First Trip to the Beach

I was so excited to go to the beach I can’t even tell you! When I was growing up, our family would hop on over to the beach multiple times during the summer. I love sprawling out on the sand, riding the waves, and strolling along the pier. Summers simply aren’t the same here in ole’ landlocked Idaho. Even though I haven’t lived in California for over four years, I STILL can’t get used to a summer without the ocean. It’s my dream to live near the ocean again someday. I want M to have the summers I had growing up.

The weather was PERFECT. It was a hot day and the gloomy fog that often hangs over the ocean was nowhere to be found. Just lots of sunshine, not a cloud in sight.

I love these pictures I snapped of my sister and her little sweetheart. Ev looks so small in such a big world.

I love this one too. It’s like Ev is reaching for M and saying, “Come on cousin, let’s go on an adventure!”

Even though M looks a bit serious in these pictures, he really did like the water. He was fascinated by the waves splashing on his little toes. He seems to like the water more and more every time we take him swimming. Little fish.

My cute boys. M loved looking out at the water.

We all took turns boogie boarding while the others stayed on shore with the babies. Grandma and Grandpa watched M and Ev while the rest of us played in the water for a while. It was SO MUCH FUN! I hadn’t been boogie boarding in over a year. While I was out boarding, a fish brushed up against my leg and I screamed bloody murder because I had just been thinking about “Soul Surfer.” Not the best topic of thought when you are out on the water I suppose.

M with his Grandpa and Grandma:

I always laugh when I see pins for “perfect beach waves” on Pintrest. It kind of makes me think that anyone who thinks that you can get “perfect beach waves” has never actually been to a beach. Because the thing is, the humid, salty, beach air does TERRIBLE things to your hair. Most of the people at the beach have frizzy, fly away-y, crazy, hobo hair. Which is fine and all, it just makes me giggle.

When we got home, we turned on the jacuzzi to bathwater temperature and all hopped in the warm water to relax. The babies had so much fun splashing and kicking around. In fact, Mason splashed like he has never splashed in his entire life. He was having a total ball! It was so cute to watch!

First Trip to Disneyland

Last week, our family went on a little trip to California.  M has now been on four airplane rides!  He may be a young little squirt, but he is already quite the traveler.  He has been to as many states as he is months old (five)! 

Spencer and I ate some delicious cupcakes, and M gnawed on his giraffe while we waited for our plane.  M did great on the flight, he slept nearly the whole ride.  He continues to really like his car seat, so he was happy as a clam to hunker down and chew on Pluto’s nose until he fell asleep. 

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure on our first full day in California.  It was such a fun day spent with Grandma and Grandpa and the Satko clan (my sister and her family)!  We were off to kind of rough start when this really rude man sat next to us on the tram.  He took one look at M and then said to me, “Why on earth did you bring him?  He’s going to make your day miserable.”  I was kind of taken aback that someone would say something so mean at the happiest place on earth.  He then proceeded to lecture me on the stupidity of bringing a baby to Disneyland and criticize my ability to put little shoes on M for the duration of the ride.  And then he photo bombed our picture before going on his merry way.

I can kind of see maybe not wanting to bring a baby to Disneyland if you have never been before because it is a busy day for a wee one and they will probably tire out before you have seen everything.  Of course, M won’t remember this adventure, but that’s ok!  We aren’t going to wait until he is old enough to remember everything to take him to do fun things.  It wouldn’t have been half the adventure if Baby weren’t there with us!  Plus, all of our tickets were free, so it didn’t bother us that we weren’t able to do EVERYTHING. 

Even though his unkind words didn’t put us in the best of spirits, by the time we were inside the park I was already in a better mood.  And M proved that meanie wrong, he was a champ all day.  He had lots of fun going on the little rides and when he was tired, he just napped in his stroller.  All of us had a delightful day. 

We went to California Adventure first.  We walked through the new Cars Land; it was really cute!  We didn’t go on any rides in there because that was the most crowded part of the park, but it was fun to walk through.  Mason then napped in his stroller while we used the baby swap to ride tower of terror. 

Once M was up from his nap, we took the babies to the Bugs Life Land to ride some of the little rides. 

And then we went to the pier to ride the newish Toy Story ride.  M really liked that one.  He was rather fascinated by all the bright colors and loud sounds. 

Halfway through the day we headed over to Disneyland.  They had the CUTEST fall decorations up!  I love how they decorate for all the holidays.  I was walking through the park and exclaiming to Spencer, “I LOVE FALL! I LOVE LOVE FALL!”  Then Spence reminded me that I say that about EVERY season except for winter.  It’s very true.  I hate winter but get very excited about the other three. 

We got M some little mouse ears and I kind of died because of his cuteness.  I mean, look at those babies!  Is there anything cuter?

We gave M his first taste of cotton candy and he was in sugary heaven.  We recorded it because it was so dang cute.  What you don’t see is that M was crying right before he got his first taste.  But that sugary goodness happied him right up!  He only got a few tiny tiny bites, but he loved it. 

We had lots of fun riding more little rides in Fantasyland.  M was great until the Dumbos and then he pooped out.  You can’t see his little face, but he was slumbering as we soared through the air. 

There’s the whole group, minus M who was sleeping in his stroller by that point.  It’s funny to me that we look a bit more wilted than when we started the day.  It was HOT!  That’s why the babies get progressively more naked with every picture.  M started out with shorts, socks, shoes… but by the end of the day was just wearing a onesie.  It was just far to warm for clothing. 

It really was such a magical day, I want to go back real bad! 

For Kicks and Giggles

We FINALLY got some video of M giggling. He laughs all the time, but totally clams up when he sees the camera. Little toot. He does the same thing if we are trying to get him to smile for a photo. He will be smiling and cooing and having a grand ole’ time until he sees that camera and then he’s all business. We consider it a major victory if we can actually get a picture of him smiling and will do all sorts of silly things to try to make him grin.

Mr. M giggling like crazy.

His laugh is my favorite sound in the world! I love it so much!  Pardon my totally obnoxious sound effects. He generally laughs harder when I make them, even though I sound like a total goober.

And here’s some photos from his five month shoot. Some of his facial expressions just kill me. He’s such a funny little guy.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then it was naptime.

Even his cranky face is cute dang it.

Sleeping Cutie

I had to share a few photos of our little angel.  Even when he’s in his room sleeping peacefully, I just have this undeniable urge to sneak in there and kiss that cute punkin head.  It is a good thing that he’s a fairly deep sleeper so I can get away with this kind of thing (smooching cheeks and snapping photos).  

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Last weekend we went to the hot air balloon festival.  It was SO fun!  We do love hot air balloons you know.

I had been looking forward to the festival for a whole year.  I wanted to go last year, but we were out of town.  So this event had been in my calendar for several months and it did not disappoint.  It was so neat to see all of the balloons take off a few at a time until the whole sky was covered in color. 

M LOVED it.  He was fascinated by all the balloons and was a cheerful little dude the whole time, even though it was a little bit cold when we first got to the park (we arrived before sunrise). 

I was so excited about lots of the photos we took too!  I want to print a few of them for M’s nursery.  I can’t wait for next years event!