Melissa’s Blog

I went for a bike ride this morning with a friend. We took a long bike ride. I think it was about an hour and 15 minutes. I was dying but it was good for me! We went to the Irvine Regional Park as they were having an anniversary celebration. The kids had a great time. First we went into the bounce house. They had fun bouncing around. Of course we had to go on the train. The kids wanted to sit next to daddy on the train. Comes Sunday the kiddos get really attached to daddy. After the train ride Justin decided he wanted to go on a pony ride. Yeah Justin! It was so cute to watch him. He was kind of indifferent to the idea of riding it. When Nicole saw Justin she wanted to do it too. We bought her a ticket and she decided she didn’t want to go. We will try again next time. Then we walked to see the ducks. On the way to where we were going to picnic, there was a play ground. We let the kiddos play for a bit. It was nice to have a picnic in the park with the kiddos. Nicole didn’t want to sit on the grass, she wanted my lap. Of course they didn’t eat much until we put them in the stroller. We strolled through the OC zoo real quick. We were running out of time. We saw bears, coyotes, llamas, etc. Came home and we all took a nap. After nap we decided to take the kids and their tricycles to Castle Park. They first biked around the park. Justin is loving to be able to pedal now. They gathered pine cones and put them in the back of their bikes. Then we went to the play area for a while. The kiddos had fun. We decided to take the kiddos to Red Robin for dinner. They were really well behaved, so we took them to get dairy Queen. They loved it! We played on the escalators and by the fountains. The kiddos were pretty hyper tonight. It is about 9:30 and I think Justin just fell asleep-Nicole is still awake.

We didn’t do too much today. We went to the grocery store in the morning. The kiddos were happy to push the little carts. We put the groceries in the car and then played outside by the fountain. We went to Toys R Us to get Justin a tricycle too. Justin has learned to pedal too. So cute. He was so excited to get his own trike. The kids rode up and down our street together. Nicole is getting so fast pedaling her trike. We put little bells on their bikes too. We were afraid they would fight over the new bike so we wanted to spice the old one up. It worked-they stayed on their own bikes. At nap time daddy took a nap with the kids so they went right down. I ran out to get my hair cut. They took 4 1/2 inches off my hair. Right now you can’t tell since she temporarily straightened it. We had to stay home and wait for Cox (our computer line was cutting in and out). I took the kids to Kohl’s to get Justin some big boy underwear. He picked out Cars underwear. Of course when we got home and he got Cars, Nicole wanted them too. So now to work on potty training Justin. He did great in his underwear tonight. I have had him just naked before so since he goes when naked, now it is time to try underwear. It was bath night. It is 9:45 and Nicole is still wide awake in her crib singing Jack in the Box.

We went to the bounce house place again. Paula and Jacole went too. The kiddos had a blast. Jacole is a bit freaked out about driving on freeways so her and Nathaniel came in our car. The kids were excited to have a guest in the car. But now Nicole wants to sit in the middle seat. Anyway the kiddos bounced their little hearts out. It was pretty empty which was nice. No big kids as my kids would say. Then we came home and had lunch. The kids played outside while I got ready to go LA to visit my mom in the hospital. They still are unsure what is wrong with her. So the kids finally fell asleep on the way down. There was some traffic and it seemed to take forever. We finally got there. I surprisingly found my way with Vanessa’s help (our GPS we named Vanessa). The kids were happy to see grandma/pa. Nicole happily sat on grandma’s lap but Justin was a little more stand offish. He was happy to see grandma/pa but was also very happy playing with his water. The kids were pretending to take a shower in grandma’s hospital bathroom. After we left I decided to take the kiddos to the Santa Monica Pier. A little stressful but doable. It was cold but the kids had so much fun. They were just looking around like crazy. They both rode on some of the little animals that went around in a circle. Nicole wanted the lion and Justin got the zebra. Then we rode in some cars and just walked around. They were excited to see the ocean too. We walked on the beach a bit too. It was cold so we didn’t stay too long. The traffic is so bad there, not only on the freeways but the side streets too. I was hoping to make it to the Westwood Mall for dinner, but it was taking too long. So I found a McDonalds. The kids loved it! Then we headed to the mall. Of course it took about an hour to go about 3 miles and I am so not exaggerating. Nicole said she had to go pee pee so I had to pull over. Try pulling over in LA. Then somehow I lost one of her favorite Dora shoes. Finally we made it to the mall. I think we had to go up about 10 escalators before we got to the mall. The kids loved it. When we got there, Nicole was in socks. When I asked someone where a shoe store was, Nicole of course told everyone we lost her shoe. It was cute. We walked around the mall but Nicole kept on threatening to poop every time I went in to a store. Finally got back to the car and left to come home around 8:30. Finally the kids fell asleep on the way home. Just being out in a strange area is stressful but it was a little fun too taking the kids to new places.

I couldn’t sleep last night-I think I finally fell asleep around 4:00AM-UGH! It rained last night and was dreary this morning. We went over to Vena’s this morning and played for a while. They were really into this one puzzle..I may have to look for one for my kiddos. It had all these latches, hooks, and doors, etc. After playing for a while we ran to the Laguna Hills Mall. I had to do a return. The kids had so much fun playing at the mall. They loved the lights on the ground-I love watching them play on that. Then we played on the cars, trains, etc. Nicole didn’t want a ride in the car but Justin did. The minute Justin’s car started to go, of course, Nicole wanted in too. We did some shopping and came home. The kids took a good nap today. But the minute I went out to do some gardening Justin woke up. I got him back down on the couch. After nap, we got into the bike trailer and went to Blue Gum Park. The weather cleared up and it wasn’t as dreary as this morning. We ran into Krish and his dad and Jacole. Then we went over to Christine’s (Joshua) and played there for a while. The kids jumped in their bounce house and enjoyed playing with all their toys. We rode home and had naked spaghetti night. We ran to the store after dinner and the kids played at the fountain until Nicole had to use the potty in the car. She is still afraid of public restrooms. While putting the kids down to sleep, they told daddy they were scared of when Christine blew up the bounce house (the noise). So silly of them. The kiddos are doing well counting to 20 and sharing their toys.

I had so much fun with Justin this morning while Nicole was still sleeping. We played ball and played puppets. This morning we went to a place called Jump N Shout in RSM. Oh my god, my kids had a blast. I think they jumped for 2 hours straight. They basically had the place to themselves for a bit. The excitement on their faces was great. It was amazing to watch them having a blast. We were all smiling! They first went into a bounce house, then a trampoline, then another bounce house, then the slides…they were running all over the place. I wish I brought my camera. They had the biggest smiles on their face while sliding down the big bouncy slide. While in the bounce house they loved coming to where I was then I would push them down. We had the greatest time ever. I kept thinking I should give them a break and leave but they just wanted to keep on going. On the way home we stopped at Wal Mart. Nicole fell in love with a princess shirt, so I bought it for her. I bough one for Justin that say says my mom rules. They went right down for a nap today and it was great. I have to go to this bounce house place again soon. After nap we just played for a while then our friend Nicole came over. We had a good night, quick bath, and off to bed.

This morning we went to Vena’s for a little playgroup with Candice, Victoria, and Stacie. The kids had fun. They liked the tricycles. My kids love playing at other people’s house, guess it is all the new and dif’t toys. Then we went to the zoo. Our play group went to the zoo today. We saw the baby monkey-too cute. Anyway the kiddos had fun at the zoo. Justin loved the big geese. He was so cute saying hi to them. They both liked climbing up to see the monkeys and play in the tunnel. The line was too long at the train but the kiddos really wanted to go. So we decided to have lunch at the zoo. I should have brought lunch as the place was so slow. But the train was empty by the time we went back. Nicole was really into Christy today, so cute. She wanted to ride the train with Christy, Lexie, and Baby Sienna. Justin and I rode together; he was so excited to go in the tunnel. Since Nicole wasn’t too happy about getting off the train, they let us go twice. We stayed at the zoo until 1:15 can’t believe we stayed so late. The kiddos took a short nap but a nap none the less. Then we went to Hicks Canyon Park. The kids love that park, mostly the see saw. Neyha met us there. Her husband came too and the kiddos got to play in her hubby’s car. They loved it, of course getting Nicole out was hard. Then we came home got the mail (their favorite thing to do), ran down driveways, then played in the yard. It was a fun day.

We hate Mondays since Bret goes back to work. We ran some errands this morning. Then Paula and her kiddos came over. We played for a while. The kids had fun inside and out. We had lunch together. It was so cute watching the kids eat together. Nap was pretty non-existent. Justin napped for a little bit maybe 20 minutes. Nicole didn’t nap. I think I went upstairs a zillion times. She kept on saying she had to use the potty. After about 45 minutes of this she finally pee’d on the potty. Then she kept on saying poop coming, so I finally gave up and brought her downstairs. Shortly after Justin woke up. We got the bike out and the kids were all excited about going in the trailer. We biked to Lower’s Peter Canyon and the kids played for a while. They were into climbing and sliding. It was cute to watch them. Luckily Nicole isn’t too cranky yet. We got home and played outside for a bit. Daddy took Nicole to the store to get something real fast, so Justin and I played bubbles, etc. It was fun! The kiddos play and take their strollers to Starbucks (pretend). They get us lots of coffee. We had dinner, grandpa stopped by for a bit then it was bath night. The kiddos did a lot of drawing in the tub with crayons. They drew lines and Nicole drew a see saw and the park. It is amazing how much pretend the kiddos are doing these days. The kids are getting so big. All of a sudden they are almost 30 pounds! Since they didn’t nap the kiddos went to bed pretty fast, now I am exhausted.

We didn’t do anything exciting today but it was a fun day. We went grocery shopping and the kids got to push the little carts. They love it. Of course I can only get as much as their two little carts fit. They played outside the grocery store a bit, running around before we headed up. Then we decided to go for a bike ride (pic below of kids in trailer). We are trying to take advantage of the fact that the kids like the bike trailer. We just rode to the open space on Jeffrey. We let the kids out and run around. We had so much fun. The kids explored a bit, ran around, drank out of the water fountain, got introduced to rolly polly bugs, and walked through the tunnel. We stopped at the organic fruit stand and got the kiddos peaches to eat on the way home. They loved having a whole peach. Nap time was frustrating as Nicole didn’t want to nap-ugh. She did fall asleep while we ran an errand in the car. We played in the yard for a while. It was cold out but the kiddos were so happy outside. We did some dot painting and play doh before dinner. Nicole was really into her baby tonight. She brought her upstairs and even pretended to give her a bath and dry her. Her baby has been using the potty as well-too cute. Justin was into ring around the rosie, running around the tent upstairs and then he would fall boom on his butt. He was laughing so hard and so were we. Nicole joined in for a bit. They were pretty hyper and silly tonight but were cracking us up.

This morning Gary, Matthew, and Ellie (Krista away) came over for a pancake breakfast. My kiddos were still upstairs when they got here and they were so excited to hear people downstairs playing with their toys. The kiddos played really well together while we made breakfast. Of course Nicole wore Matthew and Ellie’s shoes and Justin and Matthew played trains together. We just played at home for the morning….we were all over the house playing, upstairs, downstairs, outside. Then we went for a walk. I had to bring something to Maggie’s house so we walked over there. Maggie was home so we played in her house for a bit. Her daughter, Aliya was out with her daddy. We came home and had lunch. After nap, we ran to Mission Viejo. There is a house there that is my dream home, so I wanted to show Bret the neighborhood. Her liked it too. Not sure what we will do but we are going to explore all our options. We played at a nearby park, Flo Jo Park. It was a cute park. The kids had a blast playing. Nicole wanted to swing for a while and Justin was into climbing and sliding. They both played with the sand for a while. Then we went to Claim Jumper for dinner. Overall the kiddos did well until they started happy screaming. HA. They took a long bath tonight. Justin is sound asleep and Nicole is still awake. She is using the potty as an excuse to get out of her crib a million times.

Can’t wait for Bret to come home. This morning we met Jacole (Nathaniel) and Neyha (Krish and Isha) at the Spectrum. Of course we rode the carousal. Justin was so excited to ride the ostrich and Nicole wanted to ride a purple horse. They love carousals-it was cute. We walked around a bit and then the kids saw the train. Justin was so excited to ride the train, we had never been on that train. Then we all went and had lunch. Nicole did so well telling me she had to use the potty. It was so nice being with friends and it was a beautiful day! When we got home grandpa was here. Grandpa pushed you guys in the swings and you guys loved it. After nap grandma came over. We played with toys inside but Justin wanted to go outside so badly. So outside we went. You guys went in the swings, did bubbles, made baskets, rode bikes…you had a great time. Then we went to Ruby’s for dinner. It was nice. Nicole is getting less and less scared of pooping in the potty. She gets to pick out a prize out of a bucket everytime she poops. They went to bed a little late and Nicole is still up babbling and counting.