Our Week in review

We have had a busy week, but fun week. Here are some pictures to let you know what we have been up to.

We went to the beach on Saturday. Damon and I tried surfing for the first time and totally loved it. Neither of us got up for more than a few seconds, but we can't wait to get better at it.

Adam finally lost another tooth. The dentist is pulling out his top two next week if he doesn't wiggle them out before then.

Noah had pac meeting and earned some sort of belt loop. He was very excited about that.

We went to one of Damon's Luaus that he had during the week. Like father like son doing the Haka!

So sexy! 'nough said!!

We went to the beach again on Thursday since San Diego has decided to turn in to Phoenix. We have had record heat. We have reached over 100*F. It's crazy. Even the beach was hot today! We managed to have fun anyway and Noah and Adam got some good waves. Lily even rode the board a couple of times.

Stay tuned for... the last week of summer:)

Happy Anniversary

To my Main Squeeze,

Happy Anniversary, August 20th. I can't believe it has been 11 years. Time has flown by. I love you more than I did back then. I understand love more than I did back then. I am happy that you are mine and I don't have to share, well, except with the kids. Thanks for being my iron rod. The pop in my corn, the butter on my toast and most importantly the milk in my cereal.

Happy Anniversary Lovey! I love You! You are the best. Can't wait for the next 11 years.

California Adventures!

We headed out to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. We spent the whole day in California Adventure. Adam is hilarious to go with to the park. He is such a little thrill seeker. We went on all the great rides. Lily was able to talk with Crush the turtle. We went back to the hotel for a swim and I had to pick up Damon from the train station. He didn't want to have two cars down there.

We headed back to the park and watched the Electrical Parade and went on more fun rides. Damon was so tired that when we were watching the parade and sitting on the ground he used Lily's stroller as a chair. Lily will go on Soarin' over California and love it until the end when they turn off all the lights. She starts screaming. She loves that she is tall enough to go on most of the rides. She finally hit that 40 inch mark.

The next morning we woke up, well some of us did. Adam slept in. I took Lily and Noah to Disneyland with our friends. Damon and Adam met us later. We hit all the fun rides and didn't have to wait in to many long lines due to Pete's ridemax schedule. We spent the afternoon at the pool again for some down time. Damon and I took the kids to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. We had a fun time there. The kids love all the stuff in there.

We went back to the park and finished off all the rides. Lily was able to go on Star Tours, Big Thunder and Space Mountain. She chose not to go on Space though. Adam was happy to be tall enough to go on Indiana Jones. He loved it. I think I had my eyes closed for all of it. Our friends watched our kids that night so Damon and I could spend some time there by ourselves. We watched the fireworks and went on Pirates.

On our way home from Disneyland we stopped in Newport Beach to visit the stomping grounds of our youth. We went to the fun zone and let the kids eat ice cream, play in the arcade and ride the ferris wheel. They got rid of the bumper cars and we were sad about that.

We are happy to be home now and are all very tired. We had a great time with our friends, but are ready for some R&R. I think I am almost ready for school to start again.

Sea World

We went to Sea World today to hang out with the sea life. We saw all the great shows and I finally go to ride on Journey to Atlantis. I brought a towel with me just in case. I used it to dry the seat off before I sat in it. I didn't want to walk around with a wet muli. Unfortunately I had to leave early with Adam and Lily. Adam had an asthma attack the night before and was rather tired and I wasn't going to leave Lily with anyone. Noah got to stay late and hang out with our friends from Oregon. We had lots of fun. I am amazed by all the sea life that is there. They are pretty spectacular. I didn't take a lot of pictures. I don't know why.

next stop... Disneyland!! (I am tired already thinking about it)

SoCal Fun!

We have been busy with our friends from Oregon the past couple of days. Julie and I have been shopping up a storm to find stuff for the house. Friday's big find was a bookshelf for the living room. I was so excited about that.


Friday afternoon we headed downtown and went to the Midway Museum. We had never been there before and still can't believe how big that ship is. We also couldn't believe how small the living quarters were. We loved being up on the flight deck looking at all the planes. Carriers are just amazing ships.
In the Brig!

Friday night we went out to this place call Pei Wei. It was way yummy and we managed to get in a few chuckles. Damon ran into a racquetball wall during the day and had a big bump on his eyebrow. He looked very formidable. We did some more furniture shopping. I think the sales people were happy to see us go after all the comments that Pete and Damon made about every piece of furniture. Some of it was pretty ugly.
Saturday morning was spent doing some quick home improvement stuff and then we were off to Del Mar. Well, not Damon. He had to luau's to work at in Orange County. We managed to have fun without him. It was a lovely day for the beach and I even got on the boogie board to catch some waves. We ended up bringing more sand home than I would have preferred, but it was worth it.

Lily got her first haircut Saturday afternoon. Just 2 inches. I couldn't handle anything more than that. We sure do love having our friends here. Stay tuned for more SoCal fun.

Happy Birthday Adam

Adam's 7th birthday came and went. We can't believe our Mookie is 7. He has been such a joy (and a bit of a challenge) since he entered our family. We are so glad he did though because he makes us all laugh. He is such a fun loving, easy going kid who has a great enthusiasm for life. I wish we could all love life as much as he does.

For Adam's birthday we went to the movies as well as the pool. We had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and pizza for dinner (no surprise there). Our friends from Oregon are in town and were able to celebrate another birthday with us. What a treat.

Happy birthday Adam! We love you.

On a side note, today is my Grandmother's birthday. She past away 12 years ago this week. She was the nicest person I knew and I still miss her. I wish she were still here. She would have really liked Adam. Happy birthday Grandma!

Another Triathlon

The Camp Pendleton Triathlon was Saturday the 8th. It is over and I am glad. I think Damon is too. It has been a hard one to train for. I blame summertime on that one.

We were in the car backing out when Damon asked me if I had everything. I answered yes. He started running through a checklist and got to helmet and I stopped and looked. No helmet. So we opened the garage and I had to run in and get it. What would I do without Damon? Even though he doesn't do the races he is just as much a part of them. I think he stresses more about them than I do. He laughed at me bringing balloons to mark where my bike was in the transition area and 10 people wished me happy birthday, but I tell you it was the easiest time I have had finding my spot.

The race started at 8am, but my leg didn't leave until 8:50am. My sister and I had a lot of time to kill. The waves were relatively peaceful which made my heart happy. They were so brutal last year. When it was our turn to go I told my sister I would see her on the flip side and we were off. After awhile in the water and realized, along with the group I was swimming with missed on where the buoy marker was. We had to swim diagonally to get back on track. The horizontal swim wasn't bad at all. The water was really calm. On the way back into the shore there was a bit of an undertow so the wave would push you forward and the undertow would pull you back. I was starting to get really frustrated, but then I caught this huge wave which carried me halfway back. It hit my hard and I ended up getting a cramp in my leg and my back. It hit the girl behind me too and she was a bit shaken up as well. Luckily it dropped us off where we could stand and we ran back into shore.

The bike was so much easier than last year. I attribute that to better equipment as well as a good spin instructor. The whole time I was out on the road (well, other than the time I spent praying that I wouldn't get a flat tire), I had my spin instructors voice in my head yelling, "You control the bike. Not the other way around", "Push through your heel", and "Let's go. INCREASE". That's her favorite. Interesting things I saw on the bike trail... a smashed rabbit. A partly run over raccoon, where you could see the guts hanging out and a lot of big nails. I prayed those wouldn't find there way into my tires.

The run was easy except for the cramp in my left calf. By this point you have to push through it and finish. When I started the run my brother in law and Damon were sitting by the side cheering for me. That was nice. I ran without socks for the first time and by the time I finished had huge blisters on my tendons. There was blood in my shoes. It's a good think I didn't notice before I finished. It was nice having a group cheering for me when I finished. I wish they had been there in the middle of the run. My goal this race was 2 hours and I did it in 2 hours, 1 minute and 11 seconds. Maybe next year I will get it. I finished 13th in my age group and placed 687 out of 1000 people, even though the race sold out at about 1200.It was a good race and I feel good about it. The best part was indulging in the not so healthy food that I ate right afterwards. After a race though, who can feel bad about eating an ultimate cheeseburger, with curly fries and a coke from Jack in the Box. Yum!! (but I could never justify eating that without burning a zillion calories before hand.) No pictures of that though. Nobody wants to see that.

Vegas Baby!

Our week with no kids ended with me driving to Las Vegas to pick up the kids. I had my babysitter, who just got back from college, come with me so I wouldn't have to drive by myself. She was a great help and the kids were mostly excited to see her. We met up with my inlaws and the kids at the MGM Grand. It completely reaffirmed how much I hate casinos and Vegas, or the Strip, in general.

We were able to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. We went to the M&M store and took some fun pictures. It was super hot and just yucky there. The kids were great on the drive home and Kaitlyn and I taught them how to play the semi-truck game. I had to make the car ride interesting because I forgot the DVD player. Every time the kids got a truck drive to honk his horn by pulling on their imaginary horn in the air, they got $.25. It entertained them the whole way home. It was hilarious. I remember doing that as a kid, but my dad hated it and would always freak out every time a semi would honk their horn.

The kids are back. The kids had a great time with their grandparents. They miss their nana so much already. The house is filled with laughter, noise and overall chaos again. I think maybe next summer I might try for a 2 week break.

The Construction Continues

The house is turned upside down now. The den wall is sealed up. The door frame is cut and waiting for a door to arrive. New wall built, dry walled, and spackled. There is dust and stuff everywhere. We have all been hanging out in the family room because that is the only room that hasn't been invaded by the remodel. Next up... call the drywall/paint guy to come texture walls and paint them. Damon also has to redo the electrical, which always makes me nervous. Good times. Thanks to our friend Greg who came over and helped. Damon got it done in 3 times the amount of time he would have had he been working on it by himself.

Happy Anniversary... early edition

It isn't our real anniversary, but we decided to celebrate it a little early this month. We went and saw, "Wicked" tonight and it was enjoyable. We saw it 2 years ago in New York and since we got there 30 minutes late it was not as enjoyable. We got to the theatre with plenty of time this go around and really enjoyed the music and the acting. We had great seats too. It was a great night. If you haven't seen it yet and have the opportunity go. You will be entertained.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Goodbye Jeepy. We will miss you. Well, sort of!

Hello Runner! Welcome to our family!

As many of you know we have been having serious issues with our Jeep. After Thursday we had finally had enough and traded it in for a new car. We got a Toyota 4Runner. The features inside aren't as fun, but it rides smooth and with the Toyota name hopefully it will last us long enough to be Noah's car.