Geiger/Balmer/Vermillion Family Vacation - San Diego August 2011

Hello all and happy end of summer - sad to say, it's my favorite time of year. But, this household is ready for some Buckeye Football :) And Missouri Tigers too! It's still hot here and we're enjoying the pool and beach before the days are shortened and cooler. We have been on what seems to be permanent vacation for most of the month of August. Gramma G and Great Grandma G even stayed longer to spoil us after we already were spoiled with summer va-cay 2011 so that Josh and I could go to Lanai Hawaii (I will post those pics later this week).

I hate to have a whole month in between my posts but please forgive me on my tardiness on getting summer vacation pics uploaded and the length of the post you are about to read/see. We also got Brett's MRI done while we were down in La Jolla/San Diego for our summer vacation. Prayers were answered in that there was no cyst nor tumor found in his brain. Now, we continue to patch and wear glasses. We have another appointment this week and I will update more sooner. Thanks for keeping Brett in your thoughts always!

We had a wonderful week with our crew of 14 while they were in town from Ohio and Florida - Mahlon, Anne, Dorothy, Jason, Chris, Jaret, Jake, Jase, Kristin, Justin and the 4 of us! Yes, that is a mini van and our Pilot filled to the brim! We all made so many moments, memories and activities/stories for us all to treasure for our lifetimes...all thanks to Grandma and Pee-paw Geiger and their generous ways that made it a reality and such an amazing gift, as they allowed us to share in with them. THANK YOU SO MUCH, WE LOVE YOU TONS! Let's start planning for 2012 :)
the wonderful pair that made our summer vacation a dream come true - sunset in La Jolla


fun times and chat around the fire pit at the house that we stayed in for the week




the littlest Ohio Vermillion with the littlest California Vermillion

Our clan at the beach....

the mommas and some of the boys as we start off our Torrey Pines hike, aggressive start to the vacation on the first morning everyone was here....jet lagged, tired and all. Nice Work!

Smiles as we start

The first mile is up hill

Love the stages....too bad Trev couldn't stand in the place of the next notch...soon enough!

playin' at the beach

We went to SeaWorld Monday afternoon and stayed for the 9 p.m. Shamu show and fireworks. Brett and the sea turtle made friends at the Turtle Reef....maybe the turtle saw Brett's shirt and smiled.

Great pic of the fellas... (Trev was passed out in the stroller)

Neat pic with the sun coming in - Jake and Jase in the tunnels that are part of the Bay of Play at SeaWorld

This is a good story...and one the boys will forever remember (I remember when we got soaked from 20 years ago, when I was kid). The new summer version of the dolphin show includes Beluga whales and we did not know this. But, we did choose to sit in the splash zone and we got SOAKED! Thank goodness it was a nice and sunny day :) We laughed a ton! Brett and Trev were not part of the drenched crew of Justin, Jaret, Jake, Josh and me :)

Our family before the Padres game that we went to all together on Tues. night.

The boys, the wives and the rest of the boys...

Park at the park - picnic area to play with the kids and "watch" some of the game....

the grandparents and the grand kids - great grandma/great grand kids. it was such a treat to have great-grandma on the trip and to be with us all for the week.

We rotated back and forth between the picnic area/park area and the seats

We loved having the pool right there in the backyard. It was so refreshing and so fun! Here's one of Jason we caught goofing around with his little bro and the rest of the crew splashing around too!

After all the planning, coordinating, meal making, etc. FINALLY grandma gets to chill poolside and do a crossword! Congrats Grandma, great vacation - you EARNED your relaxation!

Another relaxation moment well earned: grad degree=thumb up, beer up! Congrats to you Uncle Jason!

flying Jake - the boys all loved to be thrown as high as possible from the poolside, in the pool - anyways possible. thank goodness no one threw a back out!

the hot tub was a good time as well!

Aunt Kristin, me and the little ones

Brett and his scuba steve outfit...and a sweet dive with leg lift too, might I add! HA!

back float with grandma checkin mr. brett out....God bless her for her patience with "watch this" "watch this"
we also had a half basketball court at the house - the boys loved playing and showing off their moves. Brett needed a helping hand!

rallying the troops!

sweet D Uncle Jason

watch out, something big is about to happen :)

thanks to the aunts for the help with trev - he's no joke with feeding time! he will YELL at you if you don't feed him quickly enough. Brett and I are working on teaching him some sign language so we don't get yelled at. we came back here the night after LegoLand to show the Ohio Vermillions and great Grandma our house for the first time and for us all to have dinner.

Although we all were wiped out that night, these three (Jaret, Jake and Jase) were especially down and out because unfortunately a flu bug hit from Wed. to Thurs. of the week we were together. Thurs. was our LegoLand day and even though the kids weren't 100%, they did their best to have a great time.

funny that Brett picked the animal he was most acting like - maybe a little bit of a horse's a$$?!

Aunt Kristin and Brett at Legoland

How cute is that?! The mini-people at mini-land. This place is so neat, all sorts of US cities/places all made into Legos - Vegas strip, NYC, New Orleans...

Legoland - fire engine races, all three bros raced against each other. Brett and I can proudly claim that we were on the WINNING team. Yeah, Winning like Charlie Sheen :)

This was a candid - HILARIOUS! This is what happens when the little boys are faster than the big boys. They were running around crazy in this maze-like, obstacle course playground at Lego Land.
This was an all time favorite of Jake's the last time we were here - he was Brett's age now, 3! So funny how time flies and that Brett wasn't even in the picture when Jake was 3 and now he is the one loving this very same horse ride...

Here's Jake at almost age 7 and it's still pretty cool!

the youngest Vermillion uncle and the littlest Vermillion boy - can you tell we are missing everyone and wishing we were closer??

We really miss you Grandma G!

O H I O!! Little Trevor is trying to figure out why this sand tastes so bad...

new buzz cut that daddy did while we were down at the house...Jaret joined him for the shave party too! how cool, easy and slick - for mommy too :)

This was just a hoot in so many ways - GREAT GRANDMA is the bomb! Seriously, how many 85 year old ladies do you know that can shake it with Dance Party Wii??? She's amazing and of course she WON :) That's how I remember it....

Aunt Kristin is always one to take the time out to read with the boys - it's so nice because they appreciate it so much and it means the world to us and them. One of the times, I know Brett had her reading for at least 30 mins. WHAT A CHAMP AUNT K!

Too cute - we're really missing our big cousins...

Biggest cuz was so great, always helping me with little Trevy and so thoughtful and kind! Thanks big cuz Jaret!

family pic at sunset in La Jolla...so Trev, just leaning back and chilling!

Trev is serious business about his cold stone or "cold cone" as Brett calls it! We were there 3 times that week....

Life is truly sweet in so many ways :) Yes, a reference to Cold Stone too. Seriously though, we surely had a great week and it was so nice to have everyone here together, especially the cousins playing with each other and just the constant laughter and stories. Until we meet again....hopefully sooner than later! We love you so much, the Carlsbad V's!