A Snow Adventure!

Delight yourselves in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

God is so good to us!

Brian has a friend with a place on the lake. Lake Tahoe to be exact. And by on the lake, I mean ON THE LAKE! We got to spend the weekend at South Lake Tahoe in a funky little place on the lake. When I woke up Sunday morning, I opened the curtains to the bedroom, and did my quiet time looking out at this view! The verse that came to mind at that moment was Psalm 37:4, Delight yourselves in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Sometimes God grants us the desires we didn't even know we had, like spending the weekend in the snow and waking up to enjoy the beauty of God's marvelous creation!

Aidan, who used to profess a strong hatred for the snow, had a great time! He even liked sliding down the hills without a sled!
Isaac and I had fun on the slopes(can you call a sled hill that?)!

Isaac LOVED the snow! He rode with anyone willing to share a sled, or went by himself! It was great fun to see him pulling the sled up the hill over and over again. I think it was helpful that we all had decent snow gear this time!

Camille did not enjoy the snow, or the cold weather! This first picture was taken right away when we started sledding. Camille soon began to cry, and was miserable the rest of the time. I tried to put her in the sled so she could sit down, but she laid down and cried(the picture below). Eventually I took her back to the car and put on a movie for her while Brian stayed and played with the other kids. The next morning it was 26 degrees(without the windchill coming off the lake) we tried to walk in town a bit, but Camille just cried and cried. We have had this problem with her before in the cold, no matter how bundled she is, she hates the cold! I think she would prefer a vacation to a tropical place!! Elise also loved the snow this time. Having good boots and snowpants made all the difference for this trip! She had a blast sledding and playing in the snow!
The kids in front of the lake!
This is a tunnel we drove through, the kids thought this was very cool!We had an awesome time! The kids were all good, the weather was great and the views were fantastic! God is so good to us!

Rock Climbing!

Elise's Brownie Troop went indoor rock climbing, and we all went along to cheer her on. I know she was a little nervous about the event because she isn't a fan of heights. However, once we got to the rec. center she belted up and was ready to hit the wall. We are very proud of her for trying something new(and a little scary!)! She did great and says she would like to go again.


While we were watching the girls climb, I looked down to see Isaac getting belted up! It was very fun to see Isaac give rock climbing a shot as well. He weighed barely enough, and had trouble with the harness. Brian had to put him on the wall(he couldn't pull the harness that far by himself) and he was able to climb up a little. He had a blast!!

Rock climbing was a success!! And both Isaac and Elise want to do it again! We will keep you updated for when they ring the bell at the top of the wall!

A Very Busy December!!

December started out with a wonderful holiday concert by Aidan's band at school.

He plays the trombone, and we have enjoyed watching his interest in music grow!!

(Doesn't he look so grown up?)

Next, we celebrated Camille's 2nd birthday with a Dora Party!! Grandma and Papa Taylor came to help celebrate.
Camille knew just how to blow out candles and open presents. She had a great time!
Then there was the persimmon harvest.

Some of you may know that my(Staci's) favorite fruit is the Fuyu Persimmon, which is the delicious, firm variety. I have always felt that a home is not a home without a Fuyu Persimmon tree in the yard!! So I waited patiently for the landscaping to be completed to plant the best of all fruit trees. The landscaper brought a tree labeled Fuyu Persimmon, planted it, and we(I) waited patiently again for it to fruit.

Here it is!!

If you know anything about persimmons, you know that this is NOT a Fuyu Persimmon, but the other variety "that which must not be named". It is in fact a large, soft, fleshy fruit. I thought this might be true early in the season as the small fruit appeared on the tree. They were curiously tear drop in shape. I tried to remain positive, but at last I had to admit that I did not have a Fuyu Persimmon tree. Due to my dislike for this variety, I have googled recipes for jam. I will try to make the best of a bad situation. (I already have a spot picked out in the yard for my next Fuyu Persimmon tree!!!)

CHRISTMAS!!

We had a great Christmas! The kids woke up early to open their stockings. Santa is always so good to the kids! Camille wins the prize for the best bed head (we often sing My Hair Had a Party Last Night when we see her in the morning!) Then Grandma and Papa Taylor came by for breakfast and to open gifts. They went home for lunch with uncle Terry and Tori, but brought Tori back for Christmas dinner that evening. We celebrated Feliz Navidad with tamales and street tacos, it was delicious!!

SAN FRANCISCO!!

We planned before Christmas to take the kids to the San Francisco Zoo on the 27th, but the zoo was closed because of the recent tiger mauling. So, we went to Pier 39 and the Aquarium on the Bay. The kids touched sea life in the tidal pools (including sharks). We also walked through tubes underneath the fish tanks that surrounded us with the sea creatures you would actually encounter if you were diving in the bay!

Elise is feeling a sea cucumber!

Everyone got in on the action!!

Out on a pier, we posed for a picture. The bay is behind us, with Angel Island in the background. We had such a fun day!

We had a very busy and fun December!!

We Fish You a Merry Christmas!!

After two years of vandalism with Jack and Sally (The Nightmare Before Christmas), we have decided to change the the theme of our yard display.

This Year Santa is fishing!!
The Boat Santa has chosen is a Stiper just like our boat!

He has landed a marlin, while a sea lion looks on from atop a bouy. There is also an old pier post with a holiday greeting for the other boaters and passers by.

On the smaller side of the yard is our christmas card(most of the neighborhood has these), and a more traditional north pole scene. We also have a window scene with a snow scene including Mr. & Mrs. Claus, a Christmas tree and sledding snowmen in the garage window.

Merry Christmas!!

Halloween!!

Aidan decided to be a hobo for Halloween. I think he thought he could just throw on his dad's old jacket and call it a costume, but Brian had other ideas. In the end he had black smudges on his face and a garbage bag on a pole. I guess he still had to work for his candy!!Elise dressed up as an indian. We made her costume, and she looked so cute!
Isaac was a dinosaur again this year!

He loves this costume and wears it for dress-up year round. I think he wore it last year, and Elise wore it a few years ago, so we have certainly gotten our money out of this costume!!

Camille was the cutest pumpkin ever!! She loved dressing up, and wanted to wear her costume all day. She also enjoyed trick-or-treating and eating candy!!

We hope your Halloween was as great as ours!!

Vacationing in Bandon, Oregon!

This July we took our tent trailer and went camping in Oregon. We had such a fantastic time! We had not camped with all the kids before, so this was truly a

Kesler Family Adventure.
We all had a great time playing on the beach, but I think Brian may have had the most fun! He built a fort out of driftwood on the beach that we all played in. What a great dad!
This is the fort Brian Built!
I just love this picture of Camille!
While at the beach, the kids discovered sand dunes. Or, should I say they discovered rolling down sand dunes? They did this for the longest time! Yes, that is Elise rolling over Isaac in the picture. Let me assure you, he got up laughing and ran back to the top of the hill to go again!! When they were done they had sand everywhere, I think Aidan might still have sand in his ears!
We also went to the prehistric park to see dinosaurs.
The kids were almost eaten, and had to run for their lives!!
The next day we went to a wild animal park. This was a strange, dirty place. I (Staci) did not like it, but the kids had fun. Elise got to hold this baby opossum, which made her day!
We all had a really great time, and look forward to planning another camping trip soon.

Fishing with the Keslers!!

Isaac caght his first fish on the delta near Rio Vista!

We took the boat out for a day of fishing and swimming, and had a great time! The picture below is the view from the front of the boat where we anchored. It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful place to stop. The birds in the picture are egrets, and they were closer than this picture suggests. The land you see in the forefront of the picture is only visable because it is low tide.

Aidan and Elise also caught fish! In fact, we could barely get the bait back in the water before there was another fish on. All of the fish were too small to keep, but we had a great time catching them anyways!


This was also Isaac's first time swimmimg behind the boat with the big kids! We tie ropes to the kids life-jackets and attatch them to the boat so they can't float away(It is a river!).

Brian is holding a striper in front of his Striper!
Brian's fish was caught a week later on the San Francisco Bay!