Monterey Vacation

A few weeks ago, we took a little vacation to Monterey.  It was great to get out of the hot weather and into the cool coastal weather.  We were also lucky to meet our friends, the Cardenas' there. Rhonda and I have been friends since Jr. High.  It is so exciting to see our kids play together, even though we are only able to see each other a couple times a year.

We stayed at the Portola Hotel and Spa - it was beautiful and a great location - close to the wharf and the beach!

The first day, after we got checked into the hotel, we headed to the beach so the kids could play in the sand for a little while before dinner.

Our hotel and the courtyard that housed the pirate ship that provided hours of entertainment for the kids!

Hanging out on the patio

On the beach!

Ayden & Noah

Ayden hitched a ride on the monster stroller!  Rob was quite a trooper to push that thing!

Daddy taught Ayden a new bad habit - sliding down hand rails!

 On the second day of our trip, we took the trolley down to the aquarium!

Ayden telling Taetum what he thought of the penguins

Rhonda with all of the kids playing a game

Starfish!

I loved the seahorse exhibit!

Can you believe those are seahorses?

All Ayden talked about all morning was touching the sting rays.  It turned out to be a lesson in patience.  They were not really coming toward the edges very often.  Ayden was pretty patient and finally got to pet a couple.

The view from a window at the aquarium

Jayda, Noah, Ayden, & Taetum ready for the treasure hunt in the hotel lobby 

Ayden & Taetum - so cute!!

Ayden & Jayda (he spread his sweatshirt out on the floor of the restaurant at dinner for them to sit on!)

Goodbye wonderful hotel!

After checking out of the hotel, we headed to Dennis the Menace park.  I can remember going there as part of a field trip in Elementary school, and it did not dissapoint!

A real train to climb on - what more could a four year old boy ask for?

 We then headed back to the beach.  One of Ayden's only requests was to go back to the beach and wear his swimsuit.  We tried to explain that the water was too cold to swim, but he insisted.  He did get in the water, even asking for his goggles so he could swim, but that didn't last long. 

Ken and the kids built a sand castle

The big hole that that Ayden and the twins dug

We had a blast and are planning on making this an annual trip - next year to include some spa time for the girls and sailing time for the boys!

July Wrap-Up

Another busy summer month bites the dust.  I'm now a few weeks from going back to school, so we are squeezing in some last minute summer fun!

We've spent a lot of time swimming....These pictures are from when we went swimming at Dominique's mom's house.  Ayden is getting to be such a confident swimmer.  It's nice that I don't have to have him hanging all over me when we swim, he just swims around and jumps in on his own.

...and then they jumped - I was a little nervous, but Ayden was thrilled!

 We we lucky enough to get a visit from my grandma who lives in Texas.  She hasn't seen Ayden since he was about 2, so it was fun to watch them get to know each other.  Ayden got to spend a couple days at my dad's house while she was there, which was great!  He is already asking when we get to see her again!

 While my grandma was in town, Jill threw a birthday party for my dad...

Ayden (not looking at the camera, as usual) with Uncle Matthew & Aunt Dominique

His present from us, Matthew & Dominique, Andrew & Sheena, & Matthew & Lindsey - a new tablet computer!!!

Waiting patiently for dessert

The birthday boy with his grandson

The birthday boy with his mom

 The next day, we met up in Sacramento for a picnic in the park and a trip to the zoo

playing a little baseball with Grandpa & Grandma Jill

got to feed the giraffes again

and ride the carousel

A Festive Fourth!

We had a Festive and Fabulous Fourth of July yesterday!  We started the day with our neighborhood's 3rd annual bike parade and pancake breakfast.  It was the biggest turnout yet and it's so fun to see so many of the kids in our neighborhood all in one place!

He's got his bike all ready to go.  See pictures from previous parades here and here.

Ayden with some neighbor buddies - Zachary & Jessica

We took a break for the afternoon and relaxed, before having our neighbors over for dinner, then heading to a nearby park for some fireworks fun.  The kids played a little, then we enjoyed two fireworks displays.  We know that one of the displays was the city's fireworks, but we still don't know what the other one was - no complaining though, we had a full 1/2 hour of fireworks to watch (for free!)

Ayden & Zachary playing baseball - which was quite an interesting thing to watch!

Waiting patiently for it to be sparkler time

FUN

WITH

SPARKLERS!!

 UNTIL.... The scream heard 'round the park.  Ayden had a few stray sparks hit his hand and he screamed and screamed.  We had all kinds of other people from the park coming over with ice and one lady even offered to go home and get some flour(?).  I think it mostly just scared him and once he calmed down, he was fine.  There are a few little bumps on his hand, but no lasting effects!  He's got a whole year to get over this and be ready for sparklers next year!

Our little patient - he wanted nothing to do with the sparklers after his little injury!

Zachary trying to cheer him up

He was back to normal in no time....The kids didn't have the attention span for all of the fireworks....watching on the blanket turned in to a dogpile on Zachary.

Soccer!

We have entered the world of soccer!  Ayden loves it so far.  He goes once a week for 8 weeks, we have had two classes so far. It's a fun, non-competitive class that teaches the kids basic skills.  No matter what day it is, he is always figuring out how many days until Wednesday when he has soccer again. He even overheard me making plans for Wednesday and interrupted saying we couldn't do it because "Wednesday is Soccer Day."  It's so cute and he is so tired afterward, he sleeps very well on soccer nights!

Summer Fun

We have been having so much fun this summer, I haven't had time to update the blog!  Here are some highlights from the last month...

Fun Trips...

Ayden and I accompanied Grandma to San Francisco to take my brother and sister-in-law to the airport for their big vacation to Europe.  Afterward, we took a yummy detour for some ghiradelli square ice cream!

We also took a trip to Ken's moms house.  Ayden spend the night with Grandma Newton while Ken & I went wine tasting for our anniversary (12 years!).  No pictures from that trip - man am I slacking!!

Playdates with Friends...

We went to Funderland for the first time.  I couldn't believe we had never been there before!  It's right across the street from the zoo and so much fun!


Ayden and his buddy Olivia driving what the kids called "the old car ride"



Ayden & Tyler on the log ride

Miniature Golf

We have also gone to the sprinkler park, we've been swiming a few time at different friends' houses, went to the movies, and went bowling.  We've got to keep boredom at bay (and save mom's sanity)!

Swimming.....

After an unseasonably wet and cold spring, by Mid-June we finally started to have warm weather, so it was time to set up the pool.  We bought a new version of the little pool we have had for the last two years, but put it in a new spot in the backyard.  We have had some fun times at other pools too (where I didn't take any pictures) and I can't believe what a good swimmer Ayden is this summer.  He is completely indepedent in the water!

While we were filling up the new pool, someone was not very patient, so we got the little froggie pool out to appease that.

Can I swim yet?

Ready for a swim!

Showing off his swimming skills