Picnic at the Beach

The boys and I packed up a picnic lunch, intending on meeting some friends at the playground around the corner from our house, but they were sick and cancelled. So, we decided to take our picnic on the road... to the beach!

We parked and ate near the car (so I didn't have to lug so much down to the beach!).

Tough guy Matt in his Spiderman glasses, urging his brother to finish his chips and get ready to play!

While I finished my lunch, the boys ran, kicked off their shoes, rolled down the hill, practiced sliding around, and I am sure much more!

Man down!

A graceful fall!

A game of chase/who is going to get to ______ first began and it was time to head to the beach. My restless boys!

See, lugging lunch to the beach would have been a bit much with all the other stuff they talked me into bringing! Matt's pointing at the train going by us as we played in the sand.

It was a great day, and an introduction to the frequent realization of sand in their beds after nap time. With the smiles that precede it, I think I can handle the sand in their beds!

Whale Festival

In March, shortly after our arrival back in California, Dana Point had their annual Whale Festival. We decided to take the boys for the parade. Though they were quickly ready to go home and play at the playground, a few things did pique their interest.

Firetrucks rarely go unnoticed!

What's a parade without a big floating whale?

This little boy photobombed us with a tootsie roll wrapper oragami. He cracked me up! Notice the pirate behind us.

Our boys, looking like they were going to jump into the parade any minute. Anxiously awaiting what was heading over the horizon.

Woodies!!!

Tot Lot

This is one view from the "Tot Lot", to an even bigger park just down the road from our neighborhood. It's amazing!

Another view from the park.

One day when we got home from running errands, there was a huge netted package of sand toys from our wonderful next door neighbors, saying they hope to see us at the playground soon! They are so sweet! That day, we gathered up all of the new sand toys the boys had received, and headed down to the park.

When we first moved here, Jonathan was very into singing the "Spanish colors song" he learned at his previous preschool. Matt thought it was hilarious every time Jonathan said anything with an "L" because he couldn't pronounce it, so when "yellow" comes up in the song, the boys crack up! Just watch the video.

Here's how I believe it goes (without really knowing the actual words of the song):

Red is rojo

Green is verde

Purple morado

Brown cafe

Yellow amarillo

Blue azul

Pink rosado

Orange anaranjado

White is blanco

Black is negro

Colors colores

Colors colores

Waylon's Birthday Party!

Our friends son Waylon had his 5th birthday party just after we arrived. We were glad about our timing on the move as we were able to join in the fun.

The HUGE bounce house was a big hit, but Jonathan showed some resistance to taking his turn.

Oh wait, this is fun!

The boys climbed inside for some b-ball when the coast was clear.

Slam dunk for Jonathan!

Who is that cool dude perched up in the corner? Princess Leia , better known as Avalon, is the birthday boy's little sister and is one day younger than Jonathan.

The Star Wars party was full of great moments and as usual another Davis birthday party was enjoyed by all. The hot dog/churro cart was a hit for the food, and the bounce house couldn't be outdone. Little did we know, we were surrounded by a lot of future friends and apparently Matt's entire tee ball team!

Jumpin Jammin

Nick and Matt have relived our moments at Jumpin Jammin for the last two years, so we had to go back soon after we moved back to California!

Matt enjoys another zip line!

This time Jonathan wasn't in the baby section, but was able to play on all the big kid equipment!

The best part of Jumpin Jammin is the balls. Shoot them from above, push the button and explode the volcano of balls, load up the machines and unload them on the people above... it's all so fun!

Jonathan was having fun putting the balls in all kinds of different places!

Time to shoot!

Matt was so proud of his shot into a girl's hood. Cracked us both up! It stayed in there and she had no idea. We'll be back there again, I'm sure.

Cali!!!

We arrived in California in late February and went right to the playgrounds and started playing! It was unusually chilly, but the boys didn't care. The immediately took off their shoes and ran to the sand. Most of the playgrounds around here are filled with sand, and they just love it!

Jonathan parked himself in the sand and found some toys to play with during our stay.

Matt enjoyed the zip line.

Riding on the airplane, and getting along for a bit.

We tried another playground the next day. This one is right down the street in our neighborhood!

Just a short walk down from our house. Isn't it beautiful?

Matt rode his bike to the park, and kept his helmet on to play.

A New House!

Before we headed back to California, we had to make the drive to Oklahoma one last time! Nana & Pawpaw moved to a new house, and we just had to go see it.

The boys enjoyed the playground!

Matt helps a younger boy with the "digger".

Jonathan wouldn't let go of the bat and ball that day at the park! Matt was trying to feed the ducks, but they kept swimming away from us.

Time to help Nana clean up the front yard to get ready for spring.

The boys made up so many games out front that day. Who knows what they were playing here.

They loved the one open part of the yard that was true Oklahoma red dirt.

Time to take Scout for a walk after dinner. I think Scout was somewhere around Matt at this point, but she is so little, it's hard to tell!

Pending Move

Once again my dad and stepmom played host to us for a lengthened stay. This time, it was 2 weeks before we were to move back to California.

The boys got back to their old games, playing in the empty lot next door.

Learning to kick a football!

The boys had their last day at school, and we celebrated with some friends at Chick-fil-A. Crazy boys!

Jonathan revived the Valentine's Day hat from school, and wore it around the playground!

Running around the playground on a cold windy day.

Snow Day

Really can't believe it, but we had MORE snow before we moved!

Matt decided to prove just how much snow we got.

Cleaning off the car!

Time to throw snowballs at Mommy!

He loved the crazy snow, at least for a little while.

The snow was very light and fluffy and it made it hard to make snowballs.

Only parts of our house got enough sun to melt the snow, but as you can see, we had some daggers hanging from the gutters! They were so long, I couldn't believe it!

Time to try out some of the toys in the snow.