mason rides a bike

today miles started to teach mason how to ride a bike. he is much more cautious than dahlia. definitely not a dare devil. he did ok, but our driveway is a very hard place for someone to learn how to ride a bike. he was very afraid when miles would let go of him. he would do so much better on a long flat straight sidewalk. i think we will have to take the bikes somewhere that is easier to ride. it will be fun when all the kids can ride and we can go on a family bike ride.

easter eggs

yesterday was so fun. miles didn't have to work. that was nice. i ran around town buying shoes for the boys that were not converse. we have a limited shoe collection for the boys around here. unlike dahlia who i am pretty sure has more shoes than me.

miles' mom came to visit. after school we painted eggs with the kids. they were so excited. we had many viewings of charlie brown's it's the easter beagle before this event. dahlia and mason went over the ways we should not cook the eggs. no frying, using the waffle iron, baking them in the oven, trying to toast them, or boiling cracked eggs. no egg soup!

miles had a great idea of how to use the dye with a paintbrush and paint directly onto the egg. the eggs looked so cool. while this technique is very interesting, the paint became sticky and came off on our fingers after it had dried. we unfortunately had to wash the eggs and the dramatic effect was lost. it was still lots of fun and we got some photos of the eggs before we had to wash them.

bike rides and birthdays

today we went to jen and ray's house in santa monica to celebrate kira's birthday. she is turning three tomorrow. christina and zena came too. dahlia brought her bike so she could show off her new skill. she is an expert now. kira and her rode their bikes. it was pretty cute.

later we had tacos for dinner and then sang happy birthday to kira. jen made yummy chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting. it was fun to hang out and we ended up staying way too late for a school night.

no training wheels

dahlia decided today that she wanted to ride a bike without training wheels. i was worried but miles took off the training wheels and after a couple of tries she was riding her bike! all by herself. miles and i were just shocked at how quickly she picked it up. she is so determined when she wants to do something. go dahlia!

disneyland

bodhi is on spring break this week and my kids had the day off so we all went to disneyland. poor miles had to work so he didn't get to go. jen and ray went early because they had breakfast reservations at ariel's grotto. i decided to skip that because it is really expensive. they told me kira loved it.

ray and i took mason, dahlia, bodhi, and connor on thunder mountain for the first time. i was worried that it would be too scary for connor but they all loved it. now dahlia wants to try all the roller coasters. we also rode gadget's go coaster in mickey's toontown. this was another hit. we did so many new things this time. it was great. i was thankful that jen and ray were with me and we could divide the kids up so they had a grown up next to them. i am not sure how i will do it when i bring them by myself.

we stayed all day. we were all super exhausted when it was time to go.

under the sea

it's a party weekend. miles is having a lan party at the house with his friends so jen and ray came over yesterday and spent the night. jen and i stayed up late drinking cosmos and putting together a puzzle while the guys played video games all night. so fun.

this morning we needed to escape the video gaming madness so jen and i headed out with the kids. we went to our favorite place to stare at fish. christina and zena met us there so it was extra fun.

there were a lot of fun things happening at the aquarium today. the octopus was out of his hiding place and we finally got to really see him. it was crazy. he was moving around all over. they are so trippy the way they move. the kids were really into the touch tanks. we explored all the touch tanks. outside they had a painting stations set up where you could help paint this giant canvas that will later be displayed in the aquarium. dahlia and zena loved that.

i got a cool picture of the chambered nautilus. they are so strange looking. the deep sea creatures are some of my favorites.

after we left the aquarium we went back to my house and grilled some chicken for dinner. christina and zena went home but jen and ray are staying another night. yay! it's puzzle time.