San Diego trip, Day 1san

Brett & I took the kids & his parents to San Diego for a few days. We went to the Holiday Bowl Big Bay of Balloons Parade on Monday morning. It was fun! We took the trolley to the bay and then watched the two hour parade. 

Watching the balloon floats. 

Sitting on Daddy waiting for Thomas!!

Waiting at the trolley station. Their poses are killing me!

After the parade we had lunch with our friends Kyle, Amy, & their daughter Kaylee at a fun place called Fudruckers! 

Kaylee and Maryam!

After lunch Brett & I took our kids to visit their NICU. They sure were a hit! It's great to know that even after 7 years they still love their little Miracle Maryam!

Dr. Matt Sebald was one of Maryam's and Jax's doctors. He was head of the NICU by the time Jax was born. We LOVE him. 

After the NICU we checked into our hotel.  The kids took advantage of the 77 degree temperatures and the heated pool! They swam through nap time! Hehehe

Jax and Maryam in the pool. Jax flashing a "v" for victory!

The bunk beds in the kid suite. They had their own room with tons of floor space to play! 

The view from our room. In the distance is USD. San Diego sure is beautiful. We miss it!

Our friend Koz gave us four tickets to the Holiday Bowl! We didn't want to take Maryam out in the cold, damp night air, so we asked Brett's parents to go along. Jax was super excited to go to a football game!

Warming up with some cocoa! 

Chowing down on popcorn with Momom! Daddy told me that Jax was asleep during the 3rd quarter. :)

While they were at the football game, Maryam & I hung out with our friends Jennifer & Mike. Jen was one of the kids' nurses and even took care of me after Jax was born. They're amazing people. Maryam & I had fun catching up with them. 

Last day of summer

Sleeping

Painting before breakfast? Why not? It's the last day of summer!

Donuts & Skylanders!

Reading. 

Posing. 

Playing in the water table. 

Rain that changed the day. Our power went out at 5:30 from wind & rain taking out power poles & power lines. It's not expected to come back on until 4:30am!! 

We went over to the in laws so the kids could shower. They got sidetracked by blocks, who can say no to blocks? Not these guys!!!

Since both kids are afraid of the dark, they'll both be sleeping in our bed tonight. Four is a crowd, but it's a fun crowd! 

Hope you all had as fun a summer as we did!! 2013 is definitely a summer to remember!!

Last weekend

Last weekend we spent most of our time with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, & nephews over at my in-laws' house. They were in town for work & because my nephew won an art contest. He won for the whole Marine Corps! Go Paddy! So on Sunday we went up to the General's house for a reception & to see Paddy get his award. 

Saturday evening we had dinner over there. We watched a fun movie & the kids watched another movie in another room. My two little kids stayed awake longer than the big kids! Needless to say, they were tired on Sunday! ;)

Weekend in OC

The Monday after we moved back we went to Brett's grandfather's memorial service. It was very sad & moving. It was nice getting to see all of his cousins & aunts & uncles though. We made the most of it too.
We went to Orange County on Sunday and spent the evening on Balboa Peninsula. We all had fun! We walked around, ate dinner on the pier, hung out with some of Brett' cousins and aunt from VA, & even rode the Ferris wheel. We were there with Brett's parents & his sister & her kids.

On Monday we went to the memorial & then had a big family lunch afterwards. It was fun hearing the stories of Gramps and catching up with family we hadn't seen in a while.
After the lunch a bunch of us went to Knott's Berry Farm! I hadn't been there in a few years. The kids didn't even really remember ever having been there before! So that was fun! Momom & I took my little kids around to all the kid rides while Brande, the boys, & the rest of the grownups hit all the big kid rides! Brett didn't come with us to Knott's because he had to get to AZ for work.
On Tuesday the kids & I got up and headed to the beach!!! We sure missed the beach! After the kids were demolished by a wave we had lunch with my super rad friend, Jen. It was fun catching up with her. After lunch we made the trek home to 29 Palms. As we pulled into town Jax asked, "is this home?" Maryam responded with, "Yes Jax. 29 Palms is home, not TN." It cracked me up!

Disneyland (sigh)

So, I guess this is as good a time as any to make an announcement. Brett and I decided to move our family to TN. A job opportunity presented itself and he took it. He'll be leaving next Saturday. The kids and I will head east when Brett finds us a home and as soon as we save up enough money to move our belongings.
Last Wednesday Brett and my BFF Chrissy surprised me w/a trip to Disneyland. It was the last time for a long time that our two families would be going together. It was a wonderful, yet sad day.
I'm happy to announce that Jax is big enough to ride the big kid rides now! He loved Star Tours! I really hope we come back once a year so he never forgets the Disney magic. I love that place.
The day was pretty emotional for me. Knowing it was our last trip for a while made it sad. Knowing that Brett would be leaving soon made me sad. Knowing that I'm not going to be going to Disneyland once a month anymore made me sad. Watching my kids playing with my BFF's kids and loving each other so much made me sad. I'm going to miss them most of all.
We ended our day by riding Soarin Over California two times in a row. I cried both times.