ice skating

San Diego Wild Animal Park and January Activities

January 15, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

While Aunt Sarah was in town for Auntie Lynn’s 60th birthday, we took a girls’ trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, a.k.a. the twins’ and Meredith’s true home. Someone in my Mothers of Multiples club was giving away free tickets that were going to expire and she couldn’t use, so on a whim, we took a day trip down there! Being a Tuesday in January, we had the place to ourselves, which was perfect for these three wild animal sisters.

I hatched!

Thank you for always feeding me snacks, Aunt Sarah.

Gorilla skull!

Keeping this crew in line while waiting for food is torture.

We love the Wild Animal Park, not just for the open space and roaming animals, but for all of the playgrounds throughout the zoo. I strolled Meredith through the shady tiger trails until she fell asleep while the girls played at one of the playgrounds.

The lorikeets seemed hungry that day! Meredith was still asleep and didn’t feed the birds, but I doubt she would have wanted to… she’s still traumatized from getting bit at the Living Desert zoo in Palm Springs and will randomly hold up her finger and say, “Birdie bite me!” when she sees birds.

Aunt Sarah had a photo shoot at a cute bookstore for some clients in Newport Beach and brought the girls back some fun new books for storytime.

While Aunt Sarah was in town, we also hiked to Ortega Falls, which we had been wanting to check out. There was only a trickle of water, but the girls had fun rock climbing and were entertained watching a family with legit rock climbing equipment scale the rock walls.

What it’s supposed to look like when there’s water:

I want snack!

In other January news, Noah stayed at our house overnight while the grown-ups were at Auntie Lynn’s 60th birthday party, and the girls all loved having a guest over!

Meredith has spent her whole life sitting and watching the twins do their activities, and finally got to do a gymnastics class of her own. The class for her age group requires the parents to be in class as well, but she wanted nothing to do with parental supervision and acted like she didn’t know me! Even though she’s not old enough, the coach said she could move up to the next level in which parents don’t need to be in class and she absolutely loves it.

Looks like we need some more practice on those cartwheels…

Skating lessons!

The best part of winter? Watching it on TV on an unusually hot January day at home.

Orange picking!

We had what seemed like an entire month, but was really a 10-day period at the end of January, where all of the girls were SO sick and fell like dominoes, one after the other. I thought for sure it was the flu, but it turned out to be some kind of bad respiratory virus. The twins missed a combined week and a half of school, and were not happy about going alone when the other twin was home sick. To help make her feel better on her first day back at school, with Samantha still sick at home, Jake took Amelia on a morning Daddy Daughter Date before school. This special fruity pebbles french toast was enough to coax her into being at preschool by herself that day! Where is my french toast reward for taking care of sick kids for an eternity?

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: aunt sarah, Cleveland National Forest, cousin noah, daddy daughter date Amelia, gymnastics, hike, ice skating, lorikeet feeding, Meredith gymnastics, orange picking, Ortega Falls, san diego wild animal park, waterfall

December Happenings

December 5, 2017 by Rebecca Whitehead

In December, Meredith geared up for Christmas decked out in her hand-me-down holiday outfits from the twins and spread the Christmas cheer!

Meredith couldn’t make up her mind whether to be naughty or nice this December! We rarely went on an outing without some kind of throwdown… even preschool drop-off had turned into a nightmare because Meredith refused to leave and would regularly throw herself down on the ground, kicking and screaming.

I never take her to the store anymore, unless it’s an absolute emergency because she always manages to make some kind of spectacle. In December, I was at Target with her when she started tantruming in the check-out line over the fact that I was putting the various candy bars and random items she had thrown into the cart back on the shelf. Restraining her in the cart seatbelt is impossible and she can climb out of the cart herself, so I was left with little option but to scurry out of there once I was done with the self-check out. A kind soul felt pity for me and offered to escort me to my car, pushing my cart for me, while I held a kicking and screaming Meredith under my arms like a football so that she wouldn’t be able to kick my stomach! Once in the car, it was another 20 minutes before I could restrain her in her carseat. She is SO stubborn, this one!

Not so cheery today.

Elfie returned and while his hiding spots mostly included climbing candy-cane striped pipe cleaners and literally sitting on shelves, the girls thought his antics were hilarious! They didn’t even seem to mind that he stayed in the same spot for several days in a row (no one ever told them the actual rules, so our elf goes at his own pace).

The twins chatting before their holiday dance and yoga recital.

The twins had just barely moved up into the 5-7 year old class and tried their best to keep up! We had Mele Kalikimaka in our head for weeks.

The girls were mostly excited about the recital because they got to wear a little makeup and received a rose and Yogurtland afterwards.

Sammy the reindeer pulls the sleigh.

Cheese!

I am terrible at any kind of construction project and cringe at the thought of putting together gingerbread houses, but this train wasn’t so hard.

Practicing their ice skating skills.

Checking out the camels and other animals at the live nativity in our city.

Jake was elected to the Board of Directors for our city and enjoyed texting me pictures of his picture in the office whenever he had a board meeting.

We had some warm days in December, which meant doing basically the same thing we do every day… going to the park.

Starfish!

Biking to the orange grove.

Lemons and limes, yum!

The girls rarely wait until we get home to try out their spoils. The blood oranges and clementines here are super juicy, and I rarely buy oranges at the grocery store anymore.

More sunny December days and park shenanigans.

Amelia on a random Daddy-Daughter date to the sporting goods store.

We’ve got a crazy on the loose in the orange grove!

Speaking of crazy, Meredith is a Little Miss Bossy Pants! Poor Bandit!

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: biking, dance recital, december, elf on a shelf, gingerbread house, grace and zen, ice skating, live nativity, mele kalikimaka, meredith christmas outfit, Meredith tantrum, orange grove, park, yogurtland

Samantha and Amelia’s First Time Ice Skating

November 19, 2015 by Rebecca Whitehead

Samantha and Amelia have had a lot of firsts lately! The little outdoor ice rink at the Spectrum opened for the holiday season a few weeks ago, and for whatever reason, Jake wanted to try it out with the girls, with the understanding that he would somehow have to skate with both of them. It’s a good thing Jake has a can-do attitude about everything in life; otherwise, the girls wouldn’t have tried half as many things!

Getting suited up.

I like your helmet, sis!

With Jake and I growing up ice skating at “real” rinks (a.k.a. frozen lakes), the bitty outdoor rinks here are sort of pathetic. However, the girls didn’t mind one bit!

After one round on the ice and trading skates down for a smaller size, Samantha and Amelia were back in business.

Future figure skaters? You be the judge.

We quickly discovered it was more manageable if the girls took turns skating around alone with Daddy while I waited with one of the girls on the sidelines. Samantha was not happy about it!

Go Samantha!

Amelia’s turn.

Time of their lives.

It was hard to justify the price of skating for 25 minutes, but for a first experience, it was fine!

Pooped.

Samantha and Amelia have talked about ice skating again ever since, but until they are old enough to last a little bit longer, we’ll opt for the free version at home.