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.

10 on Tuesday

1. I found out that one of my favorite hard ciders from back east went out of business. They were all over Boston and even on tap at the BU Pub. I always bought it in DC. It was never out West so I never got a farewell taste. Oh well. I still love Hornsby's Crisp Apple. YUMMY!
2. A note to all future taggers out there.... don't use your own name! I was talking to a neighbor who happens to be on the HOA Board. She told me that we had some kids who were writing their name all over the public areas of our development (50 houses). Easily solved since he was just writing his name. I guess there's only 1 Kyle around and he's like 8 or 9. He got a good talking to by the HOA and his parents. Seriously, if you're going to get into graffiti, shouldn't you learn lesson number 1: Don't write your own name!!!
3. Syfy is always putting out crazy made for TV movies. The titles alone crack me up. Our favorite is Mansquito from a few years ago. Right now though, they are premiering Dinocroc vs. Supergator (the follow up to Dinocroc). Andy and I make it a game to try and guess the silly name of movies after watching a couple minutes. Coming next year is the best one yet - Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (yes you read that right!). The funniest part - it pits Debbie Gibson against Tiffany. I'll be sure to let you know when it's on.
4. My kids have both developed this very distinctive cry/scream that immediately tells me that the opposite child is about to tattle. Usually I see 1 child approaching me and hear the other from another room - screech. The screech (for both kids) is ONLY heard when they are being ratted out. It actually amuses me quite a bit.
5. I know full well that berries are one of those fruits that should be purchased as organic. So for the first time, I did so. They were TERRIBLE. They tasted gross and they died within 1 day. I am so disappointed. I guess I must buy organic strawberries only from Whole Foods or something because I will not buy them from a regular old grocery store again. I could understand if strawberries were out of season but we are in the heart of strawberry season. Is this the norm with organic berries? We take many days to eat ours, with Sarah being the main consumer. I tossed over 1/2 a package of them and was at least glad that I bought them on sale and that they were about the same price as the other strawberries.
6. Andy and I are getting old and we need to exercise a lot more. That's what I've learned in the past week or so. The temperature starts hitting over 105 and we are drained. It's this unbelievable exhaustion. It makes us cranky and just want to sit on a couch in the A/C. It sucks.
7. Best New Toy Buy of the Summer Season - On sale and the kids will sit and play with it together for an hour. Sure our colors are all mixed up by now but it's great. They LOVE it. Also, it's not as much of a mess maker as I thought it would be.
8. After a month or so break from GeoTrax, Will is again obsessed. All 4 of us sat in his room over the weekend, each with a train remote, and watched them go round and round. Andy and I then decided to crash ours. Will SCREAMED. He was not happy. Note to all, if you are going to play GeoTrax with Will, be prepared to play by his rules. Hurting the trains is not an option.
9. Will and Andy went to a baseball game last week. Will informed me that his favorite part of the game was eating. That's my boy!
10. This is how summer should be - sprinklers, water slides and fun!

10 on Why not Wednesday?

1. We tried a new version of scrambled eggs - Paula Deen's. Try them, trust me. I cut the recipe in 1/2 and it was still YUMMY!
2. Will came into our bedroom the other morning whining about how "Sarah didn't do something" So I asked what didn't she do. His answer: She didn't make sense. Nothing like starting your day off with a laugh.
3. When we go on trips (big or small), I like to start early with my packing lists and piles. It seems to have rubbed off on Sarah. She started her list of "Movies to take to Gammy's House" last Saturday. I have repeatedly told her we're not leaving for a couple weeks. She doesn't care. Now she has Will thinking we're leaving any day now. Next week, with no summer activities planned, should be interesting. Who thinks we'll be packed and ready to go by Wednesday???
4. Our sprinkler/watering system is on the fritz. We replaced the solenoids but now have to buy a new timer to go with it. So... for the past MANY weeks, I have been doing it all by hand. This involves watering the front plants with a hose and manually turning on any sprinklers in the backyard. The problem now is that, since we replaced those pieces, the sprinkler controls are not behaving. They all come on at once. I actually have to turn the main backyard water control on and off to use them. It's an adventure.
5. Took Sarah to a 3-D movie (Shrek Forever After), a first for us both, not counting anything at Disneyland. It was better than I thought but so not worth the extra money. It didn't add to the movie. I think it's a bit ridiculous that all these movies are going 3-D. You should really only do that if it improves the movie - like maybe Avatar.
6. This coming week, we are going to try Parsnip muffins. I have never, ever made anything with a parsnip or even tasted a parsnip. I was watching Alton Brown and it looked so interesting that I figured it might be a new tasty breakfast or snack for the kids. I'll let you know how they are.
7. I've been working this past week. Working, without pay because I am part owner (silent wife partner) of a business that needs to fix its website so it can grow. Andy and I sat down to look at the pages over the past week to determine the best flow of the site. Then I worked on some language to update the pages. It's been interesting to say the least. This is what I did WAY back when. It seems like ages and ages ago. I have forgotten a lot but some stuff did come back to me and it was a bit fun to get back in the thick of things again. We have a phone conference this morning with the other 2 partners about what we did. We'll see what they think. I'm willing to help but Andy is trying to get me in charge of the whole website thing. I don't know that I want that. We'll just have to see I guess.
8. Father's Day was lovely. We spent it at my sister-in-law's house in her pool and eating BBQ chicken. It pretty much convinced Andy to start our gym membership up as soon as we return from CA. It's in the budget to start and the kids could use a pool. Sarah took about 10 minutes to get back into things and then was having a blast. The rest of the day, the kids were so exhausted that they watched a movie and went to bed. This was great since I gave Andy the entire afternoon/night off. I even got a big thanks from him and it was so much easier than usual because the kids were soooooooooooo tired. To top it off, I had a lovely chat with my own Dad.
9. I broke our edger. :( Or rather, I think our old extension cord broke it. The plug on it is fried. So.... I have to get a new one. In other good news, the new part for our lawn mower arrived yesterday. Time to get that fixed so I can mow this weekend. OK, maybe that's not such good news but it's better news than having to buy a whole new lawn mower!
10. I've been pretty good so far this summer conserving my gas, with some help from Andy but this week is going to kill me. The kids have conflicting classes (my own fault!) so I am doing 3 round trips to schools most days. It's nuts! The driving doesn't bother me as much as watching my gas gauge drop. UGH!!! I suppose next week's inactivity will make up for it but still....

Just Because...

No reason at all for this....

Who could have imagined that bald head would one day have so much hair on it?! So little and so cute. It seems ages ago. (3 months and almost 2 1/2)