San Diego

We planned this trip last week. Literally 4 days before we left. I knew I wanted to go somewhere cool, but with a new baby, I was a little nervous about taking her somewhere for multiple days. It actually turned out to be a lot easier than I had anticipated. She's such a sweet and easygoing baby. We lucked out with her.

Day 1: We drove to San Diego, and it took us less than 6 hours.We put out stuff down in our hotel room at Paradise Point, which is on a small island, and immediately took ourselves to the bay beach. The kids were super excited to see all the seashells. They found so many cool ones that within minutes they couldn't hold anymore.We should have brought buckets, but we didn't... Alexis was surprised/excited/loving the feeling of the sand between her toes. She may have tried to eat it as well, multiple times, but mommy catches everything.

We then went to Juniper and Ivy, a restaurant owned by Richard Blais, who won Top Chef: All-Stars. His food was super innovative and very unique. Here is what we ate:

Buttermilk Biscuit

Deviled eggs: white meringue/yolk mousse/black truffle/chives

La Jolla Uni: caramelized onion jam/brioche/iberico lardo/scrambled eggs

Sweet potatoes: mole negro/oaxaca cheese/granola

Grilled chanterelles: teriyaki sauce/cashews/sesame seed/negi

Quid ink linguine: mussels/shrimp/squid/calabrian chile-tomato cream

Banana-cream: caramelized pineapple/vanilla wafer/banana curd

Yodel: Devil's cake/white chocolate/hazelnut brittle/hot chocolate

Everything was unlike anything I've ever eaten before, but it was all sooooo delicious. I only wish I could have seen Richard Blais that night. He was in the kitchen, and I tried to peek, but I didn't see him. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Afterwards, we went to check out the boats on Harbor Drive. The kids loved that... Real pirate boats and solider boats.

William and I copied the famous Unconditional Surrender Statue, and while Logan took the picture, Kendall and Taylor were going "Ewww."

When we got back to the hotel, it was past 9, and when you're on vacation, bedtime doesn't apply, so we went to the swimming pool and hot tub. Well, the kids went back and forth between the two. William mostly stayed in the hot tub, and I was still wearing my dress, so I watched with Alexis. We did put our feet into the 'heated' pool, though. 

                                            

Day 2: We took a boat out to check out the island and the bay. It was a really windy, mostly because of the speed of the boat, but the kids had a blast driving the boat and chasing the birds and ducks landing on the water. Meanwhile, Alexis feel asleep on me, so she and I chilled, which was so relaxing.

For lunch we went to a random restaurant in La Jolla. We couldn't have picked a restaurant with a better view. We even thought we saw dolphins, which actually turned out to be sea lions. The amazing view led us on a walk to a cove, where there was a cave filled with crabs and where we got up close to those sea lions. Not having planned this little trip to the ocean, we went there, dressed in our normal clothes, but that didn't stop the kids from jumping in the waves and getting completely soaked. They were all freezing afterwards, but they had fun experiencing the beach for the very first time in their life. As for Alexis, she still enjoyed the sand between her toes, but she kept an eye on those waves, and whenever they came near, she'd lift up her feet as to avoid getting them cold and wet. Smart girl.

On the way back we stopped for gelato and Belgian chocolate. And we were so full that we actually skipped dinner that night and went straight to the pool and hot tub again.

Day 3: Legoland was only 30 minutes from the hotel, so we had to make the trip and check it out. On the way there, the San Diego Temple popped out of nowhere on the highway, very much in the same way the Washington DC Temple does.

Legoland was a success. William and I mostly took turns taking Logan, Taylor, and Kendall on rides, which was totally fine. William mostly did the roller-coasters with the 30-45 minutes lines. And I did the spinning rides that make William sick and only had 5-10 minutes lines. Win-win. Alexis did get to go on a few rides, and she did so well on them. Seriously, we can take her anywhere and it's almost like she's not even there. She is just that easygoing. We also found out that Alexis' hair gets curly with the humidity. 

Those lego cities, though... amazing! San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas. And then the lego monuments... the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, the White House. I am amazed at how talented people are. Everything was so realistic. The kids, of course, had a blast and didn't want to leave, even though we were there from opening to closing. 

That night we went to a restaurant that was on the resort and had some pretty good food. Mostly, though, we enjoyed the view of the beach at night. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I love the beach. And then we went back to the pool and hot tub. Again.

Day 4: Check out day. We got breakfast at The Mission in Mission Beach, supposedly the best breakfast restaurant in San Diego. I can't disagree. The food I had was soooooo good. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Afterwards we took a walk on the beach. We also got on the pier and saw dolphins. Yes, real dolphins, not sea lions. They were playing with each other and jumping out. It was realllly cool. I got some videos with squeals from the kids because they were so surprised and excited at the sight of dolphins. We wanted to stay longer and lounge on the beach, but we still 6 hours on the road, we knew we had to say Goodbye to San Diego, so with heavy feet, we got into the van and started driving back. But we'll be back, San Diego, ready to make more lifelong memories.

Chandler Fair

Day 2 of Spring Break. We hit up the Ostrich Chandler Festival. I originally wasn't planning on going, mostly because fairs can get so expensive, but I figured it was Spring Break and we should have fun. William was at work, so I went solo with the kiddos. It was a bummer Taylor and Kendall were too short for a lot of rides, but it allowed us to not stay as long and therefore not spend as much money. These fairs are such rip-offs. But hey, at least the kids had fun.

Kendall's Girls' Night In

First day of Spring Break! Logan and Taylor were late passing out a note/invitation to their friend of choice, but we got two of Kendall's friends to come, Brooklyn (Brookie) and Baylee, both friends from church. The girls had so much fun making jewelry and watching 'Moana'.

Alexis: 7 months

Aww, look at her. She looks so grown in this picture. She's even looking right at the camera and smiling. I could just eat her up. 

This month, Alexis decided to willingly give kisses. She even makes the 'mwah' sound. She can roll over and over to get herself from one side of the rug to the other. She has started grabbing onto stuff in order to pull up. She voluntarily pinches people to get a reaction out of them, but she also does it to calm herself down when she's tired. She's in the mommy stage and doesn't let anyone hold her, except the girls at the gym because she knows them, and daddy, but only when mommy is nowhere in sight.

She babbles a lot lately. Mama, dada, yaya, wawa, and lala are parts of her new vocabulary. 

She is such a joy to be around. I love that Logan, Taylor, and Kendall are old enough to really enjoy this stage. They love her so much, and she loves them. No one kisses her more than Logan, no one makes her laugh as hard as Kendall, and no one is a sweet to her as Taylor. She is one lucky baby.

Kendall: gymnast and cheerleader

Kendall got to be a part of the Perry High School Puma Cheerleaders for the day. She had so much fun that we decided it was the perfect nudge we needed to get her signed up for the Haley Elementary School White Tigers Cheerleaders next year. She will be awesome, I can feel it. And being a gymnast will help her so much. She totally has the personality for both. She's always doing tricks on the ground, the couch, and her bed. Like, her feet are hardly ever on the ground. And she makes the funniest cheers, like this one "Alexis, Alexis, you're so cute. You're so cute even when you poop." Perfect, right?

Happy birthday, Daddy

William had the day off, so we went out for sushi, with this little cutie tagging along.

That night, we went to some famous steakhouse in Scottsdale. Honestly I can't remember the name of it, but it was pretty good. I say 'pretty good' because it was yummy but overpriced. I think the ambiance is really what we paid for. It was definitely a fancy restaurant, as in so fancy they don't have a kids menu and our kids were the only kids in the whole place. Also as in so fancy girls were dressed in their sluttiest mini skirts and I was wearing my mommy jeans.

William and I started a diet a couple of weeks ago, so we try to be careful about what we eat, even on special occasions. But William doesn't really love cake anyway, so we made him an ice cream sandwich cake, made with his favorite ice cream sandwiches. Haha. He loved it!!! And Alexis was fascinated by the fire. And it took us a really long time to light up all 36 candles.

Happy 36th birthday, old man! He may be in his late 30s now, but he's still a kid at heart. I love this boy-man! Mwah!

Valentine's Day

I love having Paul and LeiLani so close. They watched Logan, Taylor, and Kendall while Alexis, William and I went out to dinner at Fleming's. If I had known that Alexis would sleep the entire time, I would have left her, too :-) Although she probably wouldn't have slept long with all that noise that 6 kids can make when they're together.

I had to do a little re-do of our Valentine's Day picture 3 years ago, when Logan and Taylor were 4 and Kendall was 2. It still cracks me up because Kendall's reaction to the kisses was so genuine.

We made Valentine's Day boxes for school and the kids did a great job. Kendall's even lit up.

For dinner, we made cheese-filled heart pastries and had cherry 7-up with vanilla ice cream. Easy peasy and the kids loved it.

Kendall came home with this from school. It lists 10 of her favorite things:
1. pitsu (pizza)
2. iscrem (ice cream)
3. family
4. candey (candy)
5. food
6. chacalet (chocolate)
7. mom and dad
8. bozs and grls (boys and girls)
9. chuz and suks (shoes and socks)
10. and tits (and tights)
Yes, that last one made me laugh out loud. I actually had to ask her what she had written because I could not figure it out.
And white we're talking about humor, I have to share something that the kids did this month. I could hear them all giggling in the boys' bathroom, so I knew something was up. I went in to check up on them to find Taylor pooping in the toilet, Logan standing over the bathtub and peeing, and Kendall squatting over the sink and peeing. WE HAVE 4-1/2 BATHROOMS IN THE HOUSE!!! It's not like they have to wait for their turn. I stood there for a full minute, trying to decide if I should be mad or laugh it out.

William surprised me with a stuffed animal, some Dove chocolates, and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Unfortunately, I only got one piece because Kendall ate the rest, in one sitting. Logan and Taylor were so sweet and replaced the chocolate pieces with some of their own candy. I sneakily put it all back in their bags, but the thought was really sweet and appreciated.

Daddy-daughter dance

Kendall went to a daddy-daughter dance at school. She had been looking forward to it for weeks. It was actually really fun for me to get her all dolled up for the night. We put some pink in her hair, curled it, pulled it back in the front, painted her toe nails, got some heels on, borrowed some of my jewelry, and even put mascara and lipstick on. 

I think one of my favorite parts was that William rang the doorbell to pick her up, and she was so surprised because she hadn't noticed him sneaking out through the garage.

They had a lot of fun eating pizza, dancing, and hanging out with friends from school. She always looks forward to one-on-one time with daddy, because it's always so fun and special. I love that they have that special bond, even if they also push each other's buttons a lot.

Alexis: 6 months

Alexis is 1/2 year old! How is that even possible? When I was pregnant with her, I remember wondering if I'd ever feel like she belonged with us all along. I mean, there is a whole 5-year gap between her and Kendall. Well, now that she's here, I know she was meant to be a part of our family all along. And the kids are sooooo good to her. 

This month, Alexis started eating other types of solids, like sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and squash. 

She's also really getting into everything. She is so curious and wants to touch and taste everything. I have to be careful about what the kids give her, because she puts it straight into her mouth. I've already had to finger-sweep her mouth multiple times because she found paper and was eating it.

She has also mastered sitting on her own, although sitting in the cart is a little trickier. She got her first pigtails this month, too.

She got her first 2 bottom teeth, only 3 days apart, and likes to bite down on stuff. Her babble is getting cuter and cuter. Lots of bababa, bobobobo, bebebebe, and she even said mama once.

Alexis loves to be outside, play peek-a-boo with her carseat cover, and rip off grass (and try to eat it). She also really enjoys pinching me for some reason. Actually, I think it calms her down. She does it a lot when I nurse her and when she's tired. She often falls asleep messing with my ear or pinching my nose, or pinching the back of my arms (that one hurts a lot). And when I tell her to stop it, she laughs at me. Yep, she's a little stinker, if I haven't already said it.

Alexis: 5 months

Oh, this sweet face... She melts my heart. Like, seriously, my heart is one giant puddle, on the ground. How did I ever live without her in my life? 

It's so fun to see her little personality develop. She is one determined little stinker, that's for sure. She knows what she wants, and she doesn't stop until she gets it.

For example, if she doesn't want to sleep in her crib, she'll cry and cry until I get her. And since she's got me wrapped around her little finger, she ends up napping in my arms. I know it's going to come back and bite me in the butt, but I'm actually sorta kinda enjoying it. I just sit there, doing absolutely nothing, except stare at her beauty and innocence.

This month, Alexis started eating rice cereals. She makes funny faces when she eats it and it cracks me up. But she's doing a pretty good job. Like, 3/4 of every spoonful actually makes it into her mouth. She is also starting to sit up on her own. She went on her very first carousel ride and train ride at a really cool Winter Festival at the Princess Hotel. Also new this month, she likes to sing along with me. I think she likes to hear the sound of her own voice. I wish I could bottle that sweet little voice and listen to it when she's sleeping. Or when she's 12, or 18, or 30 years old.