San Diego Day 1

Last weekend we finally made our long awaited, long anticipated trip to San Diego.  Since the trip was awesome and there is so much to tell and share and well....I'm crazy busy....I have decided to break the trip up into smaller more manageable posts :)

So here is Day 1.  The Drive out.

We knew it would be a long day and a long drive with both kiddos, a stuffed car and three adults.  What is usually a 6 hour drive took us 8, but I have to say it was anything but trying.  The kids were spectacular [you are probably tired of me always saying that, but until they prove me otherwise, I will continue to be dumbfounded at these two boys'  temperaments].

As my mom, J and I ran around the house like crazy people folding, cleaning, packing and all around preparing for the trip, Ayden patiently played and anxiously awaited the final loading of the car.

Gavin was also all ready to go. Simply content in his little seat in which he was about to spend A LOT of time in.

Here we have the loaded car.  All the essentials....J's brief case, my pump, a bag full of ayden's books, the double stroller, Gavin's bouncy seat and most importnat of all.......Ayden's Little Potty.

If you were paying attention above you realized that we have five people for five seats. So....here we have my designated seat....right smack (or should I say squished) between my two little boys.  If there was anything to complain about, it was this. But in the end, I would have rather been squished between them than anywhere else.  I got 8 hours of singing, laughing, reading, I-pad playing, goofy sound making, nap taking, feeding, kisses and smiles - what could be better???

While we were able to get away with only one food stop, we did have to make two side of the highway potty breaks.  These photos crack me up.  Ayden saw nothing weird about popping a squat in his little potty off the side of the road.  I can only imagine how entertaining this view was to passing cars. I found it adorable....and quite awesome.  Ayden who is now officially potty trained (have been meaning to document that in a post for about three weeks), did great telling us he had to go and having ZERO accidents despite eating, drinking and sleeping in the car. What a champ!

And so, we rolled into San Diego and our 'San Diego home' as the kids liked to call it, around 430 in the afternoon.  The house we rented couldn't have been more perfect.  After a long day driving, we got ourselves organized, got the kiddos to bed and anxiously awaited the arrival and Mike, Dash and the kids. We were so excited to see them!!

The next day.....Sea World!

Giggling Gavin!

Need to smile? This is guaranteed to do it.

Watch "Gavin Laughs!" on YouTube

This kid lights up my heart :)

Thank you Tata and TonTon

The week is FINALLY here. Poor Ayden has been patiently waiting for two months to go on our trip to San Diego to see the cousins and go to Sea World.

To celebrate the trip, Ayden got a gift yesterday from Tata and TonTon. A little seal.  He had a bit of fun playing with it last night.

There will be TONS of pictures and videos from the weekend.  Stay tuned.

I feel like a kid about to go to Disney Land....I can only imagine how Ayden feels.

Shyla's 2nd Bday

When I talk (all the time!) about how awesome my friends are, our friends Kendra and Stevie are amongst the amazing crew.

Shyla, their daughter and soon to be big sister, is one of Ayden's friends.  If you follow the blog you have seen her in many other pictures, especially ones taken at the zoo, as that is where we always run into each other =)

Last weekend Shyla celebrated her 2nd birthday. It was a blast.  So many kiddos and so many friends. And some Oh-So-Fun news.  Not sure if the cat is totally out of the bag...so I will leave it at that!

I was adamant and determined to get pictures of everyone with my new super cool camera (despite totally forgetting my camera and making J turn around so we could go back home to pick it up), but once i got there I got all wrapped up in kids and babies that I took about ten pictures, then found myself with beautiful Essa (who is three days older than Gavin) in my arms the rest of the time.....ooops!  Finally, Karen asked if she could take my camera and actually use it to take some pictures rather than the oh so useful task of hanging around my neck.

Here is what we got.  Boy these kids are getting big and boy are they a beautiful group of kids.

Gavin and Nina.  I love this picture.

The Birthday Girl!! What a cutie!

The newest addition to the clan.

Essa! (damn those eyes are mesmerizing!)

Sweet sweet Taylor.

I love how at every bday party there are pictures of Taylor and Ayden chowing down...I just knew thye were meant to be hahah!

This little man needs no label....if you don't recognize the ORANGE hair then you aren't a true follower!

Sophia! The newest Big sister on the block!

Does life get any better?

And does handsome even begin to describe this?

Just another Tuesday morning

...next time won't you sing with me!!

Ayden is singing his ABCs and is just as cute as can be doing so (if i do say so myself!).

Last night, [yes while he was on the potty.  I swear the child does not just sit on the potty all day, but admittedly, it is one of the few times that he is not in motion long enough to actually take a video that is not one big blurrrrr ], Ayden decided to read his Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme book to us.  When we got to the ABC page, he started rattling off the song.  I had heard him do parts for quite some time now, but not the whole thing.  I have no doubt that Sarah, our super duper awesome nanny (have i mentioned she is awesome?!?) has something  or everything to do with this.

After he sang it once and Mimi and I screamed and clapped as proud mothers and grandmothers do...Ayden just kept singing it over and over and over again and cheering for himself at the end.  We of course cheered for him as well each time because who could resist!  Finally, the light bulb went off in my head to tape it so I may share it with you all.  By the time I came back....we had moved on.  Thankfully after a few attempts to probe him into singing it again he humored his mother and rattled it off again.

What a nice son =)