The Beach

After all the wedding craziness and the Go Go Go of Disneyland, we spent a nice and very relaxing day at the beach on Saturday. We went with Sam's aunt, Jerilyn and her family, along with Colette, Dale and the boys - so much fun to have such a large group. And the added bonus was that the kids had so many people to play with that all Sam and I had to do was sit on the beach and keep an eye on things (and make the occasional trip to the bathroom with Kaitlyn). It was so great!
It was almost a 2 hour drive, through the scenic Napa Valley. Jerilyn rode with us on the way there and played tour guide. The ride wasn't quite as nice on the way home since Ty was overtired and cried the last 40 minutes - but we're going to forget that part and focus on the fun :)


We grabbed sandwiches from Subway on the way and had a picnic up by the car before heading down to the sand. The kids (Sam among them for a while) entertained themselves with building sandcastles and digging big holes (which Ty then enjoyed climbing in and out of for the rest of the day) and running in and out of the (very cold) waves. The day started out chilly but it was soon warm enough to change the kids into their swimming suits and soak up the sun. Perfect.

A big thanks to Jerilyn and Paul for taking us to the beach! And thank you, Jerilyn, for spending your birthday with us. I hope it was an enjoyable one. (Did you get your cake?? :) )

Czar and Robin's Wedding

They finally did it! Czar and Robin are married!

We left Disneyland at 6:15 AM Friday morning and headed up to northern CA for Czar and Robin's wedding. We arrived in time to help with some of the last minute set up, missing lunchtime in the process (we didn't realize this until that night at the hotel. Poor kids!) due to a quick stop for ice cream and then the kids took early naps in the car.

Robin asked me to play photographer for the wedding - PLAY being the operative word. I think I caught all the moments that should be documented but you can tell I'm not even close to being a professional. I see photography classes in my future :) So, that's why I have more than the usual number of photos a guest would normally take at a wedding. That said, I still managed plenty of photos of the kiddos and am including a lot of them - because it's my blog and I can!

Kaitlyn was a flower girl and did a terrific job. (She's a bit...moody and we were worried she would try to back out of it) Sam, of course, was one of the groomsmen. And Tyler got to hang out with his newfound friend, Andrea (Sam's cousin). Thanks a bunch Andrea!

Congratulations Czar and Robin!

Disneyland!

We were able to spend 3 wonderful days in Disneyland this week. This seems to be our tradition when Sam gets home from any long military related absence - not that you see any of us complaining about this part of it :)
We decided to drive, which went very well considering that it was an entire day in the car with little kids. And we were all very excited to finally arrive at the hotel. The Disneyland Hotel! Which had all these fun little touches like Mickey ears on the lamp base and Mickey gloves holding the sconces in the bathroom. Our room over looked Downtown Disney and we Kaitlyn was able to watch the fireworks before she went to sleep. They also had fun Princess Bedtime Stories on the TV, which Kaitlyn watched every night before bed. And the biggest benefit - no worries about parking and no having to walk for half and hour to get to and from the park.
We had SO much fun at Disneyland and California Adventure (despite the crowds - everyone must have been on Spring Break). We had wonderful weather (which made us even happier since it was snowing when we left home) though and the kids didn't mind standing in lines. Our first ride, at Kaitlyn's request was the Tea Cups, which we then had to ride at least once every day. The Carousel was Tyler's favorite and it, again, was ridden every day we were there. Kaitlyn was a bit wary of riding anything that looked "scary" but on the ones we knew she would like, we tried to talk her into it. Then she would say things like "that was so fun! I should have trusted you!" We also made sure to get photos and autographs with all the big characters - the Princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Tinkerbell, Lightning and Mater...
On our second day there, my friend Christina was able to join us, along with her god daughter Kayla. The two girls soon became friends and we all had so much fun with them there. Thanks again for coming, C!
Kaitlyn's favorite ride on the second day was Small World, which was recently redone. The look on her face during the whole ride was priceless. She loved it so much she talked Sam into going on it the next day (which in itself was a huge feat since Sam was dead set on hating that ride and not wanting to ever experience it).
The pool at the hotel was also a big hit and had to be visited every day. It was a really big one, set up with the theme of Peter Pan. Even though the water was cold (since we didn't get to the pool until almost sunset), the kids insisted on going on the little waterslide over and over again. I, on the other hand, tried to spend as much time as possible in the hot tub - which was also huge and set to look like a scene from the little Mermaid (with and Ariel statue and a big seashell backdrop/outdoor shower).

We had such full days every day we were all exhausted and happy to tumble into bed each night. Kaitlyn shared a bed with Tyler, which she thought was just one more fun thing about vacation.

Kreativ Blogger Award

I got tagged for this one by Christina

List 7 things you love and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love! Be sure to tag them and let them know they've won! You can copy the award and put it on your sidebar to let the whole world know that your KREATIV!

7 things I love:
-Spring
-hot chocolate
-photos
-Disneyland! (or any prospect of vacation)
-reading
-hot showers
-cozy warm beds

7 bloggers I love:
-Alisha (http://cartierfamily.blogspot.com/)
-Audrey (http://audgefamily.blogspot.com/)
-Cheri (http://cherandster.blogspot.com/)
-BeauDee (http://waceyfamily.blogspot.com/)
-Julie (http://scrappinmomof3julie.blogspot.com/)
-Julia (http://thinknpinkmom.blogspot.com/)
-Callie (http://craftycallie.blogspot.com/)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Kaitlyn has been asking for at least a couple weeks now if I think the lephrechaun would bring her something - specifially a new Tinkerbell doll just like last year since the old one has a broken wing. And sure enough the leprechaun DID visit (but without Tink in tow). Kaitlyn was excited to find a small pot of quarters and candy outside her and Tyler's bedroom door. And even more excited to find that a trail of gold coins led from the pots down the hall and into a corner of the living room where a couple of new toys were hiding.

Katy got Barbie clothes and Ty got a Cars (the movie) magnetic play set. That silly leprechaun even dyed the milk green so we all had green milk on our cereal.

The kids also got new green shirts from me and their Dad. I almost forgot to take a picture of them but did grab the camera as we were headed out the door to take Katy to preschool. As you can see, Ty wasn't very happy about something - that was kind of a trend today. He was either cranky, whining, or busy making a huge mess. Kaitlyn, on the other hand, had a terrific day. They had a treasure hunt at preschool. And the rest of her day she was just so happy and pleasant - not just her normal self but unbelievably happy and helpful. I guess St Pat's really is magical when you're 5.

Daddy's Home!

Sam finished up his training last week - in the top 10% of his class! - and is now fully certified to be an instructor. He promptly jumped in his truck and made it home in record time. And we are SO happy to have him home. Poor guy probably felt like he walked into something he wasn't quite prepared for though. I've been sick. Really sick. The kids have been sick. And that particular day I was about half-dead. Couldn't even get up off the couch to give him a hug to welcome him home. But, great Dad that he is, instead of running screaming out the door he waded into the germ infested house and took over. He made the kids happy by showing them the cool stuff he bought for them at Sea World. Then he read them a story and put them to bed. And sent me in for a bath and put me to bed too. And whenever I woke up coughing he didn't complain, just silently rubbed my back. Aaaaah. Neither one of us got much sleep but the simple fact that he was there had me feeling so much better in the morning. The next day the kids got plenty of play time with their dad and I drug myself off to the doctor. We spent the next few days keeping a low profile while everyone mended (and Ty got hit with another round of really high fever).
I am happy to report that we are well on the mend now - FINALLY. And if luck is with us Sam will stay healthy and we can all enjoy our vacation (next week! woohoo! I'm so excited!) without worrying we might run out of tissues while standing in line for the Small World ride :)

Feeding with Grandpa

Feeding the cows is not exactly my idea of fun, but for Tyler it's the highlight of his day. So for the 3rd day in a row, I let myself get talked into helping Dad feed yesterday - mostly because he said he wanted to get pictures of Tyler shutting the gate all by himself (and you know I can't resist a photo op!). So we get bundled up and off we go. They do the routine - one I will do a detailed photo shoot of soon because watching Ty do everything is just so darn cute.


I got some decent shots of Tyler kicking the hay to the horses. Then we head out to feed the cows, where we notice that one of the cows was in labor. (do they call it that with cows??) We proceeded to finish up the feeding and the cow still hadn't popped out that calf so Dad decided it was time to give her some help. We took Tyler back to the house, loaded up the calf pulling equipment, and headed back out to the field. This is the point where I was kicking myself for going feeding and ending up having to help with what I viewed would be a not so pleasant task. Can you believe I have never actually had to help with that particular task? Nope, not in all my years growing up. I know Dad did it and I even remember seeing him working on one or two from afar. But the thought of being up close and personal....ew.
So we get the chute ready and drive the poor cow across the field - with me driving the backhoe and trying to stay by the side of her so she didn't bolt out into the field and Dad trotting behind to keep her moving - and into the corral. Easy peasy huh? Yeah - Dad only got over-stressed and yelled once :) (and if you know my Dad you know that in a time of stress that is unbelievable). Got her secured in the chute, hooked the ropes and stuff to the calf's feet that were sticking out, pulled a bit and viola! Actually Dad did all of that. Me, I just did the really helpful things like hold the tail LOL. But I have to say it was a bit of an education and a testament to Dad's abilities that it really did go that smoothly. And the cow, a first time mommy, didn't even protest a bit and jumped right into her role as a mom.

Dad says the calf is doing great today (no I didn't let myself get talked into feeding this time!). And Tyler even got to give it a hug :)

All By Myself

Some days it just hits you doesn't it? That the kids just grow up so quickly. Tyler has decided that he needs to choose what he is wearing every day and to my consternation, often he chooses another set of pjs. Instead of fighting with him I usually leave him in his room - wearing only his diaper - and tell him to come out when he's ready to get dressed. Today he was still determined to wear those pjs and got dressed all by himself - or as close to it as he could get. His shirt is obviously on backward. And he had a false start with his pants. He tried to put both legs in the bottom end of the pant leg so I straightened that out for him. But other than that he really did do it himself! (keep in mind, Ty is only 3 months past his 2nd birthday) I wasn't completely surprised since he has put on his own pants once or twice before but I had never seen him try the shirt.

And I have no idea why he chose to climb up on the table to attempt getting dressed - silly boy.