We love California!

I love California. I love the beaches, the cool weather, the sunshine, the amuesement parks, the zoo, etc. And fortunately, me and the kids have been able to do most of the fun things Cali has to offer. But the thing I love the most about Cali, is being able to see my grandparents and family everytime we visit. They are always so gracious with their food, and letting us stay in their house, and we always have some good conversations when we visit. So, thank you Cali family for always making us feel welcome and for letting us visit often. Unfortunately, I hardly ever remember to take pics of these wonderful people, but know that we love you nonetheless.

This trip, the girls and I came with my mom and we only stayed for two full days and two half days. Even though it was fast, we had so much fun. One whole day was spent in the beautiful Coronado Island, and the majority was spent at the beach there. Then, we did something new. We went to the San Diego Botanic Gardens. SO MUCH FUN! If you have been to Cali a thousand times like me and have never gone like us, you should go, it is very kid friendly, inexpensive, and absolutely beautiful.

What a fun trip!

Love this island

she loved the sun and sand...

but she would NOT go near the water.

Lexi is looking at...

this cute little crab.

Lexi, unlike Christine, hardly ever left the water

and she brought home a ton of shells for her collection, of course

she really loved the water

but there were so many jellyfish that she got nervous once in a while 

and searched for them.

We ended the day by eating at this awesome little restaurant called Candelas. I got the duck tacoes, kids got grilled cheese, and my mom got this amazing salad. The view was really neat too! Oh, we also got truffles at this chocolate store too, delish!

Saw tons of these lizards

Lexi got to build a house. These boards were as light as air, really cool

she made her own sort of symmetrical butterfly

These statutes were made out of plants, really neat

we saw tadpoles, turtles, and frogs.

my favorite flowers, ever!

really neat tree house that the kids spent a long time playing in

row row row your boat gently down the stream

huge lawn chair

more tree house adventures

Lexi and me waving hi

beautiful waterfall and beautiful girls

Lexi said this was her man :)

Lovely Lemons

The other day, I was juicing lemons for some strawberry lemonade. After I was done, I would naturally throw the lemon rinds away. Well, Christine walked in when I was on my last lemon and wanted the rind. At first, I said, no, but then she kept whining, so to make her stop I gave it to her. Wouldn't you know, she LIKED it! She started sucking the little amount of juice that the juicer did not get, and even biting the rind. So weird, but she liked it!

refreshing :)

funny girl

Bees Buzz in the Beehive

I needed something fun/educational for the girls to do one day, so I searched online and found this amazing website with some pretty fun kid activities. The beehive craft caught my eye at first because I already had everything I needed at home, not paying for fun is always a bonus :) So, we made fingerprint bees with bubble wrap beehives. We talked about how honey is made and why it is important not to touch beehives in real life. It was fun!
                                          First: The girls had to paint some bubble wrap yellow

Second: Press the painted bubble wrap onto white paper

Ta Dah!

Then, we had to wait for it to dry, so we got ready for swimming, which we were going to do after with maralyn and rhett, and read some books about bees. When it was finally dry, we cut out the beehives, glued them onto another piece of white paper, made some bees with fingerprints and again waited for the bees to dry.

Last: We added black detail to the beehive and bees and there you go, bees buzzing around the beehive. 

They loved it!

MPS Summer Reading Program Completed!

This year, both girls participated in our public library's summer reading program. My girls love to read and they love to receive prizes, so this was perfect for them to do. For every 8 days they read, they would get a prize. And, it continued for 24 days, so they each received 3 prizes. The first prize was a rubber duck and a free kids meal to Del Taco. The second prize was a little upsetting to them, it was a growth chart. A growth chart that both my girls have already outgrown, so it was not so cool. But the grand finale prize was awesome! They each received a FREE book of their choice. We got to pick from a list online and it arrived in the mail with their names on it. Lexi thought this was so cool. And, we have read her new book more times than I can count. I have it memorized for crying out loud. Anyways, it was neat. After we completed it, Lexi asked the librarian if we could do it again. She kindly said no and Lexi eventually got over it. I am grateful for girls who naturally like to read. I hope it continues to be something they enjoy. Yeah to summer reading!

Christine is holding Lexi's free book, she apparently did not want to hold her new dinosaur book. Lexi is holding the chart they put stickers on each day. 

24 stickers=complete!

Desert Botanical Gardens with Uncle Shawn

For a Biology lab, Shawn had to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens. He asked if me and the girls wanted to join. I said, sure, so off we went. It was really rather fun! It was really, really hot, but with enough water packed we were okay. Lexi LOVED the gardens. I was afraid she would get bored since it was mostly plants and cactus, but she in fact really liked it. There were tons of birds which she liked, along with rabbits, lizards, and other desert animals that were fun to look at as well. It was fun to spend Saturday doing something different and appreciating the desert beauty.

Helping Shawn fill out his paper

Cacti really are beautiful in their own way

shade

Lexi could not believe that people actually used to live in these type of houses. It was a great time to teach her about being grateful for her blessings.

Where water used to be stored

The kids were in the kitchen

Grinding beans into flour

Good work out

Greeting from the Sonoran Desert!

At the end, I bought the kids a prickly pear sucker. So, this is Lexi showing off her sucker while standing next to a prickly pear cactus

sucker break

The bright green plants were actually made of glass and Lexi loved them. Fun day!