San Diego

We had an adventurous trip driving 12 hours to San Diego with our 3 little kids. We went to the beach, lots of great parks, the aquarium and out to eat. I give the kids a 6 out of 10. Grace had a lot of fun and hopefully made some lasting memories.

On our drive down we got to stay at hotels with pools for the kids and we saw Mike and Di in St. George, Dave and Emily in Las Vegas, and Ryan and LeAnne in Oceanside. I did nearly all the driving which in our situation is the coveted spot. Chad had to assist the kids most of the trip and was a pro. Elmo's ABC DVD and Dora were our best purchases as it kept Kate and Grace entertained multiple times. Shoving fruit snacks down their throats also did wonders. One fun surprise was a random free petting zoo outside a Utah gas station. That really set the bar high for the rest of the trip. We were super impressed by a stylish rest stop in Utah too. A park like set up where kids played football, a family posed in a large tree for a photo, glass tiles in the restroom and a pet area. Is this how my tax dollars are spent? Anyway, you can tell this is no luxury vacation.

I got to see my sister Beth and Mom and Dad. I am thankful they have a sense of humor and enjoyed my kids. Chad and I got to go to dinner with Beth twice after the kids went to sleep and I am still dreaming of the cheesecake we had. After 4 nights in San Diego and our 6th night in a hotel we decided to drive home all in 1 day if we could make it. We left California at 11:30AM and got home at 12:30AM after a MacDonalds/Gas Station/Little Ceasers/Walmart/Gas Station stop. I know Chad and I will have many memories of this vacation!

This is a picture of Jake when we got home. He was so happy!

Mother's Day

Chad doesn't have the best memory. This is how my Mother's Day was: We are traveling to see my sister in San Diego and eating breakfast at the hotel. Two ladies walk into the lobby and the front desk gal says "Happy Mother's Day!" Chad then turns to me with a sheepish look and says "Happy Mother's Day!" It's OK because every day with him is truly Mother's Day (gag me). It's actually true. I'd much rather have someone who appreciates me and helps out all the time than someone who puts on a show one day out of the year. Forgetfulness isn't so bad.

Cooking and Chatting

We made frog cupcakes for Grace's preschool class (she was the snack helper). Later in the week we made chocolate chip cookies, but Grace decided we were making sugar cookies. I just let her ice them and put sprinkles on.

She has been saying the funniest things lately like "I'm still hungry. My belly buttons not wet yet." What does that mean? She recently reminded me how she loves positive reinforcement. She was pretending yet again to be Emma and I said "Wow Emma, did you do up those buttons on your jammies all by yourself?" She answered sadly "No, but the thing that Emma did do good is I put my shirt over my head!"

Two Babies

Grace Turns 4

Grace turned 4 on March 7th and had a princess party. Ironically she wanted to be Luke Skywalker at the party and wear pajamas. We got her a bike as the grand finale, but she just stared at it for a while and said "Can I go put on my make up now?" Funny girl. She's growing up too fast. So fast that she tells me she is 6 and can do everything by herself because she's Emma (her cousin). The main thing that I remember about Grace the last few months is constant application of lip balm. She tries to take lip gloss or chapstick to preschool, in the car, to bed. Her imagination is always evolving and her poor friends can't seem to follow her games of Percy Jackson and AnnaBeth (The Lightening Theif), Alexa and Leona (Diamond Castle Barbie Movie), or the many characters in Star Wars. She doesn't mind. The friends wander around the house looking for toys and asking for fruit snacks while she roams around finding them outfits and getting dressed up herself. Her latest character is a baby rat that whines and talks like "dah dah"- not my favorite.

Warning:
This video contains off key singing you may not want to subject yourself to.

Jake's happy

I think Jake is going to be pretty mellow... for now. Here he is enjoying some attention from Grace.