road trip

The Grace family spontaneously decided to take a road trip to Las Vegas this past weekend in our new car. Jeff was such a gracious host and we all had a wonderful time. Very relaxing. We spent alot of time in the pool (as you can tell from the pictures), went to lunch at Jeff's golf course, and took some naps too (even all 3 adults).

Daddy swimming with his girls.

Jeff and Ryan playing a little "Chicken" it looks like. Hey Ryan, watch your top! Daddy wouldn't like that very much!

Mommy and Charlie taking a little break from the pool.

More pool time Sunday morning. The plan was to get the girls good and tuckered out before the drive home. It worked, they slept for the first 2 hours of the drive.
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Thanks for having us Jeff. We can't wait to do it again soon.

the bus

Welllll, it's not really a bus... it's our new family car. Last week, we purchased an Infiniti QX56. If you're not familiar with this car (and neither was I before we started looking at them), it's the big one. The really big one. As you can see, the girls liked the new ride so much it put them all to sleep. Carson and Michelle came down for a day at South Coast Plaza and the car fit all 3 carseats no problem, two strollers, and all our shopping bags with plenty of room to spare.

first time at the movies

Ryan, Charlie, and mommy ventured out to the movie theater for the very first time on Monday. I know you guys must all think I'm crazy for taking a 2 year old and a 9 month old to the movies. Trust me, I was a little nervous too. Here was my strategy...
1) First and foremost, don't take Steve with us! He would have panicked at the first word or wimper out of either of them and said we'd had to go.
2) Go to the smallest theater in your neighborhood (to ensure a small crowd) in the middle of the day
3) Make sure Ryan understood that it would be dark and loud and that there can be no talking.
4) Sit in the handicap area so that I could have the stroller nearby.
5) Bring every snack under the sun to keep both of their mouths full so they can't talk!
6) Tell Ryan from the beginning that we would not be seeing the whole movie.
7) Be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Well, how did it turn out? If you add up 2 trips to the potty + 1 spilled drink + 1 time out outside the theater (for getting up out of her chair and hanging from the handicap pole) and then subtract that we had no crying and relatively no talking except for the occasional "What happened mommy?"... I'd say it equaled a pretty good day (and a total of 45 minutes). Actually, a little longer than I had anticipated. Ryan loved the movie, Cars, and had a great time so it was all worth it.

big girl bed

Well, Ryan finally got her big girl bed. Mommy bought it last week and it has been sitting in a box in the living room. She has been asking every night, "Big girl bed tonight?" I would say, "no, not yet baby." And she would reply, "We build it huh mommy?" Sooo, here it is. It does look big in this picture. Wait until you see it in contrast to the other furniture in the room.

Moving in the big girl bed meant rearranging the furniture...

And it means that Charlie is moving in...

And it means that daddy is really scared to let Ryan sleep in it...

But she didn't let that bother her one bit...

With Barney in hand and few binkies too, she's got all the support she needs becoming a big girl.

nonna and grandpa babysit

Over 4th of July weekend, Ryan stayed with my mom and dad out at their desert house while we were across town for our weekend vacation with friends. Ryan had so much fun. There were so many great stories to tell that my mom and dad created a picture diary of the events of the weekend. It was complete with commentary on what Ryan ate, what time she went to bed, a play by play of all the fun outtings they had, her 2 year old clever dialogue, and pictures of course. The diary was a great idea because now Ryan wants to read it every night as her bedtime story. Here are some cute pictures with some funny stories behind them...

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Above, Grandpa and Ryan are having water fights by the pool. Apparently Ryan started squirting first and grandpa was being nice guy by not squirting back but finally he had to give up the nice guy bit and fight back. Ryan is eating ice cream and watching a DVD at the kitchen table after a long night at the toy store. See the elephant? This is the special gift she picked out for mommy and daddy. Just what we wanted~ haha! We'll be sure to display it prominently.

Nonna got Ryan to eat Spaghetti at dinner. She put up a big fight but Nonna wins in the end. Good work Nonna!

Nonna and Ryan ride around the pool in the "beal beal". That translates to the "seal mobile"

This picture illustrates the best moment of the weekend by far. All on her own, Ryan grabbed the hands of the mannequins in Macy's and started singing Ring Around the Rosies. I wish I could've seen it. Too precious.
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Thanks again Nonna and Grandpa for babysitting. Ryan had the best time of her life.

the oc fair

Today, the whole family went to the Orange County Fair. Mommy and daddy must have had 2,000 calories each between the corn dogs, funnel cake, pizza, and cream puffs we ate. Ryan loved the rides the most. And Charlie, well... she was basically miserable because of the heat. We didn't stay long but we sure packed in a lot of fun~
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Here's Ryan, her mama, and the llama!

Ryan took a picture in the garden. So fitting that they had gardens there. The other night on our walk, Ryan said out of the blue, "Look mommy, there's a garden." Sometimes, I am floored at the vocabulary she comes up with all on her own.

Mommy and Ryan went on the hot air balloon ride. Nobody told mommy that this ride is much like the Teacups if you know what I'm talking about! Ryan LOVED it. It went high in the air and spun around and around. She laughed the whole time. Mommy thought she was going to lose her lunch and was glad that she didn't stop at the Cuervo Margarita booth!

the long beach aquarium

Yesterday, the girls and I went to the Long Beach Aquarium for a few hours (between nap times of course). We're sure making good use of our annual pass, thanks Gigi! Ryan LOVES fish. She can't get enough of them. Her favorite attraction though by far is the otters. Unfortunately, they were sleeping when we went to see them. However, best part of the day is when Ryan, at the top of her lungs, started screaming, "WAKE UP OTTERS, WAKE UP!! WAKE UP OTTERS, WAKE UP!!" I really think she thought they would here her. I finally had to reassure her that we would go look at other fish and come back to see if the otters were swimming yet. Well needless to say, every 30 seconds that passed Ryan would ask me, "Are the otters swimming yet?" The otters never did wake up while we were there but Ryan reassured me afterward by saying, "It's okay mommy, next time the otters swimming, next time the otters swimming."

Above is a picture of Ryan with her new Roxy dress from Nonna and Grandpa. Isn't she cute?

Oops, I almost forgot... the second best part of our day was our celebrity sighting. Rev. Jesse Jackson! His entourage let us sneak in for a photo opp. My husband was thrilled (ha-ha, not!) Actually, Ryan doesn't look so thrilled either!

our family day in Belmont Shores

We spent the afternoon on Sunday walking through Belmont Shores. Everything you could imagine in a perfect family day - lunch, boutiques, a craft for Ryan, and ice cream.
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Below is a picture of mommy and Ryan at Color-Me-Mine. Ryan decided on painting a fish. She picked 5 of her favorite colors. The teacher in mommy had a different paint brush for each of the colors. It's a good thing mommy doesn't teach 2 year olds because that strategy went right out the window with Ryan saying, "No mommy, I want to do it. No mommy no, stop it. My brush."

After painting (which took all of about 6 minutes) we went to Cold Stone for dessert. Ryan likes the "green ice cream with all the colors". That's how she ordered it. I did have to translate for the guy, "mint ice cream with rainbow sprinkles."

my daughter, the little drummer girl

Couldn't my daughter pick a new favorite hobby that was a little less loud? Well, I'm sure my parents used to say the same thing about my brother Mike. He played the drums all growing up and ugghhh... need I say more? Maybe it's in the genes. Up until yesterday Ryan loved playing the air drums. Mommy would play the air flute and we would march around the house making noises being our own little marching band. Well, mommy had the bright idea of finding items that Ryan could really make noises with. I'm still not sure if that was a mistake because the air drumming was so much quieter, but boy she is pretty darn happy with her new "drum set". Since yesterday we have upgraded our drum set to hat boxes. Hmmm, where would somebody get several hat boxes in varying shapes, sizes, and colors? Duh, in my garage from a certain hat party in our recent past. Steve said I was silly saving those hat boxes and that I'd never use them again. Ha-Ha-Ha.

dance class - the best 30 min. of the week

Now that we have been going to dance class for a couple months now, we've got the routine down! They sure go through a lot of different things in 30 minutes. Stretching, ballet, tap, tumbling, and one-on-one support for things like "shuf-fle-kick" (as Ryan likes to say over and over) and somersaults. I know I took dance classes when I was little but I ended up gravitating more to soccer so one can say I went into this not knowing much. Doesn't stop Ryan though... or mom for that matter. I can proudly say that Ryan has never worn the same ensemble twice. Boy, dance clothes are fun to buy. It's like dressing a doll.

Speaking of dolls... here are my two. Just waiting for class to begin. Charlie has her tutu on too, she loves dance class just like her big sis.

Actually, Charlie loves it so much she kept crawling right up in the middle of it all. This is stretching time at the beginning of class.

Ryan is patiently waiting her turn do her kicks with Miss Keri.

Now, not so patiently waiting to do her kicks with Miss Keri.

Finally it's Ryan's turn to practice with Miss Keri.

Here is Miss Keri with her class. The little girls left to right...Ryan, Ruby, Riley, Madison, and Kinzy (right behind Madison). Just another tidbit of belly laugh fun... Ryan and Ruby (in the black) sit next to each other all the time and give each other Eskimo kisses. It is the sweetest thing you've ever seen. If you want to win Ryan's heart the next time you see her, give her an Eskimo kiss.

4th of july

For those of you who don't know, the 4th of July is my all time favorite holiday. More than Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, or even my own birthday! There is nothing like a summer day where all you are supposed to do is drink beer, lay out in the sun, celebrate our country's independence, and watch fireworks. That is... until you have kids! Don't get me wrong, it's still my favorite holiday. Only now it's better. You get to watch your children enjoy our the wonderful components of the day (except the drinking beer part). This morning we went out to a family breakfast (because daddy's home today, yay!), did a red, white, and blue glitter craft to help decorate our "float", and participated in our neighborhood 4th of July bike parade. These are pictures of Ryan and next door neighbor, Kendall enjoying their moment to shine as the princesses of the parade. Unfortunately, we didn't win a prize this year (didn't realize the stiff competition in a bike parade) but College Park East residents won't know what hit them next year... I'm already planning! Some thoughts of Ryan being dressed up as the Statue of Liberty and Charlie posing as Betsy Ross have crossed my mind!

Yes, we entered as #108... here are the girls getting ready for the ride!

En route ... the girls did a great job waving their flags throughout.

Here we are waiting for the judges to make their decisions. They had clipboards and everything. Very serious business I suppose! Good work girls!

3rd annual palm springs trip

We got home yesterday from our annual Palm Springs weekend with "the group". As you can see here, Ryan spent the weekend with Nonna and Grandpa instead of joining us. It truly was a great decision. We certainly missed her but with Nonna and Grandpa so close by, it was a wonderful opportunity for quality time with them. Nonna had every moment of the weekend planned out and Ryan was so "es-cited" to see them. They went to the toy store, and the mall, and the pool. Nonna and Grandpa won't give all the details yet because they created a picture diary of the weekend's events that we will get soon. We can't wait to get it. As for Steve, me, and the little "needy" one (aka Charlie), we relaxed at our nearby destination point, La Popes Grande. It was the best house we've found to rent yet!

Ryan here with Nonna on the day of the drop off. Ready for the weekend of activities to begin.

Charlie with daddy at the house we rented. She LOVED the pool!