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.

Alyssa is 18 Months

Alyssa turned 18 months old this month and constantly leaves me wondering where the time goes. Inevitably, we are now in our last phases of a baby. Bottles, cribs and diapers will soon be a thing of the past. At times it makes me very sad, but also very excited to finally be shedding all these items. We will be moving into a new phase where the kids will be super fun and much easier to tote around! (not that they aren't right now)

Alyssa is definitely holding her own in this crazy household. Constantly trying to keep up with her brother and sister and their friends. Following the big kids around, barely able to keep pace. She is my only child who has proven to be quite the climber at an early age. Climbing steps, play structures, tables and chairs and plummeting down slides, mostly without missing a beat. She has had her fair share of falls with the resulting bumps and bruises. Only a few have taken my breathe away.

Eating sand at Lake Tahoe

She is such a fun little baby. Always on the go and absolutely loves to be outside. Adventurous to the core, this one. Running, riding bikes, exploring, digging in the dirt and sand. Preferably eating the dirt and sand, I should add. She loves the beach and especially the water. Oh my god, what a fish she is. Just the sight of a pool or ocean and she is squealing and waving her arms in excitement. I have been doing mommy and me swimming lessons with her at La Petite Baleen since she was 14 months old. She took to swimming so quickly. I will be amazed to see how she progresses in the next couple of years. On our recent trip to Lake Tahoe, she just had to get her feet in the lake and ended up taking a header straight in, clothes and all. She wasn't too happy with the shock of ice cold water and refused to go in again. She was much happier in the 90 degree hot tub at the house we stayed at.

Chillin in the hot tub in Lake Tahoe

One thing is for sure, this little girl is going to keep me on my toes. She has a lovable sweetness and a devilish side too. She definitely has a feisty spirit in her and I am almost thankful she is not really talking yet.

I am looking forward to watching her grown into an amazing little girl!

Enjoying a ride in the stroller in Santa Cruz

Groovin with the iPod

Mommy and me at Santa Cruz

Lake Tahoe, Part One

At the beginning of August, we took a trip up to Lake Tahoe with our good friends. We rented a 3br/2ba condo in Incline Village and spent 5 glorious days there. The weather was a perfect 75-80 degrees the whole time we were there. The goal of our trip was to do a whole lot of nothing...even with 4 children.

Wednesday morning, we departed in the van with all four children. Equipped with snacks and dvd's, we set off at 9am. Smooth sailing right through to Auburn, where we stopped at In&Out Burger to pick up lunch. We took lunch to a nearby playground and sat on the grass under a tree to eat. The kids had a chance to run around and stretch their legs before we got back in the car for the rest of the drive. They did great and Alyssa slept almost the entire second half of the trip. The men were arriving on Thursday night after work.

We arrived at our condo around 3pm. It was a really nice complex and our condo (which seemed more like a townhouse) was really nice. Much nicer than we anticipated. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms with plenty of room for the kids to play. There was a small grass area in front of our unit and a swimming pool right across the parking lot.

Our first day was spent at the lake, which the kids quickly realized how cold it was. The girls didn't seem bothered too much as they were floating around, running and jumping in. Jimmy didn't get in much past his knees and Alyssa put her little toes in and headed right back to the sand.

 

 Much of our trip was spent at the pool in our complex. After our experience at the lake, the kids decided they would much rather swim in the pool at our complex. Which was fine by us because they charge $12 per adult per day at the beaches in Incline Village. They were nice beaches, but that was a little much. So each morning after breakfast, all the little people scrambled around excitedly putting on their swimsuits and grabbing their gear.

Jimmy and Alyssa taking a break.

While Alyssa slept in the afternoons after lunch, the kids would relax. One afternoon Jimmy and I went on a little adventure walk around the complex. He was fascinated walking down the paths and through the trees. Finding pine cones, spotting dogs, picking up sticks and seeing squirrels. It was awesome spending some one on one time with him too.

Our evenings were spent relaxing, making dinner, watching movies, talking and reading. Once the kids were all in bed we had some time to play games like Cranium and Scattergories.

On two of the late afternoons, we packed up everyone in the car and went down to Kings Beach for some time on the playground at at the lake. Of course all 3 older kids ended up in the lake!

On our last evening, we went to Kings Beach again (no kids allowed in the lake this time!) for some time at the playground and dinner at Jason's. This is such a great restaurant. Seriously, the best clam chowder ever! Doug and I have been going to Jason's since before we were married and the food is always good. We had a great dinner! The kids enjoyed it (and were all behaved!) and so did we.

We went for a little stroll after dinner to soak in our last little bit of Lake Tahoe.

Trying for a nice group photo!

Our last morning was spent packing and getting ready to hit the road. Five days was definitely not long enough. It was a wonderful trip and we are looking forward to a winter version this season!

BFF's!

We captured the best group photo on our way out!

Behind

I find the same question popping up daily...where does the time go? How are we halfway through September already? How is Alyssa almost 18 months old?

I really enjoy writing on this blog and I know there are some friends and family that really enjoy reading it, but I am seriously behind. So much of what I want to write about seems like old news. August went by in a blur with two major vacations packed into one month. I still need to post about those. They are coming, I swear. I figured after Labor Day weekend I would be all caught up with life post-vacation and I seem to be just getting busier.

Anyway, stay tuned. I am trying to get back on the ball. But when I have afternoons like today and Alyssa has refused to nap at all when I need to pack for Tahoe, bake for family night at school, have things ready for my wonderful babysitter tonight and go out to dinner with friends. Maybe I will find some time to actually eat lunch and do my hair. Of course, I did just manage 10 minutes to write this post!