Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time on our visit to the pumpkin patch.  Owen really wanted to ride a horse and Lexie really wanted to ride the "choo choo" so that's what we did. :-)

 

Disneyland

Thanks to Auntie Hannah, we were able to have a DISNEY day!!  We all had a blast.  I'm sorry, but no matter how old I am, I still get excited going to Disneyland. It was pretty crowded, so we did some things that are a little less popular, but were still fun for the kids.

Riding the Carousel.  She cried when it was time to get off.  We had to pry her fingers off the golden pole.  Seriously.

 

Eating cotton candy (Owen's absolute FAVORITE treat at Disneyland) and waiting for the "Mickey and the Magical Map" show to start.  The show was SO GOOD.  They haven't had a show there that good for awhile.

 

Innoventions - one of Owen's favorites, of course, because we told him it is a science building.  Iron man is Owen's favorite super hero, so Rick told Owen to stand in front of the Iron Man suit for a picture.  Lexie walked over right away and posed.  Owen didn't want to go near it.  After talking, he told me that he was afraid that when his back was turned it would, "come alive". 

After some reassurance, he joined the picture, too.

And here's another shot of all the Iron Man suits from the movies.  It was pretty cool.

 

THANK YOU, Hannah for helping us out!  We had a blast and made lots of fun memories!

Legoland

We've been trying to make the most of the summer before Rick started school again, so we of course hit up Legoland.  Ironically, we went there AFTER we moved from Carlsbad.  I'm still not sure how that one ended up happening, but it did.  Since Lexie is still too little for most of the rides there, basically I hung out with her while Rick and Owen hit up all of the rides.  Owen loved spending so much time with Rick.  It was a fun day!

Here we are in front of a life-size star wars space ship made of out LEGOS.  That is way too many legos. I would not have the patience.

Owen looks so small next to Chewy.  I couldn't get him to stand next to Darth Vader.  I think he was a little nervous that he might come to life.

 

We ended the day with Sea Life Aquarium.

 

 

60th Wedding Anniversary

A few weeks ago we celebrated the 60th wedding anniversary of Rick's grandparents, Rita and Merlin.  It was very fun to get together with family and to hear more about Rita and Merlin's courtship.  As it turns out, Rita was already engaged to Merlin's cousin when Merlin proposed to her!!  Scandalous.....!!  But Rita made the right choice because here they are, 60 years later, and it is obvious that their love for each other is true and strong.  It was such an honor to be there and celebrate with them.

 

 

30, Flirty & Thriving

 Rick turned 30.  To commemorate the occasion, we celebrated Mexican style with carne asada and a piñata! It was definitely a day to remember.  Thank you to Rick's family for putting this fun party together!

Happy Birthday, Rick!  We love you!

Legoland

Rick had Spring Break this week (a very odd time, I might add - three weeks before Easter? Strange.)  Anyway, we made it to Legoland for the first time!  It was GREAT.  This park is definitely geared toward young kids, especially boys, so Owen was in absolute heaven. ( Rick seemed to be in heaven as well!) When we first got there, we walked around to look at the mini-replicas of famous cities made out of Legos. (AMAZING!)  Owen fell down and scraped his knee and it put him in a bad mood. I think because this was a new place and he was sad that he had fallen down, it took him awhile to warm up and get the courage to go on a ride.  We started out easy with a very calm, slow boat ride to look at more Lego creations.  After that, we found the Diggin' for Dinos exhibit, and by that time he was ready to rock 'n roll.  We will definitely be going here again.

On the way in from the parking lot, Rick found a new wife. She came with a kid of her own.

The sunglasses pic.

Digging for life-size dinos.  Buckets, shovels and brushes provided.

Jungle Safari. They had life-size Lego animals along the road. Lexie was too little to ride this one. I went on it with Owen first, and then he absolutely LOVED it and there was no line, so Rick got a turn, too. [Sidenote: One thing I didn't like is that there aren't many rides that babies can go on. You have to be 34" for a lot of the rides, and that will make it tricky when I take the kids by myself.]

Darth Maul (one of Owen's favorite Star Wars characters. I don't know why he likes the bad guys)

Duplo Town - They had a whole little town made of Duplo Legos with slides, tunnels and cars for the kids to climb on.  Owen and Lexie could have stayed here all day.  They loved it.

I think this was Owen's favorite ride of the day.  He got to drive his own car, all by himself, without being on a track. It's a special ride just for 3-5 year olds. He even got a driver's license after he drove. He talked about this one a lot after we left.

Me being a dork.

Rick's turn.

There is an entire building dedicated to XBox, where you can go play any Legos XBox game you want.  Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Star Wars, Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Indiana Jones, etc. No wonder boys (big and small!) love this place.

On our way out of the park.  Two seconds before this picture was taken, Owen was hiding his face and throwing a fit because he didn't want to leave.  I can't remember what we threatened him with if he didn't smile for the picture, but whatever it was, it was something good because he has a better smile than I anticipated. :)

One of the many, many Lego structures.  Pretty amazing.  I think Rick wants to work there and build things. This is how he put it:

(Smiling big) "Here is an unlimited supply of Legos in any color you want. I need you to build _______."   

He's pretty much convinced that it would be the best job ever.

 

One thing that I liked is that there are Legos for kids to play with EVERYWHERE. When waiting in line, there is a gated section in the middle of the line (and completely visible to parents) with Lego tables so that the kids can play while the parents wait in line.  What a genius idea!  But I'll for sure have to bring a big stash of hand sanitizer because of all the little hands that have touched those Legos. 

We can't wait to go back and check out the Legoland waterpark and the SeaLife Aquarium!

 

Valentine's Day and The Smolder

This year for Valentine's Day, Owen and I worked hard to make a special dinner party while Rick was gone at school all day.  We made sugar cookies and decorated the table.  We went to the grocery store to find Valentine's colored M&Ms for our cookies and they were giving out a free cookie to all the kids, so Owen and Lexie got an extra treat. They felt very special.  Rick left behind a few little surprises for us to find at home during the day, which was very fun and sweet.  We had heart shaped homemade pizza for dinner. We had a very simple and very fun Valentine's Day.

We love the movie Tangled around here.  We especially love Flynn Ryder and his smolder.  You can often find us practicing our own smolders.  Here is Rick entertaining the kids with his best Flynn Ryder impression.

 It never gets old. :)

 

Owen's smolder.

Even Lexie does an impersonation, but hers is a bit harder to catch on film because her face doesn't change expression that much.  You can tell that she's trying to do it, but she hasn't quite figured out how to move all the parts of her face the way that she thinks she is. It's pretty darn cute.

Announcement

We are moving to Carlsbad, CA in November!

Rick got accepted into the RN program at MiraCosta College and will be starting school in January.  Rick and I drove down to Carlsbad over the weekend to check out some places to live, and we fell in love with a condo.  It will be an upgrade from where we are now and we are very excited about it!  We looooove the Carlsbad area and feel so blessed to live there!



We are very excited about all of the new adventures we will be having, but sad to leave our home. We have lived here for most of our lives and we have so many wonderful memories here. Most of all, we will be sad to leave our families and friends.  However, now you ALL have an excuse to come out to Carlsbad!

And I'm sure in no time, we'll be able to give you the grand tour of this place, which Owen is very excited about.

 

It's not Disneyland, but it will have to do. :)

Bass Lake and a Birthday

In August we went on a much needed, very fun, week-long vacation to Bass Lake, thanks to Rick's parents.  Rick and his family used to vacation here often growing up but they hadn't been back in quite a few years. We had a blast!! We rode a jet ski, slid down a rock waterfall, went tubing behind a boat, hiked Yosemite, and swam at the lake.

 Arriving in Bass Lake after our long car ride "to the forest," as Owen referred to it.

 

Hiking on the trail to see the giant sequoias. It was very HOT that day and there were so many bees it was ridiculous! (Bees and I don't have a good relationship.) BUT it was really fun and we saw woodpeckers, squirrels, and even a deer!

Lexie lounging on the shore in comfort.

Owen swimming "all by himself!" When we first arrived to the lake, he was not confident in the water at all because he's only been swimming a handful of times. (That is SO SAD to me because that is the complete opposite of how I grew up!) Anyway, by the end of the week, he swam all by himself with his life jacket and now he loves to swim!

While we were there, Owen turned 4!!! We celebrated with an Avengers/Batman theme party!

The birthday boy, complete with bedhead

Rylan and Owen admiring the cake. Funny story about the cake.... we went to Vons to get a Batman cake, as per request, but the cake decorator wasn't scheduled to come into the store until the day after his birthday and they were all out of Batman cake decorating kits. The only Batman ANYTHING we could find was a light up action figure at CVS and after getting a price check learned it was $20!!! We did not want to spend an extra $20 just for the cake topper for his 4th birthday. Luckily, the store manager was really nice and without us even saying anything offered to mark it down 50% because it was another store's leftover shipment. Woohoo!!!

The fancy light-up Batman cake and a happy boy.

 

During the trip, Rick's toenail got caught on something and he didn't want it to split any further, so he used some pretty pink nailpolish to glue it back together. Chloe and Owen thought it was pretty funny.

 Owen and Lexie soaking up the sun.

 

The end of a long day at the lake. The kids would fall asleep within a minute of getting in the car to go from the dock to the house.

 

Our dock/beach area where we went almost every day. So pretty!

 

We had a great time and Owen still talks about going to the forest and the lakehouse. We can't wait to go back!! THANK YOU Loretta and Henry!!!!