Big Bear Zoo

On Sunday I took the kids to the zoo, while Max and his dad stayed behind to watch some football. The zoo is right around the corner from Max's mom's cabin, where we were staying. The boys were so excited to go to the zoo, and I have to say they were slightly disappointed because of how small it was (they're used to the San Diego Zoo), but, I think they still had fun. :) We got to see a snow owl eating a mouse, which was the highlight of the trip for Mason. He's still talking about it! What a sight for a 4 year old boy! All in all it was a fun little outing, and I'm sure we'll go back the next time we go up there!

Mason really liked these boas that were bigger than him!

My boys

I think the mountain lions wanted a taste of Archie. They kept coming over to the glass where he was standing!

Big Bear Lake

Last weekend we went to Big Bear to hang out with Max's dad, who was there visiting. It had been about a year since our last visit with him, so it was great catching up. We went to the lake and hiked around and let the boys throw rocks and get wet. Then we went walking around the shops downtown. Big Bear is a really fun place to visit and the boys had fun with their grandpa!

On our "hike."

The boys just couldn't stay on the trail. It was more fun to hike through the tall grass!

And, of course, they just couldn't stay out of the water. :)

USS Midway

We recently went to the USS Midway Museum. It was so awesome! I had never seen an aircraft carrier up close before. It is SO big! It was really cool to see how the sailors lived (small quarters) and worked on such a huge vessel! It was extra fun for us because Max's grandpa was a test pilot in the Navy and lived on an air craft carrier, so it was fun to imagine someone we know living on one. The boys got to sit in some of the airplanes and helicopters, and it was really fun, interactive museum.

So excited to see all of the airplanes!

Max thinks his grandpa flew this airplane (correct us if we're wrong?).

Me and my boys

Family Vacation

For our family vacation this year, we decided to drive up to the Sacramento area where Max's family owns some land. It was such a fun week, full of fishing, swimming in the lakes and rivers by their house, and camping under the stars. For some reason, I didn't take very many picture, but here are some from Fairy Tale land.


Mason driving the coach

Archie riding a horse

The best family photo we could get! This was taken on his family's property. It's so beautiful there!

True Story...

This is a real conversation I had with Archie the other day:

Archie: "Milk, please!"
Me: "The milk is all gone."
Archie: "Dada drink it all?"
Me: "Yep."
Archie: "Get more at a garage sale?"
Me: "Is that where we get our milk?"
Archie: "No, from Mama's boob!"

Oh my gosh! This kid cracks me up! :)

Disneyland Fun!

A couple of weeks ago, most of my siblings and their families met at my parents' house to say goodbye to our brother, Jake. He is going on a mission to Germany for 2 years. :( Anyways, while everyone was together, we decided to go to Disneyland! The kids and I hadn't been in a while, so we were really excited to go and it was so much fun for all of the little cousins to go together! The boys loved it and we can't wait to go back!

Grandma let Mason drive! He loved it!

Mason with Grandpa on Dumbo

The boys' favorite: Buzz Lightyear!

Mason and Archie with their cousin, Alice. They had so much fun together!

I just had to post this picture of my mom and Mason on Buzz Lightyear. They are both concentrating really hard on shooting the bad guys!

Lego Geniuses!

I think my kids are Lego geniuses! Every morning they wake me up with their latest creations. The other day Archie came in to our room to show us his tower. Max and I could not believe our eyes. His tower was in a perfect pattern! When he brought it to us, it didn't have the Lego on top. He said, "one more" and went and grabbed the next Lego. It was a green one, which fit the pattern perfectly! We were so amazed! Mason is a little more advanced with his building. He made a dragon the other day and honestly, it is better than anything I could have built. We are so impressed with our little building geniuses!

Archie's tower (notice the colors?)

Mason's dragon, complete with a head, legs, and tail. Wow!

Hiking!

We have been wanting to check out the hiking trails at Mission Trails Park for a while, and we finally did last week. It turned into an all day activity, when we realized we had to hike a mile and a half to get to the river. Now, that may not sound like that long of a hike, but with two boys, who don't walk very fast and stop to look at every little bug, it seemed to take forever! Plus, Max and I each had to carry a sleeping boy all the way back to the car. Nonetheless, it was a fun family activity and the boys loved it!

Part of the hike was paved...not that cool!

Mason testing how deep the water is.

Crossing the river

San Diego River Dam

They loved finding sticks!

Funny Story

I swear Archie is the smartest 22-month-old (I can say that because I'm his mother)! The other day I was out running errands and when we passed the bank he said, "Bank!". Then I pulled into the post office parking lot and he said, "Boring! Boring!" I said, "The post office isn't boring." To which he replied, "A little bit." I about died! It was the funniest conversation I've had with him. Love him!

Typical Archie

...that's what I call this picture. This is what he wanted to wear the other day. He is such a funny kid. Once he makes up his mind about something, he has to do it, and he will not be distracted. It drives me crazy most of the time, but this outfit was just too funny! I love him and I guess I'll keep him. :)

Ignore the mess in the background. It only looks like this about every other day. :)

Museum Fun!

Last week I took the kids to the "dinosaur museum" otherwise known as the Natural History Museum. It's free for San Diego residents on the first Tuesday of the month, so I decided to take advantage of it since it is usually expensive. I had taken the kids there before, and they had a special dinosaur exhibit with real fossils and dinosaur bones. This time, they had a special snakes and lizards exhibit with all kinds of exotic reptiles. At first Archie was scared of all of the displays, like the dinosaurs and polar bears, but he warmed up to them. There was a whole room full of taxidermy animals and Mason would point to the animals and say, "Why is the mountain lion dead? Why is the bird dead? Awww." I hope he didn't freak out the other kids. In the lizards and snakes room they were showing a movie and we sat through it twice. Both of the kids were enthralled with it! Mason and Archie both had a blast there and we will definitely be going back!

Mason inside a cave petting a snake! (It's fake).

The kids loved this exhibit. You spin that little black wheel and a dinosaur hatches from one of the eggs.

Mason was very impressed by the size of this snake...

...and this lizard!

If you look closely, you can see the boys through the display case. They were making the dinosaur and monkey run and climb.

Snow!

For our family vacation this year, we decided to go to Pittsburgh to visit my brother Mike and his family. Of course, Max's vacation days were in January, so we got to experience winter! We thought the kids would especially love playing in the snow, something they don't normally get to see. Mason did not like the cold at first. We had a layover in New York City overnight, so we went outside to catch the shuttle to our hotel and Mason was SCREAMING. He would not walk out the doors because it was too cold. Everyone looked at us like we were crazy. I had to explain that we are from San Diego and do not know what cold feels like. We eventually dragged him outside, but he was inconsolable until we were warm in our hotel room. When we got to Pittsburgh and he saw how much fun his cousins were having outside, he joined in. :) And, he and Archie played outside every day that we were there. They loved it and were so sad to leave their cousins and the snow!

Archie loved eating the snow! His lips and chin are still chapped from it. (And yes, he is wearing a pink snowsuit. It's Violet's. We didn't have our own.)

The best family picture we could get, with our uncooperative kids.

Me and my newest nephew, Leo.

Archie hiking back up the hill after a trip down on the sled.

Max, the boys, and Violet and Thaddeus trying to build a snowman. They weren't successful, the snow was too powdery.

Christmas Time!

Okay, I know it's January, but better late than never. A couple weeks before Christmas, we went to look at lights in a neighborhood by Max's mom's house. Max and I have gone every year since we met. Plus, the kids love it! We also got the chance to go to Disneyland a few days before Christmas. It was super crowded and we didn't stay the whole day, but it was fun to experience Disneyland for Christmas!

Us

Mason and Archie love Charlie Brown! Don't they kind of look like they belong in the cast? :)

Mason was most excited about Small World, even more so when he realized they decorated for Christmas!

Of course they had to "drive" the fire truck in Toon Town.

We went on the carousel a few times. Archie, for once, wasn't scared!