San Diego

My clan and I took a much anticipated trip to San Diego last week, and here are the highlights:

1. Serena finished an entire American Girl book in the car ride there...and we didn't even hit traffic.

She brought 2 of them she had gotten recently and hadn't started. She actually put off reading the second one just so she'd have something for later. SHe's really gotten to be an excellent reader, I am so proud of her.

2. The girls went ga-ga for thier room, bunk beds and thier own tv??? It was a castle to them.

Kid's Suites are now a must for every vacation in the future, the kids loved thier own space, and Brian and I loved having our own too. And did I mention it was about the same price as a regular room? So worth it!



3. We went swimming 2 times, in February, gotta love Cali weather!

I think this was the girls favorite part. Chloe used some floaties, and Serena just swam. She's still not very proficient, but she's doing so much better than even she did this summer.


4. Brian took us to this place called Seaport village when we arrived Tuesday.

We had a yummy lunch, rode a carousel, and walked along the beach on a gorgeous warm and clear day.


5. We went to Sea World, twice.

We got fun cards, so instead of spending extra money to go to the zoo (which isn't fun for Chloe yet anyway), we went to Sea World twice. We didn't have to rush, we saw some shows Wed and some Thurs, and it was great. On Wednesday during the Shamu show we got to see National Geographic up close. A dumb pelican flew over to the fish boxes, and the trainers tried shooing the silly bird away. They finally succeeded, only the really stupid bird landed in the tank and just sat there on the water. Then we see a big dark figure speeding toward it underwater, and bam. Bye bye birdie. And since it was the mama whale, her baby came over and started "playing with it" as the trainers called it. So they got those whales and the bird into the back tank, and had two other whales come out to finish the show.
Chloe loved the Beluga whales, we sat at the tank for about 20 minutes while Daddy and Serena went on a ride and everytime the whaled popped up she excitedly would say " OH! There's the whale!" She never got tired of watching it peek out of the water. We even got to watch the trainers work with them and feed them. Then we moved onto the polar bear viewing area and the bear walked right in front of us. All that sperated us was a thin layer of glass, it was creepy and cool. Chloe was giddy, it made her day. Serena's favorite part was feeding the dolphins. She also enjoyed gabbing the ear off of a very kind woman working at the tide pool exhibit. She must have kids, because if you know Serena, you know she can talk, and talk, and talk, and she handled Serena wonderfully.

6. We went minature golfing

Serena got the first hole in one...and on the rest of them...well she still doesn't get that everytime you tap the ball it counts as a stroke, so she probably scored 500 on 18 holes....but don't tell her that.
I technially beat Brian, b/c he didn't cover the point spread =o). Chloe did it "all by herself" as she does everything these days.


7. We visited Old Town

And there we ate the most delicious tortillas I have ever had in my life, EVER. It was at the Coyote Cafe...if you are ever there, just order tortilla's, that's all you need. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We also toured an old cemetery, and tried to tour an old chapel, but it was closed already. The cemetery was cool, better than I imagined. Chloe started singing "Ring-a-round-the-rosy" while we were there, and it reminded me that this childrens favorite is a dreary song about people dying of the plague. It was cloudy and windy, and Chloe was snging that song in a cemetery...it seemed like the beginning of a bad horror flick...all that was missing was music box music playing too slowly behind her singing...

8. Serena wrote a song

About how sad she was to leave on Friday morning, it was really sweet. I am so glad she had fun, and didn't want to leave. I was kidna sad to leave too, but happy to come home and rest. After all, this wasn't a relaxing vacation, it was a family memory making vacation. So needless to say I am still recovering from it, and still sad that the maid service stayed behind in San Diego.

Rachel, the hostest with the mostest.

Rachel, blogger extraoridnare and my friend, has a fabulous blog I read often.

Full of inspiration, and good laughs. It's what my blog wants to be when it grows up someday.

ANYWHO she is having a fabulous giveaway, so head on over here:

http://number17cherrytreelane.blogspot.com/2010/02/lisa-leonard-giveaway-happy-valentines.html#comment-form

And enter...fabulousness will ensue.

Absolutely Priceless.

This year has been full of blessings coming from Serena's 2nd grade class.

I love her teacher. She is a Christian, with a missionary daughter living in Peru, um she had me at hello.

Her teacher is very detail orientated, and teaching the kids to be self-disciplined, and it has paid off in Serena tremendously!

Serena has had to deal with people who irk her, and I see her showing a forgiving spirit, and learning more about friendship.


I am able to be the room mom, which is what I always envisioned, but missed out on the first two years of Serena's school because the other teachers didn't allow Chloe to tag-a-long with me. This teacher does, another reason I love her.

Well, we have had quite a few parties already, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and today was the Valentine's party. The class parties are much more work and much more stressful than I had imagined they would be. And the fact that some parents just don't chip in can be kind of a drag. Because when they opt out, I am opted in for more work, and more money.

For this party, I gave up on asking for specific items (as rushing out to buy things the day of is hard without a car), and asked parents to send money. I asked for $2-3 from each, not unreasonable, right? Well, only half the kids brought money back with them. So today I was feeling a little bummed about that, after all, that means I (and the 2 other moms helping me) spent all the money and did all the work.


This could have been a really bad day, but I had decided that I would just enjoy it, and the most amazing thing happened.

I got there early to set up, while the kids were still at lunch, so Chloe and I walked by the lunch tables as the kids ate, and half of Serena's class came up and started fawning over Chloe and asking me what was in the bags. I gave Serena a quick kiss on the head and rushed off to class.

Just after I walked to the door, an aide that helps in Serena's class came up to me, and told me "After you left (the lunch tables) everyone looked at Serena smiling, and she had a proud look of 'yup, that's my mom.'"

That made my day.

That is why I do this.

Forget the parents who don't see the joy in making special days at school for thier kids, forget the time and money I spend (but after it was all said and done, I broke about even). My daughter will remember my being there, just like I remember my mom being at school.

And when she is a mom, she will desire to do the same thing for her brood.

So, sorry to all the moms who don't care enough to even send the $2, you're really missing out!

All By Myself

Chloe constantly has me in stitches as her vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds. Like all small children, she makes quite a few funny mistakes while trying to learn our strange language. Like the other day, she said "Seya (that's how she says her sisters name) made my heart feel angry."

But my favorite phrase, that is constantly on her lips is "I can do it all by myself Mom."

She wants to do anything and everything without my help these days. She can open and close the lid on the milk (though lets be honest, I won't let her pour yet, I can't afford to buy cartons of milk everyday because half of it spilled on my floor). She likes to put the lid on her own sippy cup, she gets herself dressed and undressed. She puts her own shoes on. She tries to put her own hair ties in, but then gives up and gives them to me. Then 5 minutes later she rips her own hair ties out. Then 5 minutes later asks me again to do her "pony hair". Then 5 minutes later...well you get the picture.

I remember getting so frustrated with this stage when Serena was going through it. Because " I can do it all by myself Mom." actually means "I hope you're not in a hurry mom, this is going to take me a while...might as well get comfy." I remember never leaving enough time for it, and we'd both be frustrated as I hurriedly got her dressed. I am trying my very hardest to let Chloe explore the world of autonomy without much hindrance from me. I still have my rushed, sorry Kid let me do it kind of moments but I am trying to make them the exception, not the rule.

I really enjoy Chloe's drive and persistence and I don't want to squelch it.


Oh and while I was typing this, Chloe started telling me a story about how the dog ate her hair tie, that her Grandma gave her and she said " And I said Sunshine, no puppy. And she didn't stop." To which I replied, knowing a good story was coming, "Oh no, what happened next?" "Then she fell down the stairs and kinda died. Then she pulled my towel and your pillow."

I Love this kid.