Mount San Jacinto

We drove to Mount San Jacinto today to enjoy the outdoors!!!!  In case you don't know where that is, it's right before Palm Springs and a hell of a tram ride to the top.  It's almost straight up the side of the mountain.  If I wasn't gripping the handles, I would have taken a picture going up.  The bottom right picture was taken at the top of the canyon looking down.  It doesn't even show how steep it was.  We went 6,000ft in 10 minutes.  Yikes.  It was BEAUTIFUL and worth the 10 minutes of fear!

Once we got to the top we started hiking and within minutes, shoes were off and the kids were in the water.  Country kids at heart! 

Watching sticks race down stream!

Did I mention that we only brought the back pack and the kids did AWESOME.  Mabel and Amelia were climbing rocks, into the water and only needed to be carried at the very end!

If you look closely, you can see J, and Amelia is right behind him, climbing in the rocks.

We even had learning experiences when Ryan found a tree cut in half and tried to teach the kids how to find out how old a tree is.

Mabel didn't care and was quite an independent hiker!

The boys were daring, the girls were not.

Did I mention it was BEAUTIFUL!

Sorry this is soooo long but it was such a fun day!  We packed some snacks and enjoyed the sun.

Can you see Jbird at the top?  He's a natural hiker and a dare devil!

Jeremy did so well.  He walked the entire time and back up the switchback all by himself.  He was so proud of himself.

Family picture at the top

  Great idea Ryan!

Fun Friday it was with Grandmommy and Auntie Jacqui

Today was Auntie Jacqui's last day so we met everyone (Jacqui, Jett, Benny, Auntie Cole, Simone, Blaise and their friends) at a park in Marina del Rey, headed here after a McD's drive thru and then made way too much of a mess playing together.   

That's Amelia behind Benny.

 Amelia skipped her nap to play longer with Jett.  They had fun but we didn't when 5pm hit.  We will not be doing that again soon. :)

Way too much fun playing...

 This wasn't today but we transferred our future butterflies into their home yesterday.  Now we just have to wait for them to come out....we have it hanging in the dining room (I know, real appetizing) but I pass through that room 100 times a day so I figured I would see any progress.

Twin Thursday

Jacqui and I had a "date night"!  It was SOOOO fun to have dinner, finish a conversation, laugh A LOT and just hang out.  We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then saw a movie.

We asked the waiter to take our picture (because we don't care what he thinks) and after a few pictures he said to growl like a bear so I did but kept smiling.  Jacqui on the other hand, after cropping it, looked like this!  Classic!!! I mean, who really growls!

We then went to see Something Borrowed and I packed us some snacks.  The best part was that I put carton milks on ice to keep them cold because if you know me and my family, there's nothing like a cold glass of milk with cookies.  Ahhhh, so good.

Thanks Jac!  That was the best!  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!  "Buffalo Blasts" anyone? Love you.

Grandmommy's salon

Grandmommy broke out her nail polish supplies and even Mabel wanted in on the action.  You could tell Jbird was curious so grandmommy buffed one of his nails so it was shiny.  He didn't want anymore done :)  Way to go son!  Mabel only allowed one of her nails to be painted and Grandmommy even let Amelia paint Mabel's toe nails and one of mommy's finger nails!

(Mommy's nail is bottom right)

Mommy thought it would be a good idea to let the kids ride to school while I ran with Mabel in the jogger.  Well, Amelia made it to the end of the block (she would have made it longer but she was going SO slowly I encouraged her to get in the stroller) so we put her bike in the Pickett's front yard (thank you Jen) and she jumped in the jogger.  Jbird made it all the way no problem.  Mabel and mommy continued on and on and on :(

ps...It was pajama day at school so that is why they are in their pj's. I love Mabel's face in the jogger.

Some QT with Mabel!

Playing with play doh.  I think Mabel ate more than she sculpted!

Problem solved

We always get different responses about who our kids look like.  Anyone want to guess who this is and who she looks like?!?!?  

This is Mary and we can safely say Amelia looks like her!  Some slight differences but Amelia even thinks this is her.  If you show her the picture and ask who it is, she says "me"!  

Grandmommy is here!

Grandmommy arrived yesterday after a very busy weekend.  Amelia's party was Saturday, Jbird had his baseball picnic and got his trophy Sunday afternoon and then grandmommy came.  Such a fun weekend!

First event....The Del Rey American Little League picnic.  It's so fun.  The kids all bring their water guns, balloons and wear bathing suits.  It's a free for all water fight!  The parents bring tents (order pizzas, taco ladies), coolers, wagons, BBQ's (literally people roll their bbq's onto the field) and just hang out for hours.  It was a BLAST!

I've always said I'd rather have the nicest kid on the team rather than the best on the team.  My dreams came true when Coach Al gave Jeremy his trophy.  He said he was so impressed with how much he improved over the season and that he is the sweetest kid on the team.  Done.  I'm a proud mom! :)

I'm also proud of the way Mabel can have a handful of Cheetos and keep her balance on this chair.

Oh yeah, and I was proud of the way she walked right into the water fight and picked her nose as she crossed the pitcher's mud puddle.

The best part of this picture....I didn't take it.  Some random dad saw this and took a picture.  He then took her hand and walked around until he found her parents! :)  Hey, we were in a gated field so she couldn't go anywhere!

No pics of Amelia because she was too busy packing and unpacking her backpack that she brought.

Moving on...did I mention grandmommy is here!!!!  Mabel took about an hour to warm up to her and she really warmed up to her.

Mabel loves Amelia's new shoes, so does Amelia.  Uh oh...

Grandmommy brought sidewalk paint.  Yup, paint...not chalk.  Amelia loved painting the driveway. So did Mabel and Jeremy.

The kids spent the afternoon in the yard with her and we turned on the bubble machine.  We put in an OLD bottle of bubbles from the George's and it started to make the biggest bubbles.  Even grandmommy got in on the action!  Thank you again Alli, Spence, Sevi and Leo for the bubble machine...hours of entertainment!

 This picture is blurry but I LOVE their hair!!!  High on life!!!

And it wouldn't be any fun without some trampoline time and Mabel is getting GOOD!

Amelia's Ice Cream Parlor

Hope you had a great birthday party Amelia!  We did and we think you did too.

South bay girls

My big 3 year old!

 Happy Birthday to you!

 Can you read her shirt?  Someone loves ice cream

Mommy and her girl

And when all was said and done....

Thanks for coming and thank you to my peeps (Ryno, Auntie Jacqui, Auntie Jess and Uncle Jon) for helping me pull everything together!!!!

More fun with Auntie Jacqui, Jett, Benny and friends

Auntie Jacqui has been playing scrabble on her phone with my friend Beth (they've never met) so I thought we would have her and her son Matthew over for dinner on Thursday.  Oh yeah, and ice cream.

Before bed movie time...

Today, we had another beach day with our old friend Kimmy and her daughter Shea.

The life guard stand was a HIT!!! 

 Someone loves bugs....she is fearless.

 Auntie Jacqui brought Jett and Benny back out to her in-laws for the weekend so it was QT with Auntie tonight!  

Story time...

Story time turned into...well, playtime.

We're almost ready for Amelia's birthday party and we've got a BUSY weekend.  Party tomorrow, baseball picnic on Sunday and Grandmommy gets here on Sunday evening!