buzzing in the sun

we had an interesting day at the beach. miles and i took the kids to the beach with jen, ray and bodhi. we were having a fun time playing in the sand and water when all of a sudden a swarm of bees moved in. they must have been following their queen that decided to take up camp on the beach chair near us. i have never seen so many bees in all my life. it was crazy. they completely covered this beach chair and volley ball. i felt so bad for the owner of the chair. people were trying to help and managed to move some of their belongings out of the way but nobody wanted to touch the chair. everyone moved far away and the lifeguards roped off the area so nobody would get close to it. they had to call a beekeeper to come vacuum up the bees. how crazy.

the kids barley noticed the bees and continued to play in the water. we ended up having a great day. we went back to jen and rays house after the beach and they made us a fabulous dinner of veggie risotto. so delicious with a glass (or two) of white wine. mmmm.

time for the fair

it is that time of the year again. time for some chocolate covered bacon. jen and i took the kids to the fair yesterday. oh my. i don't remember it being such a tough job to go to the fair. christina and zena couldn't go with us because christina was working so we didn't have an extra adult to help with the kids.

we saw lots of animals this time. there were some baby pigs that were only two weeks old. they were just adorable. i also loved the tiny goats. the highlight of the day was the pig races. so funny. the kids also enjoyed the big slide that you slide down on a burlap sack. it was a long long day but i am really happy we went. it just wouldn't be summer without it. oh and we did not eat any chocolate covered bacon or anything fried for that matter. we did however enjoy some cotton candy and frozen yogurt so we got our fair share of carnival treats.

connor's first beach day

we took connor to the beach. hurray. he got to dip his toes in the pacific ocean for the first time. he loved it. it was sweet to see him get excited to touch the sand. all the kids were having a blast running from the waves and playing in the sand. mason really loved running along the water. it was freezing cold. we stayed for a couple of hours and then connor got tired. the walk home from the beach is always harder than the walk there. we went with ray and bodhi so when we got back to their house we all took turns taking showers and then jen joined us for dinner. i still think that a shower after a day at the beach is the best feeling in the world. it was a perfect visit.

too bad jen had to work and missed the beach trip. i am hoping to plan another one with her soon. i am trying to figure out how to make the trip easier. i would like to be able to take the kids by myself. miles doesn't usually like to go but we have too much stuff that needs to be carried along with the three kids. i am usually fine with the baby carrier and the double stroller but what do i do with the stroller once i reach the sand? ray decided to lock bodhi's stroller on the bike racks by the bike trail. that turned out to be a good idea. it seemed to work nicely for him. now i just need to get a bike lock. i can't wait to try it out and have another day at the beach.

9 months

connor is nine months old. he is now 17 pounds 3 ounces and 26.5 inches long. wow. he has really changed in the last month. it is just crazy. he started crawling shortly after turning 8 months and has just been going everywhere. he crawls really fast so i have to run around closing doors to the laundry room and other places leading to steps. he will grab onto any little chair and climb up to standing. oh my. there has been lots of falling down this month. poor little guy.

he also got his first teeth. oh yes. mommy became a victim to that first tooth. ouch. he now has two. so cute. i love his little smile. he loves to say dada. everything is dada. he will say mom mom momaa when he is hungry and just waking up but after that everything is dada or da.

he has been so much more active this month. i put him in the little blow up pool and he loved it. he was splashing around like crazy. he gets so excited on our outings. i take him everywhere with me. now if all three are not with me i feel like it is too quiet. i actually like the chaos of having all three. they are really sweet together most of the time. it is a challenge though. i usually have connor in the baby carrier and then i push the double stroller with mason and dahlia. i get quite the workout going up hills. we are having such a fun summer together. my little angel is growing up.

susies pool

we have been swimming at susies house again this year. we love going to susies to swim. too bad she is usually working and can't swim with us. she is so nice to let us crash her pool. mason and dahlia are really getting brave in the water. they have never been afraid of the water thank goodness but i think mason can't wait to really learn how to swim. he has a little swim ring and floaties that he uses to swim all around the pool. dahlia and bodhi love to swim in the little boat and take turns with that.

i usually put connor in the water carrier so i can wear him in the water with the other two. it is made out of neoprene so it keeps him warm and he loves to be in the water. we usually swim for at least an hour and he never cries to get out. of course all that swimming makes us hungry so afterward we head straight to golden spoon for frozen yogurt. strawberry for dahlia and vanilla for mason. yum.

the ponies

christina and i took the kids to family day at the del mar racetrack. i have never been there before. it was a long long drive. not too long to get there but the drive home took three hours! traffic was really bad. it was fun though. each of the kids got a free webkinz pony and there was tons of fun stuff for them to do. they had the whole infield set up with free activities for the kids. there were two huge blow up obstacle courses, pony rides, booths to create paper hats, airbrush tatoos, sand art stations, and more. it was too bad that the lines were crazy long. it made the experience much less fun. we stayed for about four hours and then it was time to go. mason and dahlia were getting tired. i was bummed that we really didn't get to see a horse race. you can't really see anything from the infield. you can barley see the horses run by. when we left the kid area everyone was too tired to go watch a race. if we do this again next year i will definitely watch a race.

zena's party

my niece zena had a pool party for her 9th birthday yesterday. she had the party at our friend's dad's house. parties there are always so much fun. they have a huge pool with a slide and separate hot tub. there is a large outdoor covered patio with a bar complete with a sink. there is never any need to go indoors. everything you need is right there.

i loved the party. mason and dahlia were in heaven swimming all day. they pretty much were in the pool the whole time. even connor had fun splashing in the kiddy pool. dahlia was very brave and went down the slide twice. so cute. miles and i were each assigned a kid or two to watch so there was really no down time for us to socialize. that is the one bummer of bringing kids to a party. you don't really get to talk to anybody. we had so much fun i didn't even realize when we left that we had already been there for seven hours. crazy. the poor kids were exhausted. it really was a perfect summer bash. happy birthday zena!