San Diego Part 1 - The 4th, American Girl, Park at the Park and VBS

We arrived just in time to decorate the bikes for the annual bike parade. The kids love doing this. The middle school/high school marching band leads the short parade down the street and into our big park.

And of course, faces must be painted.....

As soon as we arrived in SD, Andy set up the GeoTrax in a corner of the living room. Will was in heaven and he even got Pa-paw hooked on his train set.
The 3 ladies made a trek up to the American Girl store in LA for lunch and some shopping. Sarah had a wonderful time.
We took a bunch of pictures as we left.
It may look like she's waiting to go in but we were leaving at this point! She just couldn't get enough. I got quite a bit of birthday and Christmas shopping done.

This is what the ride home from the American Girl Store looks like......
We spent a day at the Park at the Park at Petco Park to see the Padres play the D-Backs. Sarah was about the only one rooting for the D-Backs. She kept asking who was winning and switched her team loyalty based on who had the most runs.
We went with a big group of friends - a post wedding celebration for the daughter of a dear friend of my mom's. This friend's son-in-law designs hats and brought a bunch with him for the kids to have. The bag was a mix of adult sizes and kid sizes. Sarah went with this one. I LOVE it. So cute. I didn't get a picture of Will's because he kept it on for all of 10 seconds. He liked it but didn't want it on his head at the time.
There was a guy (not pictured) who comes by the Park to entertain the kids and give them prizes. He did a great job. This was about the only time Will participated. They were doing jumping jacks. Sarah stuck with it and got many goodies.

Sarah spent a week of mornings at my parents' church (my church from childhood) doing VBS. She was so brave about going there without knowing anyone. Usually, she would be very clingy but she threw herself into it and was so excited to tell us about all she was doing. It was definitely a milestone for her. I'm so proud. She also got a couple new orange shirts because her group was orange and she needed to wear something orange. Andy was very happy with this matchy-matchy outfit that she put together all by herself!

10 on Tuesday

1. San Diego pictures and blog coming later this week..... Stay tuned.
2. I walked out of the house the evening we got back and that rain smell was in the air and the Monsoon clouds were not too far away. Did we see any rain?? NOPE! I called Andy from Arizona a couple times warning him about rain on his way home. He said all he got was a wind storm one evening. What is up with the monsoon this year? Where is the rain landing? The clouds are there but very selective I guess.
3. While I was gone, Andy had the sprinkler timer replaced. YAY! He also watered the lawn.... really watered the lawn. I should have taken a picture of it but I was too intent on mowing it. It was at least a foot and a half high which makes for painstakingly slow mowing.
4. I am really enjoying this song.
5. I started pulling out the tricks for kid entertainment yesterday. 1 month to go and I think we'll be able to keep busy. ALL play doh came out yesterday - a bit messy but they loved it. We also planted our chia pet. The kids thought the slimy seeds were gross but I'm sure they'll love watching it grow.
6. In other news, our fish is....... STILL alive. (Thought he deserved a shout out)
7. Just saw that The Bachelor game is out on Wii. I admit I'm curious.
8. Catching up on TV has been kind of fun. Summer is usually the dead zone with nothing in the Tivo and this is a nice change!
9. I have decided to cut back on coffee starting this week. I'm a 1 cup a day type but I think I'm going to go for 1/2 that, like maybe every other day. Wish me luck.
10. A sneak peek of our trip:

10 on Tuesday

1. We've been doing a whole lot of NOTHING here. It's been pretty nice. The girls went shopping today and Andy spent about 4 hours watching Pirates of the Caribbean while Will played and napped.
2. It's been cold, like mid to low 60's cold. I did not throw in enough pants for us for this. This is cold for July in San Diego. Waiting for sun and warmth.
3. Our first afternoon here, it was actually sunny and warm so we walked up the street for pizza. It's the pizza place I used to stop at on half days for lunch, the pizza place we've always gotten take out from, the pizza place one of my good friends in high school worked at forever. The place has been updated but it's still pretty much the same. Nice!
4. Why is it that getting to a place to see fireworks is so difficult? I don't remember it being like this. We saw fireworks on TV and that was it. Any other place would have required us going somewhere early in the morning and sitting around until 9pm. UGH!! When I was a kid we just knocked out the light in the cul de sac and lit illegal, too high fireworks and did sparklers. Nothing can really top being able to walk a ways down the street from our house to sit on a hill and watch the Washington DC fireworks and be able to see about 5 other shows off in the distance. Love Arlington!!
5. My dad helping Sarah dress her American Girl dolls with a dog hat on his head and a Geo Trax track tucked into it.... Priceless!
6. Jake vs. Vienna interview on The Bachelorette - a train wreck that I could not take my eyes off. I side with Vienna. I don't think she's that good an actress. He was just plain creepy. Ick!
7. Toy Story 3 - Best movie I have seen in awhile. How is it that Pixar manages to do that most times???? Laughs, tears, action all in a short movie with a great story and made for adults....er, kids. I totally cried but I also laughed out loud at several parts. A couple parts were a bit intense for Sarah but over all FANTASTIC!
8. Andy stayed up until pats 11pm last night....SHOCKING. This is the man who barely makes it until 9pm.
9. Found out this evening from my mom and my cousin (who is also visiting) that my grandmother lived with her father and step-mother for a few years (?) when she was around 14ish.... above the whorehouse they ran. Crazy!!
10. We got Sarah training wheels for her new bike. We didn't realize until we put them on that they are truly "training wheels" and are a spring loaded. They give a bit to teach her balance. That's great but man, they freaked her out at first. It's easier to fall over in these than regular old training wheels. We'll see how it goes. So far, so good.