Duffy Boating in Newport Beach

October 10, 2018 by

The girls had never been on a Duffy Boat before, so when our friends, the Smiths, asked us if we wanted to take a spin one Saturday, we were all in!

The girls were most excited about the free popcorn, snacks and coloring pages provided.

The seafaring crew: Kennedy, Lucero, Sebastian, Samantha, Amelia, Me, Meredith and Eleanor

That’s right.. stuff your face, Meredith.

 

Move out the way, Captain Meredith is at the helm.

Kennedy and Sebastian are always so sweet with the girls and brought along dolls and toy bugs/dinos for everyone to play with.

Sebastian was a pretty aggressive driver!

The kids thought it would be hilarious to throw popcorn in the water and watch the seagulls fight over it, but we soon had twenty seagulls landing on the boat, squawking like crazy.

All the free snacks were in addition to the cheese and salami plate we brought along, as well as the massive box of pastries Lucero brought from 89 Degree bakery. SO. MUCH. FOOD.

Eleanor wasn’t so sure about letting the kids drive.

We survived our boat ride and didn’t get ticketed by the coast guard, despite the kids’ crazy driving around in circles, so it was a win!

Lots of love,

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Beach Cruisers, Tanks, and August Adventures

August 1, 2018 by

In August, the girls checked off quite a few items from their summer bucket list, and then some.

$2 movie matinee with a probably $20 ridiculously enormous bucket of popcorn:

Biking on the boardwalk in Newport Beach, riding the Balboa ferry and playing games at the Balboa Fun Zone:

Beach cruisin’

    


Sunburned and exhausted!

Once again, the twins picked out everyone’s outfits for church.

Outfit change and after church bike ride.

There was some kind of safety fair going on at the park and the girls had a blast checking out the fire trucks, police car, and an army tank.

 

Ready to report for duty.

It’s not summer without an outdoor concert.

Daredevils at the skate park:

Jake and the girls ran into Parker and Maple at Home Depot!

The kids made some cute bookends!

In case you’re wondering where pictures of Eleanor and I are on these outings, there are none! Jake took the girls on pretty much every one of outings the entire summer, giving Eleanor and I some much needed peace and quiet on the weekends!

All of our babies get baby acne around 6 weeks, and Eleanor was no exception 🙁

  

Most of our kids complained about tummy time, but Eleanor hardly seemed to care we were forcing her to strengthen those neck muscles!

 

Hanging out with her favorite baby friend.

  

Meredith loved meeting Marisa and being cuddled for hours!

        

Contemplating the meaning of life…

Hmmmm…interesting…

Lots of love,

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Newport Marina and Knott’s Berry Farm

December 28, 2017 by

While we were in San Francisco, Grammy and Grandpa kept the girls busy at the zoo, We Play Loud and at all the parks around town. When we returned, Jake took a few extra days off work to work on putting in the new floors upstairs, so we took the kids on a few long excursions to get them out of the house.

Not missing Mommy and Daddy at all…

Our favorite beach park: Marina Park in Newport Beach.

Cheese! Grandpa remarked that the fact that the girls love eating seaweed so much goes again the natural rules of kid food!

Stylish beach baby.

Concentration.

The girls had never been to Knott’s Berry Farm, so to give Jake another full day to work on the floor, we took off on our adventure for the day. We mostly stayed in the Snoopy/Peanuts characters area, which was perfect for small kids, and ventured off to some of the bigger rides later in the day. It definitely was not Disneyland, but the girls had fun, especially mining for gold in the old western town and scarfing down the famous Knott’s chicken and boysenberry pie at the end of our long day.

Being pregnant, I couldn’t go on most of the rides, which was very convenient! Grammy and Grandpa win “Best Grandparents Award” for accompanying the girls on all the rides!

Grammy is a trooper!

Poor Grandpa!

Just watching the spinning Mexican Hat Dance ride made me nauseous!

Jake completed a good amount of flooring during our all-day excursion, and now that we’ve experience Knott’s, we don’t have to go back! Mission accomplished.

Lots of love,

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Tidepooling at Crystal Cove

September 6, 2017 by

Now that the tourists are mostly gone and most local kids are back to school, we’ve been going to the beach again! I took the girls to Crystal Cove on a weekday to look for creatures in the tide pools and we had the entire place to ourselves.

This was definitely worth waiting until the end of summer for:

It’s a bit of a hike down to the beach, but so worth it. Going back up is a different story.

Even though we timed it perfectly for low tide, we were disappointed to not find very many creatures this time around. We saw urchins and crabs, but no starfish. The girls didn’t care and entertained themselves poking the poor, squishy anemones endlessly.

Jump!

As per the usual, Meredith just wanted snacks the entire time. “Nack! Nack” is her most consistent phrase. I just took her in for her 18 month appointment and she’s officially three feet tall, 110% percentile for height and 95% for weight. If it weren’t for her lack of language skills, she could pass for a 2.5 year old, not 1.5.

Meredith can be a handful, but whenever I start complaining, I look back at what it was like to corral two toddlers all day. I honestly don’t know how I ever made it out with both of them at this age. Maybe they had a lot less energy than Meredith? Those days are hazy in my memory, but somehow we made it work… I remember using leashes on both of them!

Put me doooooown!

Samantha found all sorts of cool rocks and shells, which we couldn’t take with us, but she loved to feel them anyways.

While Samantha explored the tide pools, Meredith snacked/chased seagulls, and Amelia mostly hung out by herself building sandcastles. She was not a fan of the cold ocean water that day.

Fortunately for us, Jake played hooky for an hour and came to visit us. Everyone flocked to Daddy immediately and attached themselves to him like barnacles.

Searching for sea creatures.

 

The perfect spot to build their castle:

Amelia joined at the last minute and claimed Samantha’s castle as her own.

And that’s where the fun ended. Despite cheering them on and helping them think positive by likening them unto the Little Engine That Could, the girls complained, cried, and scowled as they dragged themselves all the way up the hill. I think I can… I think I can…

C’mon, guys! THIS IS NOT THE OREGON TRAIL.

Lots of love,

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