California Trip...Part 2

On our way to the beach...On Wednesday we went back to the beach for awhile in the morning and that's when the big catastrophe of the trip happened. We'd been there for awhile and I was just standing around watching the boys and taking pictures of them playing in the sand and the water. Ashton was out in the water and Lars was pretty close to him and Gunnar was actually way up on the beach in the sand. So I took this picture of him... ...and the next thing I knew...a HUGE wave came up as far as Gunnar and me were and knocked him over and covered him, so with my camera in my hand (turned on) I reached in to pull him out as fast as I could. Luckily he was fine, but unfortunately my camera wasn't. Poor little Gunnar...it scared him to death! But after he got all dried off, we moved up further on the beach and he got right back to playing in the sand.
In the meantime Lars tried to dry out my camera. He immediately took the media card out of it, but I was still so worried that the 260 or so pictures I had already taken of our trip were gone! The camera obviously wouldn't even turn on. So we stayed awhile longer, then walked back to our condo. After we got Gunnar down for a nap I talked Lars into taking the media card to the nearby Albertson's and trying it out in their little photo kiosk. I was just sick waiting for him worrying that all my pictures were gone. To me the camera was easily replaceable, but I was going to be so sad if I'd lost ALL of the pictures I'd taken. I crossed my fingers and prayed and when he got back, luckily he told me that it pulled them all up and he printed a few to prove it!!! Thank goodness! But then I was without a camera for the rest of our trip. So on Thursday he and Ashton went and picked me out a lovely disposable for the next 2 days. Ashton had already gone through 2 of his own. (I think he's inheriting my picture taking addiction). He had so much fun going around taking pictures of everything with his very own camera.

Some of them even turned out pretty good! He's learning!Anyway that night we decided to make our own dinner and eat at the condo, then just let the boys run around there. To me those were some of the most fun times of the whole trip. They played SO good together. They laughed and chased eachother and hid from eachother in the big closet and wrestled forever on this mattress they pulled out. Here they are playing on the boogie boards that our place came equipped with...It's so fun to see Gunnar follow Ashton all around and try to copy everything he does and Ashton was just so cute with him the whole trip. They ran up an down the sidewalk outside of our front door, both laughing their identical sneaky little laugh! They had their moments of course, but for the most part they were just little buddies and it was so fun for us to see. They had started to play together some at home, but lots of times Ashton is playing with his friends, so it was nice that there were no friends around so that Gunnar could be his friend for the week.

(eating our homemade popsicles)..And since we've been home I've noticed them playing together more too.

Anyway Wednesday we were trying to decide what to do on Thursday (our last full day there) and in the meantime all Ashton did was keep pulling out his Legoland map and staring at it, pointing to all of the fun things he did and the ones that we didn't have time to do. So we started to think about going back for our last day. Lars called and asked how much it would be to bounce back and it was only $10 each for us and $5 for Ashton! That made it an easy decision (especially with it so close by) and Ashton was SO excited when we told him we'd be going back for another day. So that's where we went on Thursday. We got there by a little after 10:00 and stayed all day till after 4:00.

We got to do all of the stuff that we hadn't on the first day...

Like this Pharoah ride that Ashton and I went on where you get to shoot these little laser guns at targets all through the big tunnel it takes you through... And of course what he was most excited about...the RoLLeR CoAsTeRs!

That night we got smoothies and sandwiches and ate them in the condo, then started packing up for our trip home the next day.

Here are a few pictures we took with the disposable...

The boys in front of the condo...The boys and me...Friday we got up and got ready and had to be out of there by 10:00, but our flight wasn't till about 3:30, so we stopped back by the Outlet stores on our way, then got to the airport in plenty of time to grab some lunch and wait about an hour for our plane.

On that flight we actually lucked out and got an extra seat so we could take Gunnar's carseat on and he slept the whole way.

All in all everything went really smoothly and it was such a fun trip! Vacation always just goes by way too fast! When we got back to the truck at the airport it seemed like we had just left the day before...but I'm so glad we decided to go and I was so proud of how well the boys traveled.

Sometimes I think we don't give them enough credit.

My Birthday Surprise!

Okay so could you tell in my last post that I was totally feeling sorry for myself that I had no big plans for my birthday? Well I was...I was kind of moping around all day and not in the best mood. By the time Lars got home from work though I was in a better mood out on the driveway watching the boys play with the bubble machine ...(they always have a way of brightening my day when they are playing so cute together). So Lars came and watched them with me for a little while and then we got ready to go out to dinner. I didn't really think anything of it when he just drove straight to Iron Gate (without asking me where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner). I just thought that it was fine...I like Iron Gate. I did ask him though why he chose it and he said.."because I know you like the chicken wrap here" True... I thought and still didn't think anything of it. So then we walk in and he kind of leads me off to the left saying something like "let's go check out this room over here" and honestly I just thought okay...maybe he wants to see if there's a table in there so our loud kids won't bother anyone else. So then when we walked through the doors and I look around and see a bunch of my friends, neighbors and my Mom and step-dad, it was the BIGGEST surprise! I was shocked! I honestly had no clue even when certain things really should have clued me in that something was going on.

Way to go Hunnie...you totally got me!

It's such a great feeling to see the faces of so many people that are so important to you all gathered in the same room to celebrate you! And all because I have a husband that loves me so much to put something like that together for me. Thank you Hunnie! I don't know how you pulled it off and how someone didn't give it away. It was such a fun surprise. And thank you to all of my friends for coming and celebrating with me!

I am so blessed!

Thanks boys for helping me blow out my candles...

This is a really crappy picture (taken with our old crappy camera), but I made everyone pose for it...

California Vacation...part 1

We had such a fun time in California on our vacation last week...this is going to be a long post or a few long posts. I took so many pictures while we were there. We flew out on Sunday the 19th and stayed until last Friday, the 24th. Both flights went really well. I was kind of worried beforehand because we hadn't gotten a seat for Gunnar since we don't have to till he's 2.
Here he is having fun playing and eating while we wait for our plane...

And both of them together waiting...
(get used to Ashton's "Cheeese" smile...you'll see it in almost all of our vacation pics)On the flight out I just had tons of stuff to entertain both of them, and they did fine. Everyone told me to give Gunnar benadryl, but I didn't and he still did great. We did playdough, color wonders, stickers, had snacks etc... and he only got a little wiggly at the very end. He never fell asleep since he was on my lap the whole time, but we were just relieved that we didn't have any meltdowns! Of course Ashton loved it, especially when there was any turbulence. He wanted "more bumps". After we got off the plane and put Gunnar in the stroller, he zonked out......and we went and got our rental car and drove to Carlsbad where we stayed for the week. That drive was kind of long because for whatever reason on a Sunday afternoon there was a ton of traffic. At one point Ashton whined "But Daaaddddyyyy...we're driving as slow as the parade cars!" Too funny! But really we were. It would have only been a 20 minute drive but turned into an hour. Oh well once we got there and the boys got to get out and play they were happy. We stayed about a block from the beach in a little rental condo that had a full kitchen... and bedroom...nice bathroom... ...and a fold out couch for Ashton in the living room. We put Gunnar in with us in a pak'n'play. We loved the place we stayed at! Our first night we got settled in and walked a couple blocks and got some good mexican food, then came back and just let the boys play around the condo and went to bed.

Day 2 we spent mostly at the beach. Both of them loved it.

Ashton ran in and out of the waves forever... ...and Gunnar covered himself from head to toe in sand. Then we went back and let Gunnar have a nap, then went to the nearby Outlet stores. It's always hard to shop with the kids, but I did get a few things at the Carter's outlet.

Tuesday we got up and got ready for Legoland.

It was only a 10 minute drive from where we stayed which was awesome. We decided that the less time we had to spend in the car on this trip, the better. And Legoland was awesome!

Especially for Ashton at his age. He loved everything about it. All of the amazing lego creations of everything you could imagine...
Here I am with the boys and the lego Mom with her lego baby...

Ashton with the lego Dad and boy... The rides... (here's Ashton waiting patiently for one) ...the water area where he got sopping wet and could spray things with water. But most of all he got to go on his first roller coaster and he loved it! He kept going back again and again and even talked me into going on one of them with him. I'm not a big ride person, but I really wanted to see his reaction on it and it was so worth it! As we were getting on I told him I was nervous and he reassured me "Don't be scared Mommy, if you hold on tight you won't fall and crack your head open." Thanks Ashton! It was so fun to sit next to him and hear him giggle and laugh and say how much fun it was! And after one of the big dips he turned to me and said "Is it fun?" in the voice that we use with him and Gunnar. So funny!
Gunnar obviously couldn't go on too many things, but he had fun just wandering around looking at stuff and played in the water a little. He eventually fell asleep in the stroller that day and slept for awhile while Lars kept taking Ashton on the roller coasters. It was nice that Ashton was above the height requirement for almost all of the rides there. After a long day we went back to our condo and hung out for a little while, then went and got pizza for dinner.

That is all I can do for tonight...stay tuned for Part 2.