San Diego

We had a great time on our trip to San Diego! We spent most of our time on the beach, and plenty of time eating good food. I think Molly's favorite part of the trip was when a seagull landed on our table at Point Loma and stole Chris's crab cake sandwich while he was up getting a drink. Aggressive little buggers! Claire decided to get back at him by chasing him and growling. My least favorite part of the trip was while we were at Luigi's on Mission Beach and a bum was shouting obscenities at an employee that asked him to stop loitering. Chris diligently engaged Molly in conversation so she wouldn't hear it. But the best part of the altercation was when the bum shouted "I don't want you coming to loiter on my property!" Hmmm.... I think we might be done with Mission Beach, it's a little rough for my taste.



Claire finally got to have her seat forward-facing in celebration of the trip - she didn't seem to care much.




We had to have at least one sand fight per beach day.




The boat ride at Belmont Park. We were hoping to take the kids on the Giant Dipper but settled for this instead :)



We had birthday cake for Chris at Extraordinary Desserts. Definitely lives up to the name!





When I dug this giant "tub" at the beach kids from all around flocked to it!


We went to Balboa Park the last day we were there. We could have spent days there and still not seen it all!

Family Photos

Back in March a photographer was having a class and needed models for her students, so I volunteered our family (I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get free pictures). They didn't turn out spectacular, but I can't complain too much.





Getting this picture made it all worthwhile!

Surprise!

Tomorrow our little family is headed off to San Diego to celebrate Chris's birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise, but a certain three year-old couldn't help herself. I bought the kids a toy rake and shovel, and I told Molly we could bring it with us to the beach when we go for dad's birthday. I told her we were going in one week, which is seven days. When Chris got home that day, she proudly showed him the rake and said "We're going to play with this on the beach for your birthday! We're going when you are seven years old!" Chris seemed to just chalk it up to the strange ramblings of a three year-old, but the next night (after we had a long talk that this trip was a surprise for dad, so we don't talk to him about it) she started in again about the beach birthday party. Chris asked her who told her we were going to the beach and she announced "Mom did!" I said "Molly, it was supposed to be a surprise..." so she threw her arms in the air and shouted "Surprise!!" Oh well, I guess it was fun while it lasted. We were all laughing about it for a few minutes, then Molly exclaimed "Oh! I can't even stand it!" which kept us laughing even longer, and she kept repeating it until it started get old, which didn't take too long. In the future I need to remember not to tell her secrets, but this was such a fun one I couldn't help but let her in on it.

Sunday Night Entertainment

A large portion of our night at my parent's house on Sunday was spent singing primary songs under Molly's direction. She found my mom's music stand and new exactly what to do with it. The video also has a bonus of Claire trying to put on Molly's panties.

Claire's First Haircut

This has been long overdue, but the mullet is finally gone. Unfortunately we won't be able to do piggy tails for a while, but it will definitely be worth it to wait until all (or most) of her hair is the same length. If her hair is like Molly's was, this will be Claire's hairstyle for quite some time!

New Cherry Pitter

We've been eating tons of cherries lately, but Molly didn't want much to do with them because of the pit. My mom got Molly this cherry pitter and she's been going to town! No cherry is safe when she's around; even though I can handle a pit in my cherry, she still insists on pitting even mine before I eat it.

Captain Roberts and the Captains Black

My dad's fondest dream has finally come true: his living room has become the helm of a ship. The kids love it. My dad has been a collector of nautical antiques for some time, but he was finally able to put all the pieces together with the purchase of a genuine ship's wheel. Just don't ask my mom how she feels about it.

Here are the captains steering the ship out of stormy weather and checking the horizon for signs of pirates, whales, and other creatures that might cross their path. Not pictured is cannons firing when any of these things got too close to the ship.