Catch Up #2: John Swimming and Baseball

For the 3rd summer, John took swimming lessons from Coach Donny, and this was his year! He turned into a fish and took off swimming. I took him the first Monday of lessons, and not a whole lot was happening. He went to his mom's that week and I went back to lessons the next Monday and he had made SO MUCH progress. It was cool to see such a difference. He was swimming by himself from end to end, diving by himself and swimming to the ladder, jumping off the diving board and swimming to the ladder, and diving for things at the bottom of the pool. He really did a great job and LOVES swimming now!




His baseball season also came to an end. The Defenders ended up in 3rd place in the end-of-season tournament. They really improved during the season and had a lot of fun in the process of learning more about the game. He is definitely obsessed with the game of baseball. He loves playing catch everyday, he loves watching it on TV, and talking it with dad. I know he's ready for next season already!

Catch Up #1: LA!

I have a LOT of catching up to do, so i'll start now that I'm back in town for a while! For my birthday, my wonderful husband arranged a trip to LA for me to go see and spend a few days with Danielle. Him, along with my parents and sisters went in and sent me on my way, equipped with plane tickets and shopping money! June 12th seemed SO far away at the time, but it came!!!

I flew in late Saturday night and the Touchstone's took me straight to the ice cream shop. I think they know me pretty well!! After some ice cream we walked down a pier over the ocean. It was CHILLY but really pretty and peaceful.

The next day we had beach plans, but the weather said NO! It was COLD. Like jeans and a long sleeve shirt cold. It only got colder when you walked toward the beach. Apparently June is cleverly called "June Gloom" because it is very gloomy and not very sunny most of the time. Something about the temperature of the land and the temperature of the water. Anyways, don't expect 100 degree weather in Cali in June! However, we made the most of it. I helped the cakeball expert herself make some precious apple cakeballs and then we headed to the beach for a FABULOUS brunch! We did some shopping, more walking on the piers, and yes, went to the beach just for a photo op! After a much needed nap we went to dinner at PF Changs (YUMMM) and then went to see IronMan 2.

Monday was BEVERLY HILLS day! How exciting. I've never been to any of these places so they were all new and very exciting for me. Although I had no intentions of buying anything, it was still so cool to see it in all it's glory! The weather even cooperated! It was really really nice and sunny! Danielle took me to a place called 9021-pho for lunch. It's a Vietnamese restraunt and we had the Pho (pronounced Fuh). IT was a huge bowl of noodles, broth, and beef. It was different but really pretty good. After our Pho, we had to go to Crumbs (similar to Sprinkles) for a huge and yummy cupcake. Then we were off to our shopping excursion. It was so fun to go into stores like Juicy, LV, Tiffany's...all on Rodeo Drive. I did make one purchase...cologne for my husband for Father's Day from Polo. I felt cool! We walked and walked and shopped and shopped and even found a place that was giving 10 minute free foot massages. YES PLEASE. I think we were supposed to buy something afterwards, but we didn't. =) After Rodeo Drive we headed to the Santa Monica Promenade where we had some coffee, people watched (it was very entertaining!), watched the sunset behind some mountains, and ate at Buddha's Belly...Thai Food. Are you noticing a trend here? Yes we ate LOTS of asian food, which I LOVE!





Tuesday was "Operation Beach Day". We were determined. One way or another we were going to the beach. We decided to try out Laguna Beach. Danielle hadn't been there either so it was an adventure for us both. We drove down there that morning, had a nice lunch, found some AWESOME candy/caramel apples for dessert (seriously, they were sinful!) and went to the beautiful beach. It was gloomy. We were hesitant to even go, but we thought we might as well. We got our chairs all situated and sat there in our dresses/jackets for a while then decided to take them off. Sure enough, the fabulous SUN came out! It was PERFECT weather. As soon as it got to be a little hot, a cool breeze would blow. Ahh it was heaven. We could have stayed there forever. We both got some sun (YAYAYAYYYYYY!) and caught a nap or 2 also. We did a little shopping on our way out. Laguna Beach was a really cool little town. I can't wait for her to take Ty back to check it all out! That night we went to In N Out Burgers, my first time. It was pretty tasty!!!




My last day...Wednesday. I was to head home around 3:30 that afternoon, but we wanted to squeeze in some HOLLYWOOD action before that. We drove there and started on our journey through the street of Hollywood. We saw tons of stars and Grauman's Chinese Theater where all the handprints/footprints of the stars were. We walked the streets and found a really great store where I shopped! Yes, I bought myself some clothes. Danielle is my personal shopper, so she helped. I was really excited that I got some clothes that can be maternity and regular all at the same time! After our shopping it was time to find some lunch (we were starving) and head home to get my stuff and head to the airport. We found an awesome sushi place and we chowed down (no worries, I only got COOKED stuff...it was still awesome!!!) We headed back to Danielle's with JUST enough time to make it to the airport. As much as I would have LOVED a few more days in LA, I was ready to be home and see my boys!







What a wonderful vacation! Thank you to everyone who played a part, especially to Ryan for the awesome idea and for being a single father for a few days! I love you!

Memorial Day...a few weeks late

For Memorial Day Weekend, we headed east to visit the Curry's and most importantly, to see our precious nephew, Noah. Uncle Ryan and cousin John had not gotten to meet the new little guy yet. We drove in late Saturday night and stayed until Monday afternoon. In addition to seeing Todd, Marci and Noah, we also got to see the Tilley family and help celebrate Poppa's birthday a couple of days early with a BBQ dinner at Aunt Anne's.

Sunday was HOT (surprise, surprise!) but we played lots of baseball in the yard, walked to the park by White Rock Lake, played in the sprinklers, and hung out inside where it was cool. The boys had a lot of fun, and Uncle Todd gave John daddy's old catchers mitt, which John thought was just about the coolest thing ever! Both boys LOVE their cousin Noah. John wanted to hold him quite a bit, and Braidy just would get in his face and in his little high pitched baby voice say "Hi, Noah Cousin!" Pretty sweet boys!


That night we all loaded up to head to Aunt Anne's where Crockett, Aunt Jess, Aunt Rach, Poppa and JJ were waiting for us...along with the aunts and uncles and Tpa and Dma! John, Braidy and Crockett were quite a handful but definitely the life of the party. They really wanted to jump in the pool, but instead just dipped thier heads in. After a delicious BBQ dinner, the boys all played in the yard, caught some lightning bugs (very cool) and enjoyed some cake!!!



Monday we just hung out. Uncle Todd took the guys to a baseball park for a while, while Marci and I hung out at the house with little Noah. Before we left, Braidy and John got to paint a canvas for Noah's room. They thought that was the coolest thing ever, and it was! Unfortunately we had to head back to the LBK, but it was a great trip and we were glad we could make it there, even if it was a short time!

The drive there and back was surprisingly very uneventful. My child is not known for his good behavior on car trips of any length, but he did GREAT!!! Not one single breakdown. This is a big deal. Sure made the trip MUCH more enjoyable!