Just Another Day In Paradise

My Mom had a business trip the weekend before Halloween in Carlsbad, Ca.  Carlsbad is a cool little beach town located about a half hour away from San Diego.  And luckily for us, that's only a few hours away!  And to sweeten the deal, my Mom was working for a posh resort that offered to put us up in a 2 bed-2 bath villa.  How could we pass that up?

We couldn't!  We loaded the kids up on Wednesday evening and headed for our mini-vacation.  It was an uneventful drive, and we were so pleased with the resort!  The room was beautiful, the kids were so excited, and Danny and I could relax with some much-missed Food Network.  And then Grandma Candy got back from her dinner appointment and the kids were all that much more excited!  After we caught up and visited for a bit, we tucked the kids into bed and called it a night.  

I was so glad we had come.  The kids and I have been going stir-crazy at the house lately, and they desperately needed some time to play and I needed a change of venue.  We all got up on Thursday morning and opened the curtains to our balcony door, and that was when I realized we had an ocean view!  

What an incredible way to start the morning!  We fed the kids and then headed out to explore the resort.  On our way up the night before, we passed the family pool complete with mini water park for the kids.  We decided to walk by and check it out.  And while we were out, we discovered the playground.  The resort had officially won me over!  We let the kids enjoy the sunshine for a while...

And then it was time to hit the pool!  Gotta love Southern California in late October.

We had a blast at the pool, and swam until Sophie was literally begging to go back to the room.  Afterwards, it was nap time for all.  Glorious naptime!  Grandma had to work on Thursday, so it was mostly a quiet day after naps.  We enjoyed some dinner in the room and took full advantage of the cable while enjoying a beautiful sunset over the Pacific.  A perfect vacation day.

Friday started our vacation with Grandma Candy, since she was all finished with her work obligations.  Not that we minded those obligations, since it was her connections with the resort that landed us free tickets to...LEGOLAND!  The Grand Pacific Palisades Resort (where we were staying) was literally within walking distance of Legoland.  We didn't walk though. :)  We happily drove (and then unhappily paid for parking), and decided to start our day of fun at the Legoland Aquarium.

The aquarium was so much fun!  There were fish there that I had never seen before, and I've visited a fair amount of aquariums in my day.  There were places the kids could play with legos, go down slides, touch starfish, and view the fish tanks from underneath.  It was awesome.

Once we were done with the fishes, we headed into Legoland.  The kids were so tired at this point, but they were troopers!  We enjoyed a boat ride and saw a lot of really cool lego creations before Daddy, Grandma Candy, and the girls enjoyed a ride or two.  Well, the girls endured them.  Our little princesses aren't much for thrills yet. :)  Danny, on the other hand, is all about thrills.  He found a ride where he was strapped in a seat that was connected to a huge mechanical arm.  This arm them proceeded to whip him all over the place!  Up side down, all around, upside down while being twirled all around.  It literally makes me nauseous writing about it.  But Danny loved it.  He eventually admitted to pretending he was in the cockpit of a jet, doing barrel rolls.  I love that man. :)  Even though the kids were exhausted, Claire did go on a horse ride all by herself, and Sophie did the big slides with her Daddy.  We have awesome kids!

We ended up taking three exhausted kids and one completely worn out pregnant mommy back to the hotel for dinner.  And just in time for the big game!  BYU was playing TCU, possibly the biggest game of the season, and Danny was going to be able to actually watch it!  He was stoked.  Though not so much by the time the game was over.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.  He drowned his sorrows with me in the hot tub after the game.  The chromatherapy lights helped.  But only a little...

And Saturday was our day to celebrate Halloween.  And that deserves it's own post...

Monkeys In A Tree

The kids have been going a little stir-crazy in the house while I've been dealing with this pesky morning sickness. So, they were stoked when Danny had some work to do outside and they could go out and play!  I was lying down inside when Danny had me come see where the girls were.  I was surprised to find them up in the tree!

At first there were two...and then there were three!

Sophie played for a while, but then decided that she'd had enough.  Claire played with Daddy for a while longer...

Danny had some work to do still, so Claire played on her own for a while.  We asked if she was getting bored up there by herself, but apparently she was just fine.  After a while, she asked for a snack.  Then she asked if she could watch videos on my phone.  So...our little monkey stayed in the tree, by herself, for almost an hour.  Just hanging out.  Eating Goldfish crackers and watching "Phineas and Ferb".

Now, everyday, she asks if she can go "hang out and relax in the tree".  Silly girl. :)

Heirloom

When I was four years old, I was having a lot of trouble sleeping at night.  I was, as you could say, a very frightened little girl.  I also wanted a puppy more than anything in the whole world.  So, one night my Dad came home with a present for me.  It was Oscar, my Pound Puppy, and he would serve as my guardian and friend for many, many years.  I slept with that guy almost every night from the time I got him to the night before I married Danny.  I cried with him when I was sad or scared, and having him close always made me feel better.  I loved my Oscar.

Well, Claire was a little bummed that Sophie had a cool new friend (her Princess Aurora doll) to sleep with at night, so I decided to let her take care of Oscar for me.  Claire was excited, and promised she'd take very good care of him for me.  I'm sure she will.  It felt kind of cool to give something to my little girl that I loved so much growing up.  Being a parent is so cool.

"I'm A Big Girl Now!"

Way back at the end of September, we celebrated Sophie's 3rd birthday.  I still can hardly believe that little firecracker of ours is three years old.  Sophie picked what she wanted to do for her birthday, right down to dinner.  She wanted Costco Pizza at the park.  We thought that was a fantastic idea!

The kids ate their dinner and played with Daddy at the playground.  Once it started getting dark, we took the kids to Walmart to pick up the cake that Sophie had ordered for herself earlier in the week.  She had been waiting for this cake for months!  BUT...she would have to wait a bit longer.  Presents first!

We called Grandma and Papa on the computer so they could watch as Sophie opened her gifts.  You have to love all this technology, huh?  Sophie made out pretty good this year, as always.  We tried to focus more on activities she could do as opposed to just toys.  She was delighted with each gift.  She got a couple of Princess puzzles from Claire and Johnny, and Mom and Dad got her a collection of Mercer Meyer's "Little Critter" books for story time, new jammies, a matching game, a new blanket, and a new Princess Aurora doll to sleep with.  Since this is Sophie's 3rd birthday, that meant she had to say goodbye to bottles and binkies at bedtime.  We were hopeful that a new blanket and doll might help the transition.  She loved everything she got, and we loved seeing our Sophie-kins so happy! (I should also add that within a week of her birthday, she also received some beautiful wood rainbow blocks from Grandma and Papa, an awesome giant floor puzzle from Grandma Candy, and a birthday card with $5 from Grandma Richard and Grandma Ruth Ann.  This is one loved little girl!)

After presents, Sophie finally got her cake!  We lit the candles (which Johnny was still very apprehensive about from his birthday experience), sang the song, and Sophie made her wish!  She loved her Princess cupcake cake, and especially the figurines and mood ring that came on top.  What we do as parents to make our children happy! :)

It was a perfectly wonderful day for a perfectly wonderful girl.  We love our Sophie more than words can say.  For as frustrating as that girl can be, she's even more fun.  We don't know what we'd do without you, Sophie, and we just love you to pieces.  We're excited to see what you'll learn to do (and say!) in the next year!

Happy Birthday, Sophie Anne!

Birthdays Down Below

To celebrate our September birthdays, we took a trip Down Below a couple Saturdays ago.  I think I've explained this local vernacular before, but for a refresher course we here in the Antelope Valley refer to LA as "Down Below".  Don't ask me why.  It's just what we say. :)

We asked Sophie what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she decided on the zoo.  Always a good choice. So we called Uncle Robbie and Aunt Kris to see if they wanted to bring Andrea along for the fun.  We met them at the zoo before the gates opened, and Johnny and Andrea were beside themselves with anticipation!

The zoo is such a fun place to take the kids.  Especially when they hit the ages that Claire and Sophie are at.  They have such a pure delight in seeing the different creatures that Heavenly Father and Jesus created to make this Earth beautiful and interesting.  The girls ran right to the flamingos...after all, they are pink.  Claire decided to try and stand like a flamingo.  I think she did pretty good!

Johnny really enjoyed watching the gorillas.  They were pretty active that morning, so they were doing all sorts of interesting things.  I'm always surprised by how big they are!

And Sophie was excited about everything!  I had to catch this moment on camera before I was a responsible parent and told her never to climb the fences at the zoo.  This is just so Sophie!

We have really enjoyed living close to Robbie and Kris.  The girls just love their time with them!  We only wish we were a tad closer so we could do more together.

And even though these two can fight like cats and dogs, they wouldn't know what to do without each other.  Danny and I are really enjoying watching their friendship grow.

About half way through the zoo, we decided to take a little break and eat some snacks.  

Then we discovered the playground.  On our last visit to the zoo, we hadn't noticed it.  The girls were stoked!  And it was perfect for us adults, since most of us hadn't gotten enough sitting time during our snack break. :)  The statues that the kids could climb on were especially fun for the girls.  Claire climbed on every single one. 

The birthday girl!  Cutest 3 year-old on the planet.

And it would seem as though the gorillas had an influence on Johnny.  Look at this little monkey!

We spent about another hour or so at the zoo after the kids were done playing at the playground.  By that time, everyone was getting hungry.  We bid the zoo goodbye and headed for Danny's part of the birthday trip Down Below...

Lunch!  We picked another "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" location.  Well, Danny picked.  And he actually kept it a surprise from me!  I was excited when we pulled up to Baby Blues BBQ.  Mmmm...ribs.  Lunch was delicious!  We all ate our fill, and then made the long drive back to the AV.  It was a great day, and a wonderful way to celebrate Daddy and Sophie.  Happy Birthday, Guys!