Beach Trip

We just got back from our annual beach trip.  We went with my parents again this year - we had so much fun!


The first day, my mom and dad drove straight from AZ to visit their friends from yesteryear, while we drove straight to the beach.

The girls were ecstatic.  It seemed like a LOOOOOONG drive.  Everyone did pretty well  -  minimal screaming from Jack.





We spent the afternoon at a beach near San Diego and then continued up the coast to our hotel near Huntington.  The hotel was very fancy.  It had a beautiful atrium and glass elevators which the girls loved.

There were big fish and turtles swimming in the little ponds and you could feed them if you asked for fish food at the front desk.

The only bad thing about the hotel is that it was FREEZING inside.  The rooms temps were contolled by the hotel and apparently if the weather is between 50 and 70 they don't use the air or heater!  Anything below 78 warrants a jacket in my mind.

Luckily, I packed everyone 1 jacket or sweater so we wore those whenever we were in the hotel. Silly Arizonans!


 We had a suite so these three slept on the pull out bed while Josh and I had a room with Jack.

In my experience few things are as terrible as a baby in a hotel room but Jack was great!  He only woke up once each night and needed to be fed but went right back to bed.  (at home he sleeps through the night)

The next morning we enjoyed the hotel's free breakfast and got ready to go to the beach with Nana and Poppy.  After the first beach day Josh decided we HAD to get one of those beach wagons.  We just look like a circus trying to carry everyTHING and everyONE across the long expanse of sand between the parking lot and the shore.

 I was glad, because although not shown, I also had two tote bags and a chair on my back and Jack on my front.
 Added bonus!  The wagon made a perfect little bed for Jack.  He slept for many hours in there.

Jack was a little cranky this day.

The younger girls kept busy for hours hopping in the waves.

I love watching Joy's antics as she runs on the beach.

Claire mostly stayed out in the ocean.  She LOVES to boogie board.

 

She looked for sand crabs with Poppy for a while but there weren't very many at this beach. 

 There were lots of sea shells though!  Joy liked to hold them up to the sun to see if any were see through - because one of them was.....

Josh and Claire found some big snaily-type shells that were still intact.  

Paige listening to the ocean...even though it is right in front of her.

The whole gang

Before we left I took this creepy picture.  Joy literally stood there like that without moving for the longest time - just staring at Claire.  

After cleaning up at the hotel, we grabbed some pizza for dinner and enjoyed chocolate and coffee while watching tv in the hotel room.

The second beach day was the most fun.  It was Monday so the beach was pretty much deserted. 

 

It was chilly in the morning

. 

 

But it warmed up nicely and was a beautiful day.

 

  There was a weird water outlet just down the shore from us so we walked down there and it was so neat!  Josh found crabs in the rocks 

 

and the girls enjoyed the shallow water.

Close to the rocks the water got deep and had a strong current going out to sea.  They liked to ride in the current.

 

Late in the afternoon the tide went WAY out and the shore became shallow pool with tiny waves rolling in. 

We then went to the hotel, let the girls swim in the pool and spa, then got hamburgers for dinner.

Paw Patrol was on so everyone was happy.

The last day we were on our own since my dad had to be back at work that afternoon.  They left early in the morning and we nabbed a few hours at the beach before heading home.

It was a quick trip but well worth it.  We can't wait for next year!

Fashion Fix

I love dressing Jack in handsome little shirts and pants for church on Sunday.  BUT the very first time I did this, I immediately found out that I also hate those cute shirts because they constantly untuck from his little pants and ride up.  A look that is both unflattering and uncomfortable.

Seriously who designs these things?  

So, I decided to revise all of his shirts a bit by sewing the bottom portion of an old onesie to the hem of the shirt. 

Before:

 

After: 

Problem Solved!

Happy Jack

Who am I kidding - he couldn't care less.  But it makes me happy. 

Sailboat Quilt

Right after Christmas I started making my next quilt.  I have been planning on making this one ever since I first started making quilts.  It was for my brother.

  

All his life he has loved this sailboat quilt that our great-grandma made him when he was a baby.  It supposedly has magical properties and the ability to keep you warm when you're cold and cool when you're hot. (this is the only picture we could dig up that showed the design.)

  

 It was made with cheap cloth and over that past 28 years has started to disintegrate but much to his wife's dismay it remains an actively used blanket in their home.  

I had hoped that he would get rid of the old one now that he has this new one. He didn't seem on-board with this idea.

It never fails,  spread a piece of fabric on the ground and the cat MUST step and lay on it.

With the baby, my work and moving in the next few months, I am going to have to take a little break from quilting - but the next one is in the planning stages.

Claire Turns 8

Claire is 8!  It is great to be the mom of a middle aged kid!  For Claire's birthday we had our typical family get-togethers.  Nothing fancy but just a fun, pleasant time with family.   First we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa.  They got Claire the fun fin she has been longing for.  Now we have a mermaid with us whenever and wherever we swim.

 Jack went in their warm pool for the first time and loved it.  He loves baths so I'm not surprised.

 Just fun swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 Later in the month we had my side of the family's get together which celebrated the birthdays of Michelle, Steve, Bryan, myself, Poppy and Claire.

Our best picture of the 7 cousins.

More swimming

 Spectators.

 Jack lounging by the pool.  What a happy guy!!

A while back Claire saw silly string on tv and didn't know what it was so my mom bought six cans of it and we surprise-attacked her,

 

 which of course she loved.

Happy Birthday Crazy Claire!

Staycation at Nana's

This past week has been a lot of fun for me and the girls.   Josh had to go out of town for a few days so we spent 4 nights over at my parent's house - just for fun.   We kept busy thrift-storing, swimming, going to Ikea (on Tuesday cause kids eat free!) and we drove up to Anthem to watch cousins TJ and Josiah.  

 My brother, Steve, kept our old Nintendo that we got from Santa when I was 10.  He taught TJ how to play it and Tj showed my girls. 

 

 Oh my goodness, Claire is hooked.  As a former, expert of Mario 3, I can tell you that watching a first timer play is torturous.  

My mom and I took all the kids to a little park nearby - thank goodness for double strollers!  The weather was warm but amazing considering it is the end of May.

 Claire was a little bored.  She is quite a bit older than everyone else.  

We had a 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 year old..... and almost 8 year old Claire.

We ate lunch and mostly the kids complained that they wanted to go home to play more Nintendo.  Sheesh.

When we were packing up an inch worm blew out of a tree and landed on Jack.  We had fun watching it move.  So weird!

 On the way home from Anthem my van got a flat tire.  Praise the Lord that it happened just a few miles from home and not way up in the Boonies.  We were able to safely get off the freeway before it went completely flat so that is a bonus.  Regrettably I had never learned to change a tire so we had to call my dad who also was close by.  I watched carefully and am confident that I can do it next time, it is way easier than I imagined it would be.  Next on my list of things to learn is how to jump-start my van. I drive long distances and have 4 little kids, I need to be self-reliant.

The next day I was able to get a new tire and wait for it while my mom stayed with all the kids. 

 Then I picked up cousin Norah and she brought her over for another day of cousin time.   

We again went to the park.

 ate lunch and looked at the ducks.

 Jack doesn't really like the stroller - especially if he is tired and needs to sleep.  He can ONLY sleep on his tummy.  I tried laying him down like this and within seconds he went from screaming to completely out.

So sweet. 

Poor Jack - Lip Tie

Poor Jack.

He has had a rough first two months.

When he was born Josh and I noticed right away that he was tongue tied.   Claire and Paige were also tongue tied so we knew to look for it.  The hospital never checks for that which is annoying.  It was a really bad tie so thankfully when the Dr. was doing his circumcision, she also cut his tongue.  No big deal.

After so long of him eating every two hours my sister-in-law suggested that maybe he was lip-tied.  Sure enough he was and it was a pretty bad one.  This isn't him but this is what his mouth looked like.

Seriously, can we not have a kid without mouth malformations?

So we made an appt with a pediatric dentist (cause you know, I was hoping to throw another $300 out the window) and they performed "laser surgery" on it. I have a hard time calling it surgery because it took all of ten minutes and he was awake the whole time.

He did great and was a little cranky that evening.  I was surprised how large the "cut" is in his mouth.  The white triangle shape is all healing mouth flesh.   Ouch. I have to be careful when I hold him up on my shoulder because he loves to lift his head up and look around and bob it all over the place - however, when his neck muscles give out, he face-plants onto my shoulder bone, hitting him right in the mouth and he screams.

6 times a day we have to stretch his lip up to keep it from growing back together and rub coconut oil on it.  This is a super fun activity that always ends in ear splitting screams.

Now, the day he had his surgery I also for some reason decided to try eating dairy again - the first time in 5 months.  I had Costco pizza... so good. Well that evening he was extra fussy but we thought it was because of his lip.  Three days went by of him being absolutely horrible, fussing, crying, and not sleeping which we were still not sure if it was the lip or dairy. It wasn't until he started spitting up constantly with lots of projectile vomiting that I knew it was from the dairy.  His poops were green too which apparently is a pretty good sign of dairy problems. 

This is him thinking about how much his tummy and mouth hurt

and how mad he is that he has to wear such an uncomfortable shirt.

I immediately swore off dairy once again and after 2 days he is back to his good old self.  Except now he is smiling finally!  

I am smiling too because he has been only waking me up once in middle of the night.