Summer Vacation Week 1 (part 1)

So we're back??? :)

It has been a very long time, about 7 months, since our last post. Why the long break? Lots of reasons. I suppose facebook has made it easier to share what's going on in our lives. I also think after our summer vacation, it was a daunting task to go through all of our photos and pick the ones we want to share. We took over 1000 pictures during our 3 week trip!! Right or wrong, I didn't want to blog until I shared those pictures so it just got put off....for...7 months!

So we start with our epic summer vacation. Back in late July, we embarked on a 3 week journey to southern California. Each week, we spent time with different family and friends. My sister and her family lived just north of LA so we used them as our home base. We flew down on a direct flight from Anchorage and met Lisa's mom at the airport (who flew in from Ohio), rented an awesome gas guzzling Tahoe, and headed to Christin's for the night. The next morning, we headed down to San Diego to spend the first week with our long time friends, the Pekalas.

The first morning in our rented house we spent planning meals and then bought all the groceries...then BEACH TIME!!

This was the girls second time dipping their toes in the Pacific Ocean. Actually now that I think about it, it might be the first. They were just under 2 years old when we went to Hawaii and were freaked out by everything. It's possible we never got them to walk in the water! Well, they had no problem this time. They LOVE it!!

Some might recognize this spot, it's the beach just below Torey Pines Golf Course which is right up on that bluff. We'll go back someday so I can play it.

Happy (albeit VERY white) family!!

Love these close-ups of the girls running and playing in the water.

Katy was keeping one eye on the waves.

Run toward the waves....

RUN AWAY!!!

Monday morning we headed to the zoo! Great zoo with plenty to do and see.

Every place we went, we paid the extra money to rent a stroller. It was an extra $15 to $30 a day but SO worth it!

Taking a break in the shade with Jacob...

and Sydney

Panda!! There's a good story about how the 10 of us managed to jump to the front of the line that was probably 30 to 40 minutes long!

If you look close, you can see the panda between the girls.

The girls loved having their maps and figuring out where we were going to go next.

Highlight of the day? The gondola ride!! Katy and I had a gondola by ourselves and had a great time.

My little adrenaline junkie thought it was a roller coaster.

We learned that afternoon that the girls have a limit...and we would reach that limit almost every day. At some point every day the girls (well at least one of them) would have a meltdown. Minutes later, we found them like this. This was exhausting work for 4 year olds!

Next day, Sea World!!! Going into this vacation, this was the day that I was really looking forward to. I knew I was going to LOVE going to Sea World. I was right...what an amazing place.

The Shamu show was incredible! Lisa and even looked at each other at one point with our eyes welling up. I think my response as I wiped a tear from my eye was "stupid music". It was just done SO WELL!!

Couldn't believe how far they could flip the water up into the crowd. We managed to stay dry.

Grand finale!!

Bubbles for everybody!! Thanks Granny!

Dolphin show.

Excited about the turtles??

Alyssa cooling off in the shade while we figure out our next move.

Amy taking a turn entertaining the girls while we wait in line.

Taking a break to run out on the huge pillow.

By the end of the day, Katy was having a meltdown and eventually fell asleep and missed out on one of the orcas swimming in the holding tank. Alyssa got a front row view! Pretty amazing!

Whew that's a lot of pictures just for the first 3 full days of our 25 day vacation!!! See what I mean when I say it's a daunting task!

It's good to be back and sorry for the delay. I will resume the first week of our summer vacation very soon...sooner than 7 months!!

THAT'S A WRAP!!!!

Today the girls wrapped their first film!! What a moment!! This has been an incredible journey...from thinking we're auditioning for extras in a small local film to landing a leading role in a LA produced film.

We have met some amazing people who I truly admire. LA gets a bad wrap...some of it justified...but there are still a lot of good people in the entertainment business. These people treated our girls with so much patience, respect...I'd even go as far as to say they treated our girls like they were their own. Even today one of the prop guys was telling Lisa how much he enjoyed working around the girls and how he holds them up there with his own neice. People who have a lot of responsibility and rarely are able to show emotion have this week broken down and very sincerely complimented our girls...our family. It has been an emotional week.

It may sound odd that we have made such close friends during this time...but then again we were at the movie set 43 days over the last 2 months. That is a lot of time to spend with people...you get to know them and they get to know you.

What an experience!

I get the most emotional when I think about how far my girls have come. That first week...they were so shy but were still trying so hard to do what they were being asked to do. And they SHINED!!! We had our ups and downs but the girls found a rhythm and dialed into it. I shouldn't be surprised...but I had no idea the girls were capable of this. I know they are beautiful but to see them on film is too much...they are truly BEAUTIFUL!! Oh, and their personality!!! It's the reason why everybody is attracted to them...it's that smile, wink, and a thumbs up. It's the hugs and signing "I love you" at the end of the day. It's the facial expressions when they're doing their lines that make your heart melt.

It's no wonder why so many people have told us that if they want to, they could really have a career in this. It's because of all those things and so much more.

But I keep going back to how proud I am to be their dad and be witness to them taking these huge strides and affecting so many people.

Yesterday, the girls posed for a picture with the sound guy, Paul. Paul later told me that he never had kids and that moment was very special for him...and thanked me and the girls. Little moments like that... make me tear up.

So we're done...for now! We still don't know if we'll resume filming in a month or so. We know it won't be the same but I have faith that if it's meant to be, then we'll meet up with our old friends and make new ones in the process. It will be a challenge these next couple of days to not wake up way too early, rush the girls to wash their hair, eat, and out the door to get to the set on time. Back to enjoying an Alaskan summer!

I took a video tonight as we wrapped. The guy talking at first is Casey...the main actor...and Katy's first heart throb. Katy LOVES Casey!!! But be sure to pay attention to about 2:40 when they wrap our girls. You can see Lisa start crying and turn around and hug our new very close friend Carrie (the mom of the other Alaska twins who we have come SO close to...and who we have relied on to get us through this journey!). Just watching it again is making me tear up. I can't say it enough...what a JOURNEY!!!!

only thing that would have made this day better...

...was a giant rainbow overhead!!!

Today was our second to last day of filming. No, we still aren't sure if we will resume filming later this month or in August...so we are treating these last few days as our last with this cast and crew.

It has been an AMAZING journey. I can't believe how far the girls have come over the last 2 months. Today was one of those days where we were able to experience and really enjoy the friendships that we've made. One of the producers brought in ponies for all the kids today. What an awesome gesture!!

I would put this as the 3rd, maybe 2nd most excited they've ever been. Their faces when they saw the ponies for the first time was priceless. They could not believe their eyes. It was a ton of fun!

So behind the studio where our RVs had been, they set up the ponies. Everybody came out to watch.

Some of the actors soaking it up.

Alyssa looking pretty happy.

Katy waving to everybody.

Two of my favorite pics of the day.

I had to go to work so I missed out on the pinata. It sounded hilarious. They got a Dora the Explorer Pinata and the kids all took turns whacking away. So you can only imagine as they make progress and the legs start falling off. Well at the end, all that was left was her head. A gruesome but hilarious scene. Thankfully, none of the kids seemed to mind the Dora lynching...they just wanted the CANDY!!

There are so many great pictures from today but if I had to pick one, I'd go with this gem that Lisa took. Possibly another nomination for picture of the year??

So Saturday is our last day. The assistant director has asked if I would be in a scene as an extra so tomorrow I'll get to join the craziness...make it a family affair. Then we'll have a wrap party tomorrow evening with all the cast and crew. Should be a great time...but admittedly a little sad. This has ruled our lives over the last 2 months. You can't help but make some great friendships when you spend that much time with people.