San Diego Fun

The kids are on spring break from school so I decided to take them to San Diego to visit Auntie Jess, Uncle Jon, Piper and Sadie.  Oh yeah, and some dolphins, whales, turtles, sea stars, etc.

We packed up on Tuesday morning.  Clothes - check, diapers - check, blankies x3 - check, toys for the car - check, favorite animals they sleep with - check, noise makers - check, pacifier - check, bathing suits and swim diapers - check, snacks and sippy cups for the drive - check.  All ready to go except now I need to pack for mommy!

Mabel fussed from Irvine to San Diego (that would be 1/2 the drive 

= 1 hour) and the rest of the time was passing crap back to keep all busy and entertained.  Fun times.

We hung out at the house the first day, set up the pool for the kiddos and just enjoyed hanging low.  

Jbird loved sliding down the fast slide into the pool.  Jess also set up the crazy sprinkler under the trampoline and Jeremy had to jump over it as it made it's way across the bottom.

Lounging pool side!

Mabel LOVES sunglasses! 

Amelia is obsessed with Sadie.  So sweet and helpful.  Auntie Jess told her to sing the ABC's when Sadie got fussy and so she would.  J loved her too of course.  

We went to dinner at a 50's diner where they sing and dance and put the kids to bed about 7:30. 

All of us with our diner hats on.  Jess and I did not have our nice cameras so these are phone quality!

Bath time!

Jeremy and Amelia didn't fall asleep for quite some time...they were excited to be there and they were excited for the Sea World adventure the following day.

When we woke up we got ready and headed to Sea World when the gates opened.  Jess and I decided to leave the strollers behind so it was time to walk, walk, walk! Jbird did awesome...6.5 hours later, he was still walking and didn't ask to get picked up one time.  

Not a great picture but I couldn't deal with the size of this fish!

Checking out the Beluga Whales.

Bay of Play - Jbird and mommy were climbing and the girls were running around like crazy! That's Amelia in the mid air.

Amelia had Auntie Jess cravings....ride with her, drive with her, sit with her, etc.  She loves Auntie Jess!

We have never waited to get close to the dolphins but it was worth it.  We were SO close.  Jeremy was less than a foot away.  AMAZING!  Auntie Jess pet one and we got splashed by one.

We went to the tide pools when Jess and Piper left and Jeremy was SUPER into it.  Petting, picking up and listening to speaker talk about sea stars.

 Notice Amelia in the background not too sure of this.  See below as well.

The girls on the other hand needed help getting through the day but it was WAY easier then having a stroller.  Sea World has annoying stroller parking which always leaves your stroller where you went in the exhibit, not where you come out so you have to double back. Auntie Jess and Piper went home about 1:30 and J, A and I hung until 4:30.  We even saw some things we had never seen before.  Needless to say, the kids were ALL in bed by 6:30 (all 5 of them) and we relaxed and caught up!

Today we woke up and headed out on an "adventure" to tire the kids out before the drive.  A "nature" walk then entailed me carrying Amelia the whole time, a stream, lots of rocks, potato bugs and dirty, tired kids by the end.  Mabel was a trooper and walked the whole way out but wanted to be carried back.  Yup, that meant mom and Jess had to pass kids back and forth because my arms were cramping from carrying almost 55 lbs of girls! 

So helpful with Mabel.  He wanted to hold her hand because it was very rocky.

Huck Finn!  He wanted to pull up his pants and get in the water.

Piper and Jbird rocked!  Thank you again Jess and Jon for having the chaos of our visit.  We love you!

Jeremy, I love the way...

I love the way you LOVE me and hug me every time I buckle your car seat.

I love the way you let Mabel pull your hair, take your toys, eat your food because you "get" that she's a baby.

I love the way you ask Amelia every morning "if it's okay that you sit next to her" on the big chair.  If she says no, you have no problem going to the couch.  

I love the way you LOVE fruit!

Your new favorite!

I love the way you want fruit instead of cookies.  

I love the way you practice swinging an imaginary baseball bat when you don't think anyone is watching.

I love the way you hit home plate with your bat even though you have NO idea why you're doing it.

I love the way you go with the flow.

Daddy loves the way you tell stories.  You get so excited and you think faster than you can speak so you stutter.
I love the way you describe yourself as "shy" when I ask why you don't want to play with someone else.
I love the way you LOVE playing with Jack George!

I love the way you love your sisters.  You are the BEST big brother.

I love when I over hear you talking to Luna telling her that you love her.

And I loved it today when I told you when you get older you get to go to college and move out and you said you never wanted to leave me :)  

Love you little monkey man.  I am trying to take in and love all that you are because next year, you will be in kindergarten and I will miss our little talks.

I can't believe it took this long but it happened....

Amelia put on her sparkly purple shoes and said, "I want to put on a princess dress!"  I'm sorry, did you just say princess dress?  If you recall from every other post, this child puts on baseball hats, cleats and Jeremy's underwear, not a princess dress.  I was actually hoping to avoid this but hey, she asked so she shall receive. 

She's on the George's front porch because she wanted to show Annie and Bethany right away!  She LOVES them!

Busy weekend...

The weekend started on Friday when we went to the beach for a few hours.  I told the kids that they had to leave me alone so I could get ready to go and this is what they decided to do. 

Jeremy had a baseball game Friday night and then again on Saturday morning.  We might as well have pitched a tent and stayed at the field.  Saturday was a hot day so when we got home from J's morning game around 10, we set up the pools in the front and for the first time this year, put up the tent and chilled on the front lawn most of the day with the George's and Jeremy's new buddy on his team, Matthew and his dad.  The kids ran back and forth from the front to the back and from the George's to our house.  Amelia sporting one of her many swimsuit changes on Saturday.

Jeremy had a team party on Saturday night so we got a sitter for the girls and headed out to spend some time with the other parents and Jeremy's teammates.  We were out until 10pm, which has to be the latest he's ever stayed up :)  Sunday morning was spent washing the car, playing outside, 6 loads of laundry (that was for me)...

Annie helped...

Amelia helped...

so did Mabel...

the boys went back and forth between playing outside, inside games and Jeremy even went with Jack to get a new turtle.  Fun stuff.

I met the newest member of our "South Bay" friends, Marley. She was born Friday morning and she's perfect.

Maybe we should have another one??!?! :)  Just kidding!

Once I got back from meeting Marley, we packed up and again, headed to the South Bay to a BBQ at Natalie and Matt's house.  Mommy and Auntie Jacqui had a group of friends when we were in 3rd/4th grade and Natalie is one of them and Amy is another.  Amy is in town with her family so we all got together.  Oh yeah, Amy's 9 month old daughter is named Skylar.  :)

Skylar, Shiloh and Mabel

Mabel's arms are sooooo tan.  

The boys playing baseball (as if we haven't had enough)

Super happy Amelia

Skylar and Skylar

The whole gang (missing Jolie...she was napping)

From left to right: Sully (2 1/2), Shiloh (10 months), Becker (almost 3), Skylar (9 months), Hayden (almost 5), Amelia (almost 3), Mabel (16 months) and Jbird who will be 5 in 10 days!!!  

I'm going to bed...I'm exhausted!!! 

Two funny comments by Jbird

Comment #1: Mabel woke up from her nap super grumpy so Jeremy turned on his sweetness. He was pretending to read her stories and sitting with her on the couch.  I joined them on the couch and told Jeremy he is such a good big brother.  He looked me right in the eye and said, "you're a good mom too mommy."  Thanks bud, I TRULY appreciate that.


Comment #2:  Mabel has a runny nose and Louise told me to rub peppermint oil on it.  I don't have any so as a fun adventure (not really but they wanted to come with me) post bath, we drove over to Aunte Weez's to have her rub the oil behind Mabel's ears.  We just pulled up, she came out and rubbed it on and then we were off.  It was like a drive through pharmacy.  Anyway, as we're driving home, Jeremy and Amelia kept asking what the smell was (it was STRONG) and I said it was oil that smelled like a candy cane.  Jeremy then said, "like your neck mommy".  I asked him what he meant and he said "you have white stripes on your neck that look like a candy cane."  Thanks a lot kid!  Those are called wrinkles and sunburn and I will remind you about this when you get older :)

Johnny's Easter Egg Hunt 2011

Another Easter Egg hunt at school but this was Amelia's first (I think...I can't remember) so that was fun to watch.  She knew exactly what to do, so maybe this wasn't her first time, and Mabel watched the whole thing from the back pack.  Teacher Chris always decorates so nicely for Easter and they put A LOT of effort into the eggs (I mean they have bubbles, stamps, crayons, stickers, candy, mini coloring books and games) so the kids have a blast for hours afterwards playing with everything.

Ready, set, go...

Mabel is super excited for things to get started...can't you tell?

Waiting for all the parents to arrive

She was so excited to find the eggs!

"I see you little egg"

Jeremy let Amelia get these...such a good big brother.

Teacher Chris sections off all around the school so the big kids don't tear through it collecting all the eggs.  So, each child is told to collect a certain number and when they do, they wait to start the next area.  Here are all the bunnies waiting to hunt in the courtyard.

Amelia and her buddy Henry (Henry is Luke's younger brother)

Jbird and Luke

My attempts at a family picture!

In case you can't read Amelia's shirt, it reads "And though she be but little, she is fierce!" ~A Midsummer's Night Dream

Courtesy of Oma!  Thank you Oma, she loves it because it's PINK!

And, they both waited patiently until we got home and ate lunch before they sat together on the trampoline and compared their loot.