Youth Safari Day 2016

Ready for some action!

Danni got an archery lesson!

Me too!  I even hit the target!

Ready to shoot rifles!

I was a sharpshooter... I hit the target AND got candy!

More shooting practice!

I found a chicken friend in the petting zoo!

The boy scouts helped us make quail callers....

Learning to cast...

She did a pretty good job too!

Danni had two good bites... but they got away....

I caught some swamp grass....

Shooting clay pigeons. I got a piece of a couple of them!

She liked the rubber band guns because they weren't quite as noisy.

Danni got to play fetch with a duck hunting doggie - he fetched his toy out of the pond!

Rock climbing!

All geared up!

She almost got to the top, despite her shoes!

Paintball shooting!

She shot too... even though the paint balls were green... not pink!

Mommy and I braved the swamp water for a kayaking adventure.  

We met a furry friend in the taxidermy trailer.

Safety first!

A cold, sweet treat was in order!!

We have been looking forward to Youth Safari Day since we attended last summer, so we were thrilled that the date FINALLY rolled around!!  Our local shooting range hosts an amazing event where kids can go and try all kinds of outdoor activities.  We got to fire all kinds of guns, fish, kayak, shoot bows and arrows, rock climb, and play with hunting dogs!  Everything we did was super cool!!  (I just wish that it literally was super cool -- it got HOT out there!!)  Now I want Mommy and Daddy to sign me up for archery lessons!!

Northern California Adventures!

If you look closely, you can see me!

Climbing up to the second deck.

The doors were so heavy! 

Fighter pilot!

She wants one in pink!

A veteran took us on a tour of the engine room, mess hall, and sleeping quarters of the ship!

Danni posed with a model of Apollo 11.  She was mostly unimpressed, though!

She did not care for the guided tour.

Couch of crazy!  Hanging with the cousins in the Apollo exhibit.

We worked up an appetite!  

And, there is always room for dessert... she ordered a cookie dough root beer float!

Enjoying our treats with our cousins!

And Grandma too!

We were FULL!

We went bowling with Grandma, Deep, and Aakash!

And, we had ice cream afterward!

We loved playing with Deep and Aakash! We built a little fire (with Daddy's help!)

We also geared up and went rock climbing!

Danni didn't wear the proper shoes for climbing, though!

We had our hotel pool to ourselves!!  

We trekked up North to visit Grandma and our cousins.  While we were there we got to visit Grandma at her apartment (and nothing got destroyed!), and we got to hang out with Deep and Aakash at their house (and we only destroyed their yard a little bit!).  We also had a great time visiting the USS Hornet Museum (actually, the guys and I had a great time... Danni didn't care for that trip at all!) And, grandma took all of us bowling!!!  Grandma bowled a pretty competitive game too -- we all used the bumpers!)   We really love hanging with our Northern California family - we wish that our cousins lived closer -- we could really get into a lot of trouble together!!

4th of July Fun!

Happy 4th of July!!

Ready to roll in the parade!

Watch out Uncle Sam, I stole you look!

She's just along for the ride!

Ready to march in the parade with Papa!

This year we had more fun throwing candy than collecting it!

Parading with Papa!

Patriotic princess!

I helped her navigate the crowd.

We always have fun at the church festival at the end of the parade... Danni loved having fireworks painted on her face.

She won five of these!

Playing the ball toss... thankfully, they weren't giving away gold fish!

Looks like an excellent restaurant!

Bouncer fun!

Super slider!

We both had so much fun on the inflatables!

Making necklaces and sparkler rings.

She takes her art very seriously.

I got to meet a cool police officer.

He even let me drive!  (Just kidding.. but I did get to mess with the lights!)

Danni and Suz made a very patriotic dessert!

We rounded out our visit with a swim in Papa's pool!!

The 4th of July is one of our favorite holidays! We love to spend it in Ventura with Papa - we always march in the "Push 'em, Pull 'em Parade" in our patriotic best!  Afterward, we check out the booths (and collect the free swag) at the Ventura street fair, and then play games at the church festival near the end of the route.  At the end of the day, we head to Thousand Oaks to watch fireworks from a church on the hill.  They had bouncers there for Danni and I to play on, and Papa made us a delicious picnic dinner.  It was a wonderful holiday!