Family Vacay - Final Day

Our final day was spent at the beach. We rode around the boardwalk on beach cruisers, which was something we had never done and thoroughly enjoyed! I could seriously do that everyday. It was beautiful! Erik and I both liked picking out our favorite houses and people watching as we pedaled by.

At first, Jeremy pulled Claire and Crew in the wagon, which was a little cramped for her comfort. Soon after, I tried to ride with her on the back of my bike. It was way harder than it looked. I seriously pedaled about 10 yards and had to switch because she completely threw off my balance. I guess I'm not that great of a bike rider. :)

Claire was eventually moved to the back of Erik's bike and she absolutely loved being on the baby seat and wouldn't let go of her helmet. I'm sure she enjoyed the scenery as much as we did. I don't know what could be more beautiful!

After we rode around for a while, it was time to stop and enjoy the beach. One thing I had never realized was how wide the beaches are in L.A.. I was so used to seeing the narrow beaches you find in tropical places. Claire was excited to finally play in the sand and just like the first day, she was nervous about getting too close to the water.

As you can see, Claire really enjoyed herself. What could be better than eating yummy kettle corn out of Mommy's hat and sand out of beach shovel? Mmm....delicious!



Later, Erik and Jeremy played around with a kite while Claire and I looked on. To be honest, it took them forever to get it in the air and provided some good entertainment for us girls and Crew on the sideline. Later, when they had enough of the kite, Erik found some little crabs to entertain Claire. Spending the morning at the beach was a great way to end our vacation. We packed so many things into our short weekend; it was amazing! I was so grateful we were able to spend time as a family in such a beautiful place.

 

 

Unfortunately, our plane ride home wasn't as enjoyable as the days before. Claire threw a HUGE temper tantrum and would not stop screaming. She was so exhausted from our weekend of no naps and late bedtimes and nothing would calm her down. After about 10 minutes she was able to console herself and ended up falling asleep on my knee while standing up. That was definitely a first!

Family Vacay - Part 2

On Saturday, in order to do something we love, we had to do something we hate. The four adults woke up bright and early (yuck!), left the kiddos with a babysitter (yahoo!), and went out on the water for a morning jet ski run (yay!). I was extremely nervous leaving Claire with someone I had never met before because (a) I didn't know who she was and (b) it was going to be for half of the day. Since my friend Terra trusted her, I figured Claire would be in good hands and to our surprise, she didn't mind being with a stranger. Uh...that could be a bad thing though. :)

As we headed out onto the water, I started to feel bad for Erik. There were two jet skiis for the four of us and so we had to ride together. Erik is such a dare devil and I get very nervous/skittish when on a small motor craft in the middle of the ocean. It was a cold morning and I knew I was going to be freezing, which added to my guilt of wanting Erik to drive about 5 mph. Thankfully, we met in the middle. Erik gunned it a few times so I screamed in his ears to stop :) and the rest of the time he drove at a comfortable speed we could both enjoy. Jeremy guided us up and down the coastline and we got the best surprise ever! For a short time, we were riding along with a school of dolphins. Amazing! That was definitely the highlight of my day and I could have gone home right then. We rode around a while longer and made sure to visit some nearby sea lions perched on a buoy. The males were very protective as we got close and were barking for us to go away. A couple of them jumped in the water, which made me nervous that they were going to come attack us and we wouldn't be able to get away in time. I am such a scaredy cat! I am still waiting to get the pictures Terra took of Erik and I on her camera so for the time being here are Terra and Jeremy (just picture our heads on their bodies):

Once we finished jet skiing, we grabbed some lunch at a really cute cafe called "Mendocino Farms Sandwich Market". We sat around a table and chatted while we enjoyed our yummy pulled-pork sandwiches. While we were eating, I noticed a very old man sitting on a nearby bench. He was holding a leash to his big dog who looked very hot and thirsty. The animal lover in me made me very concerned for the dog, so I got some water and took it over to the pup. The old man was very nice and out of no where said "do you want to buy my dog?". I was a little taken back at first. He went on to say that he was in his nineties and wanted to see his dog go to a nice family before he passed away. So sweet! Erik thought I was ridiculous for interrupting his lunch to give his dog water, but it was clearly appreciated and it brightened up my day.

After lunch we headed back to the house to pick up the kids. Crew had a birthday party to go to at a nearby park so we played with Claire on the playground while we waited. Of course, she had so much fun and went down the slide about a hundred times.

This was day two of missed naps and late bedtimes, so by the time we hopped back in the car to begin our evening in downtown L.A., Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, the kids were pooped! Claire NEVER falls asleep in the car so the fact that she completely zonked out to the point where she couldn't hold her head up was hilarious!

It has been almost 20 years since I have been back to Los Angeles, which is funny because I've been to California many times in those 20 years. One thing that I had never done on my trips to L.A., was go to Beverly Hills. Here we are in front of the Beverly Hills sign as if you couldn't tell already:

Erik was a trooper as we drove around looking at all of the expensive stores and cars that drove by. Of course, I had to make them take us down Rodeo Drive and when we got to a stop light I acted like a stupid tourist and stuck my head out of the sunroof to take a picture. I probably looked so retarded! Oh well. No one would let us stop so I could walk around so that was the best I could get. Beverly Hills is gorgeous! Later, we drove through some of the neighborhoods to look at the incredible mansions and they really were amazing! There were palm trees and beautiful green hedges everywhere! Erik and I kept asking ourselves "how do all of these people have so much money?". What a beautiful city!

Up next was Santa Monica Pier, another place I had never been to. It is such a unique place. Muscle beach to the south, a mini-amusement park, and a beautiful beach to the north. I have always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel so that was our first stop. Thankfully, we made it before the sun went down and while at the top, we got to see a beautiful sunset. At first, Claire was amazed that we were so high in the air, but then all of the noise around her made her a little nervous and she wouldn't let go of Erik. I had to pry her out of Erik's arms so I could get a picture with her. All in all, it was really fun!

Claire was too small to go on any of the rides by herself so Erik took her and Crew on a kiddie hot air balloon ride. Claire was scared to death! She sat there next to Erik and it looked like her eyes were going to pop out of her head. Afterwards, I realized it was probably a little too adventurous for her first ride being that it went around in circles and flew in the air all at the same time. We probably should have started with the little cars that stay on the ground. To our amazement, when the ride was finished Claire was furious. She immediately screaming because she wanted to get back on. So funny!

Below is a short video of Claire's first kiddie ride:

We spent a while wandering around the pier and then headed over to "Bubba Gump" for a delicious dinner. It was a great end to our very fun and busy day. Probably the cutest thing that took place was on our drive home. I looked over and Crew and Claire were holding hands. Too cute!

 

(Post about our final day coming soon.)

Family Vacay - Part 1

Only a few days after Claire and I got back from "Zona" (Arizona), we headed out for our first real (real means an airplane was involved) family vacation. Claire was very excited to go on another airplane and she insisted we were going to "Zona" yet again. Every time I told her we were going to California she would reply with "airpanes zona!". It was so nice to have Erik next to me to help us get through the two hour flight to LAX. Toddlers just don't understand "don't put your feet on the chair in front of you". :)

By the time we got to our friend's house near Redondo Beach, it was almost midnight. Claire had a very long night and I knew that wasn't going to pose well for the next day. A few short hours later, Claire awoke in the new surroundings and we informed her that we were at Crew's house. The two of them had never met and are about two years apart, but they still managed to have a great time together. Firefighter and Batman costumes, toy trains, and our iPad all kept them entertained for a couple of hours. Soon, we were off on our first excursion; exploring some nearby tide pools. We took a little hike down to the beach and told Claire about the ocean. The one thing I was looking forward to during this trip was the opportunity to let Claire see and feel the ocean for the first time. I only wish she would remember what took place. She loved the hike down to the water but as soon as she heard the waves crumbling over the rocks she got nervous and didn't want to leave Daddy's arms. It turned out to be a wonderful Daddy-Daughter bonding experience.

Unfortunately, the tide was in so it was very difficult to hike over to the remaining tide pools, but we managed and Erik even found Claire some tiny crabs. She loved looking at them and to my surprise, wanted them to stay as far away as possible. She'll put a five-foot snake around her neck (post coming soon) but is scared of a one-inch crab? Strange girl!

At this point, Claire still hadn't set foot on the sand or in the ocean. It was very rocky near the tide pools so once we walked past them it was time to pry her out of Erik's arms. We took her shoes off, set her on the sand, and waited for her reaction. Immediately, Claire was very unsure of the sand on her toes, however, a couple of steps later, you could tell she was starting to enjoy the feeling. We strolled along the sand for a few minutes and then decided it was time to head out for some lunch and get on with our day.

What fantastic, trendy restaurant did we hit up for lunch? Good ole' Trader Joe's. Yes, the grocery store. We like our meals extravagant and our booth must always be private. J/K :) Our salads and sandwiches were delicious and the nearby grocery carts provided wonderful entertainment for Claire and Crew. It was a great way to spend lunchtime catching up with old friends.

After lunch, we headed back to the house to gear up for our evening ahead. Before dinner we stopped at the beach for some quick family snapshots taken by my friend Terra. I was so happy to have beach photos taken and may just have to use them for our Christmas card this year since they turned out so cute.

As we headed back to the car, Claire couldn't ignore the new and exciting sand beneath her feet. It only took a moment for a handful of sand to make it into her mouth. Yuck! 

Probably the best part of our vacation was all of the quality time Claire and Erik were able to spend together. You could really tell how much Claire loved all of the rough-housing and exploring day after day. So adorable!

It was a long and eventful day and we were all dying to get some food in our bellies. Unfortunately, the restaurant we chose had a very long wait, but we made do.

By the time we sat down, we stuffed our faces with bowl after bowl of chips and salsa. Yum! Erik and I had our usual chicken enchiladas and Claire pretty much filled her tummy with chips and Crew's french fries. It was such a well balanced meal. :)

Our first day in Los Angeles managed to turn out wonderful despite a late bedtime the night before and a missed nap. We crossed our fingers that the remaining days of our weekend trip would go so well.

Me and Terra

"Airpanes & Zona"

On May 31st, Claire and I headed down to my sister's house in Arizona. I was so excited for Claire to experience going on an airplane and knew she was going to love it. This was her second time on a plane (her first when she was 5 months old) and she would not stop talking about it. "Airpanes" and everything that goes along with them were fascinating to her. Admiring the airplanes from afar, looking out our seat window as we took off into the air, and even catching up on some Sky Mall reading, were all exciting for Claire. She handled herself pretty well on our hour and a half flight to Phoenix and we were both happy to get our vacation started.

It has been a long time since Claire has seen her Lopez cousins, but thanks to reviewing their names and faces in her picture book, it was like she saw them everyday. We walked into their house and Claire was already in heaven. Kids to play with and toys everywhere! First thing she did was run into the living room and sit on Brooklyn's chair. Brooklyn is only 6 weeks younger than Claire and it was so entertaining to watch them interact with one another. Claire did get a little jealous when Brooklyn hopped on my lap and blocked me from Claire momentarily, but all in all, they were great friends. It was as if it was only yesterday that they saw each other last; too cute!

With five kids, my sister's main job is a taxi driver. We spent our first afternoon picking one child up from one place, taking them to another, dropping off yet another child somewhere else...it was never ending. The next morning we had our first day at the pool. This was Claire's first pool day for the year and boy was she adventurous. I'm going to have to buy her a life jacket because she would jump in the pool time after time when I wasn't even ready to catch her. A little nerve-wracking to say the least. She LOVED splashing around, sitting on the steps with "Bookin" and jumping to Mommy after saying "one, two, tee, jump".

One of our last taxi stops for that day was to Lindsay's swim practice. At 11 years old, Lindsay is Claire's oldest cousin and I must say, an amazing swimmer! I was anxious to watch her as she's done so well at various swim meets and I wanted to see her in action. She did not disappoint. Way to go Lindsay! We all enjoyed a yummy graham cracker snack and then Claire took Brooklyn for a ride in the stroller. I love the picture below! Brooklyn's face is hilarious and it looks like she is honestly thinking Claire was going to push her into the pool.

The next day the kids had multiple end of season swim parties for their various sports teams. Claire and I joined Kayla at her softball team pool party for the afternoon. Before we jumped in the pool, we enjoyed watching the host's pet turtle walk around their patio. Claire was surprisingly a little scared and didn't even want to walk near it. Not a typical reaction for Claire Bear. After some yummy food, we put Claire in an inflatable duck to soak in the sun. She loved it until we put Brooklyn in too. Lately, we've started to have a slight issue with sharing. :) "My turn" became a main part of her vocabulary while we were there.

At one point that afternoon, Claire kept trying to drag me over to the diving board as if she wanted to go off of it. So I followed her lead, put a life jacket on her and we went for it. I wasn't about to tell her it'd be too scary for her. If she was going to go out on a limb and be really adventurous, I wasn't going to stop her. She jumped off the diving board with a little help from Kayla and of course a period of crying ensued shortly after. I actually think that it wasn't the jump that scared her but the life jacket that was extremely uncomfortable, because she didn't stop crying until I took it off of her. She'd never had one on before and I'm sure it probably jammed into her chin when she landed into the water. Despite her reaction, I hope to get her up on the ledge again in the very near future.

Every time I visit family, taking portraits always appears on the calendar. :) Thankfully, I am always happy to oblige. Sometimes when I am in the moment I want to yank their teeth out, but when I get a great shot, my frustration disappears and I am excited for the results. One evening, we told the kids to put on some cute shirts, brushed their hair, kept their sweat pants on (a real stress saver) and jumped in the car. At first, we only took a couple of the kids but after we got some great shots, we drove home as fast as we could and grabbed the rest of them. I'm glad we did because I think we got some winners.

The biggest downfall of spending summer days in Arizona is that it is HOT! It was about 110 degrees while we were there so after maybe an hour at the pool each day, we spent the remaining time in the car or at home. During the day you can't even play at the park because the slides are too hot, so that was something you had to do at night. One evening after dinner, we took the kids to a neighborhood park to get out some much needed energy. Claire and Brooklyn went down the slide a billion times. Definitely a fun night!

Sunday, it was time to put on our dresses and and make the trek to church. Getting three adults and six kids to church on time is tough. Aren't these two adorable in their cute dresses?! I just want to pinch their little cheeks!

Monday brought us yet another afternoon at the pool. We were only their for an hour so we  had to take advantage of every second. The two little ones spent the majority of their time jumping to Liisa and I while the others annoyed us by getting too close to our "baby area" and splashing us. :) I guess we couldn't expect anything else from four kids aged 5 to 11.

Claire and I spent a total of 5 days in Arizona and we couldn't have had more fun. The little kids loved playing with my iPad and spending much needed quality time together. Brooklyn even tried to comfort Claire one afternoon by joining her in time out. Such a supportive cousin! The night before we left, Claire was enjoying running around the house being chased by her older cousin, Connor. Of course, it always ends with someone getting hurt and this time was no different. Claire ran straight into a wood bed frame and took a bad hit to her right eye. Poor thing was red and swollen in a matter of seconds.

 

A few hours before we had to leave, Claire was getting in a much needed nap while I entertained Kayla and Haylee with some paper towel butterfly making. I mentioned to Haylee the first day we got there that we could make these and she never let me forget. :) They really enjoyed dying the paper towels and I was happy to give them something to do for a few minutes even if I was dripping in sweat after being outside for five minutes.

Of course, we had to leave eventually.The two of us had so much fun but I was glad to head home and force Claire to catch up on some sleep.

I had a blast catching up with my sister while we were there and Claire thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her cousins.

Claire is still talking about our trip and we both can't wait to see them again!

Rain, Planes, and Trains

To start off the Memorial Weekend, our family decided to go to the "Warriors Over The Wasatch" event at Hill Air Force Base. None of us had been and Erik and I knew Claire would love it. Erik's Mom joined us as we spent the 45 minute drive north listening to music and relaxing in our air conditioned car. By the time we got to the air force base, there were slight rain sprinkles, but nothing to be upset about. We began our journey from the car to the main entrance and with each step the rain came down harder. Literally, we were maybe 20 yards from the entrance and it was raining so hard that we turned around. So much for that! Erik ran ahead to try and get Claire to the car as quickly as possible. I wish I would have had it on video. Our umbrellas were going inside out due to the wind and we were soaked. It was seriously laughable! We had gotten so close, but didn't get to see a thing. Finally, we made it back to the car. Erik rushed to turn the heater on high (remember we had the A.C. on earlier) and I grabbed Claire out of her stroller. As I unbuckled her, she looked up at me and said "airpanes?". I felt so bad. She loves airplanes so much and would have had a blast. Guess we'll have to take her there next year.

With such a quick change in weather on Saturday, we all hoped Monday would be different, and thankfully, we were right. Monday was beautiful! We drove up to Heber for their "Day Out With Thomas" train ride. The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot. Perfect! Before Claire's train ride, we spent a little bit of time walking around playing games with Claire. She and Erik enjoyed a quick golf game on the putting green, she got a cute "Thomas" tattoo on her hand, and blew (or at least tried to) giant bubbles. Khloe enjoyed not being kept in the car and eating the kettle corn that had fallen on the ground (which by the way was the best kettle corn I had ever tasted).



It was finally time for Claire's first train ride and I was so excited to see how she would react. We climbed aboard and found a good seat to see the pretty view outside. After a few minutes, the ride began. Claire loved looking out the window and all around her. Even though it felt like the train went about 2 miles per hour, she enjoyed almost every second of it. I, on the other hand, got a little restless because we were going so slow and understood why Claire's cousin, Soren, told his parents earlier that day, that he wanted to get off. It did get a little boring after a while, but I really enjoyed being with Claire as she experienced something for the first time. The scenery was beautiful and the only thing that made me upset was when my camera ran out of battery before I could get Claire's picture taken with Thomas. :(

Later, we headed home for Claire's nap and a BBQ with family and friends. Even though things didn't go exactly as planned, we still had a very enjoyable three-day weekend.