Melissa’s Blog

We tried to celebrate dad’s day today for Bret since tomorrow will be about my family. We ran to the store to do a return and buy Nikki a scooter. She picked out a Razor Hello Kitty scooter. She couldn’t wait to come home and use it and Justin couldn’t wait to scooter with her. They were so cute using their scooters together. We took dad to Little Pickle, his favorite sandwich place. Then we decided to go to the Environmental Nature Center in Newport. It was fun. They gave the kids things to find on a scavenger hunt. So of course that made it so exciting. I don’t think we had time to appreciate the nature as the kids just wanted to find everything as fast as they could. I would have loved to stay there and just take pics.Here are some pics:

Since we were so close to Grammy’s we decided to go over there. When she wasn’t home the kids insisted on waiting for her. The kids amused themselves in the front of her house, jumping to hit the wind chimes, using their trikes, and getting out their floaties and kickboards. They pretended their trikes were the Autopia and the glider chair was the Small World ride. It was so cute. Grammy got home and then there was some domestic dispute going on at a neighbors. So exciting as the police came. The kids got to see inside the police cars and van and learn about all the things police officers use, tazers, darts, handcuffs, footcuffs, etc. The police officer took so much time to show the kids everything. It was even pretty cool for Bret and I. We decided to stay and have dinner at Grammy’s. The kids were so silly and were so excited that Grammy had ice cream for them. They didn’t want to leave. We didn’t get the kiddos to bed until about 9:15, ugh. But I am glad they are bonding a bit more with Grammy.

We decided to hang out at home today and recover from being away. More laundry, ugh. The kids needed a bath so badly. So I got them in with offering them a bubble bath. They had a great time in the bath. They were spooning the bubbles into cups and bowls pretending they were making snow cones and ice cream. We played at home for while then wanted to run some errands. We went to check out a new preschool and thought we would be in and out. The kids saw the park so we just let them play at the park. The kids rode their scooters and Justin had a nasty fall, his poor knees. Poor guy I forgot to mention he keeps getting hurt. I wish he would stop it. After lunch dad had to get on a call for work, working on vacation, and I had to take the kids to the dentist. We broke down and decided to have sealants put on the kids teeth. I don’t want them to have any teeth problem. They were troopers at the dentist and it did take a while. The dentist thought Justin was a bit anxious and gave him some laughing gas. Justin was probably too busy watching the TV. It is so hard to watch the kids at the dentist, since I hate the dentist. I can’t believe the cost of these sealants. It will be worth it if it works. We went to the mall after the dentist. I felt so bad for making them get sealants so I surprised them with a trip to the Disney store. Justin picked a car right away, shocker. Nicole seriously took about a half hour to decide what she wanted. Nikki decided on a Dopey animal. We picked up the stuff I needed for Nikki’s bed at the mall. Hopefully I can get her bed all done. When we got home the kids watched some TV and we had dinner. After dinner we took a walk while the kiddos used their scooters. We went up bunny path and then to the park for a little bit. When we got home the kids did bubbles. We went upstairs and got ready for bed.

Since I am so behind on my blog I am just going to re-cap our RV trip. We left for our trip Tuesday morning. It was a longer drive than we thought. Since it was so long we let the kiddos get out of their seat belts for a while. They loved being up top while daddy drove. Dad did so well driving the entire time. We got to our campsite and then headed to the beach. It was so cold and windy though. The sand there is really fine and was blowing in our faces, so we couldn’t stay at the beach. We actually got worried we would be too cold at night so we ran out to buy more blankets. It was nice having the heat on most of the night while the people in tents froze. Nicole and Justin made friends with the neighbors. 2 kids a little older than N&J but they played so well. They loved having their new friends in our RV. Next time we do a camping trip of some sort we decided the kids needed some friends. The next day we just relaxed and took it easy. We took a walk and looked at the other parks. The kids played on the play structure. After lunch we headed to the beach. It was an awesome beach day. The water was freezing so we didn’t even attempt to go in. I built the kids a ton of sand castles and they had a great time smashing them. They ran to them pretending they were dogs and smash. We also made a cake out of sand castles. We took a little walk on the beach. There was a sand castle contest so we just looked at them, someone made an awesome car out of sand. So we are walking back to our blanket and sand stuff and we see the kids….all of a sudden we are like where did Justin go. He found a huge hole and went in it. He was popping his head up and down. We were laughing so hard. It was so cute. The kids loved this hole and played in it for a long time. We took the RV out and went to the main street. It was a pretty cool town. We told the kiddos they could buy something. Justin chose blues clues and Nicole finally chose magenta (blues clues friend). Nicole had such a hard time making up her mind of what to buy. She wanted to think about her decision while we had dinner. We had a great dinner right next to the beach. But a pigeon did fly in my hair while waiting for our food, it was so gross. After we just walked the main street and we ran into a little farmer’s market. There was a bounce house so the kids bounced. They had so much sand in their pockets that sand was all over the bounce house. I only mention this because the guy at the bounce house was so anal and vacuuming the sand the minute he saw it. We let the kiddos watch part of the Muppet movie in the RV before bed. The next day consisted of packing up and heading home. We stopped in Santa Barbara to eat and just walk around. Of course we got stuck in LA traffic which sucked. We got home and unpacked and Bret went to return the RV. All in all it was a great trip, just went by too quickly. I tried to unpack and do laundry as soon as I could. So much laundry. I met the board from pre school at dinner that evening. We went to a great place. Dad and the kiddos played. Dad got down the Hot Wheels scooter that our neighbor found when the kids were just so little. Justin was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to ride it. We just need to get Nikki a new scooter now. Dad and I relaxed after I got home and we were glad to be in our own bed.

Here are some pics:

Bret is officially on vacation, yeah! This morning I had to head out early for the dentist. The good news though I should be done with the dentist for a while now. When I got home my wonderful family gave me hugs. Justin was busy playing Wii but paused it for me. It was the quickest hug ever but never the less a hug. I went and played doll house with Nikki. I started to get so tired, guess I finally relaxed from all the dentist stress. Justin and dad played lots of games together downstairs. We put the dolls to sleep so I thought it was safe to go to sleep too. I went into Nikki’s bed where she followed me. We ended up playing stuffed animal for a bit then I took a nap. Bret was great and kept the kids occupied while I slept. Nikki woke me up so nicely but then ripped the covers off of me and pulled me out of bed. We decided to go to monkey bar park. Nikki was having trouble doing the monkey bars. Dad and Justin were playing soccer which turned into bowling. Kick the ball at the person like soccer and when it hits your feet you fall over. It was pretty hot at the park though so we didn’t stay too long. We came home and did water balloons. Justin wanted the balloons with the holes in them. They had such a great time. We all ended up wet. After lunch the kiddos played for a bit. Then we went to visit a pre school. I wasn’t too thrilled. Then grammy came over. She babysat while dad and I went to my doctor app’t. I got a great report and I am so glad Bret is also seeing this doctor. After he does his lung ct and another test hopefully he will get the ok to play trombone again. I have never heard my hubby play. We picked up the RV and headed home. The kids had a great time with Grammy. They were busy painting the play house, smelling balls, and just being all around silly. The kids were so excited to play in the RV. They loved being up on top of the drivers seat. We got a pizza and ate it in the RV. Grammy stayed for dinner too. The kids were wild tonight and were playing in the RV. We put them to bed kind of late. I am sure they will be up early with the sun blaring in and the noise.

I read the paper this morning, while dad and Justin played Wii. I love lazy Sunday mornings. We all played at home for a while. I ended up going for a walk which was so nice, I hope I can make myself do it  more often. Then we were off to the kid’s swim lesson. The kids did so well. They are definitely learning their strokes. The instructor has them holding the kick board and doing the crawl and coming straight up for a breath of air. Nicole loves to talk to the instructor and show off a bit. She is crazy in the water and has no fear. Justin was getting really cold and shivering. The kids dove for the dive rings. Justin didn’t want to dive down at first so he picked it up with his foot. So silly. He did dive down and get the rings. Then he was rewarded with a nice hot shower. He loves the outdoor showers and were in them for a while. He came back to the pool for a bit and played with the dive rings. Both kids pretended they were dogs and had the dive rings in their mouths. Nicole pretended like she was Shamu and dad threw her in the air. It was a great morning swimming. We gave the kiddos showers and then started to do errands. We stopped for lunch then went grocery shopping. I got a head start of shopping while dad and the kids finished eating lunch. It was a little crowded in the store which makes it difficult to shop with the kiddos. Then we headed over to Grammy’s. We hadn’t seen Grammy for a while. The kids had a great time playing at her house. I made Lego bridges and the kids lined up all the cars and went through it. They played inside and outside; they were all over the place. We had a nice dinner. Bret worked on the list of things that Grammy needed help with. We didn’t get out of there until 8:00, so didn’t get the kids down until 8:45ish. Nicole was tired as she went right to sleep. Sleeping kiddos-now for me to go relax.

Party day, but not for Bret. Bret left the house around 4:15 this morning for disaster recovery at work. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and no Bret so I didn’t fall back to sleep. The kids played this morning. We tried to clean up the play room a bit. Everything I took down the kids were excited to play with. The house was a mess but I got a lot done. Nicole wanted to wear her Tinkerbell dress to the baby shower therefore Justin wanted to wear his race car costume. I just went with it. We went next door for Bernice’s baby shower. It was fun but I was worried about the kiddos getting a little bored. The kids ate, watched TV, and helped Bernice open the gifts. Dad got home around 3:30ish. The kids and I got ready for the next party. We went to the bounce house place. It was a fun party. The kids saw one of their old friends from pre school and just played with her. I was a little sad they didn’t want me. Finally near the end I got in the bounce house with them. We ate and had lots of cake today. Dad was able to take a little nap and he probably needed it. We came home and played with all the stuff in the goodie bags. We went on the greenbelt and Justin was really into playing with the boomerang he got in the goody bag. Nicole dressed up as Tinkerbell again and played with the balloons that our neighbors gave the kids after the shower. Nicole and I played doll house for a short bit then read books while dad and Justin read books. The kids went to bed and dad and I hung out and watched a movie. Bret and I are full from eating too much crap today, ugh.

Well the kids have graduated from pre school. I was snack mom today-kind of stressful with all that was going on today. The kids played play doh with me for the first part of the morning. The day was kind of rushed to get ready for the graduation ceremony. After snack all the families came. Daddy, Grandma/pa came. The kids sang a kindergarten song and I’m going to shine tonight. It was so cute.

Here are some pics from our day:

Grandma/pa came back to the house. Nicole played with grandma on the couch, pretending to be a baby and a dog. Justin and I were outside playing. Justin was collecting tons of rocks. He was dumping them on the table, counting them, and sorting them (small, medium, large).  It was cute. Justin decided to sleep at grandma/pa’s. Nicole took a while to decide what to do. She kept saying that she was scared someone would take her or she would have bad dreams. She decided to sleep at grandma/pa’s house as well. It was a little sad seeing the kiddos go. I decided to skip Bunco and be with Bret. It was night to have time together. We went and saw Date Night then out to Lazy Dog for a late dinner. It was just nice and relaxing. Hope the kiddos were good and went to bed easily.

This morning I had to run out and get a blood test. The kids came and we read books while we waited. The kids watched and later they were pretending their animals were getting blood tests. We ran over to Castle Park where we met and ran into lots of friends. It was fun hanging out and watching the kiddos have fun together. This park is so big and hard to watch the kiddos but I wasn’t too concerned since there were lots of friends there and moms. We need to visit this park more often now that the kiddos are older. When we got home the cleaners were still here. The kids went upstairs and played in their rooms for a bit. We had lunch then headed to Anaheim to meet, the Howards. It was so fun to see them. The kids all played at the water park at their hotel-it was pirate themed. The kids loved it. Nicole and Justin went down the water slides and loved watching the big bucket dump a bunch of water. It was a great place. Bret and I may have to stay there with the kiddos sometime. Nicole was so excited to see Isabelle. Nicole and Justin borrowed some of Danny and Isabelle’s goggles, they are way better than ours. I need to go search for the same kind. Justin was in the little pool practicing the stuff he learned from swim lessons. I gave the kiddos a shower there. It was bath day anyway and they love outside showers. Just nice to have it out of the way. We all walked over and had dinner together. Justin was easily influenced by Danny. Nicole and Isabelle were so well behaved. Nicole ordered what Isabelle ordered and Justin ordered what Danny got. The kids seemed to really enjoy being around each other. We ended up going up to their hotel room for a bit and had a hard time dragging our kids out of there. Nicole was laughing at Danny being silly and funny. The kids had lots of fun. I really wish the kids could see more of each other. We may have to consider a trip to northern CA. All the kids are so cute and great around one another. Time to make sandwiches for pre school snack tomorrow.

All day long I have been thinking it is Friday for some reason. This morning I dropped Justin off at pre school and had the morning with Nikki. Nikki and I went to Chuck E Cheese. We had a great time and we had the place the entire time to ourselves. A lot of the games were broken though. But we collected lots of tickets from them starting the machines, I presume. Nikki really wanted to get her brother something which is so sweet. She picked out a twirly lollipop for each one of them. Also got Justin a lizard like he got her. Nikki and I made it back to pre school for snack. Justin did just fine without Nicole at pre school. It was wet and wild day. The kids had their squirt bottles ready and got to squirt their teacher. It was fun to watch. Nikki didn’t want to get very wet. Justin was right in on the action and hid behind a tree when someone was after him. He did really well until a dad got him with water, he was wet. Justin was a great sport about it and had a great time. After school we headed to go check on a new pre school for a pre-k program. The kids got cupcakes and it was right before lunch. This school is the total opposite of what we go to now but not sure it is better. The facility is beautiful but it is expensive. We still have some more schools to look at. When we got home the kids couldn’t wait to eat their lollipops of course. At least I got some lunch in them first. We just played at home for a bit. We got out toys we hadn’t played with in a while, Lincoln Logs and the marble race. The kids played with Geotrax as well. I did a lot of laundry. The kids wanted the dog door open so dad opened it for them. They loved it. Dad got the squirt bottle and sprayed them as they went through like a car wash-they were laughing. We ran some errands as well. I needed to return some stuff, buy a baby gift, and get to the grocery store. The kids did pretty well. Justin says “I hate shopping”, such a boy. When we got home the kids watched a little TV then we had dinner. We went upstairs and did our nightly routine. Kids were off to bed.

Wow 11 years have gone by.

Justin pulled out the first carrot of the season. He ate it down to the greenery. So cute seeing him with this big carrot.

I had a great day running down memory lane. I put my wedding dress on, looked at our wedding albums, etc. Nicole loved me in my dress. She would have loved it if I left it on all day. She was going underneath it, etc. She even put on her cheerleader outfit.

We took the kids to their first swim lesson of the season. They are doing really well. Nicole was crazy in the pool. Jumping in a zillion times, laughing, playing, etc. Justin was in the pool for a little bit on his floaty but he got pretty cold. He chose a warm shower over swimming. We couldn’t stay at the pool too long as we had to go to a graduation party. We went to our neighbors for the party. This was the fanciest party ever. The kids were excited to see Zoe, the dog. Andree had some toys upstairs from when her kids were little and the kids loved them. Nikki and Justin played upstairs with these toys for a long time. Bret and I were able to talk to other adults, so nice. When we got home the kids played outside. They made a tree out of orange cones. Now I wish I had taken a picture-I will have to get them to re-create it. They drove their cars for a while, pretended they had a mommy and daddy car and drove their doll around. They had a great time being outside and just playing. We hired a sitter for tonight so Bret and I could go out. Seriously we paid the sitter more than our entire time. We split a meal so our dinner was $11.00 then we went to a $2.00 movie then out to Yogurtland. It was nice to be out with my hubby. Sounds like the kids had a great time. They had mac and cheese for dinner and went to the park. The kids went to bed really easily tonight-they were so tired.

Happy anniversary to my honey bunny. I love you with all my heart. Thanks for the flowers and the e-card. Here is to many more happy years together.