Passing the time in Irivne while my kitchen is in ruins

We're currently having our kitchen remodeled (hopefully we're almost done but we all know how that goes in the remodeling world). They started the process while I was still up in Napa. I think I should have stayed up there because when I got home, the house was a complete disaster! Unfortunately, the demo company forgot to tape off the kitchen before gutting the kitchen and dust went everywhere. I even found it way down the hall in Ty's room! Anyway, we quickly realized that it was no environment for children so we packed up and headed to Grandma's! And one of the first things we did was invest in a kiddie pool. The kids love it. Doesn't Ty look like a little man here?!

While up in Irvine, we enjoyed many things and saw lots of friends. Here's Ty's first ride on the merry go round. As you can see, he's obviously not a fan. Since this was his first time, I didn't think he'd even know what to expect, yet as I walked onto the ride, before we even got to the horse, he locked a death grip onto my shirt. When I put him up on the horse, it just got worse (as you can see from the photo). Poor little man, it was a long 45 seconds.

But here he is after it stopped. I think he knew he was getting off. Since this experience, I have put him on a little toy rocking horse at a friend's house, and a zebra at a park and both times he's dug in with the grip and hates it. I don't know, maybe he has a past history with horses that I'm not aware of. Too bad I was just thinking about getting Tatum's old rocking horse out for him.

Here's someone that still loves the merry go round, and loves to strike a pose, as you can see. :)

Some other fun things we did to pass the days were kite flying (absolutely love this. Who doesn't smile when running with a kite?)...

tire swinging (Tatum's new love)...

picking flowers out of Grandma's garden...

(another one of those poses)...

and hanging with Grandma. Always love doing that.

We finally got over to Nadine's new house to enjoy some kiddie pool swimming...

sand box digging (which made me realize how much we need a sandbox since Ty loved it)...

and yogurt Popsicles! Tatum loves hanging with her girlfriend's Mattie and Sylvie!

And Ty enjoyed his first Popsicle. Yum!

We hung out with Isaac, Leanne, James and Shannon at a park for dinner one night. So much fun and such wonderful weather.

The day before Father's Day, we had lunch at Silverado, the senior living center where Uncle Tom lives. It was a rodeo theme as you can see and Uncle Tom was the sheriff! :)

Then on Father's Day we surprised Daddy with delicious blueberry pancakes and banana chocolate chip pancakes, yummy! He got some fancy presents too.

So we got creative this year and decided to try to be crafty. So even though we didn't stitch our items, we put a lot of work into them. First off, we tie died three golf club covers and ironed on the appropriate club numbers. Then we made Daddy a tie die Tshirt that has each kids initials on the sleeves...

and #1 Daddy on the back. He wore it all day, even to the Spectrum for shopping! I wanted to put their hand prints on the shirt but we put them on his home made Father's Day card instead. Regarding the tie die, we had so much fun with it, that we tie died a onesie for Ty and a shirt for Tatum. So easy and fun!

Before heading back to San Diego, we got to visit with my childhood friend Colleen and her two sons at her mom's house in Seal Beach. Here is Cameron, Tatum and Ty enjoying some reading.

And here we all are, including Bryce, enjoying some make believe baking. :)

We were able to catch the first Tustin concert in the park on Wednesday. A great Irish band called the Fenians played and Tatum took most of the pictures. :)

Here's my mom and good friends Jane and Barbara as we drink up some wine with our picnic dinner. :) We are now home after three weeks and the kitchen is coming along. Hopefully in a few weeks I can post some pics oc the completed project and the chaos will have ended. :)