Our Final Days in California

Our final day in Santa Cruz included a short little jaunt over to the Boardwalk and the Pier.

Checking out the Sea Lions lounging below

But probably hands down Porter's favorite part about this trip was Cousin Time.  Jack is not embraced by the cousins quite as well as Porter and is more looked upon as a crazy annoyance (part of the problem is he has a hard time sitting down and would rather scale the bunkbed, but nonetheless, sad for my baby boy) so he did not revel in cousin time as much as Porter and I was left to attend to an out of the ordinary 2 hour bedtime routine just to get him to sleep at the beach house.  But how fun will these memories be for all these kids?

Every night the cousins were treated to songs from Uncle Johnny and an ongoing saga of Bentley the Brave and his many friends including Porter the Practical.  The kids ate it up!  I tried to catch some video of bedtime songs with the cousins, but I kept missing the cutest parts.  I do, however, love Kai's dancing in this one and you can't mistake Porter's boisterous voice!  

Oh, and this was our beautiful beach house.

We left Santa Cruz completely exhausted but so grateful to have had such an incredible trip with family we love!

The Tide Pools

We spent another morning exploring the Tide Pools at Natural Brides State Beach.

A little on the dangerous side for a large pregnant woman in flip flops holding on to an uncoordinated 4 year old, but I survived without any major issues and even managed to do a little rock climbing.  Porter loved this excursion and was so excited to do a little hiking and see all the cool creatures that lived in the Tide Pools.  We may have hit this one a little late but still managed to see crabs, star fish, anemones, and some other more scientific animals I did nerdily research but won't bore the blog here with now.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

With my children, usually a one hour visit to anywhere is about all we can handle before Porter gets whiny and Jack gets crazy, but we lasted a good 4 hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and both my kids were loving ALMOST every minute of it!  There were so many exhibits and hands on activities.  I took Porter into a question and answer session and his mother's inherited nerdiness shined through.  He couldn't keep his hand down although every time I asked him what his question was he hadn't quite thought it through but he insisted  that he had to ask a question.

Kai, Sisi and Porter excited to begin our exploration

Just taking a lunch break with daddy

In case you didn't know, Jack could out eat any of you!

Santa Cruz-The Beach

Despite the rather chilly conditions, Porter and Jack requested time at the Beach every day we were in Santa Cruz.  We had a different activity everyday, but each and every day ended with time at the beach.  So without further ado, Santa Cruz Beach in pictures.

BE PROUD. . . ONE OF THE FEW PREGNANCY PICS THAT WILL MAKE IT ON THIS BLOG

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE GREAT HOLE. . .

 LET THE CRAWLING THROUGH BEGIN. . .

CAROLINE AND SISI TESTING THE STRUCTURE

 UNFORTUNATELY, JACK TRIED IT POOH BEAR STYLE WHICH DIDN'T BODE WELL FOR HIM. . .

 BUT ONCE WE TURNED HIM AROUND HE WAS QUITE PROUD OF HIMSELF!

California- Day 1-3

While most normal people look forward to A vacation with excitement and anticipation, as the day of departure quickly approached I felt a build up of hesitation and dread. Pregnancy hasn't been so friendly this time around and my bulging disc and aching hips could think of nothing worse than a 12 hour car ride with a hyperactive 2 year old . Our trek began at 5 :30 and we were off with well behaved kids the entire way.

I will guiltily admit that jack looked like this for most of the trip which Porter worries has left Jack with a rotting brain but while Porter had toys, work sheets and sticker books to keep him entertained the only thing that kept Jack happy was Phineas and Ferb. So what was a desperate mother in pain to do? Not my proudest moment for sure.  But since our arrival home we have taken a break from technology.

 Johnny and Kristas family welcomed us with a wonderful dinner and a delightful walk around their San Jose neighborhood to get the wiggles out before we went to bed. Tommy headed into work the next morning At EY's San Jose office while Krista and I enjoyed a morning at the park and pool followed by protein smoothies and much needed naps for Cubs and I while Porter passed hour upon hour playing with Kai in pure Lego bliss. Sisi and I indulged in American Girl magazines as I realized how truly excited i am for this baby girl! A perfect day followed by a great dinner and some Downton Abbey after the kids went down. 

Don't know why but Jack loves to hide in towels!

Porter and Kai (sadly the only swim pic I snapped)

Tuesday brought a lazy morning and an expedition into San Francisco for a trolley ride, a little jaunt into China Town and a little sand time at the beach with a beautiful view of Golden Gate bridge.

Ready or Not. . .

To say I've been paranoid about how Jack will handle this upcoming arrival is a gigantic understatement.  He is a bundle of CRAZY energy that is hard to tame under the best of circumstances, let alone having a newborn who also requires constant attention.  I may wake up some nights with panic attacks but there's no turning back now!  Jealousy, fighting, attempts on her life are just a few things that my imagination has considered

.  Our recent trip to California definitely confirmed my fears but for different reasons.  Maybe the fear is that he may actually LOVE the baby too much to be safe!  It melted my heart to see how this crazy boy absolutely is 100% head over heels in love with babies.

He could not get enough of baby Anna!  He wanted nothing more but to hold her and attend to her every need (ok, well at least what he thought she needed).  Unfortunately he is 2 and really cannot hold her by himself nor should he worry about wrapping her in blankets and providing pillows for her!  Yikes!  But honestly, it melted my heart to see my little boy so in LOVE with her.  He would giggle whenever she would touch his face and would refer to her as "My Baby".  (yes, unfortunately we have a case of the 'MINES')

Oh how I love this boy of mine!

Kicking the Summer off Right (almost)

Well, we started off Summer with a BANG!  Ok, so maybe it wasn't that exciting, but we are sure enjoying ourselves.  

Let's start with the SUMMER BUZZ. Let's just say we buzzed at a 2 and this boy was basically BALD for a week or two.  But here he is at Preschool loving life and showing off for his momma.  My heart melts when I get to volunteer at school because he is so PROUD that I'm his mom and I hope that never changes!

This year was a HUGE stepping stone with Porter finishing his first year of preschool.  So bring on the summer!

This is Porter's very best friend Roxton

 (who we just found out is moving and we may never see again, poor Porter!)

Then on to LAKE POWELL with 30 mph winds (ok, so it may not have been our greatest trip, but Porter always loves being spoiled by 20 adults who adore him)  With winds like that not much could be done but we managed to enjoy ourselves immensely.  Pictures were few and far between this trip but I'll post soon.

Where was Jack you ask?  Oh just hanging out at Jenny's with her 5 fun loving kids and these adorable little puppies

Folks they aren't all pictured but there were 11 of them and combine that with 2 built in babysitters that adore him and a backyard as his own personal domain and that boy was in HEAVEN! (luckily it took out a little sting of guilt for deserting my baby boy)

And finally as if these boys life couldn't be any better this past week, daddy got to attend a BEE's game today in the Middle of the Day sponsored by work which included ANY treats they wanted including ice cream filled baseball hats!

However, truth be told the BEE's aren't having a great season so we found more enjoyment on the playground.  But we do have 2 energetic boys and sitting in the sun next to Tommy watching our two boys play, well, life couldn't be better!