San Diego!!!

We're home!!! After a long, wonderful & a bit chilly at sometimes week, we are back from the beach. We rented a house a few blocks from the beach in Pacific Beach & my parents rented the house next door & we had lots of visitors. This will probably take a few posts as I took tons of pictures. We started out Saturday by watching the sunset and the surfers then a bbq for my dad's birthday. Being able to be outside all day was such a treat and we enjoyed every minute!!! Miss, Jono & Ethan came for part of the trip and it was great to see them, especially Missy's 4 month baby belly!
A few minutes after the boys arrived (my mom & I went down a few hours earlier to get the shopping done) they took off on a bike ride.
Mason & Ethan having some appetizers. By the cheeks on that boy I can see my sister is not starving him- by any means.
Dad's birthday sweets.
Poppa taking the boys boogie boarding. This is about as much in the water that Mason & Ethan did. Lots of beach pictures to come & our many visitors.

The 4th!

We went up to Big Bear for the weekend courtesy of the Posa's again. It's so fun to go stay at their cabin and there are always lots of people. You also can't beat the fact that it is about 30 degrees cooler!! I have lots of pictures & they are in a very random order, I couldn't decide and am too lazy to organize. This one is of Eric & I down by the lake waiting for the fireworks to start. The sunset was beautiful with the lake, clouds & mountains and seemed to last forever.
4 sleepy 2 & 3 year olds after a long day of playing.
Zach, Ty, Redman & Quinn in the tree house Tash & Zolt started last month.
Ty, Zach & Red on the neighbor's swing. Everyone in their neighborhood is so nice and all of the people that have 2nd homes were up over 4th so there was lots of going between houses for everyone.

We went down to the park by the lake early to claim our spot for the fireworks, good thing we did because it was packed by 8pm!!!
Best shot I could manage of my boys this 4th. Too much going on for them to actually look at me.
Lukey was happy sitting on the deck with a bag of cherries. I could see from his pants afterwards that he didn't once use the napkin I had so nicely provided for him.
Eric encouraging bad behavior-as in Ty climbing out of a 2nd story window and then jumping to daddy on the deck.
Julie with Luke & Mace down by the lake at sunset.

Fun at the Tram

Last Thursday the kids didn't have school so Eric took them up to the tram with our neighbor Kerrie and her son Roman. Brave daddy, what a way to beat the heat!!
Kerrie with the boys on the long stairway down.
What a fun toy an old tree can make with some young boys & imagination!
The hideout.

Wild Animal Park

On Saturday we all went down to Ramona where my manager lives. He had a party at his house and it just so happens it's only 15 minutes from the San Diego Wild Animal park in Escondido. Julie came along with us and Eric enjoyed the fact that my manager has 4 Harley's and is into micro brews. Since we have season passes to the Park & the Zoo we decided to make a day of it. For anyone who has not been there, it is SO cool!! We went in the late afternoon, no crowds, great weather & all of the animals were out. Ty got to feed a bird, we saw 5 month old baby lions close up playing, and went on a Safari tour which was so amazing. They have wide open hills, ponds, grass areas with giraffes, gazelles, wildebeest (yes I did spell check-not wildabeast as I had thought) , rhinos, and lots more animals all roaming together. We can't wait to go back and check out the rest of the park. Such a great escape from the heat of the desert and when the kids are so wonderful on a day outing it just makes you want to do it again!
My handsome husband & me at an overlook at the Park.
Luke checking out the giraffes from our tour.
2 happy parents and 3 questionably happy kids. This was about the time they were requesting to be carried, eat, drink.....and definitely not smile for the camera!

Very brave boys feeding the ducks from Daddy's hand. What a great day!!!

Baby Pearl

Eric's good friend from home, Chad, and his wife Kim, just had a beautiful baby girl last week. You can check out super cute Pearl at my link to Zemple's blog.
Congratulations Chad & Kim!!! We can't wait to meet Pearl!

Birthday Night

After a wonderful day at the beach we had a night out planned. Miss Claudia from Ty's school came over with her niece and Mark & Vern brought over Peyton & Drew and they babysat all 5 kids, bless their hearts!!! We got to go to a grown ups only party that one of Eric's coworkers had. They threw a 'Summer Solstice' party that just so happened to be on my birthday. The party was great, they had a fun band and a great group of people. The hosts, Tanya & Scott, told the band it was my birthday so they sang happy birthday and I got to compete against Zoltan in an air guitar-off to a little Guns-n-Roses. I got the loudest cheers for the winner but I think people were just being nice, Zolt kicked my butt and really got into it. This was one of my best birthdays yet, a fun day a the beach with my boys, lots of fun gifts (THANK YOU!!!) and a great night out with my husband and friends, what could be better!!
Hmmmm....and on my birthday too!!!!

Zolt really tearing it up.
Tanya, the fab host. We got boa's during the birthday song for decorations. The boys loved it the next day and I loved picking up all of the feathers!

Birthday Day

What a better way to spend my birthday than at the beach with my 4 favorite guys. We went to Venice beach on Saturday and had such a fun time, I love seeing how much my little guys love the beach and seeing daddy dig in the sand with them and take them out into the water. After the beach we walked around for a while, checking out some of the 'interesting' individuals that line the boardwalk and catching a street show. What a perfect day.