Catching up to life

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted! I guess life gets busy when it's sunny outside and there are fun things to do. Here's a run down on the last months activities. A few weeks ago we went to the Historical Society in La Jolla where they were having an ice cream social. Yum!

They gave out hula hoops to the first 200 people and Ty loved it the most! Don't worry, we got him a blue one but blue or pink, he loves hula hoops! :)

Bella and her daddy Ian met us down there too. We enjoyed listening to our favorite band Hullabaloo as we rolled our free hula hoops and...

and got a free face painting! What a cute little tiger. Grrrr!

A few days later Garrett suggested we take the kids fishing which I thought sounded like fun. So we packed up (you wouldn't believe the amount you have to take on a simple fishing hike with two kids!) and headed out to Poway Lake. Here's a shot of Ty in his hat which he left on for a whole 3 minutes.

Here's Daddy and Tatum with her fancy camera that stopped working 5 days after we bought it. Oh well, it's still good for practice photos. :)

And here we are enjoying our lunch. Note the look on my face. I'm trying to look happy but I can tell you, I was far from feeling smiley. Try enjoying a picnic lunch with two kids on the side of a steep, dirt hill in 90 degree weather after you've walked forever hoping for a nicer spot to picnic but never finding one. All the while one child is screaming because he's decided the Ergo is his worst enemy and the other child is whining about the sun in her eyes and wanting to know if the play park is around the corner for the millionth time. I wish I could say we caught a big one because that would have at least made it worth while. But I can't. Anyway, at least we tried and made it to the play park in the end which was and always is a great time. :)

Then we met Jenny in Oceanside a few days later for some fun in the sand and sun. Well, absolutely no sun, that's for sure. It was actually a tad cold.

But lots of fun in the sand. Note to self: No matter when you put on the sun screen, it will attract sand and you will be finding it in your child's everything for days and days. Ty sure did love the sand though. He even thought it tasted pretty good.

Tatum enjoyed lounging on the sand watching her BFF Mattie spin endlessly. These girls couldn't be more different but make a perfect pair.

And Ty tried out his favorite pose in the sand. Yep, just as good at the beach as it is at home. :)

Then we headed up to Irvine to celebrate Grandma's 70th birthday! What a fun party!

It was at Tortilla Flats, on the Mission Viejo lake which was a beautiful location. Also a beautiful day, wonderful weather.

And many wonderful friends celebrated with us.

It was a weekend of birthday parties because the next day we went to the Irvine Park to celebrate Isaac's 2nd birthday. Here's Tatum and Mattie enjoying some cupcake decorating. Watch out Cake Boss!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

And what better way to end a party than with a train ride!

We were actually up in Irvine for over a week taking care of my uncle and turning over a rental property. So since we had a few days to kill, we met Jenny and Mattie at Pretend City. This was our first visit and we loved it! Here's Tatum doing some shopping in the grocery store...

and then a little dress up dancing on stage...

and then a little cruising to the beach...

and a doctor visit...

and work as a mail carrier. What a fun day! We definitely hope to make it back there again soon.

We also loved playing in the play house in Grandma's backyard. She did a little landscaping and it turned out beautiful!

It wouldn't be a trip to Irvine without a trip to the Irvine Zoo. Ty had never been in the petting zoo area and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. There wasn't a lot of petting or feeding going on with my kids but thank goodness brave Mattie was able to show us all how to feed and properly brush a goat.

Since Tatum's not a fan of brushing or feeding any livestock for that matter, I never in a million years thought she'd get on a pony. But look at this! We went to the OC Fair and we walked by the pony's when we were getting some lunch. She asked if she could ride one and I said "Sure" since she had absolutely refused to ride one a few Easters back and I thought for sure she'd still feel the same. But she made up her mind and wasn't changing it. And she didn't have one hesitation either. But on a side note, there were 5 pony's, all with names on their blanket. (you can see Tatum's pony is named Silver) Tatum wanted to ride Ruby because she was a very pretty horse with spots. I told her that she didn't get to chose the horse she rode, she had to take the one she got and that was just how it was. Well, later that night at dinner, she told Grandma she wants a baby sister. I explained to her that when a mommy has a baby, you either get a baby boy or a baby girl but you don't get to choose. And she said, "Yep, just like the pony, you get the one you get." I thought that was quite ingenious. :)

Another breakthrough was when she rode on a carnival ride by herself! Of course she was strapped in and safe but it was wonderful being able to stand back and watch her for a change. My little girl is getting so big and brave! I suppose I am too because I allowed her to go on a carnival ride alone!

Here's a quick shot from our play date at the lagoon. Lots of fun but not a lot of picture taking time with two kids in the water. But look at strong Mattie pulling Tatum on the boogie board!

And here's a shot of Tatum, Isaac and Ty "hanging out" together in the family room while the mommies had a glass of wine. Such good kids.

And we finally made it back home. Here's my little bookend. Such a little monkey! I can't believe he'll be 1 in less than a week! He's not walking but will stand up anywhere and everywhere but refuses to take that first step. But he loves to point at things and say, "At" which I think is suppose to be that. He wants to know about everything, what it does, what it's called, and if he can put it in his mouth. Such a little sponge.

Passing the time in San Diego

First off, here's a picture of Ty at 10 months. (ok, this was taken well into his 10th month but hey, at least I got the picture) Doesn't he look like he's too cool for school?! My little baby is becoming a boy with an attitude! He loves to explore, climb, and crawl as fast as possible. It's funny how boyish he is. Knocking down blocks with a force, pulling hair, "petting" the cat with his fist. All so boyish and so different from our little princess. :) He also has absolutely no patience. As we stroll through a store, if he sees something he wants, he points, babbles and you better be getting it or else he turns red, balls up his fists and growls. Wow, quite a display. But he's a real lover and enjoys cuddling, laughing and climbing up on my lap to give kisses.

As I wrote in a previous post, we're having our kitchen remodeled and we've been creatively dealing with the lack of a kitchen and sometimes the lack of a house to be in during the day. So here we are, after having a wonderful meal off the BBQ by Daddy, enjoying some smores. Yum! These are my absolute favorite summer dessert! My family use to go camping a lot at the beach and this was one of the best parts. Every time I small campfire, I can almost taste the smores.

And Tatum agreed with me completely. We named our special smore (which is putting a little chocolate bar inside the marshmallow, then toasting it and squishing it between the gram cracker) The Little Black Rain Cloud (after a winnie the pooh story of course).

Oh and does the sugar make you silly! :)

Shauna took the week off work to "explore" her new town of San Diego. First stop was the Balboa Park. After scoring the best parking spot on the busiest day (apparently it was SD residents get in free to the museum day) we took a picnic over to Peppertree Park. Lots of things to climb on and all sorts of animals.

Then we headed over to the Botanical Gardens. Such a beautiful building!

And the photography lessons continued. Tatum took this one, pretty darn good!

I love this cheeky smile!

This is Tatum's photo of her favorite flower in the building. Blue of course.

So much beauty...

and interesting architecture...

And beautiful flowers throughout the park.

Then we rode the train...

and Tatum got two rides on the butterfly swing since a little girl gave her a ticket that she didn't want to use. So fun!

Then yesterday we hit a Hullabaloo concert at the 4S Library. We absolutely LOVE Hullabaloo, great songs and lots of dancing, hopping and bunny ears. :)

Tatum helped Ty with his ears. :)

4th of July

We headed over to Shauna's complex pool to kick off the festivities. Lots of delicious appetizers, warming sangria, and numerous dips in the pool.

Ty had fun in the water and out. Here he is chillin' in the shade but otherwise, he was spider crawling all over the pavement, and trying to jump in the pool. :) He definitely feels differently about the water than his sister.

But look, Tatum even got her hair wet!!

After drying off, we headed up to Shauna's place for a delicious dinner. Here's Tatum hanging with Jack.

And here's Jack enjoying his first beer. Nothing like the holidays to do a little experimenting. :)

After a fun game of duck, duck, goose with Jacquie (or duck, duck grey duck according to Sean) we had a little dress up time. I love that the lamp behind her is shining just in the right spot to light up her halo, so fitting.

Boys can sport head bands too. :)

And then we headed down to watch the RB fireworks. This was new to all of us so we had no idea what to expect. We had planned on going all the way into the RB middle school stadium but as we walked down the large hill leading to the school, everyone was camped out along the sidewalk. So we grabbed a spot and waited for the show to begin.

Tatum brushed up on her photography skills, taking pictures of all of us. Here's Shauna with us...

Nick and Shawna...

and Dana and Sean. I think she's really getting the hang of the camera!

We all enjoyed watching the fireworks; RB put on a great show.

Ty was pretty impressed. :) Happy 4th!

Ty's Baptism

Ty is almost 11 months old and we finally got around to baptising him. Hey, as I said to Garrett when he mentioned how much younger all the other babies that were there, better late than never! Anyway, the ceremony was after the 12:30 Mass and there were quite a few babies being baptised. We felt a little odd with only one camera person (Grandma) and with such a small, point and shoot camera. Some families had the paparazzi there!

Ty and his Godmother Shauna, or GM! :)

Ty loved the candle but when we wouldn't let him touch it, he made a bit of a fuss. :)

Here's Grandma and her two little grandchildren.

Ty and GM

Our little baptised man. Great Aunt Diane gave him this outfit that was made by a nun. It came with a hat that he refused to wear...

but we were able to get it on him at home. Oh goodness. :)

And then it was present opening time, with the help of sister Tatum of course. He got a prayer lamb, and a few prayer books, and a real bible from Shauna! Shauna invited us over for a delicious meal that ended the day perfectly. Thanks GM!