Monterey!

Took longer than it should have, but finally got to visit the Monterey area again!
Shawna and her family were visiting from VA so it gave me the excuse.
Justin was training for work in MD so the rest of us went up for a couple days.

We went strait to a new spot Danna found in Carmel Valley on the river.

So good to see these faces!

Amanda S was out of town...sad to not see her,
but awesome to get to stay in her amazing house.

I love her backyard hedges.
The kids loved the see-through shower.
Drew wants to live there for "20 years."
I could handle that.

That night...a backyard hot dog and s'more roast at Danna's.

Bright & early the next morning, we did the Garrapata trail.
Just driving to it was amazing.
Forgot how beautiful it is there.

While Owen & Drew explored the trail,

the girls shared some Chapstick.

Rushed straight to Danna's afterwards for a potluck lunch.

Those girls know how to do potlucks.
LOVED seeing so many people and meeting some new babies.

Water fight after lunch.

Please note Felicity's velvet ensemble.

The observers:

Staying far away from the water:

That night...the farmer's market (where the kids got way too spoiled by Aaron),
and clam chowder on the Wharf.

Wagon Wheel breakfast the next morning.

Oatmeal pancakes even better than I remembered.
Went back for more the next day on my way home.

A quick stop to Hacienda Hay & Feed to see the animals.

Then the newly remodeled Earthbound Farms for raspberries and ice cream.

The parking lot before heading in to the famous Dennis the Menace park.

Felicity loves the boys.

Super quick run around Lover's Point.

Then kayaking the Carmel River.

Craig (our token male) & Danna arranged for this.
It was awesome and it was crazy.
None of us had kayaked before and this was a 7-mile, 3-hour trip.
The river had tree blockages, shallow parts that we had to push the canoe over...it was nuts.
But SO beautiful and I'm so glad we got to do it.

Before we knew what we were getting into:

Wish we had an after picture...goose eggs, scrapes, bruises, and mascara faces.

At the end, we were so exhausted, but it really was amazing.

The kids had been w/babysitters all afternoon.
Drew was happy to finally get to the tire swing he'd been hearing about.

I loved these huge floppy daisy-like flowers.

We fit so much into 2 1/2 days.
It was the best.
Felt like we had never left.
Missed a lot of faces but were way happy to see everyone who was there.
Oh and did I mention we had pretty much perfect weather?
Sunny summer days are not too common there.
We got lucky.
Such a good trip!

He Likes Frogs

He's not quite 8 (the age of pet accountability in our house),
but with the luck of someone moving and his own $5,
Owen now has 2 water frogs: Jango Fett Alan and Boba Fett James.
Wait I think Boba Fett James is now Pacman James.
Either way.

He's been obsessed with frogs/frog books for the last couple months.
But I'm not complaining...this obsession is way better than the Bakugan one.

"I can't stop reading books about amphibians" - Owen, to the librarian

He's A San Diego Padre

Well, San Diego County anyway.

Justin is an awesome dad.

So are our dads.

And awesome dads make awesome grandpas.

Happy Father's Day to them all!

Box Cars

Moving and Marrying

Drew's preschool friend Benson (to his left; his brother Jeddy is on Drew's right) just moved.

We might be seeing more of him, though...he loves Sally and wants to marry her when she's 4.

Outer Space

Took just the boys to Disney for the day on Monday.
Had to go again before we're blocked out for the summer.

3 hour line for the new Star Tours.

It was awesome, but no ride is worth 3 hours.

Space Mountain (everyone's favorite hands down).

Drew thought we were really in Outer Space.

Owen thought his face skin was gonna fall off and loved the music.

Nice people that saved our spots in line.

Fireworks finale from Small World boat.

Got to do all the bigger rides thanks to Errin keeping Sally for the day.
She had fun swimming, finding lizards,
and reading books/whispering in Jones' bed during naptime.

Bubbles

Borrowed that bubble machine for Errin's shower.

Kids had to try it out.

Yep, it works!

Visiting Visitors

My Katie and Becky (not pictured) friends from AZ came with their entire family to an awesome beach-front house on Capistrano Beach.

Right after school got out (last day) we went up there for a fun afternoon.

It took awhile for our kids to play together.
(could've had something to do with the multiple bathroom accidents mine had)

But ya, they eventually did:

That house they were in was so cool...mission style right on the sand.

One of Katie's cute kids:

It was fun to see them and I always love seeing new places.

Also, I was happy to finally try a famous Pedro's fish taco on the way home (it was good, but I think I like Rubio's and Cessy's better).

Thanks for letting us crash your family reunion!

Happy Faces

This face is so much better than the one from his first day of school.
(with Ethan, his friend since day 2)

The loud and always happy teacher's aid, Mrs. Patty.

Probably not your average teacher-student last-day-of-school picture.
But she's not your average teacher.

Mrs. Collins...teacher of our year.

About To Pop

Jones is a little bit excited for his baby sister to come.

That's one of the pictures I took to use at Errin's baby shower.

A couple more:

We did a bubbles/ "She's About to Pop" theme inspired inspired by this shower:

She's About To Pop

Lots of planning and prep later...the day of the shower came.
That was yesterday.

I was finishing my morning of decorating when out of nowhere I started cramping in my stomach.
I could only take short breaths.
Deep breaths caused shooting pains in my stomach.
I couldn't get my breathing normal, couldn't relax my stomach, kept having these shooting pains, and was pretty much freaking out.

So I had Errin take me to the ER.

After routine urine/blood tests,
an ultrasound (suspected gall stones),
and a cat scan (ultrasound was fine, so suspected appendix)...
11 hours and 1 missed baby shower later I was diagnosed with gastroenteritis (inflamed gastrointestinal tract/stomach virus).

Blah.
Worst ER trip ever.
Glad they were thorough with their tests, but there's no way that needed to take 11 hours to figure out (it wasn't that busy).
And there's no reason I had to wait 2 hours after the cat scan to be discharged with the instructions to take Tylenol as needed for pain and to eat a bland diet for a couple days.

I was SO bummed to miss Errin's shower.
And I felt awful she was hosting her own shower at my house without me.
But she was amazing finishing the last-minute preparations.

Danna reminded me about Amanda W's delicious salad.
Errin said this was everyone's favorite of the night:

Tortellini Salad
1 Package Tortellini
1 1/4 cup Blueberries
1 1/4 cup sliced Strawberries
1 cup Green Grapes
1/4 cup sliced Almonds
1/2 cup Briannas Poppyseed Dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Combine pasta, fruit, and almonds. Pour dressing over salad and toss lightly. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Errin said the shower went perfect.

And today I feel pretty much back to normal.

And I'm getting excited for Errin to pop!

Scooters!

We're sorry to all the innocent pedestrians that happen to be on the boardwalk
the same time as this little scooter brigade.

Obviously

I was looking up.
Drew was looking down.
Today is Wednesday.
The sky is blue.