Flower fields

Emily has been asking to go pick flowers for a long time now. So we headed up to the Carlsbad Flower Fields for a fun morning of flowers. While she couldn't pick the flowers, she sure enjoyed seeing all of them and their beautiful colors. Oh and she and Kyle had a blast RUNNING everywhere there!

My little cuties posing in front of the flowers. One of the few times they stopped moving.

A new variety of flower - the Mommius-Kylius-Emilily flower.

Stopped for a very brief moment in the flower maze.

Taking time to smell the flowers.

Kyle finds some flowers that are more his type - Lego flowers!

And panning for gold and other beautiful rocks and gems.

And she's off again!

Sea World

So we joined Sea World and the kids have had a blast playing in their special kid play area - Bay of Play. With a giant cargo net path to climb on, a huge bounce house, twisty slide, flying Elmos and teacups to spin on, what more could you ask for in a mini-amusement park?

Climbing in the giant cargo net path

Look at us!

Giant inflatable bounce house!

Emily bouncy!

Where do they come from?!?!?

My little goofballs!

E washing her babies all dolled up with bracelet, bug bling ring and a wallet. Very interesting what it takes to give a baby a bath from a child's eye!

K as laundry.

Size perspective

Kyle & Emily were born 2 months early. We pulled out their preemie onesies to dress Emily's baby and Miko up in. When Kyle & Emily wore these, the outfits were also a little big on them. But check out these size perspectives - the preemie clothes on Emily's baby and Miko fitting a little big, but not much; the size of the baby and Miko; and Kyle & Emily's size now. We've come a LONG way! (Kyle & Emily are 3 years, 9.5 months old in this picture)

Science Camp

Kyle & Emily are doing a science camp over at the science museum. It's designed for preschool age kids. This month's theme is On the Go. The kids are having so much fun with it.

The first week they learned about forces - gravity, wind, water and magnets. Really, ask them about forces and they will tell you these things! It's pretty impressive because they teach the kids these scientific terms and concepts, but at their level and let them do little experiments with them.

The following week was transportation so they worked with cars on different surfaces and inclines; boats in water; a rocket; and made paper airplanes and gliders. At the end, they got to create rockets by putting a little water and alkaseltzer in a film canister. See pictures below.

And today, the theme was motion so they worked with spinning, hopping and rolling. They used a balloon to create static electricity to move a pop can across a table. They rolled marbles in paint to create a picture. They made spinning tops. And they got to see the Mentos in Diet Coke explosion. See pictures below.

Getting ready for the rockets. Too cute in the lab goggles.

Kyle prepping his rocket.

Kyle waiting for his rocket to blast off.

Blast off!

Diet Coke and Mentos geyser!

She chose this all by herself

Each morning, Emily wakes up and gets herself dressed. 9 times out of 10, my girly girl is wearing a dress. Believe it or not, I too wore dresses nearly every day until I was about 8. What really amazes me with Emily is how well she coordinates everything! I need her help getting myself dressed and coordinated these days!

Emily's surfer

Emily's turn for artwork. She also drew a person surfing on purple water. And I believe the circles are fisheys swimming in the water.

Kyle's surfer

Kyle drew this picture all by himself. I love how three year olds draw people - a head with arms and legs protruding! Kyle said this is a picture of a person surfing. Note the ocean and the rainbow.

Ice Cream Ball

What fun!! Today, the kids and I made vanilla ice cream. Papa and Grandmas Beth gave us an ice cream ball for our first Mother's Day 4 years ago (well Kyle & Emily weren't quite born yet, but would soon make their entrance). And today the kids had a blast making ice cream! We were originally going to make strawberry ice cream with all our strawberries from strawberry picking, but we were delayed in making it so the strawberries had already been turned into fruit leather. Anyhow this was super simple. Just add ice and rock salt to one end, make a mix of half & half (or cream), sugar and vanilla or whatever flavor you'd like, and have a ball!

Rollllllll it!

Shake it!

Roll it some more...

And viola! You have delicious ice cream! We topped our ice cream with some raspberry preserves and fresh raspberries and it was delicious!!

Boys will be boys

We had a fun trip to the Wild Animal Park today with some friends. The Butterfly Jungle exhibit was still open so we started there. Kyle took this picture.

Then we walked, well the kids ran, around the park. The best part was this picture... it was where the lions used to be, but was just empty now. All of the boys were so thrilled looking out into this area though... and surprise, surprise, there was a giant yellow construction crane out there working. Boys will be boys! And I love how the girls are there, but aren't really into it. Girls will be girls too!

Fruit leather

Growing up, we would go blueberry, apple and peach picking. I'm sure my mom made so many different yummy treats from these, but the one I remember the most is fruit leather. It's basically a fruit roll up but without the added stuff and far better tasting and better for you. I feel bad even calling it "like a fruit roll-up" because it's so much better. This is just fruit (there may be a touch of water or sugar but minimal at best) dried and dried and oh so delicious! So I tried my hand at it since we only had a bazillion strawberries needing to go into something. And everyone loved it!! The consistency wasn't totally there - there were a few gooey parts to it, but overall, it was tasty. And knowing that this fruit roll up was just fruit with a touch of sugar, it made it even better!
Just before going into the oven (it goes in for several hours on very low heat) and then dries outside the oven for more time.

Tommy & Colleen's visit

Some more pictures from the rest of Tommy & Colleen's visit here. It was great visiting with them and getting to celebrate their engagement with them the following day. We are very excited for October!!

Kyle taking a nap pool-side just like Dominican

Congratulations! Newly engaged!

Sea World!

Strawberry picking

Strawberry picking with Tommy & Colleen!! So much fun and SO many strawberries!! They were wonderful right off the vine, juicy and warmed by the sun. So delicious. We made smoothies and I just made a batch of fruit leather today (Wednesday is today when I'm writing this, but Saturday was when we went) which is still drying out. Can't wait to eat it!!

Cabrillo with Tommy & Colleen

We had a fun trip to Cabrillo with Tommy & Colleen. Beautiful day, beautiful scenery and great company.

Wheeeeee!

Holding the little crabs. It was all fine until the crab came out of his shell and started walking on Emily's hand. Then it was all over... ;-)

Piggy backs!!