Palm Springs weekend

We headed to Palm Springs last weekend for a quick weekend getaway. The 2 hour drive there is getting more and more tolerable with the kids. Grace still has her moments but they are few and far between. We stayed at the Omni resort in Rancho Mirage. It has 2 waterslides, a lazy river and a sand beach for the kids...did I mention it was 100+ degrees when we were there! Thank god for the lazy river. Our friends Jerrod and Lindsey came with their two small kiddos as well. It was such a fun weekend.

Caiden's first t-ball season

We're half way through Caiden's first t-ball season. He is pretty excited to go every week and Marc says he's getting better. I stay home with Grace because it's at the same time as her nap, so Marc and Caiden get some alone time together.

Easter 2017

My parents came out for a long weekend over Easter. We had a lot of fun! On Friday we had everyone at our house. Sara and Dustin had friends in town (Josh and Olivia from Seattle) -it was a party! We colored Easter eggs, had a water balloon fight, ate guac, tacos and margaritas! Although I got no picks of the epic water balloon fight you can bet it was epic! My parents brought a "gift" for the kids that fills up like 30 water balloons in seconds...it was a hit! Caiden has asked everyday since when we are doing water balloons again.

On Saturday morning we had our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt in the park. Grace knew exactly what to do this year. She was picking up eggs faster than anything I've ever seen her pick up. Caiden picked up right where he left off last year. They were so pumped to open all the eggs and find smarties inside.

On Easter morning Caiden immediately went downstairs. He ALWAYS comes in our room when he wakes up but this time he skipped our room all together. He got Chase, from Paw Patrol, some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle socks and bubbles and a Star Wars coloring pad. Grace got Skye, from Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol socks and bubbles, and finger puppets.

I also pulled out this funny clucking chicken that Fery bought a few years ago and Grace thought it was the funniest thing she's seen. She was hysterically laughing and dancing with it for 10 minutes.

The Easter bunny hid all the eggs in the backyard and they had a blast finding them and getting the "special ones" that had jelly beans inside. They were so hyper for a couple of hours. 

After nap time we headed over to Sara and Dustin's for Easter dinner. The kids got to play with their new toys and Theo!

Mamani is back!

Fery came back out to San Diego last week for a family wedding. It was nice having her back in SD so soon after she left just last month. I really wish she lived here:::wink wink::::

Sara, Dustin and Theo came over for dinner on Thursday night to enjoy Fery's amazing cooking skills. Then on Saturday before the wedding we dropped the kids off at their house for their first sleepover! I can not believe it went as smoothly as they say, but seriously I swear your kids are angels when they are with other people. On Sunday morning we had the wedding brunch so we picked the kids up around 11am and took them with us. It was so blissful having 19 kid-less hours! Thank you so much, Soekers...it makes me so happy that my kids love you guys so much that they are looking forward to another sleepover!

I can't believe this is the only photo between Marc and I that we have.

A lot of the family we see on the East Coast over Thanksgiving was at the wedding. This is Siamack (we go to his house for Thanksgiving dinner) and Grace playing together. She loved when he would mess with her. 

On Monday we drove up to Orange County to visit some family.

Leah and Grace are only five months apart. Marc and her father, Farhood, are cousins. I wish they lived closer -her and Grace get along so well. 

Marc's parents in SD

Marc's parents came out for a few weeks.  We did a bunch of fun things and ate good food! We went to the Midway Museum, a retired Navy Aircraft Carrier. It is really one of the neatest museums to tour. It's amazing that thousands of people live on a boat. The kids had the most fun sitting in the jets and pushing all the buttons.

We had Osi's family from Orange County down for dinner.

Grace helped Fery cook

We took Osi to the Birch Aquarium.

Hawaii

Aloha! We took a six day trip to Oahu, Hawaii last week and it was amazing! The kids did so well travelling (over six hours the way there and four hours on the way home)...except for the one breakdown Grace had on the way home. She screamed bloody murder because we wouldn't let her hold the full cup of orange juice the flight attendant gave her that had no lid on it. You'd think we were pulling her toe nails out.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach which is an amazing resort when you have kids with you. It has three pools -one has four water slides. It has tons of pool areas that are great for toddlers to reach the bottom. It has at least a dozen restaurants, two Starbucks, an ice cream shop and tons of other attractions. We would get up everyday and head to the pool for a few hours. Then back to the hotel for family nap time (which was a success every day!), then back to the pool for an hour, Mai Tai times two, dinner, dessert, then a movie in the room.

We were greeted with leis off the plane! The kids were iffy about them.

26th floor hotel room!

Caiden mastering the art of chopsticks! 

Diamond Head in the background

Caiden spotted the paddle boats the first day and begged us everyday until we gave in. $40 to pedal a boat against the wind for an hour ;)

Mahalo!

Movie Time! 

 The kids slept great in the room. I usually shared a bed with Grace and Marc with Caiden.

We had a lot of fun! The kids are getting easier to travel with...and when you go to the pool everyday and let them have treats because they are on vacation it makes for some very happy kids. We will definitely be going back to this place! Aloha!