We celebrate Jack turning ONE on Fiesta Island...

First Homemade Mother's Day Present from Ava!

So today when Ava came home from school I got my first homemade mother's day present. She covered a terracotta pot in clay and then placed stones on it. Then planted a flower! I LOVE it, and will cherish it forever :)

She also made a watercolor tissue painting for my card.

Jackson is on the move!

Jackson has discovered that he can get around pretty well these days... scooting along. Today he made it about 15 feet to get to Indie :) Here are a few photos of him testing out his arm strength.

Sea Life Aquarium and Legoland

So today we headed to Carlsbad to see the new Aquarium, Sea Life, that opened next to Legoland. Ava was actually excited to see the "fishies" and kept trying to reach out and grab them. While we have thought about going to Legoland before, for the cost ($73!) we wanted to wait a few more years for the kids to be able to ride the rides, and get our monies worth. But today we realized we could get a "shopping pass" to enter for free for an hour! So we got to go see what we really wanted to see anyway, the mini cities without having to pay the entrance fee. They still had the inauguration set up in the DC city, which was very cool. Then we stopped and got fresh strawberries on the way home. It made for a very nice day :)

Coronado Island and Pizza Playdate; A good day!

This morning I drove over to Coronado Island to meet up with some Mommy Friends. It was the perfect day to get in a nice walk along the water and stop by the playground for Ava to blow off some steam.

When Michael got home from work we headed to Tierrasanta, to Round Table Pizza for a Pizza Playdate. We met good friends Carma (Aiden and Nadia), Janis (Jack), Donna (Autumn), Joyce (Joshua) - it was a nice Friday evening where the kids all got to eat pizza and play with their friends and the parents got to have some adult chat out.

Whale Watching... a seasick adventure

So this morning we headed down to the harbor and boarded a boat for a true 3 hour tour. It is the last few weeks of the whale migration and we thought spending the morning on the water would be a fun family day. We joined our good friends Donna, Neil, and Autumn for our day.

When we first arrived on board Autumn and Ava were excited to see each other and were holding hands running around the deck of the boat. However as we started to head out of the bay and into the ocean the waters began to get pretty choppy, and both girls started looking a little pale. was worried, but tried to stay positive. We saw some dolphins that were following the boat as we headed out. I Then we hit a storm and the winds picked up, the swells got much bigger, and it began to rain! We took cover in one of two covered cabanas on the top deck, since being on top is suppose to be less likely to make you sick. Ava started to doze off hugging her Daddy, and a few moments later the trip took a turn for the worse. Ava got sea sick... all over Michael! I grabbed a seasick bag, and caught the tail end of it, but it was really too late. Michael was such a good sport and gets the prize for the day. He had fortunately dressed in layers, and after we used a full container of wipes and removed Ava's sweatshirt and Michael's top layer he let her lay back down ON him wrapping his coat around the front of her. Truly showing what a great Dad he is, and how much he loves his little girl.

Just when she fell back asleep we of course find, what the tour guides said was the largest group of animals they had ever seen, about 6 whales and hundreds, and hundreds of dolphins! Michael stayed put, and never got to see any of them.. I went to the rail and took some photos (which Ava LOVED when we showed them to her later).

It was a rough day. But Michael earned his official Dad badge today.

Ava Turns Two!!

We feel very blessed that today Ava celebrated as she turned the big T-W-O! with her closest friends and family. This included Nana and Grandpa Prosser and Aunt Erica, who all flew in for the occassion. Her favorite band, Hullabaloo came to preform a live concert including her current favorite song, "Blah, Blah, Blah". We also had a inflatable jumper for the kids to play in. We had a theme around her favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, with her cake made of 40 green cupcakes and a large red 6" head, with two candles for the antennas. Her friends and family spoiled her with gifts. --photos to be added soon!