5/11/15

March - another epically long post

March 5th - our first official swimming day.  I got the kids wetsuits for Cambria, but they didn't really use them there, but they use them in the pool.  They extended our swimming season by a month, so I guess it was worth the investment.

Noah and Ava had their Jog-a-thon right before heading to Cambria.  Ava's teacher dressed up as superwoman for their race.  She said Ava ran like crazy and just kept going around and around. 
Cambria - March 6-10
First of March we went to Cambria with my parents and Kyle's family. We rented a house about a block from Moonstone beach.  Kyle and Emily take searching for sea glass very seriously, so we tried our best to put up a good fight.  Gus is probably the most successful at it.
 
There's something about the ocean that is so calming and peaceful, yet so scary and daunting (especially with kids).


Ollie was scared of me for most of the trip (I entirely blame his parents for not visiting us more regularly. :) ), so I tried my hardest to gain his friendship.  He was hiding his face in the rocks so he didn't have to look at me. Ha!  Towards the end of the trip, I had to change his diaper a couple times, and suddenly he realized I wasn't so bad.  I guess I need to wipe his bum from the get go to gain his approval.
The men solving the worlds problems.


The water is pretty cold (around 58 degrees), but the kids didn't care. They got wet everyday.

"Ava only get wet to your knees!"  Yeah right.

Pulled our the wetsuits at this beach, but they ended up getting in without them. 
Cayucos beach (?)

Kyle and Adam diving in Baywatch style.
San Simeon pier





Checking out what the fisherman caught.

Took the long way home (makes you start singing that song by Supertramp, huh?) to see some of the beautiful scenery.  California is unbelievably beautiful in the winter and spring.  Anywhere there is dirt, it's covered in bright green grass.


Stopped at a little farm store and found some goats.

Had to show my parents these amazingly huge, ugly, fascinating elephant seals.

Sunset walk.  Ava and Gus really hit it off, and became really good friends. 


Hm, wonder what he is thinking about???  I was actually surprised how close to the edge he got.


More beach time.  Emily's mom and sister showed up to their house, so we got to spend a couple days with them.  I used to work with both of them for many years and absolutely love aunt Becky and her family.  It was fun to see and visit with them for awhile.

My little explorer.  He spent hours just roaming the beaches looking for treasures.
Love that smile.  Uncle Kyle taught Noah how to boogie board.

Gus took a spill and wasn't happy about it.  It's fun to watch my little brother as a dad.  Who would have guessed he would turn out to be such a good one?! He and Emily are great parents.
Grandpa's lap makes a perfect (soft) recliner.








Em with her boys.


We found pirate Steve in Morro bay.  The kids thought it was so cool to hold a real sword.
Went on a beautiful bike ride with Adam and Kyle one day.  Way too many hills, but the scenery was incredible.
 
Hearst castle.


Walking around Cayucos.  Ava thought she needed a picture by every mermaid she saw.




It was a great trip.  Fun to be with family for a few days.
Grant started t-ball in March.  He's loving it!!  We had to purchase a sports cup for the games, and the kids have had all sorts of fun with their new learned information on the device.  Each game Ava and Noah inquire to see if Grant is wearing his cup. :) 
 
Every kid plays every position, so he got his turn at catcher. 
Girls night out to go see Cinderella. 
Went to Noah's sports night at his school. 

Took the boat out and even brought our fishing gear.  I never thought I'd see the day that Adam would allow fishing in his boat.  We didn't catch anything.  The kids lose interest after 15 minutes and just want to swim and play on the beach.

Folsom lake

Ava had a little accident and we didn't have a change of clothes, so she wore my wetsuit.  She looks like a little sumo wrestler.
We usually don't get to swim until middle of April, but we had such a warm winter, and March was unseasonably warm, we got to start boating much earlier.  No complaining here; although, our season might end really early because of the drought. :(
We had our pinewood derby pack meeting in March.  I made trophies for the top 3 winners.  Here they are pre-spray paint.

Noah's car.  He designed it and sort of built it.  He got lazy with the sanding, so Adam finished that.  I taped it off for the spray paint, but he painted it.  
I made those certificates for all the boys and picked up the badges at the scout store.  Noah's car jumped the track on his last race, so he was out during the first round (his weights came out of the back on that race - next time we'll put them closer to the front). 
He spent the first half of the races crying (silly boy has anxieties about pack meetings), but when it was his turn he realized it was fine and started to enjoy himself.

This is how my trophies turned out.  The kids thought they were cool.  The 2nd and 3rd place trophies I painted silver.
Walks through the creek are beautiful this time of year.  Wild flowers as tall as me.
California poppies blooming everywhere.
Saw this funny tree in our creek one day. 
Noah has been saving his coins (what they earn for doing chores) for months, so he could take a trip to a science museum in San Francisco.  We finally had a free weekend, so Noah and I got a hotel in San Fran and got to spend the weekend together.  He is such a pleasure to be with when he's by himself!  Those babies pester pester pester. :)  We got there at dinner time and we were about a block from China town, so I was hoping to go exploring and find some yummy Chinese food, but after Noah took a shower he said we wasn't feeling good.  He was really pale and I thought maybe he was getting the flu (Grant, Ava and Adam had it a few days prior).  I was really nervous our trip was going to be ruined, but he ended up feeling better a few hours later.  I ended up looking out my window to see what was across the street and just ordered from there.  It was actually pretty good.  They make homemade noodles for their soups and pad thai.  I left Noah in the room with strict instructions to not open the door and he could watch me out the window while I picked up the food.  We ate our pad thai, sushi and pot stickers in the room and watched cartoons all night.  He thought he was pretty lucky. 
Luckily he felt fine in the morning, so we found a yummy breakfast shop and had eggs and donuts. 
We walked to the farmers market at the Ferry Building.  Oh man, I could have spent all day there.  That market is incredible.
Tons of crazy mushrooms.
We bought our lunch there (snap peas, cucumbers, carrots and nuts).  We knew we wouldn't have time to stop for lunch, so we needed some quick bites to snack on until dinner.
 
I let Noah pick between the SF Science museum or the Exploritorium.  He picked the Exploritorium because it's ALL hand on.  HE LOVED IT!! 
 
Toilet drinking fountain.  There's a regular drinking fountain next to this one, and a sign that reads "Which fountain would you pick".  Noah picked the regular one, until I begged him for a picture by the toilet one.  :)

I want to make this wall someday. 

This place was so cool.  Hundreds of hands on experiments and cool gadgets.  We could have spent all day there and not gotten to everything.  This one (picture above) was probably his favorite.  He still laughs about it now.  2 people sit across from each other and put on the headphones.  There's a knob you can turn to speed up or slow down your voice.  Then you speak into the microphone and the other person here's your voice either super fast or really slow.  Noah was laughing so hard he was tearing up.  It was hysterical to watch him. 
We spent about 4 hours at the Exploritorium and then got a ride (used Uber - if you need a taxi or a ride in a big city use Uber - much better than the bus or taxis) to the Opera House. 
I got $25 ballet ticket for Don Quiote (I'm on their email list that sends out deals on cheap seats, but didn't think I'd every get down there to use them. Figured while we were in San Fran, and it happened to be at the same time as the ballet, might as well go).  Our seats were awesome (first row on the first balcony), and Noah was able to watch the pit orchestra.  I loved it, and Noah even enjoyed it for about 3/4 of it.  It's a LONG ballet (2 1/2 hours), so I don't blame him for getting bored after awhile.  He started messing with my camera settings during intermissions to stay occupied.  We drove home after the ballet and ate dinner at Fenton's to finish off our trip.  It was really fun to spend some quality time with Noah.  He said it was worth saving and spending all his coins on it.  
Well, that's what happened in March.  Seems like we just get busier and busier, and time is going faster and faster, but we're trying to enjoy life as much as we possibly can.








3 comments:

Mary said...

Every time I read your blog I think just how lucky your kids are to have such devoted and fun parents. Can't wait to see you this summer.

ellisgomez said...

I agree with Mary! Lucky kids... great parents! Super fun family :)

The Yoder's Five said...

You got to see Don Q!! Awesome! Looks like you've been busy having fun. All those beach pictures makes me excited for our beach trip in a couple of weeks.