August 2014 Happenings

We are back in the swing of the school year but missing those lazy Summer days. 

Ellie likes to be the first into Audrey's room each morning to say good morning to her. They have a morning routine where Ellie climbs into Audrey's bed and sings to her or reads her books until they are ready to come out.

Soccer practice was held at a park this week so Audrey got some playground time in while the kids practiced.

Jason received the Millenium Falcon set for our anniversary and has spent each weekend building a bag or two with Willem. Ellie joins in sometimes as well.

It's official... Willem is in 1st grade and can officially join Cub Scouts. He has been counting the days... We went to the Scouting store and he is now official.

Best pictures of this little girl are of her in a car seat. Those seem to be the calm moments of our day.

This week Audrey transitioned into the 2's room at Villa. She and I went to school together 3 days in a row, each day staying longer. Then the 4th day she stayed by herself for 3 hours and the 5th day she stayed until pickup. She likes going to school but doesn't like the goodbyes.

Willem REALLY wanted to do Cub Scouts but needed an adult sponsor who could go to meetings with him when Jason was at work. He recruited Paw Paw for the job and has loved their weekly Cub Scouts routine of Paw Paw picking him up from school and taking him to McDonalds.The Cub Scouts toured the fire station at one of their first meetings. Other meetings they've gone on nature walks around the school, learned about nutrition, family safety, etc.

At Reese's birthday party the girls had fun playing dress up. 

1ST DAY OF SCHOOL- 1ST GRADE, PRE-K AND 2'S ROOM

We cannot believe Willem is starting 1st grade and Ellie Pre-k. Willem was ready to be back at school and couldn't wait for Tae Kwon Do and Chess to start up. Ellie was a little unsure about being in class without Willem. Drop offs were hard the first few weeks for her but within a month had made friends and was doing her own thing. 

Family Vacation: San Diego and Cerritos

This year we took a family vacation to visit Julie in San Diego. It was long overdue and something we aim to do again next Summer. We had such a fun time! 

We ate seafood by the pier. 

Played in the sand a lot!!!

Went to Legoland. What a fun place!

Watched a Lego Friends show.

Checked out UCSD. Such neat pieces of living artwork to explore.

Rented a group bike and toured around Balboa Park.

We celebrated 9 years of marriage and scoped out future vacation homes on an evening stroll along the ocean. 

Julie was an amazing host to us and met up with us whenever she wasn't working. The kids loved seeing her apartment again and could not get enough Tia Julie time.

From there we headed up to Cerritos to see the Weiss Family.

We met up with the Sobrino's at the LA Zoo. It was HOT that day but the Zoo was fun. 

How lucky were we- it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle day at the Zoo:) 

We explored the Brea Tar Pits. I had no idea it was in the heart of the city. That was an amazing museum I would definitely go back to again with the kids.

Playing in the LACMA display next door.