Today was Pioneer Day and we just happened to be going to Pioneer Park. Wendy set it up and a bunch of us met up in Tustin for a change of scenery. 
Here are the kids.... HEY! Where are the Brian girls?!? 
It's nice to cool off with some water.
Uh... Oh! Owen is trapped.
Gotcha! Yep, all three were trying to get others wet.
Well this is what we have been doing this summer. The kids have been surfing and having a blast doing it. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Paige... she rides her board all by herself. She will paddle out with John and it is so cute watching them sit on their boards out in the water together waiting for waves. (It's hard for me to get photos because I'm usually under the umbrella with Olive)
John puts the boys on the front of his the long board and they paddle out. Hey! Put a life jacket on those kids!!!
Brock is our die hard. He is always telling John, "I go surfing with Daddy like Surf's Up!" He is so cute out there, he will tell John "more... more..." He loves riding the waves in.
Owen tends to be more nervous, but when he comes in he jumps up and down saying, "I did it! I went SURFING!!!" 
These kids have such a good time with their dad at the beach - this has been a really fun Summer so far. We've been at the beach at least a few times a week. The hardest part is lugging ALL the stuff down to the sand. With 4 kids, 2 boards, umbrella, 2 chairs, sand toys, car seat (for Olive to sit), food, and towels... it's exhausting!
The Easter bunny came to our house again this year and the kids were super excited. They woke up to find eggs hidden all over the house and their baskets filled with special goodies. We got ready for church and the kids were all dressed in their Easter outfits. (It was a little last minute this year, and a bit more casual).... something they will wear again though. :)
After church and some naps we went to Jake & Wendy's house for an Easter dinner, Egg Hunt and birthday celebration for both Tess & Sophie. The kids had a great time!
For preschool on Wednesday the kids came dressed in their costumes and ready for a fun day. Owen was so into being Mr. Incredibles although (if you've seen the movie) I think he looks much more like "Dash" - all the same to him.
The kids were all ready for their performance when we got there. To my suprise Owen kept his mask on the entire time. Poor guy - could he even see that good??? Here they are scaring us at the end of a song. 
It didn't feel much like Fall but off we were to Tanaka Farms with Owen's preschool. As you can see Owen loved the farm animals... 
He would walk up and hug them - I had to tell him to stop kissing them. 
Here is his entire preschool class. What a fun group these kids are.
Look at how red his cheeks were... after running around in the corn maze and picking veggtables we were done. It was a lot of fun just SUPER HOT! 
Friday night we took the kids to the Walk With the Dinosaurs at the Honda Center. The show looked great (from what I could tell) but unfortunately we didn't get to see all of it. 
Owen was a little scared of the huge dinosaurs that came out... they looked real and made loud growls. He was pretty good if he could sit on our lap and we could reassure him they weren't real. Too bad we didn't last past intermission. 
Brock threw the biggest fit ever and screamed, which threw Owen into a tail spin. So, I took both Owen and Brock home and John stayed with Paige to finish the show - thank goodness someone could stay. 
We were so bummed to have wasted the money on the drive home I had to lighten my mood so I called Jenny and said "Knock... Knock" She replied, "Who's there?" I then said, "Orange"...."Orange who?" she asked. "Orange you glad you didn't go to walking with the dinosaurs?" At least we both got a good laugh and I lightened up. Here are the survivors or at least the ones that could stay and watch it all. 
Saturday night we went to another one of my High School friends wedding. Gina and Mike met on the first day of Junior High in home room. How cute that all these years later they are married. It was a beautiful wedding. 
Here we are about to have dinner. 
All the girls again... Gina you look great - especially with all that money pined to you! I can't wait for Jo's wedding next June - Paige is so excited to be a flower girl, and it will be great being one of your Brides Maids too! We are so excited for that! 
Sunday was Brock's first official day in Nursery... yep this kid is now 18 months and therefore I get to go to class again and not wander the halls with this rascal. They said he did great and he even earned his very own car! 
To say we've been busy would be an understatement, but I won't bore you with the details - here are some of the highlights...
We love to go to the Spectrum and play in the water fountains - as you can see from these photos - the kids are having a ball!
Owen and his "classic pose" - I can't wait for this kid to just smile for the camera without making a silly face.
Brock loved to play with the cups and the turtles.
We've tried to keep up the beach at least once a week...
Paige joined her cousin Fletcher at the Ocean Institute Camp - these two got to learn about sea life and even touch some sea creatures.
We had our Second (not quite annual) Pirate Party. I have to say half the fun is planning and setting up for this thing. Thanks to everyone who helped out - it was so much fun!
John was a bah-humbug and didn't dress up.... Oh well - to each his own right? I on the other hand think, why not? It's one night right?
The food table... yummy potato wedges, grapes, ribs, apples and chicken legs...
Bread, cheese, and root beer (in the bottles) we also eat on pie tins w/o utensils... it makes it all that more fun!
Lori and I loved the parrot in the cage - I don't know if anyone else even noticed him, but we got a kick out of it all.
Here were the winners of the dress up contest - Patrick B. and Sara D. each got their own bag of Pirate Booty and a movie ticket.
We watched the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on the big screen outside and ate movie candy and popcorn - here is a picture of all the ladies. Good times guys!
... well it's been almost two weeks since we got Molly and our life has pretty much revolved around her and getting her potty-trained. We have been doing other things too and we've managed to still keep ourselves quite busy. Here you go...
Last Week
Paige was gone away at her cousins when we got Molly. Her aunt Nikki was kind enough to take her and a couple of her cousins for the a few days. They went to the zoo, the tide pools, shopping, the pet store and even got the see their cousin's snake eat a real live mouse... that must have been quite the experience. Paige had a great time visiting and getting to know her Camarillo cousins more.
Here is Paige at the Tide Pools holding a starfish - looks like more sea life then what we find down here.
We were so excited for Paige to come home and see her new surprise (The Dog) but it was less than exciting when she came home sick with an ear infection that later burst her ear drum... OUCH! Once she felt better she was really excited about Molly joining the family. Brock started to get all too comfortable with her too!
Molly after a bath - she is so tiny next to John's big foot. 
This video of Brock holding Molly cracks me up - for one if you listen closely you'll hear Owen tell me that she is "his best friend" and what kills me about Brock is how he just wants to get comfy with the dog and turn on the TV like he's some tired old man. Seriously though...
Last Weekend
This past weekend we were lucky enough to take a weekend away and head up to Big Bear with the Barbers and Hemeons. It was a crazy weekend with the kids running around but I think everyone had a good time. Here is the entire group with some wilderness folks that supposedly "live off the land" - they said that they make their own clothes out the animal skins and eat the animals they kill. Really? Then where did you get all that eye make-up young lady? Ok, maybe the Dad is more into it then his daughter.
The hike we took with the kids was paved, which make pushing strollers nice. These kids had so much energy - it was my goal to wear them out!
We did the toboggan slides and race cars - mine was of course the slowest... don't worry we still had a lot of fun. I think Owen enjoyed being in a giant race car.
Owen begged and begged and BEGGED to go bowling... look at how excited he is in this picture of him bowling his first round. You'd never know it from this photo that he was COMPLETELY OVER IT after this. What a waist of time and money. I couldn't believe it that he was done after this.
Lucky for us we had another child all to willing to bowl. Brocky loved it. He couldn't wait for his turn to roll that bowling ball down the lane. He would get so excited and point every time it went down - I think he got a higher score then me?!?
We ended our weekend with relaxing walks down to the lake and the kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water. 
Good times guys - I don't think I've ever seen Brad, Marc and John laugh as hard as they did the night we played games. I have to say it's pretty funny how the later it gets in the evening the younger these guys act.
While we were away the dogs played. Molly got to stay at her cousins house. Sasha and Sadie were so sweet and inviting to her. I would have thought they would toss her around like a tennis ball, but instead they played and she enjoyed wrestling them. Too cute!
I have learned that...
I love to dress up and even more I love the 80's. We went to an 80's Roller Skating birthday party for our friend Summer this past weekend and had such a good time. I absolutely love roller skating and I could have done it all night! Thanks Summer for a good party! (No, my hand is not on that girl's butt) One of my favorite parts about dressing up was all the 80's poses I could muster up!
John looks like a pervert with a mustache. He was a little confused on what 80's facial hair looks like. I told him one mustache Magnum PI like and he came up with this... lock up your children... right?? At one point during the night John was signaling to me across the room that he wanted a drink of my soda, all I could think of was "who is that perv trying to hit on me." (Oh, Honey!)
Brock loves to wipe his face after every bite. We went to Wahoo's the other night and he wiped his face after each bite... we thought he was so cute and we couldn't get enough of this little guy. 
Not to get a dog out at a pet store unless you are looking to buy. I have told myself for years that I would wait to buy a dog till we were done having kids and I always wanted to do the Christmas Morning with a Bow thing... I can not tell you how close we were to purchasing this beauty. If the kids were behaving better we would have walked home with her that night. Instead we decided to sleep on it and I had full intentions of going back Monday night to get her. Isn't she adorable. John talked some sense into me about waiting... so, we are going to wait... (I'll admit, I'm still second guessing this decision). She is a Bichon/ Shih-Tzu mix, who is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed... and she was so calm and soft and loving and she looking at me with her big brown eyes and melted my heart... Ahhh.. the anguish I feel! 
Singing Happy Birthday and eating cake a second time is just as fun as the first time... if not better! We got to celebrate John's birthday with the Lowry's and the kids loved singing! I think we blew out the candles at least 3 times. 
I consider these things lessons learned!
