Olympic Training Center

Today I took the kids out to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. There are only 3 in the US - Lake Placid and Colorado Springs being the other two. It's pretty cool that there is one right in our backyard! In the words of Kyle, it was super, crazy hot out. While there wasn't too much for the kids to actually interact with, they were excited to see the BMX bikers out practicing on their course. They have the Beijing and London courses replicated there for practice courses. We also saw the women's rugby team out practicing and a men's team (either soccer or rugby) on their way for a workout. 

New bikes

Happy (early) 7th Birthday Kyle and Emily! They got their new bikes today for their birthday. They had outgrown their other bikes and it was time for new ones. They got ones with hand brakes only and gears! Pretty exciting! It was a bit frustrating for the first few hours adjusting to just hand brakes and trying to shift, but they have done great and love their new bikes!

Fourth of July

Our 4th of July was pretty fun. While we don't have the crazy, busy 4ths that many others do, ours was busy for us. We started the day trying to get to the beach in the morning with the rest of Point Loma. But by the time we were ready to bike over to the beach, Aaron was breaking down for a nap. We thought we could push it since he woke up late, but figured it was in our best interested to let the boy sleep and go to the beach after nap. So he napped, very short, but he napped, and then we biked over to the beach. It was very crowded, but it felt so much less crowded since we didn't have to deal with car parking. It's amazing what a difference that makes. We set up our 'camp' and got to our beach afternoon. We saw plenty of people we knew there and had some fun in the water and the sand. Aaron showed he was a true California boy, with the surfer blonde hair and all, loving the water and even riding on someone's boogie board in the water. Emily made some friends with a handful of girls her age and spent time out in the water on a giant raft with them. Kyle stuck close and played a lot of catch with us and saw some of his friends from school too. It was the perfect time at the beach. 

I loved showing up on a bike, carefree and spending the time that we wanted without the worries of parking and such. Thank goodness Aaron has a bike seat and we could use the bike trailer to haul the beach stuff. Oh and Aaron was soo very tired on the way home that he completely passed out in his seat. I had to hold his head up to prevent it from flopping about. See picture below. 

After dinner, we took in the fireworks from the neighborhood with about 5,000 other people who found it a great place to watch as well. Kyle and Emily watched with Simon and Aaron walked around watching the fireworks with the wide eyes of a toddler, loving it. 

Sunset Cliffs

So we just discovered that Sunset Cliffs is crazy close to us and is awesome! I've read about it countless times about how great it is and whatnot, but we've continued to go to Cabrillo or Torrey Pines for our hiking adventures. Well, Sunset Cliffs is pretty spectacular and is literally in our backyard! So the kids and I ventured out there in the morning to check it out and see what it was all about. We were not disappointed. Despite Aaron eating the ground mutiple times, he still enjoyed being able to (somewhat) roam around and climb and hike. Emily and Kyle loved being gem miners in the dust and watching the surfers below. I can't wait to take them back there and bring Jeff too. 

Pierced ears!!

Emily's been asking since she was 2 or 3 years old to get her ears pierced. Well like the normal people that we are (not), we were at the mall this weekend and on a whim decided to ask Em if she wanted to get her ears pierced. She actually said she wanted to think about it. We told her that we were here and could do it now. So she thought for 2 seconds and said yes. And we let her do it! That was what it took - just being there, ready to do it on the spot, in the now. Not the planning and finding the right place and a pediatrician to do it. Just being at the mall and going to Claire's like most of the general public getting their ears pierced. Yes, she did cry because it hurt. It does hurt. It feels like your ears are on FIRE. But she did great. She got over it once she saw her earrings about 10 seconds later. And she chose great earrings - rubies for her birthstone. She sure is a girly girl. She loves her new earrings and looks so beautiful with them. She told me she was excited to share earrings with me, but she understood if I didn't want to share my sapphire earrings (my birthstone) since she doesn't want to share her ruby earrings. 

Nice picture

At storytime, a photographer was there taking pictures of the kids (I assume this was to build her portfolio for her business). Anyhow, here is our picture. It doesn't seem to come through as well in this smaller picture, but how Emily and Aaron's eyes pop is stunning in the full resolution picture. 

Children's museum

Today we headed down to the Children's Museum for some fun. We could get in free with our Science Museum membership so we thought we should capitalize on that. By the way, that science pass pays for it's weight in gold, year after year with the science museum and the MANY reciprocal memberships it offers. Anyhow, we brought our neighbor's son, who the kids have spent MANY MANY hours playing together with this summer and everyone had a blast. 

First, Aaron wanted to be our chauffeur. The kids climbed into the car and Aaron bolted for the driver's seat! 

The kids loved the climbing wall to get their inner monkey on. 

We hit the park across the street afterwards for some more climbing. One thing I know about kids is that they have a TON of energy. And they need to burn it off. So they did. Oh and Aaron met a cute little yorkie and loved petting him. But he knows very well to let a dog smell his hand first. 

Kyle, Emily, Simon and Aaron climbing. 

Happy hour

Kyle and Emily had karate so Jeff and I took advantage of a lighter load and celebrated happy hour together (with Aaron) with some bocce ball at the brewery down the street in biking distance. Aaron sure loves to cheers! 

Aaron's crib in the morning

Now that Aaron is in the same room as Kyle, this is oftentimes what Aaron's crib looks like in the morning if we don't get to him first. Kyle and Emily do their best to entertain them to buy us just a few more minutes of sleep. They are so good to us! 

Fairy fest

For our second year in a row, we headed up to Encinitas for the botanical garden's fairy festival. Emily still loves her fairies, though it's not as pervasive as it was last year, she and Kyle both had a blast doing the different fairy projects they offered. This year they made fairy potpourri, painted fairy treasure chests and gathered materials for a fairy house. And on our way out, Emily got to hold a bird. I want to call it a parrot or a macaw, but I can't remember what it actually is. Nonetheless, they had a great time. Aaron had fun too though his fun was more of the toddler wandering around and picking up bark kind of fun. At least this year he was awake for it. Last year he was passed out, sweating in the bjorn on me. 

Emily cuteness

Emily is beyond cute! Perhaps she will be the first in our house to get Grandma's green thumb instead of the rest of ours who cannot keep a plant alive to save ourselves.

Happy Father's Day Jeff!

Happy Father's Day Jeff! You are a fabulous father and the kids are so very lucky that you are their Daddy. We started the day with a nice brunch at a local little cafe with California inspired cuisine and very Napa (of what I think of Napa despite never having been there) decor. Then Jeff took Kyle and Emily to see Epic while Aaron took a nap at home. The kids played in the alleyway for a while with Jeff (he got to relax) before dinner - grilled chicken with grilled peaches and some bananas foster for dessert. 

Last day of school

And today was Kyle and Emily's last day of 1st grade. I don't know where the time went. I'm sure I'll say that every year, but man oh man it went FAST!! They had a great teacher and a great class and learned a lot. They both made some great new friends and continued friendships with some great kids from last year as well. We were certainly very pleased with their school year this year. Congratulations on another year well done Kyle and Emily!

Lil' painter

Kyle and Emily were at a birthday party and Aaron was awake so Jeff and I took him to the Children's Museum since it's not very often that he gets just Aaron time and just Aaron activities. He loved the bubbles and painting the car. Don't let the smock fool you - he was pretty much the Incredible Hulk afterward with paint up his arms and legs despite our best efforts to wash him off there. 

Cuteness

Just some random pictures of Aaron being cute lately. 

Playing Kyle's ping pong plinko

Loving lamb chops

Enjoying some bocce ball and lemonade with Mommy & Daddy

Ping pong plinko

Kyle is really into building things lately. He decided he wanted to build a pinball machine here. Instead of it being a pinball machine, it was more like a plinko machine, a la The Price is Right. It was cool to see him execute his ideas into something he could play with. He is loving his "game room" and his game creations that he comes up with. Aaron also loves this. Just this morning, I found him upstairs saying "ba ba ba" (ping pong ball) with a ball in one hand and a paddle in the other. He can't quite throw the ball and swing the paddle - that's a little complex for his 1 year old self at this point - be he does know what he wants to do and gets super excited when you do it for him.