The Silveri Story

Bite of Old Town

2012-02-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

Shauna, Garrett and I bought a tasting tour through Old Town a few months ago on Groupon so we took our tour last week and enjoyed some yummy food, drinks and found a few new restaurants as well.

Old Town is such an eclectic place, made to look just like the wagon days with people in clothing from that time and little shops made to look just like a western town.

Besides meeting some fun friends on the tour and enjoying new places, there was a few fun things to take pictures of and try out my new camera. Like this big, beautiful tree.

And the front of this Catholic church.

Here's a grave site that dates back many years. Actually, when they built up the town and had to put a major street through the cemetery, people had the choice of either moving their loved ones, or leaving them under the street. If someone was left, there's a small marker on the street and sidewalk letting you know that you're walking over someones remains below. Crazy!

Oh, there's a live person in the cemetery! :) Ok, maybe we had too many big margaritas.

New Year's Eve weekend

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

We were so excited that some of our favorite people were joining us for NYE this year. The Jazayeri's and the Taylor's! We started the fun evening with cake making. Jenny brought down a recipe for a cake that's dairy and egg free for Cameron and the girls pitched in and got right to work...

Isaac got up there and helped too, when the girls would let him of course. :)

Lots of fun and learning in making a cake. I can't say it turned out to be the best cake we'd ever made, a bit chewy but very tasty.

Then it was out front for some fun! Ty still won't ride in his jeep, but the girls sure enjoy it!

A little dress up time!

Such great friends!

And some more wonderful friends. Wow, can you believe we've known each other for over 30 years?! Crazy! Nothing breaks the bond and it just gets stronger. :)

The next generation of strong bonds! These kids are so goofy. They love throwing the pillows from the couch into the middle of the floor and jumping on them.

Even cutie Cam got in on the fun!

After a wild night of board games, some food and drink and watching the ball drop at midnight, the next day we hung at the house and let the kids play. After us girls popped over to my mom's house down the street for a glass of wine, we game home to some demolition. Garrett ripped down the back fence in our yard and this was the last piece remaining. We all got a shot at smashing it. How stress relieving!

I missed catching Leanne, she took her turn first. But we all felt stress free after this!

I love this picture. All three of them were having such a fun time in the bath together, and such three different personalities!

By the end of the second night, we were all pretty spent, so the kids enjoyed some Yo Gabba Gabba in my bed.

Look at Isaac's sweet smile, so cute.

Awww, the peace and quiet that TV brings. :)

It didn't take a few minutes to turn the peace and quiet into wrestling! What a fun weekend with our wonderful friends. ;)

Happy Birthday Jack!!

2012-01-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

Jack turned 2 and had a fun Thomas themed birthday party with a bounce house!

Isaac and Leanne were there as well and we all enjoyed playing, eating and visiting with friends.

The Griller!

Balloons are always awe inspiring!

Leanne, Erica and I enjoying some girl time.

Happy birthday little Jack. The Neven's are moving to Guam soon and we'll miss them all so much.

First train ride up the coast to Zoomers

2012-01-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

Today was a very exciting day! Today was Tatum and Ty's first train ride! Ty absolutely LOVES trains and has a few favorite books about trains that we read almost daily. One is called The Whistle on the Train which is a beautiful pop up book that sings to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus, but putting in all things about trains. Tatum loves this book as well so we sang the song all the way to the station! We bought out tickets, crossed this high, exciting bridge...

and waited at the tracks, looking as fashionable as possible. :)

The suspense was killing us but the kids did a great job of waiting patiently on the right side of the yellow line.

And then the train arrived!!

The train was a double decker so we headed upstairs and Garrett sat next to Tatum...

and Ty and I shared a section. The seats were so roomy and even had a part that would flip out and hold your legs up! If only planes could be as roomy and comfortable!

All along the train experience we kept singing the song. Here's where we were singing, "The Conductor on the trains calls tickets please, tickets please, tickets please..." Ty loved his hat and kept pointing and saying Conductor! :)

We also enjoyed these tables! The kids loved them since they were small and clearly meant for kids, as Tatum told us. There was a concession stand in another car and the concession man, Mr. Brown, kept making humorous announcements over the loud speaker, enticing us to visit him and buy some snacks. So Tatum and I went down through the cars to see Mr. Brown and buy a bag of chips. She loved crossing the threshold where the trains connect. I took Ty with me to the bathroom at one point and we had to cross into another car and he didn't care for it one bit. :)

I tried to catch a picture of Doheny, the campsite in Dana Point we use to camp at a lot when I was little. We use to run out to the train tracks and put pennies on the track and wait for the train to flatten them. I'm sure they've fenced off the track at this point but such wonderful memories. And the view from the train all the way up the coast was beautiful.

We made it to Zoomers, a little zoo where we got three trays of veggies to share with all the animals. Here's Ty feeding the Zonkeys (I think that's what they were called). A cross between a donkey and a zebra. Ty was afraid of them since they were pretty big and quick to grab the food out of your hand. I think most of his food landed on the floor. And you couldn't catch Tatum even close to these two, she'd have nothing to do with petting or feeding most of the animals. :)

The zoo had turkeys, roosters, an ostrich,...

llamas, turtles, goats and sheep.

They also had a few things to climb on or ride on...

Her favorite activity at a park! Ty and Tatum were taking turns climbing the ladder up and riding the slide down the front of this structure while Garrett and I lounged on the hay bales behind her here in the picture. Suddenly we noticed a woman picking up our crying son from the ground by the slide and we ran over. Tatum told us a boy had pushed Ty down the slide which caused him to catapult off the end into a hay bale. Nice! But as we walked away, the mother brought her son over to have him apologize which was nice. But that was the end of sliding for us for the day, probably for awhile. :)

They also had a large box filled with corn that Ty loved!

And I took a shot at feeding the Zonkeys again.

Then we went into the pin of bunnies, hamsters and guinea pigs. The kids loved it! Ty loved the bunnies and they were so friendly, sitting still to let him pet them. He's a big cat lover and the bunnies acted very similarly.

Tatum found a guinea pig she loved and he sat on her lap for quite awhile. Glad they got their fill of bunnies and guinea pigs because we're NOT getting another pet anytime soon!

Then for the best part of the day (according to Tatum). Each kid got a horse ride, so fun!

Ty and his horse leader had quite a conversation about horses. I wish I knew what they were saying.

Ty loved it! Yet another pet we will not be getting. :)

Then we hit the train ride...

and checked out the old horse carriage...

We finished up our fun at the zoo, had lunch at a small sandwich shop and then headed back over to the station to catch the train back home. They had some old train cars that were fun to look at...

and to climb on...

We were in San Juan Capistrano, near the mission, and everything was so beautiful. Such a nice day out.

We all really enjoyed our train ride and day of fun!

Kit Carson park

2012-01-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

One of my most favorite things to do with my girlfriends when I was little was to braid our wet hair in lots of braids that we'd sleep in over night. We couldn't wait to take them out in the morning because our hair would have this beautiful wave to it. (later, obviously leading to the crimper!) So I was telling Tatum about it and she couldn't wait to try it out. So here she is with her Rapunzel doll and their hair in braids...

And here's the finished product! To show off her new do, Tatum and I along with Grandma and Ty decided to check out a new park. We heard about an interesting play area at Kit Carson park up in Escondido and wanted to check it out for ourselves. And when we got there, we decided it was definitely interesting.

Inside the park, were all these statues and art forms, that you could stand on, run through, or hide behind.

And circling the inside was this maze made of tile and mirrors, so interesting and confusing. Here's Ty running through it. At moments, he'd get out of my eye sight and I'd get a bit worried because there were quite a few people at the park and with all the crazy shapes and patterns, one could get lost quickly!

After we tired of running through the maze, we stopped at a park bench and had a picnic. You can see the tall structures behind Grandma. And it was so hot that day, uncharacteristically hot, in the 80s I think!

After lunch, we took a short hike around the grounds...

with candy and a purse of course. :)

Before leaving Kit Carson Park, we found a few normal play structures to check out so the day was a success. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 25!!

2012-01-04T07:05:00.001-08:00

Santa came!!! This was the first year that Tatum was up before me, at 6:30 am, and whispered, "Do you think Santa came yet? Can we go check?" I said we better get everyone up to check it out together so we woke Daddy up, Grandma was already up and ready, and we woke Ty up and all headed out to the family room together. And this is what we saw!! So many presents and full stockings!

Ty loved this jeep that Santa brought and he jumped in immediately. But when Daddy turned it on, he freaked out and hasn't be back in it since. :( But good thing his sister can fit in it and it's getting lots of use anyway.

My two Superheros!

My little Diva!

Christmas Day is also Harley's birthday so he got a few goodies too!

It's a tradition that everyone gets a picture with their stack of gifts. Don't be fooled, he has a large stack stashed behind him!

Everyone got cute snow hats!

This year, we tried to drag out the present process so we let the kids open Santa gifts first, then we had Monkey Bread and played with toys, then headed to the tree for family gifts. When all of that was done, around 11, we headed out into the sunshine (it was a balmy 75 degrees!) and tried on some of our new items and brought out some new toys. We also enjoyed mimosas!

We have a very mellow holiday since we don't have any family close by, so we spent the day with our new toys, cleaned up, made a birthday cake for Jesus, and prepared dinner...

I got a new camera so I was taking lots of pictures, I'm not usually a food picture person. But dinner was delicious!

And then we ended the night with a Happy Birthday song to Jesus and a delicious poke cake. What a glorious day!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 24

2012-01-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve!!! After a bit of last minute shopping, Grandma came over and we made some Christmas cookies for Santa. Then Tatum, Grandma and I got ready and headed to Mass while the boys finished preparing our delicious Christmas Eve dinner. It's a tradition that we have lobster tail so along with that, we had my Aunt Pat's famous potatoes (using hash browns, so good!), maple glazed carrots, salad, and dessert!

Another tradition is that after dinner, we all get to open one present (the kids two since they have so many!) and it's always a new pair of pjs. Todd came by that evening to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and took this picture of us all. The kids also opened pillow pets! Before going to bed, Tatum got Santa a cup of milk and a big carrot for the reindeer, and Ty was the cookie man. Tatum said that's the one thing he could do that would be ok for his age, but then after he got the cookies on the plate and was walking over to set them by the fireplace, they slide off the plate and all over the floor. :) Oh well, Santa doesn't mind.

25 Days of Christmas, Day 23

2012-01-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

Shauna invited us all over for a Christmasy dinner at her house. She made us delicious gnocchi dishes, salad, and dessert! The kids and her exchanged gifts and look at this pile!

Since Grandma is our new neighbor, she was invited too!

Look at this cheesy face! The kids love opening gifts of course, but I think this is the first Christmas that Ty really understands what's going on. The festivities are all so exciting!

Shauna, the camera woman, didn't get in any of the shots, so here's a cute one of her on Christmas day at her parents house with her beloved dog Bailey. We love you Godmother!! :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 22

2011-12-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today after dinner, we drove over to Christmas Card Lane, in Rancho Penasquitos. It's a four or five block area where all the houses put out wooden cut outs, either looking like Christmas cards or depicting their favorite characters, movie, etc. It was a very cold night and the streets were packed so we opted to just stay in our car and drive through. The kids loved seeing some of their favorite characters like Belle, Nemo and Dory, Winnie the Pooh and friends, etc.

Some of the houses had fire pits in the drive way and were having parties. Some were selling hot cocoa, treats, etc. One even had a four person band! Some had their whole yard set up with trains, a fire place, so crazy! And some were very ingenious like depicting The Christmas Story movie with a pretend kid standing next to a flag pole with his tongue stuck to the pole, one of my favorite scenes in the movie. They even had the leg lamp! Such a fun area, we plan to come back next year and walk the streets!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 21

2011-12-27T06:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Christmas movie night! I don't have any pictures since we just watched different movies, but we all had a fun night together. Each person got to pick a different Christmas movie, most of them I had recorded on the dvr the last few weeks since practically every day there was a Christmas classic on. We watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Mickey's Christmas special, The Flinstone's Christmas, and my personal favorite, Charlie Brown's Christmas. That was actually our second watching on that one. :) A fun, festive night in.

25 Days of Christmas, Day 20

2011-12-27T06:46:00.001-08:00

Today we brought Grandma to Sea World to check out the Snow World. We aren't getting up to the snow this season until February so we were all excited to get back to the Sea World snow for some more fun.

Grandma found this igloo snow block maker so Ty got right to work scooping up the snow and throwing it and anything and everything close by. He also enjoyed running around and stepping on little snowmen people had made. Oh goodness, I have my hands full!

Tatum opted to play nicely by herself, making a little snowman. They both LOVE the snow.

At one point, Tatum said she wanted to make a snow angle and laid back to start when she realized the snow was wet and would get all her clothes wet! We're not in our snow suits!

We also enjoyed watching the sea lion show, checking out the sharks, getting some ice cream, and walking by the huge line to see Santa. We waved from the outside. :) It was our last trip to Sea World since our passes were for the year. We've enjoyed it though and plan to buy more another year.

25 Days of Christmas, Day 19

2011-12-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

Today we got a very exciting email from Santa Claus. I don't have any pictures to post since I took a video of Tatum receiving her email from Santa. She gets so excited when it comes and we love watching it and hearing him talk to her. It's from www.portablenorthpole.com. This year, Santa said her name a few times, showed her on a map where she lives and that he's worked out the details on how to get to her, checked her year in his special book and saw a few pictures of her doing things throughout the year. Then, the elves put her card in a machine to see if she'd been a good girl this year. She got the green light!!! Oh, she was so excited. Santa reminded her to always listen to her parents and be a good girl, and she obediently nodded and said, "Yes Santa!". So cute, we look forward to this email every year. Santa, we can't wait to see you in just a few days!!!! Side note, we got an email from Santa for Ty but he didn't even care to watch it. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 18

2011-12-19T08:13:00.001-08:00

Before we had some Christmas fun, we celebrated Tatum's friend Kelsey's 5th birthday with a princess tea party. Her mother Denise did a beautiful job setting up the table and all the decorations.

And all the girls dressed in their best princess attire. :)

Here's Tatum with Anna, Shay, Kelsey, Grace, Ellie and Kaitlin.

The girls enjoyed real tea, punch, crackers and some scones.

Then someone else arrived at the party. Arial!!! The girls were all beside themselves with excitement!

Look at Tatum's face, she's in heaven!

Arial was so sweet, just like she is in her story. She sang her favorite song, Part of Your World, read a book about her under the sea friends, played a game of Hot Sebastian,...

and then did some cool body painting!

Most of the girls chose this colorful unicorn. That Arial is multi talented!

The excitement of seeing Arial, what a treat!

After singing happy birthday, having cake and opening lots of presents, it was time to say goodbye. But Kelsey is a twin so Tatum was back the next day for her brother Colton's birthday! Two days of fun!

That evening, we headed over to our neighbor Cookie's house, for a fun kid party! Her daughter has a few friends she's still close with from middle school. So Cookie has this party for her daughter and friends to get their kids together. She was so nice to include us, and the kids loved all the kids!

Ty was the youngest but the ages went up to 12! All the kids wore pajamas and had fun playing with toys, coloring frames that Cookie had bought, and running through the house.

Then, at half time, (the Charger game is a must at this party) the kids were prepped and they put on a production of the Christmas Story. So cute! They sang Rudolph, Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, etc. in between the story. Ty was too cute. He just stood in the front, making his mouth move like he knew the words, putting on a great show. My kids love the lime light! :)

After a few songs, he decided to sit back and watch the others. He decided they all looked a bit silly! :) What a wonderful, festive night!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 17

2011-12-19T07:49:00.001-08:00

On Saturday we were all feeling a little under the weather. We've been sharing a head cold and instead of resting, we've been running around and getting sicker. So Saturday we stayed home and took it easy. We made some snowflakes the other day which we put up on the glass door but today we decided we needed to spruce up the door.

So we got out our paints and started painting.

And look at this festive door!

We have a wreath,...

snowmen,...

and a few Christmas trees and some snow. Lots of fun!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 16

2011-12-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

I feel like this is a repeat post from last Christmas, but a tad more serious. We had to run Ty to the ER again this Christmas but instead of a jammed big toe, he has a nurses elbow, or a fracture, not sure yet. Tatum was helping him up on the bed by pulling him by the hand and forearm. Suddenly his arm wouldn't move and he was screaming. Garrett came home immediately after my hysterical phone call and at the hospital they took a few xrays but since it was so swollen, they aren't sure if the elbow just popped out of socket or if it's actually fractured. A few days will tell. But in the meantime, Ty gets to wear this cool arm brace.

While Ty was gone, we passed the time by making snowmen ornaments. So much fun!

And Shauna stopped by to help!

Tatum took this picture after we hung our new ornaments on the tree.

Then Shauna and I headed to Kelly's house for December wine night. Two of our wine night girls had babies last month so this was sort of a sip and see. We had an in house wine tasting with delicious food we all prepared. Fun night and lots of yummy wine!

And look at these beautiful babies that have joined the group! Eileen had Elle on November 7th and Kelly had Tyler on December 2nd. We all enjoyed getting our baby fix!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 15

2011-12-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Erica! This was the second year in a row that the kids and I got to hang out with Erica and Jack on her birthday. The two of them came over to the house and we all helped make cupcakes after lunch. The kids loved singing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl!

And they all LOVED decorating their own cupcake! :)

The kids also enjoyed playing together and exchanging Christmas presents. This will be the last year for a few years that we get to celebrate any holidays with Erica and Jack since they will be moving to Guam in March for Matt's job in the Navy. We're sad to see them go but we've been lucky to have them live so close for 5 1/2 years, much longer than they were suppose to. And they'll be back, our fingers are crossed!

That evening we headed to Bernardo Winery where they're having their December Lights celebration. Lots of craft booths, food, wine and Santa and Mrs. Claus of course! Look at Tatum's face. She was so excited to sit on Santa's lap again to reiterate that she wants a real Cinderella to come live with us. Hmmm.

Ty got up there too and said he wants a truck. :)

There was also Petal's the clown there who did face painting and balloon creations. I love Ty's face in this picture. He couldn't stop watching her intently. Petal's kept asking if he wanted something painted since he was practically breathing down her throat. But nope, just wanted to see what was happening to his sister's face.

Tatum asked to look like a Sugar Plum Fairy.

Then we took a horse drawn carriage ride around the vineyards, so fun!

The kids thought it was great!

And Mom and I enjoyed our wine on the ride. I said if we closed our eyes, we could make believe we were in Central Park! :)

After looking at all the decorations, crafts and shops, we headed home to Grandma's house for dinner. A very merry night!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 14

2011-12-16T06:58:00.000-08:00

A movie star in the making! Here comes Tatum with her class for their Christmas program performance. She walked out with such determination on her face, she has been looking forward to this program for a long time.

And she did a wonderful job. Her class along with two other classes sang a few church songs such as God Made Me, In the Beginning, and Mighty is His Love. Then we heard some beautiful Christmas songs such as Away in the Manger, Angel Told the News, Happy Birthday Dear Jesus, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas. There were hand gestures with each song and they all did a great job. So cute!

After the performance, Tatum went back to class to enjoy a holiday party with her friends where they had snack, desserts and they received a gift from their beloved teacher Ms. Kristen. Tatum just adores her. The other day Tatum asked me if she has jeggings. I said what are jeggings and she said, "Jeans that are leggings!" and when I asked how she knew that and why she wanted to wear them she responded, "Because Ms. Kristen was talking about them and has them." Of course. :) Tatum made this ornament for Garrett and I. We couldn't wait to get it home and hang it on the tree. What a fun day.

25 Days of Christmas, Day 13

2011-12-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

A tradition for me since I was a child, making gingerbread houses. Back in the day, we used graham crackers, home made frosting and milk cartons that we cut to size. Now we use kits that we buy at Trader Joe's. :) One day I'd like to be crafty enough to make my own but for the kids at this age and for now, the kits are great. They have more than enough candy and details.

This is what they both wanted to do! Ty ate half the candy throughout the creation period. :) I have to be honest, I missed all the fun because I ran some errands and Daddy took over the whole project. He did an awesome job!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 12

2011-12-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today was holiday cookie making day, one of our favorites! After rolling out our dough and using our fun cookie cutters, we baked up lots of cookies to decorate.

Tatum absolutely loved this! For one, she loved that Ty was resting and not involved. ;) And two, she was not resting and was out with the big girls in the kitchen. She painstakingly created all the colors (I should say Grandma painstakingly mixed the colors to Tatum's specifications) and loved using sprinkles to decorate all the cookies, each an individual. We had planned to take our cookies to our neighbors but we'll see. These might be cookies for the family to enjoy. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 11

2011-12-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today we headed to the Junior Theater in Balboa Park to watch the beloved Nutcracker. Tatum has watched her Barbie Nutcracker and another Nutcracker cartoon recently so she had brushed up on the storyline and was ready for the show.

Grandma and Shauna joined us for our fun day.

They had many nice Nutcracker displays and beautiful decorations.

Tatum had a great time sitting next to her favorite people. And most of all, she loved pulling out her new Christmas dress and wearing it for the first time. She has many other plans to wear this dress in the next few weeks, as to get as much wear out of it as possible. When we bought it, she told me she'd wear it ever day if I let her. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 10

2011-12-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

Day 10 was a day for the adults to celebrate a little bit of Christmas cheer. :) We had our neighborhood holiday Progressive Party where about 18 of us get together for appetizers and drinks at one house, dinner at another house, and dessert at a final house. First stop was at Matt and Leslie's new house up the street. Note on the ugly Christmas sweaters in the front. I had suggested at Octobers Bunco night that we do an ugly Christmas sweater theme to this year's Progressive. Girls and guys wear ugly Christmas sweaters and the guys also wear 80's mustaches. I thought it was a wonderful idea but a few of the girls shot it down so it was a no go. But there must have been a miscommunication because two of the girls came in beautiful Christmas sweaters. Just wish we could have joined them! :)

I mean, come on. How hot would this group have been in mustaches?! :)

Jerry, the one carefully cutting the delicious smoked pork, is an amazing chef, and put together quite a spread for us. The boys were chomping at the bit! :)

Paige, Kate and I discussing Christmas sweater options for next year. :)

It was also Paige's birthday!

Susan and Kristin dishing up!

Michelle, our host, decided we needed to go around the tables and tell our happiest Christmas memory, a great idea.

Then it was on to Kate and Dan's for dessert. Costume change! :)

We were asked to put on birthday hats so we could sing to Paige. Hmmm...

I think this is what Kate had in mind,...

not this! :)

We are so lucky to live in such a fun, friendly neighborhood.

Happy Birthday Paige!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 9

2011-12-11T08:34:00.001-08:00

Today we went to the happiest place on earth! Disney has up all their gorgeous Christmas decorations. And today was a special day because Auntie Barbara bought a season pass and joined us!

We couldn't wait to jump on It's a Small World since we'd heard it was all decorated for the holidays.

And wow, it was beautiful! I had a hard time getting good pictures since it was dark and we were moving, but you can see the beautiful Christmas tree behind the girls.

This was Ty's first time on the ride and he was in awe!

And Tatum loved finding all her favorite Disney characters dressed in their holiday best.

Then we met up with Jenny, Mattie and Cam and headed over to Toon Town to see Minnie at her house!

Her kitchen had lots of fun things to open and look at. Barbara obviously loved the refrigerator the most! :)

Four hours later and after walking through Mickey's house, riding Pirates of the Carribean, eating lunch, riding the Winnie the Pooh ride, and ending at the Tiki room, we were all ready to head home. What a fun and festive day with our friends!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 8

2011-12-11T07:50:00.001-08:00

We headed up to Irvine today and before heading to the mall to see Santa and some friends, we got Grandma's nutcrackers down and cracked some nuts! The kids loved this and even though it was messy, they loved cracking the peanut shell and finding a delicious nut inside!

After cleaning up, we headed to South Coast Plaza to meet up with our friends and see all the beautiful decorations! Here's Tatum and Mattie looking so cute. They couldn't wait to see each other!

We had to enjoy a ride on the carousel since all the horses had been exchanged with reindeer!

Ty was all smiles about riding a reindeer!

And the kids couldn't wait to see Santa! They did a wonderful job on his lap and both told him what they want. Ty said, "lots of toys" and Tatum said, "a real Cinderella". I really don't have any extra room in my house to add another member to the family. Not sure how we're dealing with that.

Then we walked over to Crystal Court and after dinner, Isaac and Cam enjoyed a ride on the train with the girls.

So many ornate decorations. The kids loved the model trains running through the displays.

Awww, love these girls together. Too cute!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 7

2011-12-11T07:24:00.001-08:00

Today we were packing up and getting ready to head up to Irvine tomorrow so for our activity, we wrapped some gifts for our friends up north! I didn't get any action shots since hands were everywhere and I was afraid my scotch tape was going to be used as a mummy wrap! But the kids had a fun time and are so excited to share presents with their friends during this wonderful season. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 6

2011-12-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

Today we made candy cane reindeer and the kids loved it. It was a bit hard for them so I was helping a lot but they loved the googly eyes of course.

We were invited over to the Bell's new house so the kids made three, one for each of their children. While we made the reindeer, we talked about the meaning of the candy cane and I read this poem to them:
Look at the Candy Cane, What do you see?
Stripes that are read like the blood shed for me.
White is for my Savior, who's sinless and pure.
"J" is for Jesus, My Lord, that's for sure!
Turn it around and a staff you will see.
Jesus my shepherd was born for me!

25 Days of Christmas, Day 5

2011-12-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure what we were going to do for Day 5 but Tatum wanted to cut out and make ornaments earlier in the day. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the ones she made since she sent them to her friend Ellie. (Ellie recently moved to PA so Tatum now has her first pen pal!) Anyway, I had a kit of 4 wooden ornaments with pens and glitter glue, so we all had an ornament to decorate.

Of course, all this ornament making made us hungry for dessert. :)

Garrett even got in there and enjoyed the craft!

And here are the finished products! Now we have 4 more ornaments to add to our collection and our memories.

25 Days of Christmas, Day 4

2011-12-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

Day 4 brought the much anticipated tree hunting! This is my favorite part about Christmas, going to the tree lot and finding the tree that will fill our living room with beauty and that wonderful pine smell for the next month! We decided to go to a new tree lot that we see when we're on the freeway. I thought maybe it would have other things there too, like rides or something. Or at least it looked like it would from the freeway. Anyway, no rides but worries, we got right to work on our tree hunting...

Peek a boo! Is the favorite tree here? Nope!

Or here? Nope!

Here it is! Tatum took this picture so it's a bit blurry but she did a great job! Got both our heads and everything!

Then we headed home to decorate. Tatum is excellent at finding empty spots to hang all the ornaments.

And Ty does his best to make us all laugh. He's being a ball ornament. :)

But he got in there and hung a few ornaments too. Such serious business.

I think I said this last year but I love looking at all the ornaments and remembering when, where and why we got each one. Ones from trips, ones I made when I was little, ones we got from friends, and ones we inherited. (this year my mom cleaned out all her Christmas stuff and donated 2 boxes of ornaments to us!)

And what a beautiful little girl next to a beautifully decorated tree.

Here's our attempt at a family shot in front of the tree. A little blurry since I set the camera on a chair, but such a wonderful family night. Love Ty in his sunglasses. He calls that his rock star look. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 3

2011-12-05T07:37:00.001-08:00

Our third day of Christmas celebration was spent at Sea World, enjoying all their beautiful Christmas decorations. Shauna came with us and we met up with Erica, Matt and their son Jack.

This very tall, beautiful tree stands just inside the entrance of the park and it made for a perfect Christmasy picture backdrop for many group photos...

After checking out the beer Garden and grabbing an early bite, we headed over to Santa's Cottage. There was a long line to see Santa so instead, we jumped in this sleigh and had some more picture ops. Shauna brought her wonderful camera again and took some great shots.

Ty enjoyed running in between all the Christmas trees while we bought some festive peppermint and candy cane flavored fudge. Yum!

At Sea World, they have the Snow World area, where the kids LOVED playing in the snow!

Garrett liked starting snow ball fights...

Right on the head!

Ty was out for pay back!

And Tatum was in for the fight!

They also had a sledding area that Tatum tried out twice. She held on and went down like a pro! We had a fun night and enjoyed celebrating the season with our friends.

25 Days of Christmas, Day 2

2011-12-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

Today's activity was writing letters to Santa. The kids love this because they usually can't wait to share what they want! We use Christmas stamps, stickers and markers and after I write what they tell me, they decorate the letter and the envelope. No one really cares to draw much yet but they LOVE the stamps. Ty usually ends up with most of the stamp pad all over him, and much to my dismay, I have yet to find washable ink pads. :)

The finished products. It's hard to see what they wrote but it was all about themselves of course. None of that, "How are you Santa? Is it cold up there in the North Pole?" :)

And this year, Tatum said we put the letters in the fireplace. In one of her Christmas books, that's how Santa gets his letters so that's the way to do it. :) They're whisked away by the wind to the North Pole. But since they wrote these, two days ago, Tatum has come up with many things she wishes she could get on her list. And I said, if you want it, Santa just knows and sometimes you get things that you didn't even get down on your letter. He's good like that. :)

25 Days of Christmas, Day 1

2011-12-03T21:46:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful activity planned for this first day of our month long Christmas fun. We were going to American Red Cross to decorate Christmas cards for the military abroad. The kids were so excited to decorate cards for those away from their family over the holidays. And a chance to see our friend Jacquie too since she works there! But at lunch, Ty fell from the bar stool and cracked his chin open. Poor man, we didn't go to the ER or anything, but he was not a happy camper and out of sorts, too grumpy for a trip to ARC. So we decorated our card at home and then I drove it over to Jacquie's house along with a pile of left over Christmas cards to donate for others to decorate and write in. I think the kids enjoyed this activity, knowing they were providing some Christmas cheer to the soldiers that protect our country. :)

Hornblower night out

2011-12-03T21:39:00.001-08:00

This was a rare and exciting moment for us. Garrett and I had a date night! On a Hornblower cruise no less! A friend of Garrett's had two tickets that expired at the end of November and he couldn't use them so he passed them on to us and we had a great time! It was a bit chilly out on the front of the ship, but we had a great view of Hotel Del, among other great views of San Diego and Coronado along the tour.

We had a comfy table, delicious food and drink, and funny views of people dancing on the dance floor. A wonderful and romantic night out!

Photo shoot with Shauna

2011-12-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Shauna was nice enough to head out to the Bernardo Winery with us and take some pictures of us for our Christmas card. She caught some really cute shots!

The kids loved being models for an hour and thanks to Shauna, we got quite a few beautiful pictures of the kids and our family. Lots of fun!

Thanksgiving!!!

2011-12-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Look at this kid. Look at the love in her face. She is in heaven! All due to some girlie pampering with her favorite ladies, the Beaston girls. This is how her Thanksgiving began. Tatum was invited to spend the night up at the Beaston's house the night before Thanksgiving. So with her favorite bunch of girls, she got a mani/pedi...

a ride on the carousel,...

a new Tangled doll and a crown! She got to hang out with the girls and watch movies, spend the night on an air mattress in Amber's room. This day really was "the BEST DAY EVER!!"

And to top it all off, Amber also bought her new TOMs, what a lucky girl!

On Thanksgiving, Garrett, Ty, my mom and I drove up to the Beaston's and enjoyed Thanksgiving with their family. They are all so welcoming and thoughtful to include us. We really do feel like family.

Ty and his favorite lady.

Tatum LOVES Toni. I guess while Tatum was there before we came, she'd be watching a show and tell Shauna she'd be right back and then go check on Toni. Just to be near her and see what she was doing. So cute.

Amber made a joke once that Tatum had been won over by Caty and Toni already so she was going straight for Ty's love. She definitely got it! :)

Can you tell these kids love the Beaston's!

We all had lots of fun sipping wine, chatting, eating delicious appetizers, and watching football of course.

Awww, thank you London Abroad! :)

And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a delicious meal and a big juicy bird. Patti cooked an amazing turkey and dinner was scrumptious! Thank you Beaston's for inviting us into your home and making us feel like family. We're so blessed to have you all.

Kidding around

2011-12-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

This month has been busy with lots of random fun and silly pictures. I figure, since I don't keep a diary, and I'm a horrible scrap booker, keeping this blog updated is my only hope at some sort of documentation of our lives. Sometimes I forget last weekend so I know I'll never remember these little things. Anyway, Tatum's preschool had a week of learning about different colors and the teacher asked them to wear a different color each day. This is a picture of Tatum on yellow day. The only reason I took a pic of that color was because she's wearing the one and only dress my mom made for me. I totally remember her taking the class to learn how to smock the front and wearing it myself. Besides the hem falling out in the front, the dress fit Tatum perfectly and since she loves dresses, she enjoyed wearing this special dress to school. As you can see, Ty loves being in photos and also loves dress up. Daily, he's a different character and sometimes it's hard to leave the house without the mask or cape on. :)

Here's the only photo I took at our Sunday Chili neighborhood gathering. We had some neighbors over to enjoy warm chili and watch a football game and all the kids enjoyed playing together and the parents enjoyed the chat time. Here's Ty's favorite neighbor Matt with his son Anderson.

The city needed to do some work across the street from our house one day and this big digger arrived in front of our house. Ty was beside himself since seeing any sort of construction vehicle is extremely exciting to him. He stood out here and watched the "hard hats" for a good 10 minutes. So cute.

My wine night girls got together for a Thanksgiving feast a week before Thanksgiving and this was the only picture I got of the event. There are 6 of us in the group and try to get together once a month or so. Whether we're venting about work, sharing wonderful news, or laughing about our life's tribulations, it's nice to have such a wonderful group of girls.

Tatum's Thanksgiving Feast at her preschool. All the classes sat together at tables outside while enjoying a delicious feast of chicken nuggets, apple slices and veggie sticks.

They had a prayer before they ate, so precious.

Tatum's class table. She's really enjoying all her friends in Ms. Kristen's class this year, and learning so much.

Last year I wasn't able to make it to the feast since I had Ty but this year my wonderful neighbor Susan was able to watch Ty while I enjoyed helping set up and being there with Tatum. Thank you Susan!!

Here's some of her artwork for the holiday. Grandma was a bit disappointed that she didn't get a leaf, but the cat did. :)

Shauna's parents, Patti and Rick, were down in San Diego so while the boys played golf, the girls enjoyed a delicious lunch at Cafe Merlot. Shauna and I have been here a few times, it's the cafe at Bernardo Winery and it's absolutely wonderful! I've loved everything I've ever ordered there, and that's saying a lot since I'm not much of a food lover. This time Shauna and I had purchased a groupon for a Food Experience for Two at Cafe Merlot. We had no idea what this would entail but wanted to treat out mom's. Anyway, for the $50 we got a bottle of champagne, large cheese, berry, garlic, dip platter with bread and crackers, soup or salad, main course, and dessert. All of that! We had to box most of it up because there was too much food to eat!

Before heading off, we took these cute pictures on my favorite swing at the winery, such a beautiful place. I want my backyard to look like Bernardo Winery one day. :)

What's the one reason you would drink straight from the margarita bottle? Turning 35! No, I'm just kidding, I wasn't that depressed about it and I didn't really drink. But Garrett thought it would make for a funny photo. :) I did enjoy my glass of margarita though.

For the morning of my birthday, Tatum and Daddy ran to get me Krispy Kremes (something I never have but love!) with candles in the top of one, so cute. After getting some beautiful birthday cards from them as well as a watch, we drove up to Irvine to enjoy my favorite meal of ground beef tacos and chocolate cake! The kids helped Grandma make this delectable cupcake shaped masterpiece, and it was awesome!

And more presents for me!

Had to throw this picture in, they're so precious. They LOVE taking baths together and playing, so sweet. And I love those blue eyes, both sets!

And my biggest present of all was going to Disneyland again! This time with Garrett which was a real treat. Grandma, Tatum, Ty and I have passes but Garrett doesn't get one because he's working all the time. But Tatum won two tickets to Disneyland last year at preschool so Garrett used the first ticket to finally experience the Happiest Place On Earth with us. :)

Peter Pan ride. Ty kept yelling for Jake since his only experience with Captain Hook is with Jake and the Neverland Pirates, his favorite show.

Ty has come a long way from his first ride on the merry go round. He especially loved riding with Daddy.

After waiting in way too long of a line for some car ride in Toon Town (never going on that again!), we enjoyed all the fun that Toon Town has to offer. All the buttons to push, and little stores and places to go into. The kids loved this jail house...

my strong man.

And the very best part about Disneyland right now is all their beautiful Christmas decorations. Christmas is my favorite holiday (yes, I was one of those people playing Christmas music as soon as it came on Sounds of the Seasons, Nov. 1st!) and I love being around all the decorations they put up.

While we played in Toon Town, Grandma held a prime spot on Main Street for the Christmas parade. We were right in front!

And we got a great view of all the floats and characters like Mrs. Claus,...

Mickey and Minnie ice skating,...

Woody,...

Buzz Lightyear,...

and Santa Claus of course!!

Then we headed to California Adventure and the kids loved this camp area where they have lots of slides,...

bridges and trails to run around. It was great for Ty to get all his energy out!

Then we went to the Disney Jr. Live performance where they had puppets give skits from favorite shows like Mickey Mouse Club House, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Jake!

After dinner, Tatum wanted to ride the large farris wheel. There are buckets on the ferris wheel that swing and buckets that don't. Garrett said we were going on the swinging ones, to my dismay, but promised it wasn't really that scary. (even though he'd never been on the ride) From this photo, you'd never know I was freaking out! The bucket would swing from side to side when we were sooooo high up in the air, horribly scary! I was trying to keep it together for the kids but I was gripping at the screen behind me, scared out of my mind, and Ty kept telling me no to put my fingers outside the bucket. :) I have another teacher on my hands.

Ty did an awesome job making it through the day without a nap and surviving all the way to the World of Color show. He started watching and just passed out on my shoulder, so cute. What a wonderful day!

While we were in Irvine during Thanksgiving week, we went to the Spectrum and Ty got to decorate a cupcake! He loved it, but loved the candy selection even more! :)

And to complete a wonderful week, Garrett and I went with Leanne to a dinner concert, so much fun. It's nice to get dressed up and put make up on once in a while. :)

Miller Time!

2011-12-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Jeff and Laura Miller invited us to join them out in La Quinta for a weekend away with them and their two daughters, Sierra (almost 4) and Kylie (1). Jeff's parents own a condo out there with lots of room for visitors. They have two golf carts which we took out both days and the kids loved it! The first night we went out after dinner in the dark. We took the paths through the beautiful golf course surrounding the condos. But later, Laura was saying that there are coyotes and other wild animals up in the hills just next to the golf course. Thank goodness we came back alive!

It was a bit chilly that weekend so we skipped the pool and went to a cute little coffee shop for delicious coffee and scones, yum! There was a stage on the grass area next to the shop and the kids enjoyed horsing around, cute!

Steps from their patio at the condo is this pond and a beautiful view of the hills and mountains behind the golf course. Garrett spent the afternoon doing a little fishing while Ty napped and Tatum watched.

He caught a few!

Tatum even got in there and tried. She loved watching the bobber but when a fish was caught, she didn't want any part of getting close to it. :)

Jeff and Kylie

A sweet Daddy picture

The kids enjoyed feeding the fish and the ducks some bread, cookies, actually anything they could get their hands on.

The next evening we took the golf carts out before dinner, in the light, and went to a course across the street where we got to drive under a road through a tunnel, the kids loved it! And then we stopped and hit some balls off a tee, the kids all gave it a shot, very cute. Thank you Miller's for a fun and wonderful weekend away!!

Halloween fun

2011-11-27T21:31:00.000-08:00

Halloween crafts with Jack. Erica brought over these cute little pumpkins that came with paint and decorations. The kids enjoyed dressing up their own pumpkin. I caught Jack in a deep moment. :)

I love these kids. And I love that Jack and Ty are close enough in age to really enjoy each other. But it's funny, when we get these three together, it's usually Tatum and Jack that play more. Tatum loves to make Jack laugh, so cute.

The day before Halloween, we had some more holiday fun by carving our pumpkin. The kids helped Daddy make the face, and I got to scoop out the seeds and carve, my favorite part! I love the smell and the feel of the seeds. All the rest of them wouldn't get near it, so strange.

We also used the apples we picked from the orchard and made caramel apples, so fun!

Lots of sugar though. I don't think we really ate much of our sticky apples, a few bites that night and then they were forgotten. :)

Halloween! We headed to our wonderful neighbors holiday party up the street. Our beautiful mermaid and our scary pirate!

Lots of dressed up kids! Last year we couldn't get Ty and Colin (far right) to get in the picture without crying but this year was much better.

The Halloween parade!

Ty LOVES our neighbor Matt and he'll do anything for him. So here he is giving Matt a big cheesy grin for the camera. So cute.

And Veronika introduces each child as they walk down the run way. So here's Ty the pirate!

And Tatum the mermaid!

Since the Cardinals won the world series, we felt it necessary to dress appropriately. :)

After the party, we all headed up and down the streets for some trick or treating. Ty loved it!

When he'd get up there, he'd yell, "Trick treat!", and totally got the whole concept.

Of course, they all enjoyed stopping for a candy snack half way through. :)

We only got half way around the neighborhood when Tatum saw our house and wanted to go home to pass out candy. That was her favorite part. Seeing neighbor friends and admiring all the different costumes that came to the house. Lots of fun for both kids and such a wonderful neighborhood we live in. Happy Halloween!

Family vacation to Sedona, AZ

2011-11-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

Garrett's step family live out in Phoenix, so before we headed on to Sedona, we stopped to stay the night with Brian and Thithi and their three children, Vanessa, Ian and Emma. Here are the girls along with a neighborhood friend.

Garrett's step sister Ann and husband John along with their two sons Creed and Collin were there as well. Both Tatum and Ty were in heaven! All the kids had a great time together and Ty loved being one of the boys. :) We also got to visit with Grandma Dini and Papa Jerry since they flew into Phoenix that morning. What a fun family reunion!

The next day, we drove up and checked into our time share. We stayed at the Arroyo Robble and it was perfect. A two story condo with kitchen, washer dryer, 2 rooms, 2 1/2 baths, everything you could want. And the resort is located in the center of town, just below all the shops. After getting settled, we headed up the street for some lunch and a beer overlooking the beautiful red rocks of Sedona.

The next day we headed to The Chapel of the Holy Cross, a church built into the side of the red rocks. Absolutely breathtaking.

The children weren't too impressed by the church, but more interested with the flower pots. I love the sign here.

The colors are so rich and the mountains and just amazing, everywhere you look.

Then we headed to Montezuma's Castle, a 20 room cliff dwelling left by the Sinagua Indians 600 years ago. They populated this area for 400 years and then disappeared without a trace. Being up close to the structure, it's just amazing that it's still here.

The kids enjoyed walking the trail to the structure and all the nature in between.

Then we stopped for a picnic lunch and just gazed at the dwelling, as we imagined sitting in the very spot that Sinagua children would play while their parents would gather food or make pots 400 years ago. Such amazing history.

That evening, we walked up the street to Oaxaca, a delicious Mexican restaurant with beautiful views.

Our table sat out on the patio over looking these mountains, beautiful. The mountains behind our house at home definitely don't look like this. :)

Nadine and Jerry came up the next day and Garrett and I joined them for a jeep ride. We took the Extreme Diamond Back ride and wow, it was extreme!

Our trail guide, Kelley, was very educated and stopped to give us lots of history and interesting facts. Beautiful trees and plants, we even caught sight of a road runner!

We drove through some pretty crazy terrain. At some points I wasn't sure we would make it up the trail!

Kelley, our awesome tour guide.

We had a rainy day where we spent most of it indoors. But the next day was beautiful so we headed to Red Rock State Park where we hiked a few trails and found some beautiful wildlife and scenery. These bridges over the red river were beautiful.

Ty and Tatum both loved the hike, look at his face. We'll have to make time for some hikes back at home.

No wonder our son is so into guns, he learns from his father. :)

After our hike and picnic lunch, we headed to a few local wineries. This one had a play table with toys, Ty loved it.

Then we headed back to our resort where they had an indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. Wonderful after a busy day of hiking.

The kids loved hiking so much that they requested we go on another hike on our last day. So we walked out back behind our resort and followed a stream. Beautiful scenery everywhere.

We dared to brave the water but wow, was it cold! Tatum and I only lasted seconds, long enough for this picture...

but Ty and Daddy stuck it out and enjoyed a stop on a rock. I love this photo, the way Ty is gripping on to Garrett for dear life. He looks like a little baby monkey, so sweet.

On our hike, we ran into this beautiful resort with a restaurant right out on the stream. Mom and I came back for one last glass of wine to toast a wonderful trip. This time share business is pretty great, maybe we'll have to look into it. We'll be enjoying another week in Tahoe next February so we'll see if we enjoying it after that trip as well.

Pumpkin patch visits

2011-11-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

Tatum's class went to a pumpkin patch for some educational fun.

They learned all about pumpkins and how they grow, used for pots or bowls, etc. Here is Tatum with her close girlfriends. So cute.

Mrs. Kristen's class

After the petting zoo, we took a tractor ride. Lots of fun but would have been more enjoyable had it not been 95 degrees!

Grace with her mom Suzanne.

Kelsey and Ellie with Ellie's mom Tamara.

After the ride, we dared to brave the corn maze!

Lots of twists and turns and for a minute there, we thought we'd have to call in a helicopter. But we made it out. :)

My silly girl.

We also headed to the Del Mar Pumpkin Station. I had bought a groupon for 12 rides here and the kids loved it!

This picture will forever crack us up. Just after this serene shot of our two loving children enjoying a peaceful ride on the little train, Ty turned around and grabbed Tatum's hair and yanked. Her head whipped down and hair went in her face and she stared yelling. Not that it was funny to see her in pain of course but as I was yelling from the side lines at my horrible son, it was hard to stifle the giggling. I really should have caught the moment on film. :) But she survived and the ride ended peacefully.

Our third and final pumpkin patch visit was to Bates Nut Farm with Erica, Matt, Jack and Erica's parents. It was a long drive out there since the traffic to get into the farm was horrible! People were getting out of their cars and walking faster than we could drive in. But when we made it, got some food, and stretched our legs, the kids enjoyed the fields of pumpkins and the company.

It was another hot day and even though the farm had wonderful activities like pony rides, hay rides, bounce houses, crafts, etc., we just couldn't take the heat. After some ice cream and snow cones, we headed home.

Carpinteria camping, here we come!

2011-11-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

As you know, we've only taken one camping trip as a family and that was to a camp ground near our house on a lake in August. So this trip up to Carpinteria, a camp ground on the ocean just outside of Santa Barbara, over 3 hours away, was going to be a big undertaking. And after a few hiccups and a lot of packing, we got on the road. A little late so we sat in traffic going through LA and the kids got a little restless. Here's Tatum making the best of it. :)

Because of the later start and the traffic, we pulled into the camp ground at 6. Not much day light left so Garrett and I jumped to it and tried to get the tent up as quick as possible. That was comical and soon we were all wearing head lamps so we could see. After having trouble with the tent and then taking a few hours to blow up our air mattresses because I didn't read on the new air compressor that it needed to be charged 12 hours before the trip, we finally got things together and all got to sleep around 11. Only to be awakened a few minutes later to large raccoons getting into our cooler! They got the eggs but missed the steaks, thank goodness. We learned to put all our possessions either inside the truck or under heavy items in the back cab. :)

In between the chaos, we were able to roast some hot dogs though. I love this messy head lamp face.

Brrrrrr, it was a cold night and a cold morning. But we were up with the sun and enjoyed checking out the beautiful ocean. As we were watching the waves, dolphins came up, a pack of them, Ty and Tatum were so excited! Ty kept yelling shark, I was hoping no one would hear him and freak out since it was pretty early and still quiet. :)

Leanne and Isaac joined us that afternoon and we all headed down to the tide pools to find some fun creatures.

The kids loved this and wanted to go back every day we were there.

Isaac enjoying the low tide.

We happened to be there during the Avocado Festival so we walked into town and enjoyed some craft booths, wine, delicious chips and guacamole, and some dancing as you can see.

The kids enjoyed a bounce house area, always a fun time.

There's a cute park just outside the camp ground on the way to the town so after the festival, we stopped for some more fun.

Grandma, Jane and Barbara drove up to Santa Barbara to visit Vivian, Barbara's sister. They all joined us at the festival and then came back to the camp ground for a delicious bbq.

Garrett was our chef and wow, he rocked it!

A bit of a cold morning.

It was a bit cold when the kids got up, and so quiet, that we put them in front of the DVD players in the car. It kept them warm and quiet while we sat by the fire with delicious coffee.

We all enjoyed a fun day on the beach.

And the seals came out to visit us on some nearby rocks. So pretty.

After we braved the showers, we walked over to the park again for some more fun.

And then enjoyed another delicious meal from Garrett, surf and turf. The kids loved the smores the most of course!

Ty was exhausted since napping is impossible in a tent with no pack n play. But he powered through so he could get his smore, but you can see how tired these eyes are looking.

I love this picture. All three kids had these cute camping chairs and they looked like such little campers, sitting by the fire. Ty's about to pass out, I think he nodded off shortly after this shot. What a wonderful camping trip, can't wait to make it a tradition!

Apple picking and airplanes with the Beastons

2011-10-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

The first weekend of October we headed out to Julian to a winery where they were having an apple festival. Shauna and her family joined us and we all had lots of fun. There were crafts, music, food, wine tasting and beer so everyone was happy. :)

My sweet little girl.

And a playful little boy.

Both kids wanted to ride the ponies. Tatum has come a long way from screaming and refusing to get near a pony when she was 2. Now she can't wait to jump on!

I thought Ty would be afraid but nope, total boy. Couldn't wait to jump on and loved every minute of it.

Shauna got these cute pics of the kids and it's funny, Ty really looks like he's riding that horse!

Then we all headed down the path to Raven Hill Orchard where we did some apple picking. We went to this orchard last year and loved it so we were back for more fun. Here's Tatum with Caty, her fashion guru. :)

Both kids loved searching the trees for the perfect apples.

And Ty loved this tractor!

Here's Mom with Patti. We all have such a wonderful time with the Beastons!

After stomping through the orchard, we headed to the Blue Door Winery...

and enjoyed some laughs. I love this photo of Garrett and Rick! What was so funny? :)

Ty took a bite out of this apple and Shauna caught his reaction. Obviously a sour apple. :)

The next morning we all gathered at the Miramar Air Show. Here's me with Amber, Katy and Patti. Some of us weren't prepared for the glaring sun so we made some hat purchases. :)

Garrett with Michael and Katy.

Ty with Amber, so cute.

And his very important Shaw!

Tatum with Toni. Can you tell Tatum's excited to see her? :)

At the air show, they had tons of jets, planes, helicopters, etc. that you could climb into, the kids loved it.

Ty was amazed by all the planes and wanted to get in each one. He loved it!

You can't tell by this picture but we had waited in line to get a chance to sit in this cock pit (which is very hard for a two year old and he had a few melt downs during the wait when I wouldn't let him cut ahead in line). But after he checked out all the buttons and it was our time to go, it was a bad scene. He gripped on to that steering thing and refused to go. I had to rip him out, amongst serious kicking and screaming, and in the process my flip flop broke. So I had to drag my child, in football hold, from this large plane among a large crowd, with one shoe. Great moment.

The show was awesome, so many planes and tricks. Really fun to watch. I think we'll wait a few more years before going back so the kids are a bit older and able to appreciate it more. But lots of fun...

Family fun, inside and out!

2011-10-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Tatum had her 4th birthday party at Pump It Up, a large facility with two rooms filled with bouncy stuff. Slides, obstacle courses, base ball, etc. We actually hadn't been back to Pump It Up since the party. But a few weeks ago they sent me a notice about free bounce time so we ran down to enjoy all the fun.

And, as you can see from the photo above, it's obviously not just for kids. :)

Or is it that Garrett is just a kid at heart? :)

Here's this tall structure where you run and slap a Velcro flag onto a patch, the goal being to get your flag on the highest patch. Garrett was so proud that he got it to the top but take a peek at his feet! Bad boy, he cheated! He took his socks off for more traction! :)

Tatum loves the big slide but loves even more the obstacle course. She kept daring us to race her but then would want us to just go on her side, behind her so she could win. :)

Half way through the 2 hour session, we were moved to another room with neon lights! I thought this would scare the kids but they loved it!

Everyone tired themselves out and had a great time. Then, because Tatum did an amazing job of getting her flag far up the patch wall, (with socks on!) we said she got to pick the place we went to dinner. And of course, she picked McDonalds. Yuck! But when you're a kid, I guess that's a fun place so that's where we ended our night.

A few weeks later we headed up to Irvine and went back to Disneyland to buy annual passes! We did this when Tatum turned 2, since from 2 to 3, kids are free. So now that our Ty is 2, we're back to being Disneyland pass holders!

And the park is decorated for Halloween, so cute!

First we hit Buzz Lightyear since Ty is big into shooting guns (to my dismay of course). He liked that ride but couldn't wait for the car ride (since one of his favorite things to do these days is drive or play with cars). So here we are, Ty driving, me doing the pedal and wow, let me just forewarn anyone that's thinking about taking their two year old on the car ride, not a fun experience! Ty was too small to see over the steering wheel and it wasn't easy to keep the car straight, so as I'm trying to "help" him steer with much disgust on his part, I'm also trying to keep my foot lightly on the gas pedal which is in the middle of the car. Hmmm, it made for a very jerky, "bump ride" as Ty called it and I don't think either one of us is interested in going back on the cars for the rest of your year pass!

We sat down to eat our picnic lunch and who came walking by but Tigger! Ty flew off his seat on the wall and tackled Tigger, so cute! Tatum was always so afraid of the characters and now isn't too afraid but more reserved, she said hi from the side of my leg. Just another example of how different these two kids are.

After lunch, we decided to take the little raft over to Tom Sawyer Island to see the Pirate's Lair since pirates are another big love of Ty's.

I hadn't been over to the island in a long time and they've done a lot to change it. They still have the tree house which they've decorated with pirates...

and the water pump area...

but they've added a few skeletons and other pirate decor, pretty cool.

The kids loved this bouncy bridge.

And Ty was in awe over this huge pile of treasure! He couldn't get over it, he kept yelling something and I finally figured out he was saying Doubloons which is what they call the coins on Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon that he loves. There were caves to crawl through where they had more treasure hidden, and a fort and an old boat. Both kids loved it!

We made it back across the pond to the main land and after a ride on Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, we barely had enough energy to make it back to the tram. I had taken our Sit and Stand stroller, which I love, but after this trip I realized we might be outgrowing it. Well, with my kids anyway, because Tatum wants to sit in the baby part up front, and Ty feels he's way to much of a big boy to sit in a stroller so he has to stand or lounge on the back part. This would be lovely but the stroller isn't made for a 40 lb kid in the front so with all that weight, it's hard to steer and I'm jerking the thing around which jostles Ty right off the end. Grrr, children!!! We'll have to see what alternatives we can come up with next time. But all in all, a wonderful first trip back to Disneyland and we can't wait to go back again soon!

More fun for the grownups

2011-10-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

Our wonderful neighbor, Matt Bell, turned 40 last month and we all celebrated on a party bus. His wife Leslie planned this well organized and fun pub crawl to three breweries and everyone had a wild time. Grandma was nice enough to baby sit for us since it started on a Friday at 3:00 pm which was a hard time to find a sitter. A rare chance to get dressed up and have some adult fun!

Our good friends, Susan and Matt, were also on the bus. Susan was a trooper since she's prego. She endured all the crazy drunks and wildness that ensued later that evening. :)

And here's the birthday boy. Brent and Veronika, some more wonderful neighbors of ours, brought him this bright orange suit to wear all night. Wow, not that his personality needs any help in attracting attention, as you can see. :) Such a goof ball!

The party bus had plenty of room for the 20+ guests, and here are the gifts Garrett bought for Matt. Oh goodness is all I can say. :)

If you're wondering who this wild guest is, her name is Helen H. Angover (check out her facebook page!) and she's quite the partier!

At the last brewery, Matt was surprised by 40 more wonderful friends. There was dinner and drinks for all, what a great party!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Luckily, Garrett and I were pretty tame at Matt's birthday celebration since we knew we had a CityScape race the next day at noon. The race was held downtown, meeting at Whiskey Pete's, and was a 12 puzzle challenge. We kind of went into this event thinking it was more of a drinking and silly competition than a real race. We actually almost had a cocktail at the bar before starting. But the race began and they gave us the first 6 puzzles.

We had to take pictures along the way of all our findings so we could show them at the end and qualify for finishing. They were silly activities like find a piano and take a picture of yourself singing and playing...

find a Wyland painting...

Back to us thinking this was a drinking race! We starting downing some vodka we brought but we were having a hard time running after drinking so we jumped on a pedicab. It said you couldn't take cabs but we figured a pedicab didn't count. :)

ask someone with a bike to let you get on it and look like a tired rider... (I thought I pulled that off quite well) :)

see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...

a plank on a plank...

and go into a store and try on some vintage clothing. Now, this one cost us some time because I felt that vintage clothes should be Good Will clothes or 70s style. I guess vintage depends on your age and what your definition of the word is. Thank goodness this worked.

We were team 30 out of 150, not bad but as you can see, we were pretty tired at the end. (the shots of vodka definitely didn't help) We stayed to see the winners and this couple was decked out in serious workout gear, they weren't messing around. I'm sure they've done a few triathlons. :) But we had a great time and hope to do it again when CityScape is back in town!

Camping at Santee Lakes

2011-09-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

We braved our first family camping trip over the weekend of August 27th at Santee Lakes, campsite #30. I have to say, for our first experience, it went pretty smoothly. We got to the campsite around 5 on Friday and quickly got the tent pitched and things in their appropriate places. Then Garrett whipped up a delicious meal!

But before we unpacked anything, Garrett needed to get a pole in the water. :) Our site was right on this pond and the kids loved watching Daddy prep the pole and fish. They were so good too, after he'd get it ready and in the holder, they'd just sit and watch it, never bothering it, waiting for the fish to bite. So cute. Maybe we've got some fishermen (or fisher woman). :)

Our friends, the Richardsons, were camping a few sites away so as soon as they were done setting up their camp site, they came down to enjoy dinner and some smores. Lots of fun!

Garrett decided it wasn't necessary for us to bring a pack n play so I decided it was necessary that the two boys sleep together on one side of the tent, and the girls sleep on the other. :) Not that the three room tent was really three rooms. The room is made by hanging a sheet of tent to block off a section, but Ty found he could just crawl right underneath and come sleep with Mommy. He kept coming over and asking for me to sing him a song, and then crawling back over to lay with Daddy. This was all at 10:30 pm! Finally, by around 11 he fell asleep. Actually, the whole tent was asleep besides me. Who said sleeping on the ground was a good idea?! Next time we'll be using air mattresses! Anyway, I got up pretty early (if I ever fell asleep at all!) and our late sleeper was asleep till almost 8! Look at this little man, so cute.

After a great breakfast provided by chef Garrett, we headed off on our first hike. :) Well, it was more like a stroll, but we checked out some other camp sites and found a fun play park for the kids.

Here are the Richardsons! I'm so glad we tackled our first camping experience with them. The kids had lots of fun together, which made it a bit easier for us, and we all shared meals which also made it easier. We're definitely doing this again next summer!

After our hike, we packed up a picnic lunch and walked to the pool. Santee Lakes is great in that it has lots of amenities such as pools, play parks, a splash park, and lots of activities like paddle boats, a teen hang out room, etc. Keeps everyone happy and busy. We were able to find some shade and enjoyed our lunch in between dips in the pool. It was a very hot weekend, record heat I think, so the pool was refreshing and fun for all.

After a quick shower, we all enjoyed sitting in the shade and watching Daddy fish.

Here's Colin, Tatum and Ty down by the pond. They enjoyed watching the fishing, but loved riding their bikes around the site and playing with toys. Thank goodness we brought lots of trucks and stuff to keep the boys entertained.

Tatum, on the other hand, wasn't too interested in playing trucks. The heat was waring everyone down and at one point, the kids ended up in the tent, trying to get out of the sun, playing games on my phone. There's no napping in camping I guess.

Ty was definitely more interested in the fishing. He would sit up on the hill, playing with rocks, but always watching Daddy and the fishing pole. You'd think he'd lose interest but definitely not.

Finally, later that evening, Daddy caught a fish! A catfish! The kids were so excited and interested.

They were amazed that a catfish has whiskers like a cat! :)

We were all up early Sunday morning and I think the general consensus was let's go home. But it was so refreshing to wake up under the beautiful clear sky and listen to life and nature around us. Here's a crane walking by our site, doing a little early morning fishing. Everyone enjoyed our first camping experience and we're looking forward to our next one in Carpenteria!

Some very important yet random fun

2011-09-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

We've had some busy but fun filled weeks and I've fallen behind on the blogging. So here are a few pics of some random fun. Here's a pic of some mall fun. We went for dinner at Hot Dog on a Stick, took a train ride, checked out the pet store, and took family pics in a photo booth. All in all, a fun family Friday night.

Nothing beats a hot day but a car wash. :)

Even Tatum got in there and got wet.

Tatum's preschool friend Kaitlin turned 4 and Tatum had fun at her Rapunzel Birthday party.

Here's a pic from a fun pool day. But from Ty's face, you'd think he wasn't having fun. Apparently he has a very sensitive head because he started crying after Garrett gave him a Mohawk. So sensitive.

But Tatum enjoyed herself!

Grandma has been in town quite a bit so we had some fun at Sea World. There are some new things to check out like this new raft.

We enjoyed all the rides...

and everyone had a great time and a fun day.

Love the new turtle section!

I had a free weekend to enjoy with my girls, Shauna, Leanne and Jenny. (she missed the first day of fun but came the next day)

We headed to Palm Springs for lots of sun, sips and delicious food.

It's always fun to dress up and get pretty with your girls!

I had to take a picture of this sign since it had Lee and Tatum's name on it. So cool! This must be a future venture they'll be conquering later in life since they both LOVE shoes. :)

Tatum started her first day of her second year of preschool. Look at this sweet little girl. She was so excited to get back to class and meet her new teacher and new friends.

She's been going for a month now and loves Miss. Kristen and her class. She's even had some new play dates with new friends! Her class room has lots of great areas such as a listening station where they can listen to and read books, a dress up area, a play area outside with a panting table, water bin, and a garden! They also just got a class pet, Winnie the hamster! She also gets to sign her name every day when she comes to class which is helping her to practice her writing. The kids have share bag every week and bring 2 to 3 things to share with the class that start with the letter of the week. Tatum loves this and enjoys going through the house finding things that start with the appropriate letter. And she loves standing up in front of the class and sharing. Great for our shy little girl.

We no longer have zoo passes but we have some very sweet friends that invited us to join them at the zoo and let us use free passes. So we enjoyed two fun days there. The first one was with Kelly and Keira. Here Ty and Keira enjoyed holding hands and walking through the park. So cute.

Keira showed Ty one of her favorite things at the zoo, these large foot massage chairs. :)

Beautiful butterflies!

Oh, the petting zoo. When Tatum was this little, she wouldn't dare touch a goat, or even get in the petting zoo area for that matter. But Ty, he loves it! As soon as we walked in, this little black goat was on the floor in front of him and it was love at first sight. I don't think he left her side the entire time, and as you can see, holding...

laughing and sharing jokes,...

and hugging were all things Ty and the goat were sharing. By the look on the goats face, I can't say she felt the love, but Ty sure did. :)

The giraffe is one of our favorite animals so we had to get over and see them. We have a book about a Strike at the Zoo and in the book the giraffes wear sweaters around their necks so we had to get over there and see if these giraffes were wearing sweaters. :) No sweaters but we saw some cute babies!

And then there was a lot of monkey business going on. Tatum and Ty both came with me and wow, was that a hardship. I always say that Tatum and Ty are like Jack Sprat because if one wants it, the other doesn't. Which is a good thing when you have an Oreo, one eats the center, the other loves the cookie. But I had brought a one seat stroller that day and only one kid wanted to sit in a stroller, Tatum. Of course, that left the wild man available to roam and grrr, I now see why people buy those kid leashes! By the end of the day, I was done and we said good bye to the zoo amongst a screaming Ty strapped in the stroller so we could make it through the dangerous parking lot and out to the car. One of those days. :)

The next trip to the zoo was just with Ty to meet Erica and Jack. Look at these boys! The hair! I think it might be hair cut time!

They enjoyed the petting zoo, the play ground, a few animals, lunch, ice cream and then a ride home. We love the zoo and plan on getting a pass again soon but we just got Disney passes and still have Sea World so we're definitely busy enough with those for now.

They put on the last movie in the park of the summer and it was none other than Tangled! We absolutely love this movie at our house and have all seen it too many times. So many that my 2 year old says, "Best cat EVER!!!" which is close to a line Rapunzel says in the movie, just funny. Anyway, we threw out a blanket and some chairs and got ready for the fun. I was wondering how they were going to show the movie and as you can see from this picture, it was on a big blow up screen. We had a great view!

Me and my sweet pea.

And look at this little boy, as cute as can be all bundled up on his side, ready for his favorite movie.

Of course, it wasn't long after this that a group came and sat down right in front of us so he had to sit up and then was moving around for the rest of the movie. But we had a few calm moments here, and so precious.

Grandma bought a new home!!! She will be moving down to San Diego not more than 10 miles away from us and we're so excited!!! She closed on escrow on August 30th and is still in the process of painting and recarpeting, but she hopes to move down mid October. It's a 2 bedroom condo in Rancho Bernardo and the best part is that she's already met some wonderful friends in the neighborhood.

Here's Desiree, our realtor, handing over the keys. We ran over a half hour before Grandma was to be there and decorated her front path and door. We had champagne waiting and she was very surprised and excited!

We had some really hot days a few weeks back, here's our thermometer at 101 degrees! Which, to me, is hot! Too hot. We had a power outage which at first they thought could have been due to the heat. I was convinced it was but it turns out it was due to human error at one of the plants.

Anyway, it led to a power outage around 3:00 pm which lasted till well past midnight, so we had quite an interesting evening. It was like camping. We started by heading outside and picking lemons. Then we cut them up, squeezed them and made lemonade!

The kids loved it! We also planted some plants, played some games, grilled some food, ate up all the popsicles since they were melting, took a long walk around the neighborhood and saw many neighbors hanging out in their front yards, lit candels, ran around the house with flashlights, and were all in bed by 9. :) It made me realize I need to keep bottled water on hand at all times, and get a battery operated radio. :)
So as you can see, we've been busy and having lots of fun. We had to say good bye to summer and now it's on to fall and many more adventures!

Grandma Dini and Papa Jerry come to visit!

2011-09-08T06:23:00.001-07:00

We were so excited that Grandma Dini and Papa Jerry were coming out for a visit. They live out in IL and we don't get to see them often enough. Especially Papa Jerry, this was his first time out since our wedding and first time to see our new house! After enjoying a delicious lunch and walk on the beach down in OB, and after a fun birthday party for Ty, we spent out third day together down the street at Old Poway Park.

They have a large steam engine there that takes you on two trips around the park. Ty loves it since he's into trains and cars, actually, anything with wheels. And the kids loved taking their guests on the train! The park also has a large gazebo where we watch concerts, a museum about Old Poway, and lots of interesting corners to explore, like a stream and a few bridges.

Garrett and his favorite buddy.

After getting the kids settled with a baby sitter, we all headed to the Del Mar race track. Such a fun place and lots of pretty views.

We got seats this time and enjoyed it. Usually we just stand but it was nice to have a place to sit down and watch the race. No one was a big winner that day but we all had a great time.

Our final day of their trip, we headed over to Coronado, to the ferry landing side where we did some shopping, checking out all the fishermen on the pier,...

and the beautiful sky line. I love this picture, especially Ty's little squishy belly.

The boys enjoyed the sand for a bit and then headed to the bar for a beer.

This little beach is perfect. Great place to play in the sand, and there's no big waves so the kids can wade into the water safely. So great!

We had to venture under the bridge and check out the jetty. Lots of little crabs and creatures to look at. Look at these cuties!

Tatum loved hanging with Grandma Dini in the water and looking at all the different rocks covered with mussels and other sea creatures.

The friendly trolls under the bridge. :)

The next day, Papa Jerry and Grandma Dini had to leave which was a sad day. But we're excited to see them again in October when we head through Phoenix to go to Sedona. Only another month or so!