First Day of School...where's Connor?

As you can imagine, we barely got Connor off to school and the twins started asking where their brother was. They actually seemed okay with the response "he's gone to school", but then they wanted to know if they were going too. Unfortunately, not till next week:) Instead of sitting around the house missing Connor we went to run errands which included the bank and our favorite place, Costco. There is never a dull moment hanging out with a set of "Black Twins." The bank was doing a little decorating for summer with a few blow-up flamingos and the boys started running around the empty atrium yelling "Kiddie-up." I don't know who laughed more...us or the cop! The cop decided to reward their bad behavior with a sucker. Then they posed for pictures. We had all the workers smiling. Next stop was Costco. As we strolled through loading up on groceries, we found a halloween blow-up with scary music to accompany it. Well, being a well prepared mom, I drug out the camera and told the boys to smile. Grant was so accommodating, but Preston was scared out of his head. Dad decided he should take a look and Preston regrettingly took a pic. What a day! Connor missed out on so much, but heard all about it over dinner. We asked Connor at dinner what his favorite part of the day was and he responded with a typical first grade answer, "Getting my name called for the car riders' line and not having to spell." What can you say to that>?!

The First Day of First Grade

Well...all you have to do is look at the pic of Connor by himself and see that he is growing up. He was a little nervous about going to a new school and not knowing anyone...although he tried not to let me realize it. Connor along with his daddy and myself met his teacher last Thursday at "Meet the Teacher" night. She has taught for 21 years and we had a great first impression of her. In Connor's eyes I don't know if anyone will ever live up to the expectations of his Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Dobbins, by I am trying to convince him to just try her out. Connor wasn't excited about having to set the alarm clock once again, but he jumped out of bed and was dressed before a minute had passed. We took a few pics (one little brother was awake and wanted to be a part of the fun) and then Connor and mom walked to school instead of getting stuck in the Sudith St. nightmare traffic. Connor found his way to his class by himself with mom close by and then off mom went back home for a day of fun.

No Snow Needed

Apparently you don't need snow to have fun sliding downhill at our house. Tonight, I found some sneaky boys with an empty box sliding down our steep staircase having the time of their lives. The best part was sitting back watching them giggle their hearts out!

Welcome Jax

Yesterday was the introduction of Jax (my nephew) to our crazy house! Jax had a blast smiling at the boys and within an hour my kids decided the newness had worn off. All three big boys were very helpful if I needed an extra hand with something. I think the twins realized they weren't the babies anymore...YEAH! I tried getting them all to pose with lil' Jax and well Jax is the only one who cooperated...imagine that. The last pic with us all chillin on the bed actually means more than one might think. Grant decided to share his pillow with Jax and cover him up with his extra pillowcase he totes around...then he decided to lay right next to Jax and well, share! Grumpy Grant does have a sweet side:)

COSTCO:)

Who knew Costco could be so much fun? We often frequent Costco just around a mealtime because you can feed our family for around $10. We treated ourselves and the kids with ice cream...and well, the rest if history!

Last stop... Ensenada, Mexico. Once you've been to Mexico once, you have seen it all! We decided to pre-occupy our time at the FOX Studio in Ensenada. This is the specific location where they filmed the movie "Titanic." I am pictured with the actual wheel they used in the movie and the ship pictured is one of the replicas used in filming. The picture with the gate has the hallway behind it that is half submerged under water. They actually built rooms and had huge tanks of water in which they submerged parts of the scene in order for it to look like the ship was sinking... another pretty cool thing to see! After Mexico, we sailed back overnight to Los Angeles and had a full day of traveling back home to kiddos! It made for a long day, but was worth all the hugs and kisses, even though I was told we ruined their day by showing up (they had soooo much fun at their aunt, uncle, and cousins).

Next stop...Catalina Island, California. The island is like a mile by two miles big. For the most part, everyone's mode of transportation is a golf cart. The island is a big mountain and everyone has their house built into the cliffs. We rented a golf cart for one hour and pretty much saw the entire island from top to bottom.

After flying into LAX we got on the boat and cruised to San Diego. We had no idea that it would be so cold (to us)...the highs were in the low 80's. We went on a harbour tour and then had a chance to tour the USS Midway which is a retired navy aircraft carrier. We went all over the carrier and saw things that active duty naval officers don't even get to see on the ships they serve...pretty neat! One the highlights for me was seeing a rotary dial phone (my dad is retired from Southwestern Bell so I thought he would appreciate the picture)...I didn't realize a naked mannequin would be posing in the pic too (Doug and I are still laughing about this pic)! I also go to sit in a plane of some sort (it made me want to do Careflite all over again).

Cruisin' Away

Doug and I had the chance to turn in some cruise points and get away for the week (thankfully we had help from Doug's brother and sister-in-law with the kids!!) to a 4 night Baja cruise. We went on Royal Carribean's Monarch of the Seas and were given a room with a view. We met some great people from Holland and California during our fancy meal time every night.