1st Grade at the Wild Animal Park

After months of learning about different habitats and many species of animals, the 1st graders got to test their knowledge on a field trip to the Wild Animal Park. 87 parent chaperones joined in on the fun with the 6 classes of students. With that many parents, there certainly wasn't room on the bus! We watched the kids load up and followed in a car caravan.

Allison and her buddies, Karis and Olivia posed with Mrs. Skinner at the waterfall before we took off on our own. Each of our girls had a chaperone, so it was an easy day with these 3! We met up with some 1st grade friends for a photo on the rhino, one of the many great photo opportunities along the way.

We stopped to visit the flamingos, meerkats, pelicans and gorillas before heading to the Heart of Africa. I think the girls had the most fun at the water park-it was quite a warm day! We did take time to read the signs, looking for endangered species and different habitats.

On our way to the picnic tables for lunch, we spotted the Lion Encounter. Look at the lioness standing high above on the rock!

We walked along the enclosure and came to a better viewing area where we could see two females and the giant male sleeping the day away.

I think we all agreed that Lorikeet Landing was the most fun. The kids each bought a $3 cup of nectar and had a ball feeding the lorikeets. They were very friendly and hungry!

I even got one to rest on my hand while it had a little snack.

Then we were off to the petting zoo

and a quick pose on this cute gorilla.

1:30 quickly arrived and it was time to head back to the bus. Not before one last potty break and a class picture. Whoa, I'm exhausted!

Shower for Lisa and Baby Shooglet

Today the girls and I spent the day in Orange County celebrating Lisa and Baby Shooglet (the baby's nickname until it has a real name!). From the second you walked up Kim's front porch, you could tell this was going to be a sugar-filled afternoon. Crafty lollipop plant stands and a lollipop banner saying "It's a Girl" overhead were just the beginning.

The Hostess' with the Mostess, Marie, Shannon and Kim with Lisa

As we walked in the front door, this cute table was our 1st stop. "Write a 'sweet' blessing to Lisa and Baby Shooglet". Each piece of paper had a cute foam candy sticker on top. Too cute!

Gifts were piling up in the living room. So much pink!

The tables were sweet as can be. Too different widths of wrapping paper made for the cutest table runner. The centerpieces were vases filled with bulk candy and lollipops. The mason jars each had a straw and a gummy ring to continue the theme. We even got beautifully wrapped candy bars as part of the place setting. Could it be any cuter!!

Burp clothes wrapped up on a stick to look like lollipops-adorable.

Shannon's sister made this spectacular cake. It was green, pink and purple on the inside and delicious.


I think Lisa said "This is so cute!" about 1000 times as she opened her gifts. She was right. From adorable outfits and shoes, bath time fun, a handmade quilt to some baby necessities, everything was so cute. I just couldn't believe how much has changed since I last had a baby. Amazing!

Auntie Lisa gets a tummy rub!
Taylor and Allison were so excited to see Chloe, Bailey and Stella too. We hadn't seen them since Lisa's October Birthday Bash. They had a great time playing on the playset out back and having girly time upstairs. I think they also ate their weight in sugar. I saw them with Airheads, sour licorice, raspberry-filled donuts and pixie sticks and that's just what I saw. I think they were in a sugar coma as they slept on the way home!

Alexis, Lisa and me -I love when we all get together.

We had wonderful weather and a great day celebrating Lisa and Baby Shooglet. We can't wait to meet her and give her lots of love. Just pray Lisa gets the epidural!

The Birthday Surprise and a Day of Full of Fun

Allison woke up to this festive Birthday surprise. She came running down the stairs saying "Who decorated my room?" I was in the dark on all of this, so had to run up the stairs with her to see the surprise. It looked like a Birthday Fairy had done quite a bit of damage in there! Banners, balloons, confetti and candy covered her desk, nightstand and dresser. I knew there could only be one culprit. Allison called Daddy on the phone and thanked him for the fun wake-up. Apparently, he was storing all of the supplies in his car and snuck them all in at 4:30 this morning. I guess she slept right through it!

We received a special birthday visit from Sarah and Molly. They arrived yesterday afternoon and the girls had fun swimming, going to soccer practice and playing in the playroom. Sarah
treated everyone to Yogurt Island for Allison's birthday. Yummy! Thank you! This morning, they got a little more playing in before Taylor and Allison had to get to school and before Sarah and Molly headed out to visit some more friends. It was a nice birthday treat!

The day of fun continued as Allison arrived at school, bought a cinnamon Smencil and saw that her desk had been decorated with pink paper and a note from Mrs. Skinner. The kids all signed it as well. At lunch time, I brought McDonald's (her choice) and sat with her at the lunch table. That lasted for about 10 minutes before she was off to play with her friends. The class was excited to have birthday creamsicles at the end of the day (gone are the days of cupcakes, donuts or cookies).

Unfortunately, Matt got stuck at work until way past bedtime so our dinner plans got postponed. Allison really wanted Souplantation, but we will save that for tomorrow night. Instead I took Allison, Karis and Taylor out for a quick bite to eat, dropped Allison and Karis off at Karis' house and Taylor and I went to soccer practice. I actually think Allison enjoyed the playdate more than dinner with us. Although, she was still determined to open her presents last night, so she called Daddy for the OK. How could he say no? Hot pink Vans from Grandma and Papa

Her very own Padres hat and shirt. One of the few things on her list.

She also got lots of new clothes from Justice.

She opened her gifts from us and Grandma and Grandpa and then was quickly off to bed. We have 8:00am soccer games tomorrow. Allison, we hope you had a great 7th birthday-we love you so much!

Aloha and Happy Birthday Allison!

Who knew it would be so hard to find a 2 hour chunk of time for Allison's 7th Birthday? Although Friday is her actual birthday, there were too many schedule conflicts to make it happen. Their early release from school today was the perfect time to get her girlfriends together for a tropical afternoon. They started by making these cute lei necklaces out of yarn, pieces of straws and cardstock flowers (thank you Chessa for letting me borrow the Cricut!).

Grace, Karis, Olivia and Allison

Reanna, Abby, Marley and Lorien

Posing with their fun new necklaces

Then it was time for snacks and smoothies. Matt made the smoothies and topped them high with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Allison isn't a big fan of store bought cakes, so she specifically requested Funfetti cupcakes. With 7 candles lit, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and added cupcakes to our snacks.

We played a few rounds of Hot Potato with a beach ball (wow, these girls are competitive!) and cheered on all of the winners. Allison wanted the game to end after round 1 because she was ready to open presents.

Present time-look at all of the posers!

Allison loved all of her gifts. She couldn't wait to open this toddler doll from Karis.
She is so happy to have such thoughtful friends.

Taylor invited her friend, Lauren, to join in the fun. They helped us with the party and also played along.

The girls worked hard on these cute beach scenes. They were all so creative.

Goodie bags filled with tropical Skittles, gum, fruit punch, a lei, tattoos and a beach ball.

We actually had a beautiful day, perfect for swimming, but that is always so hard to predict. It would have added the final touch on Allison's tropical party, but everyone had a great time anyway. Maybe we will try that next year. Happy "early" Birthday Allison. We love you and can't wait to celebrate again on Friday!

Petco Park with Papa

My Dad flew down for the weekend to visit and watch a little soccer. Unfortunately, the girls played at the same time (at different fields), so he watched Taylor's practice on Friday and went to Allison's game on Saturday. He was able to see Taylor play in Palm Desert a few months ago, so it seemed only fair. He also spent some time yesterday afternoon helping Allison do a little research for her school animal project. They found all kinds of interesting info on the desert tortoise. Now, she just has to write the report.
Today, we took him down to Petco Park for our 2nd Padres game of the season. It was a beautiful day for a ballgame between the Padres and the Pirates, although the Pads couldn't pull out a win.

We had 2 seats in the wheelchair accessible section and 3 seats right below. Allison enjoyed the view from up here and liked watching the game from the wheelchair. She and Taylor took turns sitting with Papa throughout the game.

View from our seats-not bad!

I never thought we would see Papa sporting a Padres hat, but he needed Taylor's to protect his face from the sun. Allison was happy when Daddy returned from the gift shop with an early birthday present, her very own Padres hat. She may have a shirt to match already wrapped up! We hope to make it to a lot more games this season.

Blue Bombers Photo Shoot

The Blue Bombers voted against a 7:00 am wake up call for our team photos a few weeks ago and instead decided to do our own picture day at a more reasonable hour before our game yesterday. We all met at the Skate Park and created our own photo studio, minus the crowded parking lot, busy check-in table, fancy tarps, mass chaos and team banner. I'll also have to go without the fancy photo button (who uses that thing anyway?), but I think we got the same effect....

Silly faces, just for fun!

Green Acres Horse Ranch

Taylor's troop took a field trip to Green Acres Horse Ranch yesterday after school. We were there in the fall with Allison's troop, but this tour was more geared to 4th and 5th graders. The girls earned their Horse Care badge. Margaret, the owner, taught them about feeding, grooming, and riding the horses. The ranch houses almost 150 horses and we learned that it takes quite a team of care givers to make everything run smoothly. Who knew that there are Horse Dentistry schools and dentists that only work on horses? We assumed they were just veterinarians. This cute horse is Scooter. We learned that last week he nearly died because he cut open the roof of his mouth and cut an artery. Luckily, a rancher saw the pools of blood in his stall and saw blood coming from his mouth during feeding time. They were able to call the vet, lay the horse down in the grass and stitch up the wound. He would have certainly bled to death without such a quick response. The girls were touched by his story.

We hope to head back to the ranch to ride the horses. Girl Scouts has strict rules against riding, so we will likely have to do it on our own.

Some Down Time

After a busy weekend and some late nights, we were excited to have a little down time on Saturday. Our initial plan was to head to San Francisco, but after 3 late nights in a row, we opted for a lounging day around the house. We slept in and then had a little visit with Sarah and Molly at the park across the street from my parent's house. The girls love walking across the bridge, playing in the creek and playing at the playground. It is such a great open area and green belt.

As late afternoon approached, the family started arriving from all of their tourist outings. Some went to the Giants game, the embarcadero and Muir Woods. It was a beautiful day for sightseeing and everyone took advantage. They were all ready for some pizza and some down time.

We also took some time out to celebrate my Aunt Kathy's birthday. I think we had 37 family members to sing Happy Birthday. It was so great to all be together again. It had been 2 years since we had this many of us in one spot. There aren't any more family weddings planned, so we may have to work hard to plan the next reunion.