Cousins visit to Huntington Beach

My sister, Emily, brought her kids out for a visit the first week of August. Our kids are all very close in age so they had a blast playing together. The first day they arrived we had a BBQ and the kids just spent time playing together with toys, etc. The next day we spent pretty much the whole day at Huntington Beach. The kids had so much fun and played so well together. Here are the boys, Ben & Parker, playing in the waves:

Summer and Parker had fun playing together in the sand.

Look how cute Hannah is!! Emily does her hair in fabulous hairstyles! Summer is such a wiggle bug that I was lucky to get her hair in a pony tail...and then halfway through the day the rubber band broke so she looked like a crazy lion.

All 4 kids loved having us bury them and make mermaid and fish tails out of sand. We couldn't believe they lasted all day without any meltdowns!!

Ferry Ride and Fun Zone!!

The next day we drove over to Balboa Island and then took the ferry over to the Fun Zone. The ferry ride takes about 5 minutes but for some reason my kids think it's the most fabulous thing ever. Here they are, waiting for the ferry: Woo Hoo, here we go on our ferry ride. Look how cute everyone is:

The kids took a whirl on the carousel. This is a FAST moving carousel, I kid you not. It is the fastest one I've been on.

And then we took the kids up on the ferris wheel. Look at what a clear and beautiful day it is!! And look how cute Emily and her kids are:

Summer is loving the ferris wheel!! Ben loves it too but wasn't quite as cooperative on the picture taking during the ride.

Pier and Park

After we spent some time at the Fun Zone, we walked over to the Balboa Pier. The water was sooo beautiful, so clear and such a pretty blue green color. The kids had fun running along the pier. We also saw a baby seal...a smart baby seal...because he was eating fish off the fishermen's lines before they could pull their catch in.

The next day we went to lunch at Pei Wei and then headed to the park. We love this park because it's right across the street from Pei Wei, tucked away, so it's never busy and it's super clean (this is Newport Beach so it's to be expected).

We had such a great time with Emily and her kids. We can't wait to see them again soon!

July 2009

These are all the pictures for the month of July...no, we weren't being boring and not doing anything. We actually ended up moving and we were up to our ears in packing, unpacking and all that is associated with moving. We sold our home in Costa Mesa and we are now happily living in Huntington Beach. We love the new neighborhood and we absolutely love the clean, fresh air that we are experiencing now that we live 1.5 miles from the beach!!
We did stop the unpacking to celebrate Brian's birthday!! The kids are always up for a good reason to make a big chocolate cake and to buy balloons.

Happy Birthday Brian!!! We love you!!

And what is a hot July day without watermelon??? This is probably Summer's favorite fruit. This is saying alot because we are convinced she is a "fruitatarian". She really could live on fruit alone, if we let her.

My two happy girls. Summer throws down the rind when she's done and Abby spends time knawing it. Perfect!

Irvine Park - June 2009

We spent part of the day at Irvine Park. We love it there because there is so much to do: playground, zoo, train ride, horse rides, etc. And they have big, beautiful peacocks. The small zoo now has a petting area which was Summer's favorite area. She loves to pet and feed the goats and could pretty much spend the whole day there....as long as she could take a quick look at the owls (her 2nd favorite area of the zoo).

I think the kids are doing an amazing job of grooming the baby goats...maybe we could put them to work (of course there are those child labor laws that may be a little difficult to overcome).

They are so proud of how shiney and clean they have made this small little goat! We

really did go see the rest of the park but we spent ALOT (most) of our time at the petting zoo!!

California Adventures - June 2009

I took the kids to California Adventures toward the middle of June and we had a blast!! The first half of the day was great because there was hardly anyone there. We went to the Bug's Life area and rode the rides one after the other, several times in a row because we never had to wait in line!! We were loving it!!! Fun Times at California Adventures!!

They loved this ride!

And what's more fun than cotton candy!! Thankfully I brought plenty of water and snacks because it got pretty warm by the time the sun popped through the clouds.

The kids were soooo good and so content just hanging out, walking around, exploring, going on rides, etc.

California Adventures - Monsters Inc.

Summer LOVES Monsters Inc. So when she saw Sully walk by she wanted to follow. We patiently waited in line to meet Sully and as soon as it was our turn she freaked out and started crying! Sooooo.....Ben and I still decided to go through with the picture and still to this day Summer says, "when I saw Sully I cwied." Aaaaahhhh, this is much better. A fake Sully painted on the wall. Way less scary!

The kids thought it was so cool how this scene was painted on the wall.

More of California Adventures

The kids LOVED the Brother Bear play area and so we visited it a couple of times. They couldn't get enough of the log slide and went down it over and over. Ben would yell out "WOO HOOOOOO" like he was on a roller coaster, every time he slid down. It was hilarious and easy for me to know it was my kid coming down the slide!!

Ben thought the rope area was so fabulous. Summer couldn't keep up with him..heck, I could barely keep up with him!!

The loved exploring through the little logs and tree areas too.

My baby bear cub!

We had a great time! It was so a fun day for all of us.

Sick Day

Poor Ben somehow caught the flu. He looked so darn pathetic I had to take a picture. He spent about 24 hours with the flu bug - poor thing. He has a "barf bowl" that we were very thankful for on several occasions. Thankfully he was backed to his usual energetic self pretty quickly. Summer felt her poor brothers pain and her way of being supportive was having her own little bowl.....and of course she needed at least one of her best buddies with her. This time it was her parrot. Thankfully, she didn't catch Ben's flu bug!

Last Day of Preschool!!!

June 2009 - Ben's last day of preschool - ever! He is going to miss his most favorite teacher in the world: Miss Krista. Here is a picture of Ben and his beloved Miss Krista: And here is a picture of one of the Aide's in his classroom: Miss Brenda. We forgot to get a picture of Miss Marissa but he loved both and had a blast with them. Check out Ben's cool sunglasses!

Here is Miss Kirsten - Ben always loves to remind her that she has yellow hair, "just like Summer".

Cupcakes!

We took some cupcakes to Ben's preschool class - to continue the birthday celebrations. They are all so cute! I love how they are sitting around "the birthday king" while he blows out his candle.

The cupcakes were a hit!

Happy Birthday Big FIVE Year Old!!

I can't believe Ben is FIVE years old! Where does the time go? He was such a snuggley baby and he still loves to snuggle. He loves his bike and can ride it without training wheels. He even knows how to pop a wheelie and ride off the curbs. He loves the beach and the park and is super good on the monkey bars. He has such a cute sense of humor and keeps us laughing. We love you Ben!!

Ben celebrated is 5th birthday at Smallwood Park in Costa Mesa, CA. It's right near our home. We took a picture of him with his cake (that I bought at Costco) before the party...before it got mucked up by lots of little hands. :-)
Here's Ben with one of his best buddies, Trevor.

Looks like everyone is enjoying the chocolate cake...and who wouldn't, right??

Summer thought it was cool to wear her batman mask as much as possible....except when eating cake because that is serious business for her.

What a fun day! Ben loves sleeping in his little tent in his bedroom. He fell asleep while playing with his new toy. So cute!

Our Day at Disneyland!!!

We took the kids to Disneyland for Ben's birthday. He got in free because it was his birthday and Summer was free because she was under three so it was a great deal for a family of 4!

We spent alot of time at Frontierland. Brian took Ben on Thunder Mountain, for his first ride in the park! Wow!! His eyes were as big as saucers when he got off. Ben decided the big scary rides were better for the adults...or when he gets bigger!

We played on Tom Sawyers Island for a long time. The kids loved exploring all of the caves.

There are several fun bridges to cross and it's just fun to run around and check everything out.

I think Brian had as much fun as the kids on Tom Sawyer Island!

Summer didn't want to get anywhere near any of the characters walking around but Ben loved all of them!