Wordless Wednesday

Camp Ethan

Ethan had his 5th birthday yesterday and celebrated over the weekend with a campout in his backyard!! His mommy and I worked hard at preparing the sweet treats, decorations, and goodie bags for the party. We even got Grandpa involved by volunteering him to create all the signs!! Here are a few pictures

wishing and hoping...

to win these adorable fondant cupcake toppers from the andersruff giveaway!! cross your fingers!!!

Fun Filled Weekend

We started our weekend on Thursday evening (Steve has Fridays off) in Down Town for a Taste of Long Beach. Vendors lined the streets with delicious goodies for us to taste! The kids enjoyed walking .. and dancing... in the crowd filled streets and mom and dad liked getting a little taste of everything the city had to offer! Here are a few pictures. I wish I would have snapped more... but as you can guess, I was too busy stuffing my face =D


Friday morning, Shae was ready for his first gymnastics class! It's a parent-and-me class so Steve and I also had a chance to jump on the trampolines and play parachute games with the little ones. It was so much fun and Shae really had a great time. The last half of the class is pretty much devoted to free time to explore the gym. I'm convinced this is Shae's favorite part of the day...





Kaia and the Pink Princesses had their very first soccer game on Saturday against none other than the Super Power Princesses!! Kaia seemed to enjoy the first half of the game a lot more than the last half. Word on the sidelines was that her attitude face looked a lot like her momma's. I beg to differ. Coach Steve did a great job on the field as well. Thanks to the whole family for cheering on #2 and donating to the bucket every time our team scored a goal... even when sometimes it was the wrong goal ;)


We rounded out the weekend with a trip to Knott's Berry Farm. We haven't been utilizing our passes very much this Summer. There was just too much other fun stuff going on! We started off in Camp Snoopy and were lucky to catch the first show of the day. This season's theme is a Spooktacular Halloween. We watched the Peanuts gang dance to silly spooky Halloween songs like Ghostbusters, Witch Doctor, Monster Mash and Time Warp... all of which the kids were hearing for the first time! Steve and I were rocking out!! We grabbed lunch at Coaster's Diner and the kids got a big kick out of the juke box. They danced to the Twist and Lollipop, lollipop oh lolly lollipop!! We also rode the train and got "robbed" for all our loot by the train bandits... Kaia's favorite part of course. Before we left, Steve and the kids cooled off by getting splashed on the Log Ride. Yes, I took a picture of the picture at the end of the ride because I really am that cheap!

Toy Story 3 Experience

Over the summer we had the pleasure of attending the Toy Story 3 Experience. It started off as a nice stroll along Hollywood Blvd (although the creepy characters are no longer allowed to linger and hassle you for money!).

We saw a couple stars and then headed to wait in line at the El Capitan Theater while we pigged out on the hugest slices of pizza I have ever seen!

I hadn't realized that it would be Shae's first 3D movie and for the first couple minutes he actually flinched at the objects that popped out at him!! After the movie, they escorted us to a whole new world right around the block. We were greeted by Woody and Buzz. The kids were in Toy Story heaven!!

Once inside the gates, it was as if we stepped out of Hollywood and into the world of fun and games! Everything was Toy Story inspired, right down to the ice cream and the play yard!

They had bungee jumping (kid style), bicycle races (complete with different sized helmets for any sized head- child AND adult), live shows with singing and dancing characters, and best of all... everything was FREE!! They had hands on exhibits and even an obstacle course designed and inspired by Sunnyside Daycare. It was amazing. One of my favorite parts was a HUGE chair that we climbed into and felt just like toys. This chair was huge!!




They also had a slinky race with custom built stairs (possibly Shae's favorite part). Just in case I haven't said it enough.. it was amazing and I can't wait for the El Capitan Theater to put on another event just like it. We'll be first in line for tickets!

Wordless Wednesday

Santa Ana Zoo

Kindergarten

My oldest baby has started Kindergarten this year. Last week was the first week and it was pretty hectic! All the kids were assessed to see which kids would do better as early birds and late birds. Kaia is now officially a late bird!!! Yippee!! (Gives mom an extra hour and a half to sleep in get everybody ready.)

Summer Splashin

This summer, Kaia wanted to take a swim class again. It was a lot of fun last year so we signed her up again. She loved being able to spend the time every weeknight (for a month straight!) in the water... especially because she was in class with her cousin Ethan boy!! They always have a blast at the pool while Janelle and I pack on 10 extra lbs snacking and gabbing in our "lounge chairs." If only I had my camera out to capture the ice cream truck guy that would lurk in the parking lot waiting for all the kids to nag at their parents to buy them a snow cone or a chaco taco! I won't miss that part...


Kaia moved up from a "tadpole" to a "minnow" this summer, and also decided that she is now brave enough to jump from the HIGH DIVE. Aside from my heart beating out of my chest every time she climbs the ladder, I'm very proud of my brave girl and can't wait til next summer to do it all again =)