Huntington Beach

Last Friday night we took the kids down to Huntington Beach and stayed overnight at the Hyatt. It worked out perfectly. Mike had a work function at the hotel and we had our wood floors laid that day. We needed to be out of the house for 24 hours so we tagged along with Mike and enjoyed the resort. They had an awesome kids pool area called Slyders. There were 3 fun water slides and Saturday morning after breakfast, we rode the slides and played in the pools for a couple of hours before heading back home inland.

There was a little slide especially for kids William's age and he loved it. Of course I had to ride with him but I didn't mind. Before I know it, he'll want nothing to do with me I'm sure. Lately, that's not sounding all that bad though. He's been such a challenge! Can I just say two words- 2 1/2 and BOY. Argh.... let's just say I've been praying diligently for patience.

They look like such good friends and they are for the most part but again, lately, I feel like I'm playing referee more than I'd like. They seem to be fighting more in the last couple of weeks which is so not fun.

It was a quick, fun night and when we went home on Saturday we could walk on our new hardwood floors. They are gorgeous. It was a fun night at the hotel . Mike and I were talking about how fun it would be to spend a nice long weekend at the hotel and enjoy the pools and beach right across the street. Talk about a vacation. 25 minute drive from our house. Perfect. I think it will be a lot more fun when William is a bit easier to put to sleep not in his crib. It took him nearly an hour and half to fall asleep Friday night. Maddie was out in 5 minutes. By next summer, he'll be there.

The Circus

Last Thursday night we went to the Ringling Brothers Circus- Zing, Zamm, Zoom! We invited two neighbor families and one of Maddie's friends from school and her family. We had such a great time!We had a suite to ourselves at Honda Center and we ate lots of yummy food and enjoyed a great show.

Maddie had a blast with all of her friends! This is Kamyrn. She lives across the street from us and she and her sister Jenna and her brother Gavyn come over to play with Maddie and William often. They are such a nice family and the kids all play so well together. It's great.

This is Maddie's best friend from school, Jordyn. They loved the ice cream sundae bar that came at intermission. Both loaded their ice cream up with hot fudge, sprinkles and M&M's. Yum!

A great time was had by all. It was kind of a late show. It started at 7:30 and didn't end until nearly 10:00. Both kids were beat. Despite the sugar rush, Maddie was asleep before we barely left the parking lot. Good times.

Creative Juices

I came home for lunch the other day and Norma had the kids all set up with a fun art project. They were painting wooden plaques...a butterfly for Maddie and a dinosaur for William. They looked so cute all set up on the patio busy with their project.

It was fun to see William's creative juices flowing. He absolutely loved it and was concentrating so much flipping his dinosaur back and forth to paint the front and back. It was really cute. This shirt is now officially his painting shirt.

Maddie is already a great little artist. She colors beautiful pictures and paints like a pro!

July 4th in CA

This is the first time since I've lived in CA that we haven't traveled back to Minnesota for the 4th of July. I kept asking everyone what people in CA do for the 4th of July? Well, we did what we usually do on summer weekends... hung out in the beautiful sunshine and swam in the pool at Grandma's house!

It really was a gorgeous day and Maddie enjoyed not 1 lime popsicle... but 2... thanks to Grandpa!

My silly kids hanging out with their Aunt "Soosa". Sonja is 6 months pregnant with, who will soon be Maddie and William's newest cousin, Lucas. We are thrilled and can't wait to meet baby Lucas. It will be so nice for the kids to have a cousin close by and so close in age.

Grandma made some cool patriot hats out of newspapers.

Although I was a bit homesick, all and all, it was a very nice July 4th weekend. We spent lots of good, quality time with family and friends and that is what is most important of all. Later in the week, I booked our flight back for vacation time in Minnesota in August. I just can't spend a summer without time up north at the Lake. It just wouldn't be right!

Pre 4th bbq

The Friday before the 4th of July we headed up to Northridge for a bbq with our good friends Sarah and Tony and Erin and Simon (and all little people associated with them!). Sarah's parents were out of town and graciously offered up their beautiful home for us to enjoy. They have an awesome pool that we had so much fun swimming in ALL afternoon and a great backyard where the kids ran around and William played a little ball.

Maddie loves her role as "big sister" of the group. Here she is with Fallon, Lucy and of course William.

Lucy is the baby of the group... for now! Her mommy Erin is pregnant with her little brother. We can't wait to meet him.

The "men" of the group Fletch and William are bound to be good buds as they grow up. We had such a nice time hanging out and catching up with our friends. We couldn't have asked for a better way to spend part of our July 4th weekend.

Happy 4th of July!

We kicked off the long July 4th weekend by taking in an Angels game on Thursday night. They were giving away patriotic rally monkey beanie babies. One per ticket! Maddie and Wil of course loved them. I had Thursday off as usual and Friday off for the July 4th holiday so it was a nice, relaxing weekend of fun with family and friends.

Happy Father's Day

We had a very kick back and relaxing Father's Day. Mike and Lynda's kitchen is gutted right now as they are in the middle of a remodel so we bbq'd up some delicious carne asada and chicken and spent the afternoon by the pool.

It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun swimming with their dad. We were so happy to finally get a sunny, warm day. The entire month of June we've had serious June Gloom.

Summer is finally here! Now we are looking forward to a 4th of July BBQ by the pool. Hopefully we get just as great of a day and maybe the pool will have warmed up just a bit by Saturday.

The Chile Pepper

Papa has a tiny "garden" planted alongside his house and Maddie loves it. She's had so much fun watching the veggies grow and making sure the catapillars aren't eating them. Everytime we go to Papa's house, she runs out to check on the status of the tomatoes and chile peppers. She finally got to pick this big, ripe, green chile pepper on Father's Day. This was a real highlight of the day. She is patiently waiting for one particularly large tomatoe to turn red. Papa told her it'd be red and ready for pickin' on 4th of July. We will see. Maddie will definitely not let him forget that he told her this and imagine the disappointment if it's still green.