Newport Beach - July 2015

For my Mom's 60th Birthday my Dad rented a beach house down in Newport Beach for a week.  It had been about two years since our last visit to Newport, so I was really looking forward to it.  We are also looking forward to spending time with Matthew, Erin and of course, Baby Lennon.

 The kids are at a great age for the beach.  They both love jumping in the waves and playing in the sand so I knew they would be entertained the whole time.

Beach Day #1

We usually started each morning with a cake pop from Starbucks or donuts from the local donuts shop.  I know, not ideal, but come on, it was vacation!

Doing some morning shopping.

Lennon looking like a total beach baby.  Skylar and Matthew jumping waves.  Madden digging his first of many holes of the week.

Lennon wasn't the biggest fan of the water, but as the week went on he got better for sure.

The kids are always picking on poor Papa.

Water fight!!!!

Down for nap after the long beach morning.

That evening we celebrate mom's birthday at Sabatinos. 

Cousin Love!

Keeping Lennon entertained at the restaurant.

Madden loves his cousin Lennon so much.  He was hugging him the whole trip.  Skylar and Brittany selfie.

After dinner we went to the pier for dessert.  Skylar was really into her bubble gum ice cream if you can't tell.

Beach Day #2

It was a donut morning.

Brent and Jackie joined us at the beach and brought they grand-daughters Harper and Delaney.  Skylar and Harper hit it off and played all day.  Brittany and KK were so sweet and amazing.  They pretty much were down the whole week and played with the kids so much.  When they left for just one day/night Skylar was asking for them all day long.

Delaney enjoying the water table.  Lennon enjoying the sand.

Skylar skipped nap that day, but Madden couldn't last.  

That evening we had taco tuesday and kept it mellow at the house, expect for Lennon who couldn't get enough of Skylar.

Beach Day #3

I took the kids for a ride on the boardwalk and we stopped at the playground on the beach.

Lennon putting his toes in the sand.

That afternoon Jackie came down with her three boys.  They all played in the waves, dug holes, searched for shells, and built sand castles with Jake.

Skylar ended up passing out around 4:00 PM in her chair.

That evening the four of us took a long bike ride along the boardwalk.

Beach Day #4

Morning cartoons.

Another donut day.  Madden shared his donut holes with Lennon.

Morning wrestling match between Lennon and Madden.  Could be all the sugar from the donut holes.

Madden flying his kite.

 The water temps were so warm that we could barely keep the kids out of it.

Uncle Jake built sand castles for Lennon to knock down.  He loved it!

That evening the whole family headed down to the Fun Zone and Balboa Island. 

Skylar and Jake rode the ferris wheel while Madden played in the arcade.  We ate dinner at a local pizza place and then caught the fairy over to the island.

We had dessert at the original frozen banana place before hopping back on the bikes to head home.

Brittany and Mom.

Jake and I. 

Lennon was such a trooper. He hung in to almost the very end before he past out on the bike ride home.

Our Last Beach Day #5

The kids started the last day how they began their first day with a trip over to Starbucks for a cake pop.

Wanting to spend as much time at the beach this day as possible I made sure we made it out there early.  The kids had a blast this day.  They jumped waves with Brit and Unc, played with Lennon and took the longest naps ever on the beach.  

By 4:00 PM Jenn, Matt, and Mackenzie made it down for a little bit of beach time and dinner.  Jake put together an awesome seafood spread of food and after that we took our special treats down to the beach to run around and watch the sunset for our last night.

Nana and Papa with their 3 favorite people.

 

Jumping off the lifeguard tower.

Having fun with everyone.

That night the kids had a pajama party.  KK let the kids take a ton of pictures with her polaroid camera and the kids stayed up pretty late.

For those who know me, they know when I go on vacation I just want to relax.  I don't care to go somewhere to site see and do adventurous activities.  Warm water and sun and I'm a happy girl.  That is what we had and it made for a great time.  The kids were so great, they had so much fun and they were so easy the whole week.  When we asked them their favorite part of the whole trip both had the same answer "Playing with baby Lennon!"  

Definitely a trip for the memory books!

Bressi Ranch Summer Luau - 2015

My social committee duties have hit the half way point with us putting on the Summer Luau for the neighborhood.  We had dinner, desserts, music, and entertainment all lined up for the event.  

Photo booth fun!

Skylar, Sophie, and Abby enjoying their coconut sorbets.

Jake turned around and spotted these two slow dancing together.  So sweet.

Eric, Mike and Jake

For entertainment we had a Polynesian Dance Group.  The fire dancer was a huge hit, besides him dropping his rod of fire and it almost rolling into the kids sitting in the front row.  

The kids being totally entertained by the show.

Jake worked it!

Jen showing us her moves.

It was a fun event and the guest seemed to enjoy the summer evening.  

Skylar's First Sleepvoer

For weeks, probably more like months, the girls have been asking for a sleepover.  Thinking that they were probably a bit too young for it and worried they wouldn't fall asleep together because they would be having too much fun we pushed it off.  Well the asking continued so we gave in.  Jess offered to host the sleepover at her house.  Skylar packed her bag and headed over right at 5:00 PM.  They started the evening by picking out their dinner from Sophie's Princess Cookbook.  Their choice: Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese.

Samantha and Isabelle joined in on the fun as well.

Bath time.  

All clean and in their jammies the girls tucked their dolls into bed.

After a handful of books it was time to turn off the lights and call it a night.  Jess said it look Skylar a bit to go down as she probably didn't fall asleep until around 9:30 PM, but not a peep from the two of them until 6:30 AM.  

First sleepover was a SUCCESS!

Madden's First Day of Preschool Summer Camp

Once we got Madden potty trained, which went faster and better than expected I signed him up for summer camp at Redeemer. He definitely has his mom's personality and isn't a fan of change.  With preschool starting in the Fall I knew it was going to be a big change, so I figured summer camp would be a nice baby step for him.

The past couple weeks we have been talking about school and how he is going to be going to school soon.  When I would drop Skylar off I would always try and point something fun out on the playground to him and remind him he will get to play with that soon.  I would get a 50/50 reaction from him.  He would be excited and ask questions about it or he would care less and say "me don't want to go to school."

Well this morning the day came and it was time for Madden to go to preschool summer camp.  Last night he was already saying how he didn't want to go to school and I chopped it up to him just being tired, but the first thing out of his mouth this morning was "me don't want to go to school today!"  All morning I was pretty much on edge and just trying to please him.  Giving him whatever he wanted to eat, letting him watch whatever cartoon, and offering him a special show tonight before bed as along as he went to school.   

Off to school we went and Madden was not having it.  He was refusing to talk to anyone and hiding behind my legs.  Once we got to Room 4 he refused to go in because he wanted to go upstairs to Skylar's old classroom (the room he was familiar with).   I carried him into the classroom and Skylar, Lauren and I tried to show him all the fun things in the room.  He just pouted around the classroom saying "NO" to everything.  After giving his teacher, Miss. Taylor a warning that he was probably going to flip out, I gave him a quick hug and said good-bye and all three of us ran out the door to Madden kicking, screaming, and being held back by his teacher.

About an hour or so later his sweet teacher texted me the below message and picture letting me know he was doing great!  

First day of preschool summer camp started a bit rough, but so glad that it ended with a big smile!

4th of July in NorCal

This year we decided to spend the 4th of July with Jake's family up in Paradise.  It's had been over a year since our last visit and with the new addition of baby Mika we knew we didn't want to wait any longer to visit.  The kids were so excited to go to Grandma and Grandpas.  Skylar was asking each day if this was the day we get to go up to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Madden was just really excited about riding on an airplane.  Our travels up north all went very smoothly, minus Madden and his millions of questions.  "Why are we in the shuttle?" "Where is the airplane ?" "Why is my car seat going bye-bye?" "When can we get on the plane?" "Why isn't the plane moving?" And my personal favorite "Me not going in that car, me want Mama's car!"  Madden refusing to ride in the rental car. 

Once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's the kids were in heaven.  They were so excited to see their cousins and they didn't miss a beat. You would of thought they saw each other daily. 

Cousin Geddis giving piggy back ride after piggy back ride.

Playing in Grandpa's boat turned out to be Madden's favorite part of the whole weekend.

Having dinner with their cousins and so happy about it.

The next morning we went to the river for some swimming to try and beat the 100 degree heat.  This was Skylar and Madden first river experience and they loved it.  They would climb the rocks and work their way back down on the other side and jump into the river, letting the current bring them back to the shore. 

The kids had a blast just swimming and exploring. Skylar got a bit timid when Geddis, Dom, Nico and Madden had a water gun fight, so she and baby Mika built a sand castle

Cousin Geddis and Jake doing some rock diving. 

First picture of all the cousins together.  

That evening we heading into Chico for a big family dinner.  The kids were of course, being kids and by the end you could tell the waiters were ready for us to leave.  We got ice cream and let the kids play at the local park before we had to call it a day.

Jake and sweet Mika.

Who loves ice cream?!?!?!

The next morning we woke up and headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Grandma was sweet enough to pick up some crafts for Skylar and Madden to do.  Madden got over the craft pretty quickly and just wanted to play in Grandpa's boat and Skylar learned to stitch with Grandma.  Skylar, Madden, and Nico had a nice lunch in the Gazabo and then played in the sand box until it was time for naps.

Rested and ready for our 4th of July BBQ we head back to Grandma and Grandpas and right into a water balloon fight.  

A lot of talk went into this picture.  Glad we pulled it off, just wish the kids were smiling.

The kids ran around all evening, having so much fun together.  Skylar even had a couple big falls and kept smiling.  We had a huge 4th of July meal and just enjoyed the family time.

Like all trips, our visit went by way too fast.  It truly was so memorable watching all the cousins together.  The whole weekend, whenever we weren't with the cousin, Skylar would ask, "Where are my cousins?" "When will my cousins be here?" "What car are my cousins in?"  She just really loved being with them.  It was really hard to say good-bye and Skylar was so sad to leave.  Sweet Geddis even cried for 10 minutes after we drove away.  They are now old enough to realize its going to be some until we see each other again, so it definitely made the good-byes much harder.

The weekend definitely wore Skylar out as you can see from this photo.  Madden was all smiles, while Skylar cried more than the twin babies seating behind us.  She was upset that there weren't two arm rests. Hahaha!