September 26, 2012

Bread for Dinner

There is nothing better than homemade fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon raisin bread.

Nothing, that is, besides homemade fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon raisin bread slathered with fresh homemade apple butter.
Dinner is served.

September 21, 2012

Sea Wolrd

The day we left our lovely Seal Beach vacation the boys and I decided to head down to Sea World since it was only a couple of hours away. Travis had already left that morning for Napa Valley for the weekend to run his Ragnar race (I'll let him explain it later but basically it's 12-man relay team that runs over 200 miles all decked out in crazy costumes) and wouldn't be home until Sunday night so we figured we'd do something fun in his absence. 

We did Sea World much more relaxed this time around and had a great time. It was significantly less crowded and we only saw a couple of shows -- mostly we just went to see all the different animals. Our new favorites were the dolphin encounter and the bat ray tank -- mainly because both actually let you touch the animals! Neither exhibit was open when we came before and they are my new favorite spots. Of course I didn't take any pictures there however, since we were too busy petting the dolphins and bat rays.
Peter and Benji both liked playing in the tide pool with all the starfishes. 
 And Benji was fascinated by the sea lions.

 Mostly we just hung around in the kids play area because my kids were sorta like this:
Exhausted from spending a week at the beach.

September 19, 2012

Seal Beach

After our unforgettable experience at the beach together a couple of years ago, we spent an amazing six days at Seal Beach with our dear friends Amber, Angela, Brian and Jane. We rented a condo a couple of blocks from the shore and in general had a wonderful time boogie boarding, eating, sleeping, digging in the sand, eating, playing games, eating...did I mention eating yet?
Seal Beach was chock full of wildlife. We got to watch seals (of course), sting rays, pelicans, dolphins, hermit crabs, and all kinds of fish. Our little animal rescuer Peter was in heaven. The kids played together so well and we had gorgeous weather. The perfect vacation!

Here's a few snapshots from our amazing trip (I'm already set for next years adventure!).




 Travis found lots of random shells on the beach. Also these great glasses.
 Peter's magnificent sand castle
 And Benji taking his daily nap on the beach.

 Peter and Jane loved playing in the surf.
 And getting rides on the boogie board.
Poor Benji had a rough couple first few days at the beach. But he got lots of love and care from Aunt Amber to make him feel better.
 Here Amber is instructing Benji on how to use the outdoor shower at the condo to remove excess sand. Look at that cute little bum.
 One morning Amber, Angela and I managed to fit in the one adventure we had been planning on for months. When we all used to live in Provo, we would indulge in B Movie nights full of snark and good food. One series that kept popping up was Step Up. We ended up watching them all. So how could we pass up the opportunity to see the latest generation of Step Up: Revolution -- in theaters no less -- all together once again. We even made these festive t-shirts in honor of the day.

 We were the only three in the theater (surprise, surprise) and had a blast making as many snarky comments as loud as our little hearts desired. Although we've decided the franchise might have moved down to C movie status since the promised Moose scenes were cut down to a mere cameo.

Until next year!

September 18, 2012

1st day of Preschool

Right after Labor Day Peter started preschool at Birds Nest Academy. I am so in love with this place. As is Peter. He goes every day for 3 hours in the afternoon and gets to play with all sorts of animals (chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, goats, peacocks, birds, etc) and is in heaven. His teachers are wonderful and I just can't believe how grown up he is. 
 Here he was running around before we left that first morning. Peter comes home every day telling me all the fun things he did (and the snack they ate) and is so excited to go every day.

Benji was pretty sad to see his playmate go but we've been having some fun on our own too..
Playing in the rain
And playing dress up.
In all fairness, he put this crown on himself...

Bye Bye Daddy

Every morning when Travis is leaving for work, the boys insist on running outside to wave goodbye. As you can see most of the time they are still in pjs...or just a diaper.


Love these boys.

September 6, 2012

Switzer Falls

For Labor Day we decided to hike up to Switzer Falls again with Trav's co-workers Julie and Firdosh. It was a 5 mile trek and while Benji hung out in the backpack, Peter actually hiked the entire thing! During the steep parts I kept thinking he'd ask me to hold him, but he'd just say "I think my legs need a rest Momma." So we'd stop for a bit and then he'd be good to keep going. Amazing.

Although that night did he wake up screaming around 11 pm yelling "My legs hurt!!!"
I had to massage them till he went back to sleep. I wasn't surprised in the least. 

At the top of the hike we were rewarded with this pretty little waterfall and swimming hole. At first we were just wading a bit even since the water was pretty icy...but oh so refreshing.


 Then Peter decided he had to go swimming. So we did the Redneck thing and stripped him down to his undies. And being the good dad he is, Travis doffed his Tshirt and took him for a swim. The kid loved it!
He loved swimming in his undies and loved splashing around. We had to literally drag him out when we were ready to head back. And it took a good 10 minutes of me rubbing his skin for him to finally stop shaking from the cold. 
Peter didn't even mind going commando the entire way back since his undies were soaked.
As we were leaving we did watch some guy use the waterfall as a water slide! What!?! 
Next year we are definitely planning on hiking in bathing suits and trying that out for ourselves.


"My brother and Daddy are crazy."

September 2, 2012

Grocery Store Logic

Last Saturday I was able to go grocery shopping by myself -- a pretty rare event around these parts to be sure. As I was checking out I noticed the guy behind me kind of watching me check out. I was thinking he was probably getting impatient since I had a ton of stuff (nothing too crazy, just your average bi-weekly shopping list for a family of four). As I was finally finishing up and getting ready to leave he stopped me for this somewhat odd yet revealing conversation:

Random Grocery Store Guy: "I don't mean to be nosy or anything but I was just looking at all the things you bought. It's a pretty random assortment of stuff. Do you run a daycare or something?"

Me: "Uh no. I just have two kids. Although sometimes it does feel like I run a daycare." (HA! look at me being all witty on the spot!)

Random Guy: "They're both boys right?"

Me: "What?"

Random Guy: "Your kids. They're both boys, right?"

Me: "Yeah, they are. How'd you know?"

Random Guy (nodding sagely): "You've gotta have lots of random stuff to keep boys entertained."

Truer words have never been said Random Grocery Store Guy.