by ·1 Comment

What a whirlwind weekend we had! The weekend is technically only two days long, but with Scotty working from home on Fridays and me being off for summer break, every weekend just seems jammed packed with so many things we’ve done. This weekend was special for many reasons. It all started Friday morning…

Friday: Last week I had asked my mom if she could do baby duty on Friday so I could go to a dentist appointment. Looking for any chance of opportunity, Mimi immediately suggested that she not just come up and do baby duty, but that she take my child home with her! Wait, what?! Okay so that was my first response, but I kept my emotions in check and thought, ‘hey this could be a nice little break for Scotty and I’. After a whole week of thinking about it, I gave Mimi the green light for a sleep over with my dear Kayden. I know she and my dad were over the moon with excitement just waiting for her arrival! I met my mom and Uncle Nicky in Mission Viejo Friday morning and our whirlwind weekend began!

[simage=4853,200,n,center,]

Saturday: Scotty and I enjoyed a night on the town in Oceanside Friday night and then quickly headed up to Yorba Linda to see our beloved Kayden. I had told my mom that we were probably going to sleep in on Saturday, stop for a lunch date along the way, and would end up at their house late afternoon. Wouldn’t you know it, we were there at 11 am! Kayden, my princess, we missed ya!!

On Saturday we had a great day celebrating Nick’s 24th birthday! Mimi and Grampy bought Kayden her own pool so she spent a good deal of her afternoon swimming laps and blowing bubbles ;). We just had a good time hanging out with family, watching movies and eating, eating, and eating some more! Happy Birthday Uncle Nicky, we love ya!

[sthumbs=4906|4907|4908|4911|4912|4919|4920|4921|4922|4924|4925|4915,160,3,n,center,]

[simage=4927,288,n,center,]

Sunday: The weather in Oceanside has been absolutely beautiful since we got back from Virginia. On Sunday we decided to hit the beach with the Petersons. Eli and Kayden both just loved jumping the waves with their daddies. Maica and I were just fine hanging out on the beach and taking pictures. After swim time, the babies came back to our TWO tents (because that’s completely necessary!) and had some snacks and just crawled/scooted around. Eli preferred spending the day naked while Kayden just preferred to be topless! According to the mommies, the water was a little too chilly and it was just better to be out of their cold bathing suits! What a great day at the beach!!

[sthumbs=4860|4861|4866|4867|4871|4872|4875|4876|4887|4888|4889|4890|4894|4901|4902|4904,200,2,n,center,]

Scotty and I are rounding out our weekend watching a movie (Arthur) while Kayden sleeps- unfortunately, she fell asleep at 6:15 from her big day at the beach! Early to bed, early to rise PEOPLE!!!! 🙂

by ·0 Comments

Lifeguard? No, we don’t need one thanks! Pool boy? No thanks just yet!  Having a pool can be expensive! We understand that we have a small child, so we don’t need this huge swimming pool with a shallow AND deep end. All we need is a little, modest pool to get the job done. Well with a 13 month old, we can get away with just about anything! Kayden just loves the water and could probably care less about how fancy her water hole is! She loves swimming in real pools, but I’m convinced she’s just as happy in the plastic pool that WE ALL grew up ‘swimming’ in!

Yesterday Scotty and I showed off took Kayden to his work picnic. She was super social and loved meeting all of Scotty’s co-workers. She ate played in the sand and had a picnic lunch. However, the highlight of Miss Kayden’s day was pool time out on our balcony after the beach day! We brought out her pink princess pool and filled it with warm water (like a bath!) and some toys. She had a great time playing in her pool and cleaning off most of the sand (not including the sand she ate!)! A day later, I am still finding sand in the diaper (eww!). We might dream of an infinity pool someday, but I can honestly say that Kayden is just as happy with her princess pool soaking up the sun on our balcony!!

[sthumbs=4820|4821|4822|4823|4825|4826|4827|4830|4832|4833|4835|4840,160,3,n,center,]

 

 

by ·2 Comments

When you’re a baby you play with brightly colored toys. When you’re a toddler you play with toys that make noise and move. When you’re a child you play with toys that you can move, crash, throw, and bang. It doesn’t matter how old you get however, you are always yearning to play with toys. Whether it’s a new pair of shoes, a new set of golf clubs, maybe a vacation or a car; it doesn’t matter how old you get, you are always working to earn a new toy. My husband is definitely no exception to this rule! Not only does he work hard for his cars, his home, his boat, his surf boards, and his WIFE, but my husband also works hard for the daily rewards delivered by Amazon. I can’t tell you how many boxes come weekly that have ‘Amazon’ stamped on each side. Amazon delivers a wide variety of items, but it seems most of which are unnecessary. I honestly feel that I owe a personal apology to all of our friends and family that my dear husband has offered an Amazon Prime account to- free 2 day shipping! This new perk has ensured that our family (and all of theirs!) has received many unnecessary items. To name a few in our home: a roll up key board, numerous headphones, 2 bedside alarm clocks, a magnetic chain, dog training tools (by this I mean TWO Nerf guns),  ugh there are so many more items that I just can’t think of! Either way, the latest item we just ‘had to have’ was a sippy cup leash. I think I mentioned one time that Kayden likes to throw her sippy cup when she’s in her high chair and literally the next day there is a ‘sippy cup leash’ sitting on my door step. I mean, really?! Who hears my griping and thinks, ” I can find a gadget for that!”? My husband is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure I have all the newest toys to make motherhood manageable! But a sippy cup leash?! While it makes my life SO MUCH MORE manageable, we just might have been able to get by without one! I love you Scotty for your endless quest to equip me with the coolest toys in town!!

[sthumbs=4807|4808|4810|4811|4812|4815|4816,200,1,n,center,]

by ·2 Comments

Today Scotty and I took Kayden to Sea World for the first time. We are season ticket holders for The Wild Animal Park and The Zoo, but we’ve always had a secret desire to have season tickets to Sea World. We both like sea animals and were really just waiting for the point where we knew Kayden would appreciate going to the park. Well yesterday Maica and Kris asked if we wanted to go to Sea World with them because they had just bought 2 year passes (1 year pass  = $109; 2 year pass = $159)–> bargains shoppers! Anyway, this was a little too spontaneous for me, so I suggested we get up early (ha!) and go for the day today. Luckily they accepted my plan and we headed out to the park at 9:30 this morning! Wow, what troopers!!

[simage=4735,288,n,center,]

The ride to the park went perfectly. Eli took is morning nap in the car and Kayden took a cat nap- about 15 minutes! No fussy babies, and two very excited daddies in the front seats!

Our first stop, once we got into the park, was the Shamu show. We were all so amazed at how interested the babies were!! Kayden was clapping her hands and yelling for the various Shamu tricks. Eli was very serious and wondering how such a large mammal was able to leap and twirl out of the water!

[sthumbs=4737|4738|4739|4740,200,2,n,center,]

After the Shamu show we hit up a few exhibits. First, we went to the hands-on starfish exhibit. I think Maica was the only one to touch the starfish! Kayden was not interested in putting her feet down any where near the water and Eli was content with just splashing in the water. Scotty and Kris wanted nothing to do with petting these less-than-impressive sea animals! Apparently they see far more interesting animals when they go surfing! 😉

[sthumbs=4743|4745|4746|4748|4749|4750,200,2,n,center,]

Next, we saw a dolphin encounter that seemed really cute, until one ornery dolphin splashed Scotty and Kayden. Luckily Scotty shielded Kayden and took the brunt of this dolphin’s splash! I was kind of surprised to see so many dolphins swimming around in 2-3 feet of water. The dolphins were clearly feeling feisty because they splashed many people innocently watching them swim.

[sthumbs=4755|4757|4758|4761|4762|4764,160,3,n,center,]

Next up were the seals! I was less than impressed at their begging skills! There were about 15 seals in a small encounter that were eagerly sitting at the glass waiting to be fed. I know their life is ‘good’ because they get fed ALL day, but I still felt horrible to watch these ‘wild’ animals beg for food! Ugh!

[sthumbs=4776|4777|4775|4774,200,2,n,center,]

At this point we have been at the park for 3 hours and Kayden has slept 15 minutes on our way in the park. I gave her some milk in her sippy cup and pulled the stroller shield down so that she would be blocked from all of the temptations of the park. Unfortunately, this chicky was not interested in any kind of nap while at the park! Here she is “resting”!

[sthumbs=4772|4773,200,2,n,center,]

After we hit up the exhibits, shows, lunch, and some awesome people watching, we headed for the exit. We all just knew that the babies needed a stuffed animal to mark their first trip to Sea World! Scotty and I decided to give Kayden every large stuffed animal in the shop and let her ‘choose’ one animal to take home. *NO WARNING NECESSARY* I completely know this is a bad idea and will only bite me in the butt if I chose to use the same technique when she is one second older than she is! This was just a funny idea and made for some cute pictures. I promise to never let her ‘choose’ from a bunch of souvenirs in the future!

[sthumbs=4778|4779|4780|4781|4782|4783|4784|4785|4788,160,3,n,center,]

We had such a fun day today at Sea World! Thank you to Maica, Kris, and Eli for being such fun sea-life companions. I have to say, however, that Kris clearly was the most excited person on this day trip. He knew immediately what shows he wanted to see and what exhibits he wanted to visit ;). We had a great day filled with many firsts!! We’ll see you again soon Sea World!!

Click the image below to see Kayden enjoying the Shamu show!

[simage=4717,200,n,center,]

by ·0 Comments

It turns out that Ian Spahr, our nephew, is the next best dancer in Oceanside… and perhaps ready to try out for the hot show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’! Scotty rented a Michael Jackson dance game for the Xbox Kinect and luckily Ian was willing to be the guinea pig. Ian was a great sport and took some training classes before competing against Maica and his mom! After about two hours of training Ian was ready to take on the girls!! After many laughs and some super sweet moves, I think Ian took the prize!!

Here’s Ian doing his thang!

[simage=4713,288,n,center,]

[simage=4712,288,n,center,]

[simage=4714,288,n,center,]

You’ll have to ignore our commentating in the background. For some reason our discussions came through, but the Micheal Jackson sound track did not!

And here’s Kayden being oh-so-cute!

[sthumbs=4708|4692|4693,288,1,n,center,]