Gearing Up for Halloween

I love Halloween and I can already feel the holidays in the air as we approach the upcoming season. Paige & Jimmy have been talking about Halloween since August. They knew what they were going to be before we even went on vacation this summer.

Our Halloween activities usually kick off with a trip to the pumpkin patch. In the past years, Pacifica has had at least 3 pumpkin patches to choose from. All 3 of which boasted $5.00 pumpkins, complete with a jumpy house and/or giant inflatable slide. Which makes a trip to the patch with 3 kids not a bank breaking excursion. This year was a bit disappointing. There is only one pumpkin patch in town and the selection was a bit slim. Plus they weren't offering the fantastic pricing. They had 3 jumpy houses and a giant slide and even the pricing on that was a bit ridiculous.

We splurged on the jumpy houses for Paige & Jimmy, while Alyssa wandered around the patch checking everything out.

I felt bad our trip this year wasn't quite how the past years were. Although, I may be the only one who noticed. The kids didn't even ask about picking out pumpkins, they were so pumped up about the jumpy houses.

I mostly want the adorable photo of all 3 kids in their Halloween shirts. Of course, this lovely October day, it happened to be about 78 degrees on the coast and my poor children were dying of heat stroke in their adorable long sleeve shirts and long pants. When we returned to the car, they were stripping down to their underwear, they were so hot.

Well, I got my wonderful photo at the expense of my kids suffering in the heat. At least they look happy in the picture! Two days later, I went to Lucky's and bought our pumpkins...3 for $10.00. Now that's a price I can live with!

Paige Surfs Solo!

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful. A perfect 75-78 degrees at the beach with a light offshore breeze. For anyone who lives on this coast, this is about as good as it gets. The only thing missing is the 75-78 degree water.

Both Paige and Jimmy now have their own brand new wetsuits. No more rentals! They both seem much more content in the cold water with a suit that actually fits them properly. So, since the addition of two new wetsuits to our collection, we have been trying to get to the beach a little more often. (It could also have something to do with my obsession to surf every moment I can now!)

The kids have been practicing a lot on the body board, trying to catch a little whitewater and mini shore break. They have also been throwing themselves into the waves, getting tumbled and pounded, coming up with with a shiver and a little sand in the ears. All of this is awesome. I am stoked to see them enjoying it, gaining their confidence and learning to respect the ocean.

Jimmy showing off his new wetsuit, ready to hit the waves.

Jimmy becoming more and more confident every time we go.

Happy boy!

Paige and her friend taking on the shore break.

Paige showing Jimmy the proper stance. I just love them together in this picture with their almost matching wetsuits.

When ever we are not at the beach and we are talking about surfing, Paige talks big about how she is going to surf on the big board standing up. We have been practicing on the surfboard, when it is not in the water, on how to paddle, pop up and maintain the proper stance. She is doing great. Her pop ups are right on. Once she got it down pretty well, I kept telling her next time we go to the beach you can practice this in the water. It is a very different experience when the board is moving. Our first few trips to the beach, I found out very quickly that Paige was all talk. Every time, she would down right refuse to let me take her out on the board. Even though the white water is knee high and the water depth is waist high, on Paige!

So this past weekend, I finally succeeded in getting her on the board. She refused at first, but with some gentle persuasion, she did it. I know her, and I knew once she got over her fear of it and did it, she would absolutely love it. And I was right!

I didn't have her try to paddle the board. It is a 10ft soft top and I can barely carry the thing it is so heavy. Instead, I held the board steady for her to stand up. When the water came toward us, I just gave her a gentle push to get the board moving. The wave did the rest!

First time up. I am talking her through where to place her feet on the board.

I am so excited, I couldn't contain myself. I was hooting and hollering out there!

After a short break from my lesson, Paige wanted more, so Doug took her out and pushed her into a few good ones!

Look at that smile!

She has come a long way from this at 2-1/2 years old!

I am so incredibly proud of her and she was proud of herself!

I know a lot of people read this and think it is so cute and amazing that I am exposing my kids to this at such a young age. Others may think I am nuts. Regardless, I do not expect any of my kids to become pro surfers. If that happens, then great. It will be their choice to pursue. We are exposing our kids to this because we are passionate about this amazing sport and we want them to appreciate and love it as much as we do. We also know it is possible that one, two or all three of them may never like it and we will be fine with that.

Lake Tahoe, Part Two

At the beginning of September, Doug had a week long business trip to New York. He left on a Sunday and was not returning until the following Sunday. He was staying through the weekend to attend a dinner for his father's birthday. During this time, my parents had decided to plan a week long trip to Lake Tahoe. They usually do this every summer and most often they have some friends join them. This trip they were going to be solo. So, since Doug was away, I very politely invited myself and the kids to join them on their trip for a few days!

After a very busy week and Doug being away, it turned out to be some much needed relaxation. We packed up and hit the road on Saturday morning at 8:15am. My hope was to drive straight through and make it up there by lunch time. We almost did. We had to make one 15 minute stop in Sacramento to stretch our legs and change a diaper. The last 45 minute stretch through the winding mountains on Highway 50 is when Alyssa decided to cry...nonstop. My parents had called and said they were going to McDonald's for lunch at the Y and we should meet them there. My children have not eaten McDonald's, nor are they really allowed to, however it was quickly becoming meltdown city in the van and I was secretly hoping it had a Play Place in it. It did! And all they really ate were some french fries.

Of course we had to take this picture and text it to Daddy to let him know it was inevitable we would end up here someday!

After lunch we went back to the house. My parents rented a really nice 3 bedroom/2 bath home on South Shore. It had a perfect layout for all of us to stay there and it was in a really nice neighborhood that was completely flat. Perfect for taking a lot of bike rides. I had packed 3 bikes so the kids could have some time on their bikes. Something we don't get enough of here at home because we live on a hill.

Jimmy posing on the porch.

Ready for a bike ride. Even Alyssa had her first bike ride experience.

Our first afternoon there we went to the store for some groceries and then took a ride over to the lake in Tahoe Keys. Of course my children can never stay away from the water. It started off as "ok, just put your feet in", to stripping down to underwear and jumping in. I shouldn't have been surprised, really. They are my water babies! Alyssa took a header in fully clothed. I was too busy saving her from drowning, so I didn't get any pictures of that! After the lake experience we went over to the park to play before heading back to the house for dinner.

After dinner and putting the kids to bed, my dad and I headed over to the casino to play some cards. I haven't gambled in years and had a really good time playing poker with my dad. I didn't make any money, but I didn't loose any either!

The next day we spent the day at the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and splashing in the water.

Alyssa loves to eat sand. Yuck.

 At one point my mom spotted some Canadian geese and thought it was a good idea to have the kids feed them. We had some bread in our lunch cooler. Paige was all over this idea and was loving it! Alyssa was a little unsure of our visitors and stayed safely in Grandma's arms. Shortly after Paige began to feed a goose, she was quickly joined by the rest of the flock as well as a couple ducks and seagulls. Even after we ran out of bread, they hung around for a bit to make sure we didn't have any other snacks in our cooler!

Paige feeding one goose and its friend is coming in for a closer look.

The duck comes in to check out the situation.

And the entire flock decides to arrive and Alyssa is on her way out!

One of the mornings were there, the kids got to bake cookies with Grandma. My mom brought up ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies that they could add M&M's too. Boy was that a hit. Grandma is brave too, she let them do all of the work. Even put their own cookies on the cookie sheet. Hilarious to watch them spread cookie dough all over the sheet. Grandma had to step in and help create actual cookies. It was so cute to watch them and they had such a great time!

The house we were staying at had a hot tub that fortunately was only heated to 95 degrees. Well that became the kids own personal pool! Oh what fun they had playing in the "pool". It was awesome. Even in the cramped quarters, they managed to pack in some big fun.

We were only there for 3 days and of course it is never long enough, but we had such an amazing time. Everyone was anxious to get home and see Daddy, since we hadn't seen him in 10 days. This was the first trip we have taken with my parents and I was curious how they would handle consecutive days with the kids around. Especially my dad...who enjoys his quiet! We left on Tuesday morning and I emailed my mom the next day to jokingly ask her if she missed us or if they were thankful for a quiet house. She responded that they missed us a lot and were hoping to do a week long trip next summer. My dad even said, though he likes his quiet, he really really enjoyed having us. We all had such a wonderful time and I am so glad we invited ourselves to go up.

Paige's Quote of the Day

While driving in the car, Paige says from the back seat: "Mom, I want you to have another baby!"
Me: "Um, sorry honey, I am not having anymore babies."
Paige: "Oh."
Me: "Why? Did you want another baby brother?"
Paige: "No, I just wanted to have another sleep over at Grandma's."

After quite a laugh, I told her I didn't need to have another baby for her to have a sleepover at Grandma's house!

New Jersey Trip

New Jersey was quite an eventful trip. We had a lot of fun, but in between the fun was a funeral, an earthquake and a hurricane. We left on August 16th for a 2-week, fun filled trip on the New Jersey Shore. Doug's parents are semi-retired and bought a lovely house, just a mile from the beach and near Point Pleasant. It was a long plane trip for the kids, but they did remarkably well. After 8 hours of air travel (including the 2 hour layover in Phoenix) we arrived in Newark. In the car for a 45 minute drive to his parents house. We arrived at 1:30 in the morning East Coast time. We were all exhausted.

Our first day there, we decided everyone just needed to take it easy and rest, despite Jimmy's constant request to go to the water slides. We had been promising him a trip to the water slides for some time and sure enough, when the plane touched down in Newark, "can we go to the water slides now?" immediately spat out of his mouth. It was utterly adorable. We spent time hanging around the house and letting the kids run around the back yard. We set up the kiddie pool and they just had a blast!

At the end of our first day, we received the unfortunate news that Doug's uncle had passed away. Although he was very sick and this was kind of expected, it was still very sad. Two days of our trip were spent with Doug's family, attending services. Despite the bad news, I think Doug's parents were thankful to have us around to soften the blow. Hard to be sad when you have three kids running around thriving on the attention of Grandma and Jadek.

Our second day, we decided to appease Jimmy and go to the water slides. At Seaside Heights, about 20 minutes from the house, they have a mini water slide park on the boardwalk. It is absolutely perfect for kids! Complete with splash pools and a huge climbing structure with multiple slides they can navigate all by themselves. They were in heaven. There are a few other larger slides so us "big" kids can have some fun too. Paige was tall enough to go on all the slides except 3. My fearless little girl, was ready to charge any slide I took her on. It was awesome!!

A section of the kid play structure. Alyssa was very reluctant to take this picture.

Making Paige stop for a photo!

Alyssa loving the water!

This place was perfect for Jimmy. He could navigate everything at his own pace.

Fearless Paige!! That is Paige and I coming down on the left!

Paige checking out the baby slides.

The next day was a beach day. It was beautiful and the kids always love a trip to the beach. We spent most of the day there, playing in the waves, digging in the sand and relaxing.

The family next to us built this huge trench lined with sand castles. When they left, Alyssa felt it was her duty to begin destruction. The funniest part was when a large wave came and completely filled the trench and scared the crap out of her. In trying to rescue her from drowning, I failed to take pictures of that!

Alyssa trying to catch a seagull.

Paige playing in the shore break with Grandma and Jadek.

When we weren't off enjoying some activity, we spent a lot of time around the house. The kids loved running around the property and playing in the pool in the backyard. They went on a lot of walks with their grandparents to the park down the street.

Enjoying popsicles at 9:30 in the morning. Because it was already 80 degrees out!

My beautiful girls.

My beautiful babies!

Alyssa loved to walk circles around the property. I followed her around with the camera and just love this photo I caught of her walking to the backyard.

On one of the days, Doug and I had a day to ourselves, which we spent "big kid" style at Six Flags Great Adventure & Hurricane Harbor. We love roller coasters and when we go back east, this is our time to enjoy them. Doug's parents man the children, while we go wild at the amusement park. We spared no expense by indulging in the double park pass to Great Adventure and the water slide park. And because the park was so busy, we decided we did not want to wait in lines, so we paid extra for their platinum Flash Pass. It basically cuts your wait time by 90% and you get to cut in the front. Then you get to ride twice...in a row. Well worth the extra dough. Our day there was minorly interrupted by an earthquake. I didn't feel anything, but they shut down the park for 45 minutes for safety checks. We finished lunch and went over to the water slide park. After 2-1/2 hours their, we made our way back to the roller coasters. I swear the coasters they have at this park are amazing. The wooden coaster, El Toro,  is our favorite and so was Nitro, the steel coaster that hits 85 mph. Hell yeah! They do have this one called Kingda Ka...insane. It goes from 0-128 mph in 3.5  seconds. This is the one coaster that scares the crap out of me.

That is the coaster at the top of  U. 128 MPH and blasts you 456 feet high, then plunges vertically into a 270-degree spiral. You feel like the skin is going to come off your face. It is kinda awesome.

After another beach day and another awesome day at the kid water slides, we began to brace ourselves for a hurricane. Hurricane Irene began making its way up the east coast, straight for the jersey shore. Growing up in California, I will take an earthquake over a hurricane any day. I was quite nervous, even though it was a Category 1 by the time it hit us. Fortunately we did not get hit as hard as some other areas both north and south of us. Regardless, it was a scary experience and one I would have preferred to miss in my lifetime.

Cleaning up after the storm.

After the storm, the weather turned beautiful and we were ready to head home. Back to life and back to our regular schedule. We had an enjoyable trip, despite the handful of bumps in the road. We will look forward to our next visit.