hit mile 2 I ran the rest of the way. There were smaller hills but it was mostly down hill. I was the last real runner to finish and my time was 1:09:49 which was almost a record for me. As I made my final turn I saw Scott and the girls and Michaela ran to the finish line with me. It was quite a moment for me. I am glad I ran it and might be doing another one in two weeks.

Us by the fire truck. Im really sweaty! I also won some new oil, its called green tea oil and it way healthier than olive oil. We have been using it like crazy.

Izze laying on the horse...i can't remember the name of the horse

Thats her smile for me

Mickey was having the time of her life...biggest smiles of her life

Mickey enjoying her first horse ride

Blue Poppy at the Humboldt Botanical Gardens

Us sitting in front of the bed of iris

The girls taking another picture

Phil and Sandy were up for the weekend and this was like the only picture I got. The girls loved seeing Grandpa and Grandma, they wanted to see them again each day.

2011-05-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Izze riding the horse

Mickey riding, she loved it by the way

Playing at the park at Grandma Fluffs house, who is Kristie's mom

Misc of pics

2011-05-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Michaela being silly

Isabelle sitting on the bball

Scott build a greenhouse for our garden, its got tomatoes and bell peppers

Izze hitting the ball

She is actually better than we thought

The girls with Lexi

Shooting water guns

Posing for the picture

The girls

2011-05-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

In their pretty summer dresses
Still can't get that great picture

Izze is so cute

Look at the face

Showing their Easter outfits

having a good time

Best one!

Thought this one was pretty but the lightening sucks

easter

2011-05-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

We have been having internet problems lately. Didn't get anything all weekend and thought our connection was all over but its back! I just noticed that I didn't put pictures up of Easter. So here you go!

Izze finding an egg

Finding another one

Mickey found money in her egg

Family picture after lunch before going on a hike

Daddy and Mickey

Izze opening her Easter basket

The girls got pretty shoes from Grammy

Everyone at the zoo

Mickey hugging the brown goat

Opening Trout Season

2011-05-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Scott and Chris headed to Antelope Lake last weekend for the opening of trout season. They had a great time and I didn't get to talk to Scott for 2 days. I am glad he had a good time and he caught over 40 fish. They are beautiful and huge. Here are some pictures.

Nice trout

Chris with his catch

This is my fish I caught two years ago, Scott thinks its bigger than his which is below. You be the judge.

Huge german brown

Big rainbow

Good job honey

Wow

Avenue of the Giants

2011-05-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well I ran Avenue of the Giants today, another 10k down. I went by myself so I left at 7:30 and got a bagel and headed down to park and warmup. Well traffic was backed up from the off ramp and it was getting closer to my start time. I decided to pull off the side of the road instead of parking in the parking lot. I thought I was close to the start line but I was way off. I think I parked 2 miles away. I saw some runners warming up so I thought I was close. I decided to run half way so I could warm up. At this point I thought I could get my shirt and get back to my car. So I just got my keys and started. I finally make it up to the registration table and its 8:45. Well I was not going to make it back. I didn't bring my ipod, inhaler, and i brought my whole key set. I was so upset that I almost didn't run. I didn't know what to do with my shirt so I just put it on a plant and came back for it. I ran the whole race but was slower this time. I had to carry my keys which sucked because my hands kept getting sweaty. I finished in 1:12:54 or something like that. It felt good to finish but would have liked to have beaten my time from last year which was 1:08:51. Oh well! But then I still had to walk back to my car. I was dead tired! It was quite a morning!

Isabelle Potty Trained?

2011-04-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had Grammy up for Easter. Scott and I went fishing and when we got home Izze was in underwear. She didn' t have any accidents until we got home. She had two but she learned that she would get wet if she didn't say she had to go. The next day she was telling us she had to go and no accidents. Next came Monday, first day at daycare. She had one accident but the rest of the week has been great! She is doing such a great job! Its nice to only have to put on diapers during the evening. Good job Isabelle and Michaela, your such big girls now!

BBall and Decorating Eggs

2011-04-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

The girls started bball class last week and it went well for one kid. Michaela was the best listener in the class and did everything the teacher asked her to do. Isabelle was fine in the beginning but once class started she didn't want to participate. She stayed with me the whole time. We practiced some stuff but I really wanted to watch Michaela. The class was alright but i think we are going to focus on swimming lessons after this class ends. We decorated eggs on saturday. The glasses we are using are the exact same ones that I used when I was growing up. It was fun doing the eggs and hopefully next year we can spice up the coloring of the eggs.

Izze at bball classs

Izze showing her masterpiece

Mickey showing off her stickers

Mama helping out

Izze doing a great job

The girls shooting at basketball class

Scott with his fish

Saturday

2011-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

After we went fishing we headed to the Spring Fling which was in downtown Fortuna. They had a small carnival and the girls got play some games and go into the bounce house. We had lunch at our favorite burrito place. After that we headed back home for some time to relax and play. Scott has been showing Mickey how to hit the ball but nothing had really clicked until Saturday. Here are some pictures of her, notice eyes closed in each one.

She has the step down
Almost got a hit

The girls at the carnival

Static hair after coming off the slide

Mickey getting ready for work...wearing my shoes, with her purse

Mickey hitting the ball

Mickey going to work

Fishing the Lost Coast

2011-04-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday we got up and headed to the lost coast for some fishing. We hiked in about 2 miles in the sand and wind. The first hole was good to us, I caught all my fish there, about 8 rainbow perches and 1 rock greenling. Scott caught a rock greenling and lost a big lingcod but he was using a lure which was cool, I used live bait. Then we moved to our next spot where I got lots last time but it was low tide so it wasn't fishable. Then we went to another hole and Scott got some rainbow perch. Then we headed to the beach for some redtail perch but I didn't catch anything and Scott was using his lure and got a huge black rockfish. I was putting on my hooks and looked back and he was wet up to his knees and was holding this huge fish. I have a video but can't download it, needless to say we had the fish for dinner and it was really good!

The fish weighted 4.25 pounds

The prized fish of the day

The coolest part was the it was in shallow waters about 2 feet in the surf. Usually people don't catch these fish unless they are out in the deep water.

My first rock greenling...to small to keep but pretty colors.

First cast and I get double hook up. Never have caught two fish at the same time!

3rd Birthday

2011-04-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

The girls turned 3 on march 29th. We went to pizza and then cupcakes at home. The girls only wanted cookies for their birthday, which they got in Chico. We got them new backpacks, Mickey got Minnie Mouse and Izze got Tinker Bell. They wore them the next day to daycare. Here are some pictures of them wearing them. By the way the girls dressed themselves, actually they pick out their own outfits now. Its actually really nice in the morning. On another note, we had a wellness check today and it was horrible. Isabelle screamed because she didn't want to get on the scale or get measured. Michaela showed her how to do it. Things got better until Mickey had to have her hemoglobin checked. The actual physical was easy and Isabelle got better and finally got on the scale. Measurements Isabelle 39 inches and 28 pounds and Michaela 38 inches and 28 pounds. Then Izze got her hemoglobin done and screamed and screamed. Then we had two more shots, thought they were updated but now they are really updated!

Video of Singing Happy Birthday

Birthday Weekend in Chico

2011-04-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

We headed to Chico last weekend for the annual March birthday celebration. It rained but still was fun. It was great seeing the family. We looked at the lake and it looks great but still not at 100 %. We hope to fish it this summer or Memorial Weekend!

Decorating party hats

Uncle Ross and Grandpa

The birthday boy! karl is now 2

The non birthday crowd learning

Michaela looking at her presents

Mickey with Grandpa

Daddy wearing his hat

Izze looking at her new clothes

Mickey wearing her hat that she decorated

Izze really concentrating

Grandma and Izze

The beautiful birthday cake

Izze is showing off her new dress, more videos to come later

fort bragg

2011-03-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

We headed to Fort Bragg two weeks ago for a family getaway. We were hoping that it wont be raining but you guessed it, it was! We had a good time but not the greatest. Hopefully it will be better this summer. We went to the town of Mendocino, which had the best treat ever, raspberry bark. White chocolate with raspberries. Both Scott and I wished we had bought more. After spending lunch and shopping time there we headed back to Fort Bragg. We went to the brewery and then headed back to the hotel for swim time. The girls had a blast and it was a good workout for both of us. Sunday it was still raining but we headed to a park and spend alot of time there. We discovered a cool water park that we hope to go to during the summer.

Isabelle whale watching

Picture of glass beach

The parents

Best picture I could get

Daddy and Izze watching Spongebob

Having fun in the pool

They love the hot tub

Cool cave in the ocean

The girls in their new swim suits

In other news the 101 is closed in Redway so if anyone was planning on coming up, think again! I have to go 299 to get the lacey's shower now! Crazy, stop the rain!

The girls!

2011-03-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

What a weekend, rain, rain, and more rain! We did some things around the house but for the most watched the rain and some movies. We actually played Princess Chutes and Ladders today. The girls did very well and loved all the princess figures. Scott won the game but I am sure we will get him next time. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Still try to get a smile at the same time

Almost

Wearing the sweatshirts daddy got them

Mickey wearing protective eye wear since she has been in the garage helping daddy

Smile!

Potty Training

2011-03-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

Just an update on Potty Training, Michaela is wearing UNDERWEAR! We went to the store and picked out princess underwear. She was so excited to wear them when we got home. She has worn them the past two days to daycare and had one accident, right when we pulled up into our driveway. Then another one today, we were having dinner and she is like i have to go but we didn't make it. We are just so proud of her. She tells us over and over that she went potty in the potty! Its great! Isabelle on the other hand just wants to wear diapers, which is just fine. She will want to train when she wants too.

Friday night we went bowling for our fundraiser. Scott bowled a 155 and I got a 110. I started off strong with a strike but went downhill after that. It was cool because if you got a nine on the first throw it was a strike. I raised more money but Scott the better score! Can't wait until next year to see who does better.

Izzy Videos

2011-03-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Izzy Sledding

Izzy petting the sheep, she loves them so much

Sledding

2011-03-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

Mickey sledding with dad two weeks ago...i tried to get the video of Izze but blogger wont take it...its much better

snow in fortuna?

2011-03-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hail/Snow mix we had in fortuna on friday night

Lost Coast Fishing

2011-02-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Auntie with her favorite girls

First cast and first fish, small greenling

Nice size female greenling

My first striped perch

Scotts striped fish, he caught two of them today and thats it

Cabazon, way cool looking fish

To bad it wasn't big enough

Fun packed Weekend

2011-02-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

We went to the snow yesterday. Here is our family picture!

Michaela loves to eat the snow

Only picture I could get of Isabelle by herself

Mickey with Aunties gloves

Daddy and Mickey at the zoo

Red panda

So cute!

Me and Scott at Trindad Bay this morning! We caught 4 crabs and 1 perch from the dock.

Scott's Webpage

2011-02-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

Please donate to Scott's page so we both can bowl to help North Coast Big Brothers and Big Sisters!

http://www.firstgiving.com/bowl-for-kids-sake-xviii-mahalo-bowl-184bc1

Scotts fishing

2011-02-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

We had a special chance to get this picture of Dizzy Izze and Cry Babies! We are so lucky to have got to meet her!

Lately Mickey and I have been taking naps together on the couch

View of the Lost Coast

Male Kelp Greenling...Scott has been fishing on the Lost Coast lately and have gotten some cool fishes

Rainbow perch...huge

Another Kelp Greenling

Rock Greenling..we are hoping to go out this weekend since Auntie will be here...its a Valentines present for me! I have never caught a rock fish so it should be exciting.

Bowl-a-thon give a donation!

2011-02-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

Hi All! Scott and I are participating in a bowling game to help out Big Brothers Big Sisters. We need to raise $50 each. I have a website that you can go to donate. Any amount helps! Please help us raise the money. Scott did it last year and its a huge success up on the North Coast. I think Scott and I will have a wager on our game! Makes it more interesting, so give what you can! Thanks! Scott's link will be up soon!

www.firstgiving.com/bowl-for-kids-sake-xviii-mahalo-bowl-17478f

Date Night

2011-01-30T17:54:00.000-08:00

Last night Scott and I went on a date night. We have some interesting date nights sometimes. Scott wanted to try shark fishing, so we headed out to the bay. The weather forecast called for showers but by the time we got all our gear ready and bait out, there was a downpour and wind. It rained so much and the winds were up to 20 mph. We lasted an hour and then backed up and went to dinner.

The things we wear and do to spend time with our husbands

Today we headed to the mouth of the Eel River. We fished for a long time but only caught two fish. One was a redtail perch that was good size.

Next one was a starry flounder. They are really cool looking.

To small to keep but look at the fins, cool colors

Took alot of pictures of the girls trying to get a smile from each. Its a lot harder now to get those smiles.

trying

Hi everyone

Cheese

Video of playing catch

Cool fort/house we found at the beach

Weekend of Fishing

2011-01-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Scott and I started our week off by heading out for a day of fishing on the Trinity. Not much success but it was a beautiful day and we learned some new techniques.

Scott fishing near Helena

We caught two small steelheads that day. Both at Big Bar rest stop.

It hasn't rained in Humboldt in awhile so we decided to see if we could fish and take the girls. This section is the Eel River and it was a hike to get there. Scotts out in the river fishing as the girls are throwing rocks.

It was foggy in the morning but it burned off and the sun came out. It was a gorgeous weekend here.

Isabelle posing for the camera

Michaela trying to fish...they both are very interested. In fact they have been holding the worms in there hands. I think we are going to have to get a fish pole soon for them. If you look close it looks like Mickey has a fish on her line.

Today we headed to the Van Duzen River. We found some great fishing spots that we have hopefully going to try next week. Look at me in my boots, the water was freezing!

Cool rock cave

I caught a little fish here but nothing else

Twin Power!

Goals

2011-01-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here is our updated list of Goals! They are always in the back of mind and I really hope that we complete them.

www.ellsmorefamily.blogspot.com/2009/04/100-goals-in-2000-days.html

Family Vacation

2011-01-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

We took our first family vacation this weekend. We had been thinking about going to Crescent City to the aquarium for some time and Scott thought it would be good to go this weekend. What a great idea, so I got a hotel for us and we went up Saturday morning. We went to all kinds of places which are illustrated in the pictures!

One herd of Elk. The girls liked them because of their white butts. The bull of the herd in the back.

We stopped at the Trees of Mystery which I had never been too. I know some of you recognize the blue ox. We did the whole tour and it was fun. There are some videos at the end of the post.

The girls with Bigfoot!

We decided to head into Oregon and found this park called Kidstown. It was really cool mostly a fort type park but really nice. The girls even made friends with another girl. I wanted to get a picture of us in Oregon because its on my goal list but it didn't work out. This will have to do for the time being.

The view from our hotel room. It was really nice and the girls got to swim which Scott was the best part!

Family picture time

This morning we went out tidepooling and only found some snails. Michaela was really interested in them. As we were going back to the car, Scott say a whale blowing. It was really cool because we got to see two of them. It is truly an amazing thing to see a whale in the wild. We didn't get to see what kind of whale or it really close but it was still amazing.

It was off to Ocean World after tidepooling and Walmart! Isabelle liked the pirate but won't sit by it so Scott showed her it was ok.

The leopard sharks...we hope to catch one soon in the bay

A stinging ray that we think measure to about what I caught this summer in the bay that I didn't get a picture of! What do you think?

The girls with the big sea lion in front of Ocean World.

Family picture in the shark..aren't we cute!

Video of Michaela and Scott touching a shark!

Sky Trail going down

Sky Trail going up

New Year, New Adventures

2011-01-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! What an exciting year 2010 was! For the Ellsmore family, we experienced new stuff with exciting times. I went back to work, the girls started daycare, Scott continues to love his job, and we are loving our family. Some big adventures for us were fishing Oroville, where I got a big bass!, Backpacking in the Trinity Alps, I ran a 10K, Camping with the girls for the first time, snow for the first time, and alot of other exciting adventures. Our plans for the next year are some classes for the girls, fishing trips, backpacking trips, family camping trips, and getting closer to completing our 100 goals! Today we headed to Bull Creek for hike. The weather was finally nice in Humboldt so we took advantage of it. We put on our rain boots and went for the hike. Here are some pictures from ou trip!

Gotta love the family pictures

Scott and Mickey crossing the creek

Scott and Izze looking at the creek

Say cheese

Climbing back over the creek

The big tree compared to Mickey

Climbing through a tree

Izze singing

Christmas Celebration!

2010-12-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

Since we knew we were going out of town for Christmas we decided to open presents early. The girls got into the presents that Grandpa and Grandma got them and also what we got them. Izze loves opening presents but alittle to much. She just keeps going. The girls got some cool gifts from the grandparents, backpacks, blankets, and some new jackets. We got them a doctors kit and some new blocks that also form a puzzle. Next year I am going to wait until Christmas to open presents because I lost the excitement of it all!

The girls opening presents

Izze opening the puzzle

Mommy getting Mumford and Sons CD from dad...I also got some new shirts, one saying "Got Twins Need Caffeine", a cool puzzle, Inception, and Beauty and the Beast!

Daddy opening his present, Remington Hunting Game for Wii, other presents included, a new shirt for work, under armor, book on canning vegetables, and something else that I can't think of at the moment

Aunt Teri sent the girls soap that works on the boby. The girls had some creative artwork going on.

Being silly

they also got hooded bath towels. one a frog the other a cat

Izze and Auntie having fun. This is Christmas Eve and you can't tell but Izze has a huge scratch on her face. Everybody was outside playing and Izze was running to Auntie and ate it. Bloody nose, swelling of the forehead and under her eye. She is better now!

Mickey reading her new books

Santa ate all of his candy and the reindeer had some carrots

Opening their first stockings! They did pretty good...Izze didn't realize there were more present once she say the bubble gum!

Izze opening her present from Santa

Mickey looking at her Dora doll from Santa

Scott getting his present from Elaine. We had a great time in Chico. It was really great to see the whole family. Michaela has a new favorite Uncle and that is Ross. They kept asking all day "Where is Rosser?"

On Sunday we headed to Oroville to check out the hatchery but nothing. So we ended up on the Feather River in this new little park. This is our family photo with the salmon.

Scott and me with the salmons

Scott being attacked by the salmon

daddy with his little girl

We stopped on the 299 to play in the snow. Izze really liked it...mostly just walking in it but still.

Mickey getting ready to throw the snow ball

Having Smoothies

2010-12-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

Smoothie Mustache

Classic Izze Frown

Some Videos

2010-12-14T16:30:00.000-08:00

Mickey singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Light Parade in Eureka

More of Light Parade

Feeding the ducks in Scotia

Baby Lexi

2010-12-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

I was very fortunate to go down and see the Sigona family this weekend. Scott is such a great husband to watch the girls so I could go meet the newest Sigona member. The pictures are doing her justice. Friday night in the hospital I teared up because she was just so adorable sleeping on Brandi's chest. Both of them are doing well and have been home already for 2 days. Wow seems like I was there forever when I delivered. Here are few pictures of my weekend. By the way for those wondering if this would make me want another kid, well the answer is no. I don't want to go through 2 am feedings and getting no sleep. I am happy with the two kids I know. Thanks for making me realize that Brands!

Alexis Michelle Sigona...look I got the name right!

Look I held her early on! She was so hot that she was making me hot. Thought I was going to have to start taking some clothes off!

Her wide awake

Cheers to having another kid Brands!

The picture isn't the best but she was smiling!

Friendsgiving and other stuff

2010-12-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Michaela before school yesterday

Isabelle in her new outfit from uncle travis and auntie jen

Gavin during breakfast when brands was still sleeping. This was a good visit because it seemed that all the kids got along with each other. Its about time!

See I can handle three kids....don't want another but still!

Our turkey that Scott made

Don't the girls looks so happy we are having thanksgiving dinner

Me and mickey but she won't smile

Daddy just loves it when they fall asleep on him

My village...to bad you can see all the cords..again i didn't get the stockings done...maybe next year

Izze helping daddy with ornaments...she loved it!

Why doesn't she ever look or smile for the camera?

What a good helper

Our tree...scott thinks our tree should only be as big as the girls. its perfect!

Video of Michaela dancing with Daddy, check out his moves

Big Girls

2010-11-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

This was the first weekend that the girls slept in their new beds. We just got another toddler bed so we changed the room up again. I took the cribs out so there is no way for them to sleep in them. The first night Mickey was like "Crib" but Scott and I put them down together and they were like good night after about 5 minutes. They slept the whole night. It was exciting to talk to them the next morning. Last night, it was a little tougher well at least for Michaela, and we all know how Michaela does with change. It took longer last night for her to go to sleep but she eventually did. They slept through the whole night and I couldn't be happy. I feel like this transition has taken forever, so I am pretty excited! Now if we can just get them potty trained then I will be happier.

Izze in her new bed

We went to the zoo on Saturday for International Red Panda Day. The zoo just got two red pandas during the summer and they are really cute. They are red and look like raccoons. Elaine was up for the weekend so it was cool that she got to see them too. Lately Izze has been taking sheepy everywhere, just like Gavin with the dog. So cute! She even has been having sheepy dancing and she sings to her. Its the cutest thing...I am trying to get it on video. She closes her eyes everytime she sings.

I went shopping yesterday and this is what I can home too. The girls have not been taking naps forever, so this was a nice change. Plus this way Scott got to really watch football!

Hay Maze

2010-11-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend went by so fast. Phil and Sandy were up for a visit so we tired to do alot. Saturday, Scott went hunting and got two ducks! Then we headed to Eureka for Henderson Center's trick or treating bash. The girls dressed up in their outfits from last year and were really good. Michaela didn't want to wear the outfit but when we told her that she wouldn't get any candy then she decided to put it on. After that we hung out with Grandpa and Grandma. Sunday we headed to Boo at the Zoo. My camera died so I didn't get any pictures but the girls had a good time seeing all the animals. We came back for a nap but the girls decided not to take one. We headed back to Eureka for a carnival at the Adorni Center. It was a good carnival but not enough stuff for the girls. They were a little to young. Izze had a hard time with the concept of only eating some of the candy, she wanted it as soon as she got it. Overall a great fun weekend, maybe next year we will actually go trick or treating!

How did I get so lucky? She is the cutest little thing ever.

Thats her smile

I think she was joking around

Saturday trick or treating

Aren't they cute!

My costume at work

Big pumkin at the pumpkin patch

2010-10-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Second ray I caught...it really wanted to get on camera

First one I caught. I wasn't wet until I brought this one up. It really didn't want to come to the surface!

videos of girls

2010-10-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Izze going down the slide

Mickey showing her dribbling skills

We are back!

2010-10-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Lacey and Dan came up for a visit last weekend, so I decided to try our luck at fishing. I took them out the Lost Coast since I know Lacey had never been out there. Lots of cool views, long drive, and no fish. I didn't pick the best place and we kept getting tied up but it was fun. Saturday we headed to a different beach to try again but it was way rough so no fishing but a great hike and we played football. The guys won but Lacey made a great one handed catch for a touchdown for the girls. It was awesome wish I had it on video. Then we headed out for adult time and went to the Sea Grill and Gallaghers for beer afterwards to watch the rest of the Giants game. Congrats Giants didn't think you had it in you, but you did! The visit was great with the Jones' and hope they come back soon.

Lacey ocean fishing

Dan looks cool

Izze laughing at Aunt Lacey

Really you have to take a picture now

Before Dan and Lacey came up we tried to fish for salmon at the mouth of the Eel River. It was catch and release and I really felt we were going to catch a fish but this was all Scott caught. Isn't it cute!

The girls playing on the drift wood

Izze and Scott taking Sheepy for a walk too!

Twins must really run in the family, because the first time we grow pumpkins and we get twin ones! All of the pumpkins are from our garden.

Spiny dog shark that I caught. I caught three this day and two rays. The videos of the rays will be hopefully tomorrow.

Me and Brands during our visit Labor Day

All the kids playing together. the girls were talking about gavin for days afterwards

music

2010-10-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

New music that we are enjoying. The song is Dog Days Are Over! Updates coming soon!

http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine

Hops in Humboldt

2010-08-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Hops in Humboldt. For those of you that don't know its a beer-fest in Fortuna. Its great! Scott went when I was pregnant with the girls and loved it and we missed it last year. So we made sure we could go this year. It was really cool, about 40 breweies where there and you got a 4 oz glass. After about our third glass it was time for me to get food. The food was excellent and Bear River Casino was giving out water for free. It was a good time. The best part was the beer games. Scott played beer pong but lost and they we took a breathalyzer to see where we were at. I guess .15 but I was .12 and Scott was .11, so we took the bus home. We want everyone to come up next year because I know all of our friends would enjoy and it plus it would have been fun with a group of friends.

Us toward the end of the day

Just getting started but still looking buzzed

I put the girls hair in pig-tails and tried to get a picture asap, this is what I got

This was last week. Don't they look sweet and innocent?

Second Trip to Fair

2010-08-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Video of girls talking. Sande says I am torturing the girls but I just want you to see how well they are starting to speak. Izze is saying alot more sentences not very long ones but still!

Videos of the girls and daddy going down the slide at the Fair

First visit to Fair

2010-08-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing much going on here. We have been in Humboldt County for two weeks and its been nice. We were going to go to Chico last weekend but peach picking didn't happen so we didn't want to travel that far. So we decided to do some things around the house. Scott poured a concrete mowing strip where we use to have some pavers. It was a pretty easy project considering the girls wanted to help. After that we went to our friends, Ken and Melanie's house and hung out. They live in Hydesville, which is like 5 minutes away on 36, nicer weather than fortuna, anyway their backyard is huge. They have a big play set and Izze loved it. Their boys are 9 and 7 and are way big for the playset so they made up some jumps and climbs, well Izze wanted to imitate them. It was great until she fell and hit her head. Mickey was into the dogs so she didn't play very much. They had a cute bike and Izze is really into bikes right now so she loved it and they had razors that Mickey loved. She even put her foot down to make it go. We had a nice night...We rented Shutter Island and it was good but Scott couldn't finish it. I wasn't scared but heard the ending was really good so I watched it. It was good but Inception was much better...go see it if you haven't seen it yet. Sunday we cleaned up the house and took green waste to Scotia. Scotia is right on the Eel River so we headed down to the river. It was like 70 degrees which was great. Both girls stripped down and got into the water. They were so cute. Wish I had my camera with me. Then we came back and played in the sprinkler. Oh ya we also went to the County Fair. It was free to get in so headed down to Ferndale. Good food and entertainment for the night. The girls went on their first merry go round ride. I tried to get a video but started to get sick as it kept turning. Oh well maybe on Saturday when we go back I can get one. Here a few pictures!

Izze and Mommy getting ready for the ride

Daddy with Mickey

Mickey playing in the sprinkler

Our new mowing strip

One of our pumpkins...the best part of our garden...except today scott found a red tomato..he was so excited!

shower

2010-08-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Michaela decided to take a shower after her bath tonight

Look at her tan lines

Brands is Michaela bigger than you? she looks like she is going to pop and her back hurts

Video of Michaelas shower...it gets a little foggy because of the hot water

Scotts Birthday

2010-08-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Last week we celebrated Scott's birthday. We didn't do anything special on his birthday but he had dinner cooked and we got him beer. It doesn't take much to make him happy! The girls made him a card and took some pictures with him. We headed to Paradise for the weekend on Friday. Our trip over was good and the girls are getting better at traveling. It is really amazing how the DVD player can work so well. That was a great purchase by Scott five years ago. Saturday we hung out with the family down in Chico. It was also Phil's and Ross' birthday so we had a celebration. We even had ice cream cake...Elaine makes the best ones! After playing in the sprinkler and eating we headed out to see Ginger the horse. Kurt let the girls feed her and it was exciting to see them around the horse. Michaela is way interested and Isabelle was but she had a ball so she was more into that. Saturday night Grandpa and Grandma watched the girls so Scott and I could go fishing at the lake. We decided to shore fish which was different and not as fun as a boat. We were there for 3 hours and I only got 2 bites and my last bite I had the fish and lost it. Scott caught 2 spotted bass, a catfish, and a blue gill. It was the first time that I had never caught a fish! It was fun watching Scott, he never gives up hope when fishing. Sunday we headed to the park for some fun with the family. The drive back was good and quiet for the most part. Scott cooked up the fish when we got home and it was the best! Wish we would have caught more. We are home this weekend but its Wildwood days in Rio Dell so we are going to that, then back to Chico for peach picking!

First try

Second try

Finally

Kurt and Michaela being cute cousins

Isabelle climbing

Kurt getting ready to catch Mickey

Izze looking more and more like mama...in fact she looks like my sister there!

Mickey just sitting...had to take a picture

Water fun

The Ellsmore Clan

izze dancing

2010-07-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Auto-Rama Expo

2010-07-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to Autorama in Fortuna. The town shut down on Friday night for the Cruise which we did not go to. Instead we headed out Saturday after Scott went fishing and checked out all the cars on display. There had to be a few hundred cars on display, I heard that they had to turn away close to 500 entries. They also had antique tractors which was very cool to see in action. Here are some of the cars that I liked. Scott and I want to get a Bonnie and Clyde type car!

What a nice engine

Love this one

Scotts huge tomatoes with his little helper

Farmer Izze

On Saturday night Scott and I went to see a movie..Inception! Go see it! So great...i love leo but the cast was great and the action was intense. It made you think and afterwards we didn't know what to do. You just felt different afterwards. If you get a chance to go see it, let me know and we can talk about it!

Home by EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS

2010-07-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

Home by EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS

this is our new favorite song right now, check it out!

Rodeo Week/Ruth Lake

2010-07-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Ruth Lake this weekend. We headed out Saturday early and spend the day in the lake. Literally we were in the lake most of the time. It was great seeing Phil and Sandy since we don't get to see them like we use to. The girls were great, except at bed time, they just didn't want to settle down. When they finally did they crashed. Izze woke up once and slept with us the rest of the time. It was so much fun that we are already planning the next trip. This has been a great summer for us and we only hope that it gets better through the years.

Izze loved the kayak. She even helps daddy paddle. Mickey didn't like it as much but loved the water.

Our air mattress was the perfect water floatation.

Hanging out in the kayak

Having fun with grandma and grandpa

Izze on the train ride. Last week in Fortuna the rodeo was here. We went downtown almost every night and participated in the events. Monday was chili cook off which scott wants to enter next year. Then there was a kids night with games and bounce houses and a climbing wall. The carnival was here so we took the kids and went on one ride. It was just the train but they loved it.

Mickey and daddy, after the train ride we played one game and won the girls stuff animals

Scotts garden...look at his tomato plants

I think this is Chris in the kayak

Train ride

Kayak fun

Fishing at Ruth

More Fishing and the Zoo

2010-07-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went out to Humboldt Bay and tried our luck on fishing. Chris was in town so we thought it would be alot of fun to take the kayaks out. Chris was in the single one and Scott and I were in the double. The land above is Arcata and we are in the channel getting ready to fish.

All three of us in the water

This is the first bat ray that I caught. Chris caught two of those but only landed one. The other one got caught in the anchor rope. Scott didn't fish because its harder to fish for bigger fish in the kayak, well at least in the back of the kayak. So he baited us up and released the fish.

Here is the third fish that I caught. A little bigger I guess. The biggest fish got away. My second fish I caught was huge. I knew I had a bite and started to reel up and thought I lost it but then it took off. Scott decided to release us from the anchor and the ray took us on a ride. I thought it was the same size as the previous one but Scott knew it was big. He was like, honey you have a big fish. We didn't know what kind of fish it was until it jumped out of the water. It was a huge bat ray. The wing span was huge, almost as big as our arms out-stretched. Scott thought it weighted about 50-60 pounds. My arms hurt like crazy afterwards. I really wanted to get a picture but Scott thought it was too big for the kayak. After about 20 minutes of reeling and taking a ride, I wasn't paying attention and my line got caught on the tip and by the time Scott saw it the fish had broke off. It was the catch of my life. It was great. Wish we could have gotten a picture but at least Scott and Chris got to see it. I got another bite and it was different than the rays, as soon as it bite it took the line so I set the hook but the lines broke. Scott was sure it was a shark but we will never know. All in all it was a great fishing experience especially in the kayak. Afterwards we took the girls to the zoo.

Izze in the tunnel at the zoo

The girls in the petting zoo, first time since we had multiple people there

Izze had some much fun petting the goats, she was laughing the whole time

They really like the sheep

Chris and Izze reading a book together

Chris trying to land his catch

Trinity Alps

2010-07-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

We are back from our backpacking trip!! We were finally able to make it to the Trinity Alps. Thank you so much to our babysitters, Auntie and Grammy. This trip would never have happened if it weren't for you guys! We got up early Saturday morning and when I say early I mean 4:00 am, drove out to the trailhead, where we had an awesome breakfast in Junction City to start the day off right. I was a little nervous about the trip since I hadn't work out in three weeks, who knew that having a job and kids means no time to work out. But we took it slow, hiking for about 30 minutes and then a 5 minute break. The scenery was incredible and I think everyone should go on a backpacking trip like this some time in their life. Even if its just a night and you come back. So much fun and was way better than my last trip. We are already planning our next trip.

Me and the Trinity Alps sign before we start

Scott at the sign...see how happy we are...wait until you see that last picture

Canyon Creek in the bigging of the hike

Stupid blogger...wont let me show this picture the way I want too. Anyway its a brook trout I caught. The colors are awesome. More on that later

This is the falls that Scott wanted to get to in the first day. Well we got there about 2 hours into our hike. It was 4 miles from the trailhead. We were so happy when we got here we decided to make it up to the lakes. Which was another 3.5 miles away

One of the creeks we had to cross. Scott took both of our packs over so I could fall in, good thing because I tried it on the way back and I started to fall

At the last big waterfall we saw...above this were the lakes but let me tell you, the last mile was the hardest. Switchbacks and steep granite climbs, but it was worth. Right at the top we held hands to see our destination. It was great! Scott was the really romantic on this trip.

the view of the lake from our tent

This is the upper lake. We arrived here on Saturday and decided our plan of attack on Sunday. We were going to fish the lake and then make our way around the back which is the green area in the middle right side of the picture, where there is a creek that has golden trout. It is a dream of Scott's to catch a golden trout. It was going to be a hike in but worth it because no many people can say they caught a golden trout. But we didn't make it because as we were coming back from this hike, Scott sprained his ankle. So we decided the next morning that we would take it easy, plus we didn't know if there were any golden trouts anymore, since we read it in a book that dated back 15 years ago. We ran into some people on the way down on Sunday and they told us there were golden trout so Scott was a little sad. But the fishing that we did was great.

Brown trout Scott caught the first night

The colors are beautiful

Us in our tent

Sunday mornign hike to Upper Lake

Brown trout I caught. Good size

Brook trout..first one ever

If you look to the middle of the picture where the trees are thats where our tent is

Our camp the second night along the creek..we tried to catch some fish for dinner but thats when we couldn't get them. hooked alot but couldn't land them

View of the creek

Look how blue/green the water is...it was so clear

Hiking along the trail

Beautiful picture of a flower

Cross the last creek access before our hike is over, I was able to do it the second time, only because of the rope above my head

Us after the hike...we look so happy

Busy Busy Busy

2010-06-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Me with the beautiful bride

Me and Pregnant lady

Me and The traveler

Me and The adventurer

Daddy and Mickey at the Oyster Festival

All the kids having breakfast

Izze eating waffles..her favorite

Karkle having a snack

Team Ellsmore has been very busy the past couple of weekends. First I went to Dan and Lacey Jones' wedding! It was amazing, Lacey was gorgeous and Dan was very handsome. I had a great time...I truly enjoyed myself and could not be more honored that I was part of the wedding. I also had a great time with my host, Sande! After the wedding weekend, Team Ellsmore attended the Oyster Festival in Arcata. There were so many people there that we could only stay for an hour because it was so crowded. It was really hard watching the girls and no place to sit so we headed back home. This last weekend we headed down to Davis to see the family. Happy birthday and Happy retirement to Sande! You deserve it and we can't wait to here about your new adventures! We also got to see Brandi, Gavin, Lacey, and Dan. We all went to the Davis pool which was great since it was so hot. Michaela has no fear and was jumping off the side of the pool. Izze had a good time and would sit and then fall into the pool off the side. We had a great time and thanks to the Fischers for hosting. And the biggest news of all....yesterday Michaela used the potty for the first time! She looked so cute on the potty chair and was a good sport about the whole thing. We tried again today but nothing, maybe tomorrow. I can't wait until they are both potty trained. Up this weekend...backpacking in the Trinity Alps.

Mickey with Auntie

Grammy blowing out her candles

Grammy looking at her awesome book that Elaine made

Great picture of Izze

Our big girl!

Sad Day

2010-06-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day that Isabelle and Michaela went to childcare. They only went for four hours and it went really well. I dropped them off at 8:45 and stayed for about 15 minutes because I had to get to Eureka for a meeting. As I went to leave Izze started to cry and cry. So I just gave her to Sabrina and she had her look out the window to see me leave. I guess after the truck left she was fine. They were playing with blocks when I picked them up. They even had lunch with everyone. She said that they ate really well. So it went well. They go back tomorrow for 4 hours and then start full time on Monday. They are getting so big and I am so proud of them!

Got a Job!

2010-06-04T14:17:00.001-07:00

Wow I finally got a job! I had interviewed for a different position and went on two interviews but they choose to go with the other person. But then there was a resignation and the director thought of me. So after debating all week, Scott and I finally decided that I should take the job. The job is working for the Humboldt Senior Resource Center, as a Site Coordinator. It is in Fortuna which is great but childcare in Fortuna isn't that good. Well at least not many options like Eureka. Today the girls and I went to four different ones and I think I have made my choice but need to talk to Scott. As for the job there are many possibilities in it, as time goes on and it will be a great experience for me. I am very excited!

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend we had, just the two of us! As you know we were going to go backpacking but the weather did not cooperate with us so we head to Antelope Lake and did some fishing. We left Friday night, thanks again Grammy, the girls love you so much, as well as us, and made it to Antelope Lake at 11:00pm and set up our camp. We stayed in the back of the truck with our air mattress and sleeping bags. Well I didn't wear enough clothes because I froze. We both have mummy bags and were still cold. As soon as daylight hit Scott was out fishing. When he got out of the truck, there was frost on the window, so it was cold. After a couple of minutes he came back with a fish to show me that it was time to get up. I put on multiple layers and we headed out about 25 feet from camp. I casted a couple of times and got snagged everytime and was about to give up but we decided to head to another hole. Good thing because we started catching more fish. The rainbows were so beautiful, each one looking different as you can tell with each picture down below.

I caught this fish but it was just easier for him to take the picture.

The picture doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful with the rainbow stripe. Good size too!

Headed down stream again and I caught this one. It was so dark, the colors of the fish that is. We could see the fish hanging out in the water. I think at each hole I caught about 3 fish, one little ones and two good size. Scott was letting me fish them and he would take them off the lines and put on new bait. What a great husband! I got a bite with almost every cast.

Look how dark it is!

Finally it was Scott's turn to fish. He caught this in the second hole I fished.

See the red on the gill plates. The colors were amazing. By this time I had already caught a limit if we were keeping them. So we decided to head down the creek and find a new place to fish. We headed to the dam and hiked down but no bites. It was time for breakfast so we headed back and had some food and coffee. At this time it felt like it was 70 degrees out since when we started it was like 30-35. We were going to go kayaking on Antelope Lake but the wind picked up and we decided not too. We fished a couple of other streams and caught some little ones, well I caught one good size one. We headed to another lake called Round Valley Lake...it was beauiful and we were all ready to camp there but no overnight camping, so we headed to Butt Lake. Round Valley was nice but to shallow to kayak and fish. So we go to Butt Lake and are ready to camp at a camp ground but it costs $25 a night which is way to expensive. So we left Butt Lake and went to Lake Almanor. We found a great campsite which is pictured below. It was crazy because it took us about 2 hours to finally decide on a place. But it all worked out. We set up camp and decided to go for a walk and went fishing on the lake.

Scott caught this smallmouth bass from the shore. It made up hopefully for the next day.

Our campsite...nobody around us...thats how we camped most of the weekend. It was great!

A view of Mount Shasta early in the morning from Lake Almanor. Not sure if everyone knows this but Lake Almanor is a tradition in my family. My grandparents would come here from October to February. In fact my grandpa retired up there and is buried up there. We went to see him which is crazy! Its really hard to see your family name on a tombstone.

Scott caught the only fish from the kayak. What a great way to go fishing and enjoy the lake. It was beautiful, just wish that we could have caught some more fish.

If you can see this, its a picture of a carp in the water. we were in shallow water and I told Scott there was a fish on a branch in the water. He was like no its a whole fish. I still couldn't see it but finally was able too. We casted to see if we could get it to bite and Scott's bait was right in front of its nose but bite. It was huge, about 25-30 pounds.

After Lake Almanor we headed back on the 36 toward home and found a place to fish on a little creek that Scott always wanted to fish. He caught a small rainbow and that was it. We found this camp after unpacking and going for a walk. It was much better then the first one. Overall it was a great weekend. We enjoyed each others company and the girls got to spend time with grammy, who did a great job!

The girls playing with their new water table. Thanks grammy!

Rain go away

2010-05-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a very tiring last two weeks! It has been raining here forever. We occasionally get the nice day but it comes along with wind. Ever since Scott and I went fishing two weeks ago the girls have decided that they won't take afternoon naps. I think they are way to young to be not taking naps but we have been trying to deal with it. Some times we get an hour or half hour in but other times the girls are just cranky and then at bed time they think its playtime. If anyone has suggestions please let me know! Plus the girls have a cold and Scott got it so everyone is a little cranky as it is. Next weekend is Scott's and mine big adventure but now we aren't going backpacking. The reason is that the trail at mile 4 is packed with snow! Not my ideal way of going backpacking. So we are postponing for a little bit and going on a fishing trip instead to lakes that we have never been too. Its going to be a much need vacation for the both of us.

the girls so tired..look at michaela still has her shoes on

Michaela in her birthday outfit from brands and lace

Isabelle in her outfit from her twin aunts