a new cube

we went to the new discovery cube that opened up in los angeles. we have been members of the orange county one for a long time but this was the first time that we visited the los angeles one. it just opened last november.

it is very similar to the orange county one without the outside dinosaur play area. everything is spread out and it seems to be more spacious inside. there were a few new exhibits that we had not seen before. a favorite was the inspector training course. the kids were given a tablet that they took around a house checking to see if it was earthquake proof. it was fun. they looked for the safety features and answered questions about what is needed to make a house safe. mason loved it. anything with a screen is fun for him.

another new exhibit was the helicopter simulator that takes you on a tour of the los angeles water system. it was pretty interesting. they showed us how our water gets cleaned in our treatment plants.

they also had our favorites like the recycling sorting game and discovery market. i think i still like the orange county one a little bit better but it was fun to do something different.

we were there for almost three hours. i am pretty tired after our busy weekend. we are home now. it was only a 20 minute drive. nice. the kids are watching the new spongebob movie for the fifteenth time and i am relaxing.

fire pit at the beach

my niece zena graduated from middle school so we celebrated with a little beach party. my family met at bolsa chica state beach and roasted hot dogs and smores by a fire pit. bolsa chica is one of the few local beaches that still has fire pits on the sand. it was a long drive there for us but it was worth it. i haven't roasted hot dogs at the beach since i was in college.

it was very windy and super cold but we had so much fun. i love it when my whole family gets together. they are really funny. we always have a good time.

mason was bummed that i didn't bring his swimsuit. he wanted to play in the water. it was freezing though so i didn't think it would be a good idea. we didn't get there until after 5:00. they still splashed around and played in the sand. dahlia collected lots of broken sea shells.

connor found a huge feather and asked if anyone had some ink so he could write with it. miles said we could try to make it into a quill later. that would be a fun project.

the kids loved the smores. they were sticky though. we stayed until sunset. it was incredibly beautiful. i just love looking at the ocean. hopefully we can make it back to the beach for another family party this summer.

material girl

dahlia had her end of the year dance recital today. she did great. i always get nervous on recital days but luckily dahlia doesn't. she loves to be on stage. i was a backstage mom again and it was fun to hang out with her before her dance. her class did a tap dance to material girl by madonna. it was really cute and pretty complicated for a seven year old. very sassy.

after the recital my whole family came back to my house for dinner and dessert. we grilled chicken and served it with salads and corn on the cob. everything was delicious. we sang happy birthday to my dad. his birthday will be on monday so we had a cake for him.

whew! i am so happy to be done with all our school year obligations. this was the last event. now we can really start our summer.

swimming lessons

we started swimming lessons last friday but we were running late and i didn't get a picture of the kids together before class. mason and dahlia are in the same class. they are taking school age level 3. connor is in preschool level 3. the lessons are at the rose bowl aquatic center. i really like it there. this will be our fifth year of lessons for mason and dahlia. connor started last year. mason and dahlia can swim pretty well but i would like them to learn the correct way to do their strokes. i really wish we had a pool at home so we could all practice.

when our lessons were over we drove over to my sister's house in santa monica. the kids wanted to hang out with their cousins. we walked to menchies and got frozen yogurt. we stayed for dinner and jen and rays friend scarlett joined us. she is really fun. i had a great time talking to her. i think i am starting to relax and realize that summer is here.

the bug collectors

connor and dahlia have been collecting bugs. mostly ants and roly polies. they got these plastic bug containers from kira's birthday party to keep their bugs in. they go outside and check under rocks to find the largest roly polies.

i don't love the bug collecting as much as the bird watching but it is cute to have them playing outside and exploring. connor is especially excited about his roly polies. he has named them joey, chloe, and zoe.

too hot

jen and i took the kids to los angeles zoo today. it was crazy hot. it was 100 degrees out. just miserable. the kids were complaining most of the time. we were only there for a couple of hours before we decided it was just not worth staying. we did get to see the jaguar in his new home though. that was nice. the kids also got to ride the carousel and they enjoyed that.

we went back to my house and set up the little pool for the kids to play in. they had so much fun. they loved it. we should have just done that first and skipped the zoo. they were running and jumping into the pool. so funny.

jen couldn't stay late because dahlia had picture day at dance class. i had to dress her up in her costume and makeup. it didn't take that long and we went out for froyo afterwards. when we got home it was 7:00 p.m. and it was still 99 degrees out. i was so annoyed. it is still hot now. ugh. i don't know how i am going to survive this summer without air conditioning.

a cool day at the gardens

today connors fever was gone so we went to the huntington gardens. we had free tickets. it rained in the morning and was so nice and cool out. it was one of my favorite visits to the gardens. i usually feel rushed because i have something else i need to get to afterwards but today was very relaxing. no stress.

we walked all around the gardens and let the kids run around the grass. jen met me there with her kids. they were so happy to play together. i loved the japanese gardens and chinese gardens the best. they were so green and beautiful.

after the gardens we went back to my place. i cooked dinner and the kids played until bathes and time for bed. tomorrow we start swimming lessons. even though it is summer we are still so busy.

last day of school

today was just crazy busy. i woke up at 5:30 to make sandwiches for dahlia's class picnic. i had to make 36 sandwiches and i really underestimated how long this would take me. i figured around an hour. nope. after an hour i only had 12 done. i had to rush to finish before her class would get to the park around 9:30. of course it rained this morning just to make things more difficult. connor still had a fever today so i felt bad making him get in the car to go deliver sandwiches with me. i made it on time and then rushed home to finish painting the ready set summer sign.

connor helped me hang the sign inside the house since it was too wet outside. the kids had a minimum day and i had to be at the school by noon to pick them up. the last day of school is so surreal for me. it never feels relaxing like i think it should.

they had fun running through their sign and then they got presents for finishing the school year. legos for everyone. our planned trip to disneyland after school got cancelled because connor is sick. his fever spiked to 103.5 so we all got in the car and went to the doctors. of course they didn't tell me much. he has a cold.

man. what a long day. i can't believe it is summer break.

pirate park

connor and i went to his friends birthday party at brookside park. it is a park right behind the rose bowl aquatic center. we take swimming lessons at the aquatic center and i have seen kids swinging in the playground but i have never actually been to the park.

it was really cute. they have a playset that looks like a pirate ship. the kids loved it. connor was hard to keep track of. he kept running around everywhere. his best friend finnley from preschool was turning 5. all of his preschool friends were there. one of connors friends said she is going to marry connor and she has picked out her wedding dress. how adorable. what a lady killer this little boy is. another mom emailed me to say her daughter wants to marry connor, so i guess they will have to fight over him. in the meantime he is all mine and i adore him.

the party was short and sweet. it was nice that it started early. today was hot. i am feeling a bit sad today. i don't want preschool to end. i am going to miss all the moms.

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.

disney day

we went back to disneyland today. we are going to get our money out of our passes. yay. we met mason's friend archer and his mom there. we didn't hang out with them for too long. we did the classic rides including a trip over to tom sawyer's island. they now call it pirate's lair on tom sawyer's island. they added all this pirate stuff that is new from when i went there as a kid. it is really cool. it was the first time the kids had been there. they loved playing in all the caves. i love all the wooden bridges. we also went in the tiki room and the jungle cruise. all my favorites.

after we split up from our friends we headed over to the haunted mansion. we all love that ride. it was so fun for me to be at disney with just my three kids. we could do whatever we wanted to do without a big group decision. it was very relaxing.

i decided to not stay too late. i didn't want to get stuck in traffic. the kids were also getting pretty tired. we got home at 4:30. they played while i cleaned up.

spring break

we are on spring break. yay. it was so nice to not have to wake up early today. so very nice. we decided to skip dance class and go to santa monica to visit my sister and their cousins. bodhi is not on spring break this week so we went with jen to pick him up after school. he was so excited to see all his cousins waiting for him. we stopped for frozen yogurt on the way back to their place.

the kids played the rest of the day and jen and i got to talk and hang out. we made delicious salmon tacos for dinner. we stayed until bedtime. it was a fun and relaxing visit.

the happiest place on earth

today was the best day ever. we got annual passes to disneyland. yay! it has been a really long time since we have had passes. they keep raising their prices and it was just too expensive. but this year jen and ray decided they were going to get disneyland passes instead of throwing a birthday party for bodhi and kira. we decided that we would do the same. we really did spend too much money on the passes but i don't care. i am going to take the kids all the time. i even convinced miles to join us and get a pass for himself. a real family outing.

we met jen, ray, christina and their kids at the storybook cafe for bodhi's birthday brunch. the brunch was fun but way over priced as expected. they had characters walking around making the kids laugh. after brunch we went into california adventure to see the new cars land. it was pretty cool. we rode some new rides including the little mermaid ride. that is a fun one.

we also went over to disneyland and rode a bunch of rides over there. we stayed all day and had plans to stay to see the fireworks. we almost made it. we were going to watch the fireworks from the roof of the parking garage where we were parked. we got the kids in their jammies and waited for the show to start when mason and connor got too cold and too tired. then dahlia started to cry, so after a couple of fireworks we took off for home. still it was the best day ever.