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. 

Hanging out with friends

Nothing makes you appreciate friendship like moving 2,000 miles away from them all and not meeting any new ones. :/ Sure I was close to my sister, my brother-in-law, & nieces, but I really missed my friends. 

Since we've been back we've been spending lots of time with our friends. I have lots of pictures to share. We've had birthday parties, shopping trips, trips to the movie theater, a trip to the Drive-in, trip to the sprinkler park, play dates at the park, & swimming. Good times!

Maryam had a play date with her friend Merric on Monday and both his mom & I forgot to take any pictures!! Lame. 

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!

Our weekend

It was in the 70's this weekend! We took advantage of the warm weather by playing for hours out in the backyard on Friday. Spending over 3 hours at two different parks on Saturday. Then the kids played outside for hours again on Sunday. It really was great being outside!
Jax is going through something. He spends hours a day literally on top of me. He goes from on my lap to on my shoulders. He doesn't want to leave my side for too long. I think he may be subconsciously scared that I'll leave like Daddy did. He hasn't said it, but I'm leaning towards that being the reason for his new obsession w/Mommy. Poor little guy.
Brett says he's doing well in Tennessee! We reserved our moving truck. He picked March 15th for the pick up date but that can change very easily. Don't worry, we won't be moving without giving everyone due notice. :)