Road Trip Part 5 – A Birthday and An Aquarium

Our time in California was winding down, and Enzo happened to be turning 5 in a week, so my mom had asked if there was a special cake that he would like so she could make him one.  As it so happens, he wanted a butterfly cake in an array of colors.  I’m not sure where the butterfly idea came from… maybe because we’ve talked a bit about plants and hoping that the monarchs will make a return to our yard.  Either way, my mom truly delivered.

For his 5th birthday, Enzo had really only one request. He wanted his own Alexa for his bedroom.  Done.  The excitement on his face was priceless, as was the moment when he turned to his sister and whispered to her, “Phoebe, we have our very own Alexa for our bedroom!”

My mom and step-dad had the excellent idea of buying him his own first camera too, which he was very excited about and has been using on a regular basis. The hardest part has been convincing him not to delete all of his pictures!!  I need to sneak his camera and download the ones he has saved to my computer.

On our final day, we went to Birch Aquarium and it didn’t disappoint!  Not too big, not too small and it had a really good variety as well!

The jellies never disappoint, and they had so many here.  They really are so fascinating to watch and it was fun to watch Enzo take pictures of everything with his camera as well.

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Week In Review – Rain, Check Ups and Flashing

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

It was a rainy, grey, chilly week and exactly the opposite of what you want for mid-May.

  • This week I read a lot, which was nice, and really the only way to spend an evening after a long, dreary day.
  • Enzo had his 5 year check-up this week and remains on the smaller side.  He’s in the 15th percentile for height and weight, which isn’t surprising as neither Josh or I are very tall and while their is height on my Dad’s side, there isn’t much on Josh’s side.
  • There is a measles outbreak in Minnesota right now, so the kids’ doctor also recommended that we get Phoebe her MMR booster a bit early.  She was awesome about getting a shot.
  • Friday was interesting because Enzo got sent home early for indecent exposure. Apparently 3 kids got sent home (one other for the same thing)… what is in the air exactly??
  • On Saturday the kids and I hung out.  We started by going to the library and picked up a few books for the kids and myself.

  • Then we headed to an indoor play area since it was still raining steadily.  Unfortunately the kids didn’t last long. There was an odd mix at the playground and both kids ended up getting hurt due to bigger kids and I had to come up with a back up plan…  Movie it is! We watched The Boss Baby, which actually wasn’t terrible.

  • You really can’t watch a movie and have tons of popcorn without stopping for ice cream afterward, right?

  • We cleaned the garage on Sunday morning, which was nice to get done, even if we could see our breath while doing it.  Ha!  The kids “helped” for a bit and then got cold and went back inside. I really can’t blame them.
  • The rest of the afternoon we hung out and just did… whatever.  Not a terrible way to end the week… or begin it depending on how you look at it.

I hope everyone has a Happy Monday!  I’m looking forward to the upcoming 3 day weekend!

Road Trip Part 4 – Beach, Please.

See what I did there?  Yeah, yeah, not original in the slightest, but it’s been a long week and it’s cold and rainy, so it’s the perfect day to relive some fun at the beach!

First, though, we spent Friday after our Disney fun just relaxing. The kids played and then we took them to the swimming pool to really wear them out.  Phoebe was very excited to don her fancy gloves and play with her new tea set.

We went to Coronado Beach on a Saturday and surprisingly enough it wasn’t even that busy and the weather was gorgeous!  The water was a tad chilly, but we were so excited to dip our feet in and soak up the warm rays from the sun.

They’re not even a little excited. Ha!

I love how he just carried that shovel around. You never know when you might need to dig a hole, right?  Enzo didn’t necessarily enjoy how cold the water was, but Phoebe couldn’t care less.

Yeah, we all enjoyed the nice weather and change of scenery just a bit.  There were also a ton of tiny clams everywhere!  It was really kind of bizarre, but neat. I’ve never seen so many and it was a little odd to watch their very squishy, gelatinous… selves try and hold on to the sand as the waves came and do whatever it is they were trying to do. Clearly I know nothing about clams.

We’ve been listening to ocean waves as bedtime background noise and it really is so relaxing. I can see why people would choose to live close to it. I have a feeling the kids would say the same. Alas, back to reality and time to pull out my sweatshirt for the high of 48 degrees and even more rain tomorrow. 😉

Road Trip Part 3 – Disneyland!

Not surprisingly, one thing we were all looking forward to on our trip was Disneyland. It’s the happiest place on earth, right?  It’s been years since I’ve been there, Josh had never been and we figured both kids were old enough to enjoy it, so the 4 of us and my mom headed off to Disneyland bright and early on a Thursday morning.  One thing we knew we wanted to do was spend a full day there, but we didn’t necessarily want to drive back to my mom’s the same day, so we got a room at a hotel a couple blocks away.  Best idea ever. We were even able to check in that morning, drop our stuff off and walk over to Disneyland.

Enzo wasn’t keen on getting his photo taken so early in the morning, but I can’t really blame him. Even during an on “off-season” day there were still lots of people and lots of things to see. We kind of just picked a direction and went for it.

Josh and I started the day off going on Big Thunder Mountain. Phoebe was too short and Enzo decided it was too scary, so my Mom stood by with them while we got one ride out of our system and then focused on a little sight-seeing and heading toward Toon Town.

We were briefly distracted by the short line to Small World, so we figured it would be a really nice and easy first ride for the kiddos.  So… Phoebe loved it.  It wasn’t too fast and she loved looking at everything.  Enzo thought it was boring.  The rest of us feel like we lost 5 years of our lives in the ride that never freaking ends.  Just when you think you can’t take it anymore and are willing to throw yourself from the boat… it keeps going.  My only consolation is that it made Phoebe very happy.

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Week In Review – Sunshine!

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

This past week felt like a bit of a hectic one.  Probably  because we had quite a bit going on.

  • The kids had dentist appointments, which they are both great about. We started taking them around 18 months to get them used to it at an early age and now they both lie down without issue and do everything they’re asked. Total pros.
  • We also picked up our first meat package from TC Farms this week!  Really excited about joining our first CSA and I’ll post more about it later.

  • On Wednesday I made a pie for my sister-in-law who had an unfortunate run-in with a piano and lost her fingertip, so I decorated her pie appropriately.  She’s a trooper for sure, and has handled the whole thing really well.

  • Phoebe hasn’t been the greatest sleeper this week, and honestly they have both been a tad cranky. I’m not sure what all is up. She and I ended up watching a re-run of The Great British Bake Off when she couldn’t get comfortable or sleep one night.

  • On Friday night Enzo had a birthday party to attend, so I went with him to that while Josh had a daddy-daughter date with Phoebe.

  • Then on Saturday we went flower shopping!  The weather was perfect for it and we got some lovely assistance at The Mustard Seed!

  • We had lunch and then headed back home to get everything planted.  The kids wanted to help a lot and I set them to work filling pots and teaching them to carefully plant our purchases.

  • We then made Uzi’s day and pulled the leash out for him.  One day I hope to have a bigger yard and not be so close to a main road so he can more safely wander.

  • Then it was Sunday and after some cleaning and refereeing the children, made the yummiest strawberry rhubarb pie and pretty much called it a day.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!