1st day of school

Already?? Where did our fun summer go? I am bummed that our fun summer is already over BUT it may have been time. The girls have been fighting SO much and might need some time apart.
Julia is going into 4th and Bella into 1st. We got very lucky (again) and love their teachers!

The house seems so quiet (and clean!) without them. I am counting the minutes until I can pick them up and hear all about their day.

Braden's visit

My nephew Braden came to visit this past week and we had so much fun with him! We hope he had as much fun as we did! I loved spoiling him and can't wait for my other nephew and niece to come too. (Hint, hint Suzanne). My sister and I both love this photo because of the look on Bella's face- you can tell she adores Braden (who is 8 months older than her). I can't tell if Braden loves or cringes at the attention?

Braden and Higgins!

Sorry Suzanne- your next pet might have to be a reptile!
Thanks for coming to visit- we loved having a 4th child for the weekend!

San Diego 2011

This past week, we took a quick trip to San Diego to escape the heat and to end the summer with a bang! The girls return to school next week so it was nice to have 4 days of uninterrupted family time.
We spent most of the time as beach bums and one day at LegoLand (a surprise for the girls!). They had no idea we were going until we hit the parking lot. We told them we were going to a museum near LegoLand! ;)

Camille's first trip to the ocean!

We weren't planning on getting wet and weren't dressed for it-
but how can you keep kids out of the ocean??

In the great outdoors, Bella is always picking up something- sticks, bugs, etc. Well, seaweed is no exception! She dragged this around everywhere!

We spent the entire next day (sun up to sun down) at the beach. Honestly, it's not my favorite activity but the kids loved every minute! Julia and Bella were so happy playing in the waves and boogie boarding with daddy while Camille spent every moment playing in the sand and being a beach bum with mommy.

Julia and Bella did stop long enough to help build this massive castle!

Camille wanting to boogie board with daddy

Chet sharing his love and knowledge of sea life with the "girls". The girls were interested but in this photo, they have moved on and some random kid was the only student left! :)

We did LegoLand for a day which was fun for the girls. I still LOVE Disneyland way more but the kids had a blast.

Chet, Julia and Bella on a roller coaster! The girls were kind of scared but Chet's screams were louder than theirs! ;)
Overlooking MiniLand, mini cities made of all legos!
Camille's only nap of the day was in line for one of the rides and during the hottest part of the day!
Of course we had to get a photo with Lego Chewbaca and R2D2!