Thanksgiving in San Diego

We took a road trip down to San Diego for the Thanksgiving holiday to stay with my parents and visit with Steve, Stacey, Sophia and Nolan.  We surely missed Lindsey, Adam, Julia, Gray and the belly - but she is only 3 weeks out from baby #3, so travel was not an option.

We packed quite a bit into our short vacation.  After travel Wednesday, a big Thanksgiving on Thursday, we headed south to the Hotel Del Coronado on Friday to take in the festivities.  But first, we took Vegas (yes, she came down too!) to her old stomping grounds- the dog beach along the northern part of the island.  Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of Vegas enjoying herself  We were lucky to have a 70+ degree day, clear blue skies and a perfect run of waves for Vegas to chase after her tennis ball.  She was a very happy dog.

The Hotel Del was decked out in holiday spirit.  They have an amazing tree lit in the main entrance which always draws a crowd.  But the big impact is the ice rink right on the sand - I have never been and for the last few holidays I was sad to miss a trip down to see it.  Fortunately this time it worked out perfectly, and it was quite a location for Amelia to put on her first pair of ice skates and hit the ice.  Needless to say, my lower back and arms are sore still a few days later.  After the first rocky lap around the rink, Amelia got into the spirit and is now asking Santa for a pair of ice skates for Christmas.  We'll have to see about that.

Aunt Stacey and Audrey

Baby Audrey at her first Thanksgiving in Amelia's first Thanksgiving dress.

Cousin Sophia (NOT S-o-p-h-i-e!) and Amelia watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving

Cheese!

The ladies

It takes four pictures to get a shot of four kids!

L to R - Audrey, Amelia, Sophia and Nolan

 Uncle Steve and Cousin Nolan

Beautiful tree at the Hotel Del Coronado

Daddy and Audrey

 Amelia and me on the ice rink - notice the palm trees in the background!

It took us a few days to recover, but we're ready for December!  Happy Holidays!

Maddux Park with the Girls

I am trying to enjoy the afternoons at parks before the weather turns wet.  We escaped the house the other day and had a blast at Maddux (one of my favorite local parks).  Audrey had a great time trying to keep up with Amelia in the tunnels and on the slides.  Amelia found a new friend - Eleanor - and they ran all over together.

A Very Firetruck Birthday!

Amelia was ecstatic to be invited to Conor's firetruck birthday.  Adriana (Birthday Boy's Mom) had an actual firetruck come to his party, and the "fireman" was awesome.  The truck sounded the alarm as it came up the driveway.  The fireman let all the kids explore the truck, they were allowed to sit in the cab and check out all the instruments.  He allowed them to hold onto the fire hose (and let the adults hold the full - powered hose!), throw water balloons at a "fire" and watch a demonstration of all the fire gear.  As if that wasn't enough entertainment, there was also a bounce house -always a hit!

Thanks for a great party, Conor!  Happy 4th Birthday!

Special thanks to Adriana (aka www.adrianaklasphotography.com ) for the following shots:

A bunch of sickies....

No one likes being sick.  Especially a sick mama with two sick girls that have ear infections!  When I came home from Houston, Amelia had a terrible cough and congestion.  I took her to the doctor and they diagnosed her with some respiratory issues related to a viral cold for which they gave her a broncho-dilator.  First they gave her an in-office breathing treatment (she was a very brave girl!) which was successful.

Unfortunately, the next day she started complaining that her ear hurt.  Back to the doctor and home with some antibiotics.  The following day after cyclical fevers, Audrey got her own medicine for an ear infection.  I was becoming a regular at the pediatrician!  Brad was able to skirt the head cold, but I think I got the worst of it.  I am just now (over a week later) still battling, but I think it is now officially a down hill battle.  Hopefully we've had our share of illness for the season and can look forward to some healthy times during the upcoming holidays!

Welcome Back!

I am just now catching up on a backlog of posts.... Audrey and I took a 5 day trip to Houston, Texas (which I'll post about below), and when we returned, Amelia was sick, Audrey got sick, Brad got sick, and I am just NOW ending my turn with the head cold.  Top that brutal week with 4+ doctors appointments, lots of tissues, waking during the nights etc., with a large, time-intensive work project, a whirlwind trip to San Diego and back for Thanksgiving, I've been out of commission!!!

Anyhow, on with the good stuff:  My dear friend from high school, Lisa (Delamontaigne) Ducote, recently moved from Oahu to Houston, Texas.  My dear friend from childhood, Katie (Hughes) Martin, who currently lives in Oahu (I introduced Katie and Lisa about 10 years ago, they moved in together in Hawaii and became fast friends), happened to be passing through Houston on her way to a work conference in Kentucky.  I just had to time a trip to Houston to maximize seeing these ladies, as the last time we were all together was several years ago at their weddings (only weeks apart!).

Katie was kind enough to share this picture of us from the first day of first grade (we actually met before kindergarten!)  L (me); R (Katie) Hard to believe we've been friends for almost 30 years!!!

Katie and I during our Houston Trip. 

This is a picture of Lisa and I from high school - we're coming up on almost 20 years of friendship! I am on the far right, Lisa is right next to me.

And now, with her son Joseph (who is 3 weeks older than Audrey), and me and Audrey:

Here are some pictures of us girls from the trip via Lisa -she set up a tripod and we laughed because it looked like a christmas card photo shoot.

Joseph and Audrey are so close in age, it was a riot watching the two of them interact.  Joseph is such a sweet guy and is very mobile - loves to climb stairs, crawl after his mama, and play with Audrey.

The Ducotes were wonderful hosts.  Lots of home cooked meals, I was able to do regular loads of laundry (which we all know is a necessity when baby eats table food and loves to crawl), Lisa and I and the kiddos went on daily hour-long walks, several trips to parks, and they even shared a favorite BBQ joint - not only did they sell all sorts of meats BBQ'd but it was also a gas station.  What could be more texas?

It was a fabulous trip.  I hope next time we can all get together with our kids and husbands!  Miss you ladies already!  xoxo