weekend getaway

Last weekend we hung out with our friends Megan and Dirk at their timeshare in Oceanside. Here's the view from their hotel room overlooking the pier. We had lots of fun playing with their kids and then stayed up really late talking and planning road trips (Jason's current obsession. He asks to go on a road trip at least twice a week).
I can't believe I didn't take a group picture, but here's some fun ones waiting for our food at Johnny Mañana's.

Emily is learning how to wink ever since Elmo did a segment about winking on Sesame Street.

She also LOVES playing hide-and-seek. Her favorite hiding place is in my closet. THE BEST QUESADILLA I'VE EVER TASTED!

This guacamole quesadilla redefined Mexican food for me. It was quite a sensory experience.

Before we headed home we took Emily for a walk down the pier.

I was so proud that she kept her hat on! Halfway through our walk we spotted two teenage girls who had jumped off the pier and were swimming to shore. Where the police were waiting.

There were tons of people fishing off the edges of the pier. Emily even tried to pick up some freshly-caught fish that were flopping around on deck.

It was the perfect weekend away!

visit from grandma

We enjoyed a visit from Mom before we headed out on vacation...The kids loved the all-you-can-eat mac and cheese at Souplantation and soft serve in a mini-cone was a big hit!
Of course, hitting the beach is mandatory. Aunt Kristin sent a huge bag of sand toys and that's all they wanted to play with! The first thing Brady did was dump a shovel full of sand in grandma's tote bag. Second order of business: fling a shovel full of sand at Emily, covering her from head to toe.

Mallory is the smiliest baby this side of the Pacific! Brady wanted to share the wealth with "Baby Mally" It was a little breezy with the last of the June gloom (which I desperately miss inland!)

I taught them the art of sandcastle design using the Wet Sand Drip Method. Brady just wanted to "renovate" aka destroy.

In this video Emily is acting oh-so-nonchalant, then BLAM!

Emily finds a shell.

A lifeguard boat came up and sprayed water on some kids swimming in the water.

beach bums

My cousin Danielle and her family swung by for a quick visit before moving to Boston (I'm so jealous!)Cute little Clara Jane warmed up to me and showed off her adorable smiles! Julianna and Emily were buddies at our cold afternoon at the beach Right before we left, Emily decides it's time to strip off the warm clothes and do some jumping around!
I love my silly girl! She likes to call me silly mommy now, too :)

toddler moments

Cheryl and I bravely wedged three carseats into her Jeep and made the trek to Long Beach for Evan's 1st birthday party. Although we spent more time on the road than playing at their cute park (mean traffic/hungry toddler combo). On the way... reading their Thomas books from Great-Grandma

On the way back, covered in party treatsBrady wearing Jon's do-rag from his mission in Ohio. I totally fell for it when he said they would wear these tracting. Emily has discovered the joy of hot dogs!

Mallory hangs out with Great-Grandma. She always wiggles around with the biggest grin on her face!

Cheryl and Jon had overlapping work shifts at night, so we had a slumber party!

They actually climbed in the crib and arranged themselves this way, and when I came to check on what was making them giggle so much I found them all ready for bed!

taking a break

Spring break went by way too fast! But we managed to have a blast anyway...

Emily was *freaking out* about setting foot on the sand. Every summer we go through this with her. (Meaning last year). But once she remembered how awesome the beach is, she was a little fish, running around in the water up to her armpits! Hanging out at our favorite little beach with the cousins Brian and Jason were way more interested with the kites than the kids were. Cute.

Emily loves blowing bubbles. And she likes to do it herself!

let's go fly a kite

Spring Break continued...

We had a picnic at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa, who introduced Emily and Brady to KITES! Emily got a Barbie kite, and Brady's was Lightning McQueen.
Do you think she loved it?

Jason got all creative on me with these great shots of Em and Brady

Brady did pretty good holding his kite, but Emily had a short attention span which sent Jason sprinting after her runaway kite before it landed on the freeway...

just to make you out-of-staters jealous :)

Boy, I simply don't know what to do with all this gorgeous weather we've been having lately... Let's just take a quick drive to the beach for the kids to run around and get sandy! The sand was nice and fluffy for awesome footprints
Too bad the water was too cold to take a dip...

Like that would ever stop Emily!

Check out the awesome stance- we have a professional mudslinger on our hands!

Yes, this is mid-January! You can keep your four seasons- besides, I just saw a red tree the other day... so there! :)

Love from sunny CA!