::beach baby::

This is baby, all ready to go to the beach--or maybe we had just come back from the beach? I can't remember. Anyway, he was an adorable beach baby. These were the only photos I took on our whole trip with my real camera. That's too bad but at least it means I was busy having fun with my hands full. Understandable with this wiggly thing around, right?

::the last bit::

Sunday was essentially our last full day since we were flying out the next morning. We got up and went to see the San Diego temple. If you haven't seen it in person, you should. It's truly amazing. So striking and attractive.
Sand enjoyed touching all the foliage and we just tried to keep Max's ebullience from being too inappropriate.

The only slight downside to the location we could come up with is that it's by the freeway, so there's a lot of traffic noise. But the benefit of that is high visibility. It's pretty amazing to come around the corner and see those crazy rocket ship spires right there!


Awww, cute brothers. I know Max looks like a beach bum here, by the way. You don't have to tell me.

After the temple we went and met up with Blake and Brooke again so we could go to Blake's home ward. It was fun and Kris got to see one of his old roomates that we haven't seen in ten years. That was pretty great.
Here's a photo of the three roomies together--just missing one!


After church was over we went home and lazed around and said our farewells to the beach. If only we could've stayed a bit longer--but then we'd have wanted to stay another bit longer. When would we ever have come home? Max and I could bum around on the beach for an awfully long time.

It was a great trip, so glad we did it!

::even more san diego::

(this flower was growing on a bush downstairs from our little condo--so pretty!!)

The next day we spent time hanging out in the morning while it was misty and grey (it was misty and grey and a bit chilly every morning until about noon, it was nice.) Kris and I went for runs--separately. Max watched a movie and Sand took a nap. Then we walked to Rubio's and had fish tacos for lunch.

Max threw a big fit about something at lunch--I don't really remember what it was about now, just that it was ridiculous. That's why he's not in the picture.
After we got back it was all beach for the rest of the day!
Kris stayed home with Sandy while Sand napped. Poor Kris has a board exam coming up in Sept, so he was glad to have some study time.
Max and I went boogie boarding. The waves were pretty huge.

(this is the wrong day but the right beach)

I haven't been boogie boarding in AGES. It was really fun and I think Max was having a blast with me out there. We rode a few waves in together and it was rather thrilling. Rather thrilling that is until my nice nice sunglasses that Kris got me for Christmas were ripped off my head and dragged off into the deep blue sea.
I was pretty bummed about that and Max and I spent a while looking for them. It was a lost cause. Max was sad and tried to make me feel better with more boogie boarding, but the savor had gone out of it. (I still boogie boarded more with him of course, but it just wasn't the same.)
Later Kris came out with the Sand and I tried to get Sand to enjoy sitting in the sand. He did NOT like it. I sat him down with just his feet in the sand and he was so disturbed. SO mad. Then later I tried to stand him in the sand and he refused. I would lower him down towards the ground and the lower he would get the higher he would tuck his feet up. He just would not touch it.

But of course, he would eat it. I sat him on a towel so he could look around safely. He like that pretty well, and of course decided to start eating the sand. Such a dork.

BLAH.

A sandy Sandy eating sand.

It was such a fun afternoon. Everybody had a good time (maybe even my sunglasses escaping their drudgery on my head.) Nobody got sunburned, though I had a close call. I wish we could do it again tomorrow.

::another day in san diego::

We went to Sea World on friday morning and it was pretty fun. We did have a problem though. They've added a bunch of rides, probably 5 or 6 big ones and some smaller ones. This was all Max could think about. I made the mistake of looking at the website with him before the trip to get him excited, and he spied the rides. That was all he could think about from that moment on--and this did not change when we actually got to the park.
We had "breakfast with Shamu" in which you have a breakfast buffet, eat right next to one of the whale tanks and see a few cool whale tricks up close. That was fun and I'm glad we did it because it was the only whale exposure we got the whole day.
After breakfast I was ready to head to the Shamu show, but Max was dying to go on the big roller coaster, so we went over there. Kris and Max went on that, and Max loved it, so I got in line with him to do it again. But of course the ride broke down, so we were stuck in line for quite a while for no reason--these Sea World guys are not too good at their ride management it turns out.

Anyway, after that we got stuck heading over to another ride, and it got hotter and more crowded. We finally made it to the Sea Lion and Seal show which was fun. Then when we tried to see the actual seals afterwards the area was so crowded it was impossible and we just had to push on. Finally Kris and I got tired of the crowds and after seeing the sharks and a few other things we hauled our boys out and took them back to the condo for some rest.

It was not great management of the Sea World trip, I'd do it differently if I was doing it again. And the Manta Ray area was closed because (of course) they're adding a big ride to it.
I think Sea World should stick with the animal stuff. It's what they do best.

But anyway, we liked this cool Shamu car.


The best part of the day happened after everybody get a little rest. We were able to get together with Kris's old roommate/mission companion Blake and his wife Brooke for dinner. It was just a weird coincidence that we both happened to be out here at the same time. They recommended a delicious Thai restaurant that we really enjoyed (all of us with refined tastes, anyway.)
Kris got fried rice that actually came inside half a pineapple. Pretty fancy, right?


After we ate Blake & Brooke took us down to a beautiful park on the coast to look at tidepools and seals. There were quite a few sea anemones in the little pools, but Max wasn't quite brave enough to stick his finger in them to make the them close.

Baby Evie was though.

Max however, was brave enough to go out to the very tip of the rocks we were out and wish that a wave would carry him out to sea. Weird kid.

It was an amazing view and a lovely sunset. And Max did not get carried away, happily.

It was prettymuch too dark to see the seals by the time we got to them, but the good company and fun conversation made up for it.
It was a really fun night--thanks Blake & Brooke for taking the trouble to meet up with us!
And Blake has a reputation in our family for taking good pictures (he took the photo that ended up being in our wedding invitation) so he took one of all of us on the rocks. I like it.

::today in san diego::

We are escaping our normal lives for a couple of days this week in San Diego at the beach. We found a little condo right by the beach (thanks to a recommendation from a patient parent at the office). It's really amazingly close to the beach--probably less than a block away. We don't have to cross any real streets to get there. It's perfect because Max can spend more time playing in the water, and the baby can take the naps he needs, and all that is within a quick walk back to our place if we need it.

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures from today before I got too sleepy.

We went to a fun little shopping area downtown called something like Seaport Village for lunch.

The view of the water was lovely from our table.

And I had another lovely view if I looked to my left--happy babies.


He is so darn darling!
There was a seagull stalking Max's lunch the whole time. Luckily he was behind glass and too big to slip through the cracks.

After lunch Max got to ride on a historic carousel, which of course he loved.

After we walked around the shops for a bit and headed to Target to pick up all the stuff I forgot to pack, Max and I went out to the beach while the baby napped and Kris studied for his upcoming board exam.

Max did some seriously awesome boogie boarding.
Then he had to bury himself because I refuse to get that sandy today.


Poor deprived child. He even wrote RIP in the sand next to himself. Weirdo.
Kris and Sand came and joined us for a few minutes at the end.

Sandy thought the waves were very interesting as long as I didn't dip his feet too much, but he HATED the sand (ironically). He hated it so much. He would hold his feet and legs up as high as he could any time I tried to have him stand in it. We'll see how it goes the next few days.

THEN, after dinner we took a long walk to go and get some ice cream. We saw a cool sunset over the ocean.

We saw a lot of interesting vegetation, chief amoung them this weird succulent black rosebush looking thing. So cool.

Max wore himself out running the first half mile and could hardly make it the rest of the way, but we did finally make it back for bedtime.


I'm going to bed now, sand in my hair and all. Tomorrow we're planning for SeaWorld. It should be fun!

::phoenix::

Just a quick rundown of Phoenix activities.
Kris did lots of learning all day and Max and I got to play.
We swam and swam. In fact I was too busy swimming to get any good swimming pictures. When it's 110 outside, you've got to stay cool somehow, and swimming worked out well for us. In fact Max made huge strides in his swimming while we were there. The pool didn't have much shallow end, so I was keeping a tight eye on him. He was following Kris around the pool on a floaty. Then Kris took off fast across the deep end and Max, wearing his mask and snorkel, took off after him. He was completely without any flotation! I was stressed out but he swam perfectly and made it to the edge without even realizing he was really swimming on his own. After that it was like something clicked and he was all over the pool. By the time we were done he was swimming so confidently. It was amazing.
So that was the swimming.

In the afternoon Max and I went to a huge outlet mall in Tempe. Phoenix basically has anyplace you could ever dream of shopping--that's a chain.
Of course Max had to ride the carousel immediately.

He got the weird cool mer-horse. He's also wearing the sunglasses they gave out at the hotel pool. He wore them everywhere that day and felt very awesome.
We went to the Disney Store for some PJs and a cool shirt or two. (We don't have a Disney Store in Santa Fe!)

We went to the Carters Outlet and Max very cutely helped me pick out a bunch of baby clothes. We tried to go neutral, but I have to say we did pick out a couple of things that weren't neutral at all. We'll have to just see what needs to be taken back! (We don't have any Carters in NM at all. Boo Hoo.)
We went to Gap and got Kris work shirts.
Then we were tired tired. Max spied the Rainforest Cafe, and since I knew he would love it we stopped in for some (yucky tasting)ice water and to share a dessert. Who knew that the dessert would be bigger than Max. We barely made it halfway through.

It didn't really matter about the food though, because we were enjoying the animatronics and the fake thunder storms too much.

We had In-N-Out Burger for lunch both days, mmmmmmm.
We had a big Rainforest Cafe dinner on saturday night, to please the Max. Max and I went to a movie.
We went to sacrament meeting in Gilbert in our friends' humongous ward. We had dinner with the same friends that night. So fun!

I'm going to leave out the part about how I scratched somebody's car in the parking lot. I'm also not going to post pictures of my feet swollen up to the size of Montana. I'm not posting about the air conditioner in the hotel that barely worked, even though I had the thermostat put down to 50 degrees.
But really those were the only bummers.
We had lots of fun otherwise, besides the CRAZY HEAT!
At least we got to get away from the responsibilities and just hang out.
There you go, there's the report. Good thing I had my phone along to take photos since I didn't break out the big camera once!

(oh, and these are our new monkeys for the office. They scream when you squeeze their bellies. Yes they're very cute, and yes the kids love them. Including Max!)

::staycation activity #5--swimming and a huge shake::

On monday we drove up North of Boston so that we could go to an "indoor water park." One of those places attached to a hotel. This one had a bunch of water slides--from little kid ones to ones that were too big for Max, splash park areas, a lazy river and fountain things. Anyway, all kinds of stuff. And it was nice to be someplace warm for a while. I don't have any pictures of us playing in the water, but that's ok. Some things are better imagined anyway.
Max had a blast, and after four hours still wasn't even close to wanting to leave! He told us he wants to move to Massachusetts when he grows up, in order to be close to that place.
We told him that there are other places like that--hopefully a little closer to (our future) home.
Such a silly little boy.

Before our waterpark fun we went and had some delicious burgers. Max had the option of upgrading his drink to a shake, so since were on "vacation" we told him he could. It was HUGE and he was delighted.

Burger places are the best!

And that concludes my staycation report. Fun stuff.

::staycation activity #4--kite flying::

I don't know why it's taken me so long to post this! Maybe it's just the volume of photos, but that doesn't usually slow me down.
Anyway, here I am.
On Saturday we met some friends at a park in Newport to do some kite flying. We've been to this park a couple times before. There are always lots of kites flying and it's really fun.
It was nice nice weather that day, high 60s where we live. Unfortunately in Newport it was quite a bit cooler, but the sun was still out, so that was nice.


Lots of people had their kites high up in the air--the were eating lunch with their kites tethered to the ground next to them.
This made it a little bit embarrassing when we couldn't get ours up. We could get ours up about halfway to the others and then they would just crash. We're definitely no kite experts.



But we are experts at picnics, deserts and kids and dogs. So we were having fun anyway.


The kids chased each other around a whole bunch--Zach stood in for the little brother that Max doesn't have and tried to drive him crazy. It was very funny to watch.


There was also some lacrosse practice going on, as you can see in the background.

Then, finally when it was starting to get cold and the sun was going down, and we were in the midst of some potty emergencies, the kites finally went up. Well, ours never really did, but our friends' did, and they were awesome,


This particular kite looked like an army jet and was flown using two hands. It was super fun to fly. It felt like you were really controlling something strong up there.

Max kept wanting to fly it, but every time I gave it to him it would nosedive.

I think what happened is that finally when it was getting cold all the people cleared out and we got to use some of the "good air."
Here's our kite, finally sort of up.


Fun stuff.

It's such a pretty place. We're definitely hoping to go back again soon. Maybe it'll be warmer next time.