Saturday, July 30, 2011

Discovery Kingdom & Muir Woods with Papa Rex

Papa Rex and LeeAnn got to come and stay with us a few days after the month at the beach house. Okay, not an entire month, but wow, talk about back to back vacations! We decided that a trip to Discovery Kingdom was definitely in order!
 Lincoln was taking some ownership of his bench on the train.
 We got to ride the helicopters. They were so much cuter when they were all Thomas themed with Harold. I wonder what happened?
 We got to see the whale show this time!
 The boys loves hanging out in the shark exhibit. Ethan would squeal as each animal would pass. He especially loved the stingrays. 
A few days later, we decided to venture out yet again, this time to go to Muir Woods. I have never been here before. The fog was completely eerie as you drive in, but once you arrive it was so peaceful and amazingly gorgeous.
 There is something about redwoods that makes me want to breathe a little deeper.
 The boys loved running around together. They have about 5 bridges you get to cross and they were thrilled with each one!
 Of course, running through trees is always a bonus.
 I definitely like posing inside trees. I guess it's a bonus for me as well!
 Too bad we couldn't all fit in the tree!
Every time Papa Rex comes for a visit he helps us get some job done around the house. This time he helps is pour cement at the front of our house, extending our porch on either side.
 We love how it looks now! Thank you so much! We had a fabulous time with all of our visits this summer!
 My sweet boys, just after waking up. I love them so much it hurts.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Oh My GOODNESS!

This morning I made these delightful PINK lemonade cookies. I promise. They are divine.
I am bringing them to work today because, yesterday, we found out we were having one of these:
And yes, it is a pink version. Coming December 2011! Our Ultrasound Tech was quite the interesting character. She told us she could "usually find a pecker, no matter how small." So I guess she was pretty confident that we're having a girl!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Beach House with Papa Rex!

My dad had the beach house for three weeks in a row! We got to come down and visit for all the weekends! In the last year or so we have discovered this fabulous gourmet Mexican place in Carmel Valley and we now frequent it multiple times when we are down in Monterey. My Dad's wife, LeeAnn brought her kids (and families) to the beach house, and my brother Nate actually got to come as well. It was a great time!
These kids were so funny, they loved hopping and jumping around together the entire time.
We convinced Derek to try sushi for the first time.
Immediately after this face, he said, "actually it wasn't all that bad. I was expecting much worse."
But what can you expect from this guy?
Can you guess where we went?
Yeah, for the tidepools! At least we hit up a different section of tidepools each time, and really, there are new surprises every time we go.
Ethan found a pre-historic looking animal and told me he had found a roly poly bug. I think he nailed it.
Papa Rex! 
I love that all the boys are focused on different treasures.
Ethan found the remains of a crab and spent quite some time studying it. He is such a curious boy, always excited to learn.
Lincoln was just so happy to be able to run around by himself. I think this is the first time we've let him explore the rocks on his own!
I think John is giving Rex a rexplanation!
He found us a HUGE sea star to enjoy!
John also found a real crab and the boys were comparing specimens.
I love Lincoln's face in this picture. "What are you doing? Are you kidding me?"
"No, you are kidding me!"
And of course, the kids loved playing at the park! Aren't you glad I have so many new and exciting places to show you?
Lincoln got his exploring on.
We even attempted some family photos. Although no one told us about any coordinating colors.
As a family, meaning John, Me, Ethan and Lincoln, we just weren't feeling the photography bug. The boys were completely restless!
The wind was not cooperating either!
But at least we got a few cheesy ones in.
Look how fast this kid runs!
Look how quickly his top teeth are coming in!
Love these slides!
Maybe we should just take some family pictures in slides from now on, since they are my favorite pics.
Pure bliss.
This sequence cracks me up.
I love that he squeezes his eyes closed!
They are starting to play so well together and every time I see it, I want to remember it forever.
It just didn't feel right without a picture of the red roller slide.
John and I got to go see a 3D movie, the last Harry Potter! Fantastic! And those shades were ever-so-glam!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Lawrence Hall of Science

Another one of our field trips we took this summer was to the Lawrence Hall of Science. They had a pretty cool exhibit was animated dinosaurs.
 I think my favorite thing was this giant pin machine. You usually see these that are about the size of your hand that you press on and the pins are displaced by your hand and show the image on the other side. Well they had giant-sized ones that Ethan had a ball playing in!
 They had a dino dig area, where you could uncover real dinosaur bones!
 If Lincoln were talking right now, he would be asking "why on Earth am I stuck in this stroller?!"
 Measuring up!
 I remember being mesmerized by one of these when I was little.
 I want to put one of these up in my house! It had all these plastic rectangles that you could manipulate all around this board and create pathways for little balls that you would drop from the top. I would want to play with this one for hours!
 While we were here, I learned that there is no such thing as a bracheosaurus. Evidently the confused the wrong head from a previously named dinosaur. They also claimed that they now believe the dinosaurs had feathers through their teenage years. Weird!
 I loved the little science discovery area too where you could perform all these physics experiments. Don't mind the unders, Ethan did his own experimenting through the pond earlier.
 What a fun place to play! We will definitely have to come back in the future!