The Color Run

On a sunny weekend in November, we spent a few days in San Diego, renting an Air Bnb with our friend, Lucero, and her kiddos, Kennedy and Sebastian. We were there for a 5k fun run, the Color Run, at the football  stadium, but Samantha, Amelia and Meredith were most excited about having a sleepover party with their friends!

We stayed at the cutest beach rental, right across the street from the beach, and the kids loved their “hotel.” Sebastian stayed with Lucero in their room, we had the perfect little closet space to put Meredith inside her pack n play in our room, and the twins plus Kennedy had their very own couch bed. The girls fell asleep to a movie and everything seemed to go okay, until about 12 a.m., when Amelia randomly woke up crying/screaming and wandering to our room. She took forever to fall asleep again, at which point, Kennedy was fed up and slept in her mom’s room. Needless to say, we were all a little cranky in the morning, except for Meredith who slept peacefully in her closet.

Despite a bad night’s sleep, we got to the stadium bright and early for the 5k Color Run.

The kids were super excited about their swag, especially the gold glitter tattoos.

Ready, set, go!

The course was set up outside the football stadium, and wasn’t the most scenic of 5ks I’ve ever done, but what it lacked in scenery, it made up for in fun!

I did my best to run in spite of feeling not the greatest due to morning sickness and pregnancy fatigue. But fortunately, I kept just the right pace with the kids! Kennedy ran almost the entire way, while the twins, Meredith and Sebastian ventured out from their comfy strollers occassionally when we made them get out and run.

At each check point, volunteers stand on the sidelines throwing little balls that burst with colored powder, hence the “Color Run.”

But the best part was one of the checkpoints that featured an awesome bubble party! Definitely the favorite.

Meredith was not a fan of all the bubbles and screamed when she got wet. She refused to come out of her stroller and play with the other kids.

We made them run the last stretch and they complained the entire way.

Amelia shows off her medal.

Even though they said the powder was non-toxic and safe for pregnant people, I still didn’t want to breathe it in, so I brought a bandana to cover my face anytime there was a color bomb that burst.

The girls’ favorite part of any fun run is all the free stuff they can grab afterwards. The Color Run had some particularly popular swag, including fruit pouches, flavored sparkling water, snacks, epsom salts, protein bars and beauty products. Lucero and I grabbed as much as we could and stuffed all of it in our strollers.

After a quick lunch stop at In n Out, we showered off all that color back at the beach rental and walked across the street to the beach. The kids had a blast making an epic pool in the sand.

We were sad Lucero and kids had to go back home that day, but we hung out at the beach and stayed at the rental an extra night.

Samantha the tree climber.

The next night of sleep was significantly better than the first. It seems like whenever we go anywhere, the girls have a hard time adjusting to the new sleeping quarters, sights, sounds, etc., and never get good sleep! Everyone was so exhausted the second night that they conked out and slept in the next day. We walked around town, ate breakfast and hit the beach before heading home.

Cupcakes, anyone?

Sad to leave!

Super sad to leave!

Lots of love,

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Treasure Island Beach Family Photos

While Aunt Sarah was in town, we seized the opportunity to have her and her camera tag along with us to Treasure Island Beach in Laguna. The girls normally cringe at the mention of “family photos,” but with Aunt Sarah along, it just felt like another day at the beach. The girls quickly ignored the camera and started playing once we were done taking a few posed shots. The rest are candid (which always turn out to be the best ones) and a perfect encapsulation of a typical beach outing (crazy running around, sandcastles, kite flying, random meltdowns/tears, and wind in our hair).

Meredith wasn’t in the best mood that morning (teenager), but Aunt Sarah worked her magic and snapped some cute ones of her anyway. Thanks for the beautiful photos and easy-going morning, Aunt Sarah!

Queen of the Nile, Meredith, escorted by her caravan.

Getting ready for her close-up.

We bribed the girls with gummies to get them all together for a family shot before everyone dispersed to play.

I selected outfits from what we already had for these beach photos, but since we found out a few weeks later that we’d be having another girl, the pink ensemble worked out perfectly!

Jump, Samantha!

Run, Meredith!

Jump, Amelia!

Moody teenager.

         

Chasing the birds.

Meredith’s death glare.

Kite flying is a dangerous sport. The kite almost killed us five times randomly nose-diving from the sky straight down.

 

(Photos from my phone)

Hanging with Grammy.

 

I’m ready to be carried away, servants.

This wagon ain’t gonna move itself, slaves.

More pink coming soon! Thanks, Aunt Sarah!

Lots of love,

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The Month of Halloween

By the time Halloween finally rolled around, the month had seemed never-ending! I don’t know when Halloween turned into Christmas, but it seemed like there was something Halloween-related going on every day of October. We were pretty selective with the activities we did end up doing, but we still felt sick of Halloween by the time it got to the actual holiday!

Decorating pumpkins at preschool:

As the Room Mom, I helped out with this activity, and man, was painting pumpkins with 20 preschoolers stressful! I had to go home and take a nap afterwards.

Earlier in the month I had helped out Amelia’s class with a monster craft.

 

Halloween dress rehearsal for Meredith.

Preschool Harvest Party. Amelia just loves her teacher, Miss Becky.

The school’s Harvest Party always features a bunch of games, and this year, Samantha won a beta fish by successfully tossing a ping pong ball into the fish bowl. She named the fish Vivian and a month later we ended up getting it two new friends, who recently died after Jake changed the water too quickly and they went into shock. Vivian remains the lone survivor.

Grace and Zen class Halloween dance.

Decorating cupcakes with friends.

As a Room Mom, one of our biggest events of the year is the Annual Dinner. The most stressful part is constantly bugging everyone for donations to our class basket, which is then auctioned off at the dinner, as well as finding restaurants and people with connections to donate higher-ticket items for the live auction. We spent the better part of two months planning it, and I’m pretty sure other parents were avoiding me by the end since they were so sick of me bugging them for donations, but this year’s  rodeo-themed dinner ended up being a hit!

The Hamilton tickets Jake was able to get donated from a vendor of his firm went for the highest price of any item during the auction, and I was happy to have finally won the bid for one of the class platters (each class decorates a platter with their thumbprints and some kind of design– parents are always fighting over them). I also won the “Family Fun Night” class gift basket which included a bunch of movies, board games, a snuggly blanket, a popcorn maker, and pizza gift cards. Amelia made me promise to win one of the most popular items– an ice cream social with Miss Becky and three friends, but I was outbid by one of the other Room Moms. There’s always next year!

Phi and Sarahs’ kids don’t go to our preschool, but they were nice enough to support our school, buy tickets and join us for date night. So fun to to have them there!

This is the closest Jake has to anything cowboy themed in his wardrobe.

Jake’s back was killing him for days, but he said it was worth it.

Our town does a Harvest Celebration and I’m not sure exactly what it entailed since Jake took the girls while I… napped? Got stuff done? I don’t remember. But the girls came back looking like enjoyed the carnival. And since I’m not a huge fan of carnivals, it worked out well for everyone.

On another random Daddy Daughter Excursion, Jake decided to take the girls to Chuck E. Cheese of all places. They always come back from school talking about it (I’m assuming it’s a favorite amongst the other preschoolers), but the girls had never been. Finally, their dream came true! 

It was everything they had hoped for and more. Except they never really talked about it again and haven’t said anything about wanting to go back, so that’s a win for me since I don’t really want to go there.

Finger-lickin’ bbq chicken!

On Halloween morning, the twins had a preschool field trip to Zoomars. Since I chaperoned last year’s field trip, Jake took over on this one, but I decided to drive over there with Meredith at the last minute since we didn’t have any plans that morning anyway. It was the best of both worlds– we all got to hang out, but I didn’t have to ride the bus! I felt kind of bad thinking about Jake’s very long legs being squished into those tiny bus seats, but I had to suffer through last year, so it was his turn!

Who says I need to be in preschool to crash this field trip?

Meredith wanted to cuddle/ride/pet/hug every single animal.

Poor goats!

Some of the preschoolers were nervous about riding the pony, but not Meredith!

Who is the kid with the aviator glasses and bomber jacket?!

Meredith was kicked out of the guinea pig petting area for continually picking them up wrong and tossing them!

Meanwhile, the twins were so nice and gentle to those poor guinea pigs. They spent an hour in here and thus didn’t have time to ride the pony.

Samantha and Claire with their cuddly guinea pigs.

We tried to distract Meredith from the guinea pigs by riding the train again and again.

Those poor guinea Pigs. Don’t know if Meredith has been blacklisted from Zoomars, but we may have to wait another year before going back!

Lots of love,

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Legoland with the Gerins and Bubblemania at Moonlight Beach

Every October, we try to make it down to San Diego as much as possible, because many theme parks and activities are free for kids in San Diego the entire month! This Legoland trip, our cousins joined us for an action-packed day of rides and pure exhaustion.

Poor Hailey– not much for her to do except watch!

Meredith was tall enough to go on several of the kiddie rides– she was obsessed with this helicopter.

Hi cousin!

Legoland is definitely no where near as crowded as Disneyland, but waiting in line for more than two minutes with Meredith is basically torture.

Safari ride.

Hit the spot!

The line for this jousting ride was one of the longest– no idea why, but it was the girls’ favorite ride of the day.

Samantha is a total thrill-seeker and went on Legoland’s version of Splash Mountain twice with Jake and Zack.

Drying off.

Meredith followed this princess around asking for a pic.

Lunch break.

The struggle is real.

Too bad Meredith was napping; she would have loved the Duplo playground.

One of the highlights of the day was feeding the ducks. Should have just stayed home!

Meredith woke up right as Jake and the twins passed by on the storybook ride. Needless to say, she was NOT happy about being left out.

An exciting cousins adventure!

We stayed nearby at the Omni La Costa and enjoyed some ice cream and s’mores by the fire pit to end our exhausting day.

Before heading home the next day, we spent the morning at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. It had a nice park right next door and super clean bathrooms, checking off two must-have items on my list.  We were there early enough in the morning that the beach was uncrowded and it was a perfectly warm/clear day to boot.

Anytime sand is involved, the girls’ favorite pastime is to attempt to dig a hole to China, hoping to avoid lava on the way there.

 

Meredith needed a little time to warm up to the idea of getting wet. She kept wanting to wipe the sand off of her feet and legs with baby wipes!

Almost to China!

NOT happy about being stuck in a hole.

A bonus was this random old guy making giant bubbles with homemade bubble solution for all the kids on the beach to frolic around. He even does bubble birthday parties and gave us his card.

 

Inside a giant bubble!

Legoland, beach and bubbles made for the perfect short getaway!

Lots of love,

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