Spring Break!

Spring Break begins today for these two kids!  We've been looking forward to a week off from all the usual routine stuff.  No school, no lessons, no extra-curricular activities like book club and Lego engineering, no library storytime... it's a full week of absolutely nothing written in stone.  Yay!!  Today we celebrated this wonderful week of fun with our first trip of the season to the Legoland Water Park.  It wasn't super warm today (73*) but it's the warmest day we're expecting this week so we had to take advantage of it.  Plus, inside the Water Park you're sheltered from the coastal winds so it feels warmer and the water is shallow so that actually stays quite comfortable.  The kids had a BLAST.  Neither wanted to go when I suggested we call it a day after 3 hours of full sun.  Promises of a return trip soon and a Rainbow popsicle on our way out convinced these two water-loving kids to towel off and get dressed.    

 picnic lunch during one of the regular 10 minute closures of the pools

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 new tricks & non-stop sliding

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a sweet treat to end the fun afternoon 

our Easter

 basket of goodies & eggs to find

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lots of bubbles to eat

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hours on the beach

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 Happy Easter from southern California!

Easter

There are so many great Easter egg hunts to choose from but one that we've really enjoyed in the past is out in Temecula.  That city does a really good job organizing a fun event that gives all the kids a fair shot at filling their baskets.  We went out there this morning for the egg hunt and then spent a few hours enjoying the 80* degree sunshine out there at their Farmer's Market, Olde Town and at lunch.  We all had an enjoyable time and look forward to returning in June when the blueberry u-pick farm opens! 

Earlier this evening the kids dyed eggs.  That's always a favorite activity!

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Portia

Thomas has several girls at school who have developed crushes on him.  He always plays nicely with them so it's only natural that they'd like him.  Last week Thomas was the Star of the Week so his classmates put together a book for him.  It's really a writing exercise for the students but it's a cute keepsake for the Star.  The drawing and text below are from Portia.  She's had a crush on him since the first day of school.  So sweet!

Score!

You can't make her out in this photo, but Meredith is right in front of the goal.  Today they played their first "games" in soccer and she made the first goal!

a little sister?

Meredith and I go to the library's preschool storytime almost every Thursday morning.  It's 30 minutes of songs and books read by a librarian followed by a craft and coloring sheets.  The librarian, Miss Julie, is very sweet, patient and always puts together great themes for the storytime.  For instance, if the theme is dinosaurs then every book will be a story about a dinosaur, the songs will be about dinosaurs and the craft afterwards will be something relating to dinosaurs.  Meredith loves it and we see at least one friend there every week so she looks forward to going.

This morning we were late and completely missed the stores.  I'm not sure what happened.  Storytime is always at 10am sharp,  yet this morning I thought it was at 10:30am.  We totally missed the stories and singing and dancing but at least Meredith was able to do the craft.  Afterwards we like to have a snack in the garden and play for awhile before going home.  Today, none of her friends showed up for storytime.  Meredith was feeling a little sad in the garden until she spotted this little girl by herself.  The grandmother was trying to coax the girl into playing and running around but the girl was not interested.  I suggested to Meredith that she ask the girl to play and, after a few minutes, she did.  And she loved it.  She loved it so much that we stayed longer than we usually do (a full hour in the garden!) and all afternoon I heard how she wishes she had a little sister -- one just like this (26 month old) Brooke, of course.

Spring Celebration

 Thomas at my station ~ a dad offered to snap a pic. (a little blurry, huh??)

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I don't volunteer in the kids' classrooms on a regular basis but I do try to volunteer for all their class parties.  This afternoon Thomas' class celebrated spring with crafts, games, and a cookie decorating station.  When the stations were presented to the volunteers I could already tell which one I'd be doing.  The bird craft looked like the most fun for me and, sure enough, the other volunteers wanted to do the easier stations.  This craft wasn't difficult; there's just a lot of little things to do.  Overall, I had a great time during the very short and fast 1.5 hours I was there.  I know Thomas loved having me in there (as did some of the other kids I know!), too!.

Cub Scouts visit the North County Times

Thomas' Cub Scouts den met at the North County Times (newspaper) in Escondido this evening for a tour.  It was a relatively short tour but the guide covered everything from circulation to printing.  It was interesting and enjoyable.  Thomas was also very much interested in the tour and made a point of being in the front the whole time so he could see and hear about each step in the process.  In about another hour they'll begin printing tomorrow's paper.  And we've already seen the (sealed) stack of comics that will be inserted into this Sunday's newspaper! 

Disney California Adventure Park

family photo (The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror)

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If you haven't been to Disneyland in awhile, then you may not know there is a second theme park adjacent to it.  Their entrances actually open onto one large plaza and, if you have a hopper ticket or pass, you can move between the two parks.  Disneyland is on one side and the Disney California Adventure Park is on the other.  Mike's brother, Dave, was just down with his family and spent 4 days at Disneyland.  They had purchased 5-day passes so they gave us the 5th day since they didn't use it.  So although we have plans to take the kids and make a special day of it on each of their birthdays, we thought we would take the opportunity to spend a few hours inside Calif. Adventure today, too.

Since there is Spring Break fever all over down here right now, I wasn't feeling very optimistic about our day inside the park.  I anticipated large crowds, long lines and lots of frustration.  Fortunately, it was all quite the opposite.  The kids each selected one ride that they really wanted to go on so we could be sure to definitely do those, in the event that it was super crowded.  Thomas chose the Tower of Terror and Meredith chose Ariel's Undersea Adventure.  We rode Meredith's twice and got a fast pass to ride Thomas' chosen ride once. 

The day really could not have been better.  It was a relaxed pace and yet we still got to see and do plenty of things in our five hours there today.  Most importantly, we enjoyed some quality family time making fun memories together.  And now, the kids are even more excited about going up on their birthdays!  

fresh catch of the day

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Phineas & Ferb Dance Party (look who is dancing!)

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limbo with Phineas & Ferb

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lucky girl & lucky daddy

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Handy Manny on a break from his projects

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Mmmmmmicky pretzel

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Pluto - we caught him by surprise!

Junior Carlsbad racers

Thomas with his finisher's medal - yay Thomas!!

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This morning our kids participated in the Junior Carlsbad running races. The event is extremely well-organized and a world class, family friendly event. It was honored recently when named the “Youth Event of the Year” at Running USA 2011: The Industry Conference. It's really that good. And we're so fortunate to have this awesome event in our hometown. They truly make it a fun, fun, fun event for everyone!

The event is really a 2-day, weekend event.  The (12 years and younger) kids race on Saturday and the adults race on Sunday.  The kids all run in their own age brackets: Meredith ran in her 4 year old division (1/4 mile) and Thomas ran in his 6 year old division (1/2 mile). Each found friends in their respective divisions to run with. I knew there was no way I'd run alongside Thomas but I thought I would run just ahead of Meredith outside the race route. No way. She wore her game face today and tackled that race like no other 4 year old. I think we have a natural runner in her -- and she absolutely loved it. Both kids had fantastic races and really enjoyed the pre-race festivities, the race today and the post-race festivities afterwards. They loved seeing friends, classmates and even our neighbors.  Uncle Earl came up to watch their races and they always love seeing him.  He asked the announcer to say Meredith's name when she crossed the finish line -- that was pretty cool (thanks, Earl!).  I love that these kids have embraced this sport and enjoy it as much as I do.

happy finishers ~ Meredith before the race w/pals Maya and Coral

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 this little girl can run fast, but she'll still wave at adoring fans

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 Thomas nearing the finish ~ timing tags for kids 5 and older (this is serious stuff!)

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 very happy with her race as she walks thru the finisher's chute



soccer girl

L- "puppy tails" game: M was the last one w/a tail so all the kids were chasing her

Watching Meredith run around on the field yesterday one would never guess that just hours earlier she had been seasick during a whale watching tour.  I thought about having her skip this class and make it up another week, but I knew there was no way she'd go for that.  She had been very excited about this soccer session to begin and was even more excited about soccer than whale watching.  She had a a fantastic time and can't wait to play again next week. 

whale watching

the whale watch gang

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This morning we joined some friends for a whale watching tour.  Last year I took Thomas on a tour out of Dana Point and it was an incredible experience.  I knew we'd go again this year and I knew Meredith would be coming with us.  When I found a groupon deal for whale watching out of San Diego, I knew we had to go and invite some friends to join us.

Today's tour was completely the opposite of last year's tour.  The weather was overcast and there was a storm approaching.  Swells were high which caused our boat to rock back and forth like crazy.  Near our turnaround spot the tour guide heard there were whales up ahead and since we hadn't seen any yet, she continued moving forward.  The tour ended up being a 4 hour tour with the first 2.5 hours heading out and the last 1.5 heading back to land.  We rocked and rolled on the boat for 2.5 hours.  There are no words to describe how crazy this was.  So many people were sick on this boat, including 4 of the 6 people in our little party.  The (excellent) crew handed out trash bags.  People threw up over the side of the boat.  It was like a horror flick.  And when we got to the whales the boat slowed for about 20 minutes and we rocked even more.  Crazy. 

Aside from all the seasickness we either experienced ourselves, heard, or otherwise witnessed, it was a very successful whale watching tour.  The guide estimated 400 dolphins, 8 whales, a dozen sea lions, blue herons, pelicans, other various birds and a stingray.  The whales were courting, rolling around, and one even jumped.  Anytime you see an animal of this size in its own habitat it is pretty amazing.  I hope next year enough time will have passed that the kids will want to go out on another tour.  I know Thomas will, but I'm not so sure about Meredith. 

   

one of several dolphin pods

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dolphins right under our boat

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whale tale

Discovery Lake

All three kids and I enjoyed a walk around Discovery Lake this afternoon.  It's a short 3/4 mile easy walk with lots of birds, labeled trees, views of the lake, etc.  We only made one loop today because they wanted to hang out on this dock and spend lots of time at the playground.  Greta had a great time, too.  We'll have to go back again soon to feed the ducks and birds, maybe fish from the dock and ride our bikes around the lake.

Portland friends

We had some really great neighbors in Portland.  Oh, we had our share of crazies on the street and in the neighborhood, but we were also fortunate to have some really great ones, too.  One family in particular we always love to see again and again.  Maybe because our kids get along so great?  Maybe because we experienced those same early years as parents together?  Maybe because Mike can talk all night long about pop culture, movies, etc. to someone who'll actually remember this stuff and speak intelligently about it?  Maybe because I adored having a neighbor who'd bake on a whim and always share?  Whatever it is, we love them and we were happy to see them today while they are vacationing down here.  Several hours at Legoland and a satisfying dinner afterwards made for a great visit!

heart

Meredith made this little heart cone/container for her friend, Lily.  I didn't think much of it when she first told me about it (this girl makes a lot of stuff), but upon closer inspection I was blown away by what she had done.  I asked her to tell me about it and how she made it.  First she started with a small heart (the one attached to the cone).  She drew more (concentric) hearts within the first one and colored them.  She then cut the heart out and glued it onto this small strip of paper that she had painted using fingernail polish.  She then glued it together to form a cone and glued some strips to it to make a hanger.  Next, she added some "loop de loops" above and belove the heart and wrote to/from inside the heart to her friend.  Can you see how small this whole thing is, esp. the writing inside the cone!?  Incredible.  I can't bear to part with this little piece.  I've already quietly put it away...

new closet of clothes

We love hand-me-downs!  A friend recently cleaned out her 6 year old daughter's closet and we were the lucky recipient of all the pre-loved clothes.  Meredith absolutely adores this girl so to have her clothes (esp. the items she has seen the girl wear) makes them extra special.  Our friend gave us so much stuff that Meredith's closet is now easily doubled and her own daughter must have absolutely nothing.  Seriously!  The clothes are girly and cute and Meredith absolutely loves them all.