Carson's 3rd Birthday Party!

Carson celebrated her 3rd birthday on her actual birthday with a gymnastics party at the gym where she took ballet and gymnastics last school year. She had such a great time jumping around with her friends!!

We started her birthday out with yummy homemade muffins!

Helping lead her friends in stretching. ; )

The beam is her favorite!

We were excited that Mike Mike and Kathy and Jo and Donny were able to join us for the party. Nana and Granddaddy were out of town. We are having a joint family party for Reed and Carson next weekend, so there will be more birthday fun to come for this little one!

It was a successful birthday. She passed out on the way to dinner. : )

Carson's First Day of 3's Preschool

Little Miss had me worried as she hasn't like being separated from me this summer. We have been talking up school and how much fun she would have. That had no effect until we met her teachers last week in her new classroom. Before we left the house she was saying things like "I don't like those teachers. It is not going to be any fun." So, I was a little nervous. Thank goodness, once we got there and she saw several of her friends from last year, the welcoming faces of her teachers and, of course, all the fun toys, she was good to go.

As I took her to school yesterday morning, she said "I will not have any tears. I will have fun with my friends." Yay, baby girl! I love the motivation talk she was giving herself. She kept to her promises. There were no tears at dropoff. She literally walked in without saying goodbye. Chris and I had to wave goodbye from outside the classroom. And when I picked her up, she said that she had so much fun with her friends! Yay for a successful first day. Let's hope Wednesday goes as well as Monday did!

The result of a fun day at school and no forced nap. : )

Reed's First Day of 1st Grade

Reed started 1st grade at East Side Elementary last Monday. He was so very excited to head back to school! It certainly makes it so much easier to send him back when I know he loves it. His teacher's name this year is Mrs. King and he does have an assistant, Mrs. Collins. I think it is going to be another great year for Reed. He came home from the first day and told Carson, "you're going to LOVE first grade". : ) Unfortunately, Carson missed a pic with her big brother before school, because she was still sleeping. This has been her only day missing the bus since. ; )

He could hardly contain his excitement!

California Road Trip Day 5, 6 and 7

We started day 5 out in Pismo Beach before making our longest drive of the week down to Santa Monica.

Breakfast of champions overlooking the ocean. ; )

We met our good friends, the Salsas, for lunch before we all headed to the Santa Monica Pier. The kiddos rode the carousel with their dads and then we played on the swings on the beach. The rest of the day, we took it easy hanging out and catching up. It was so great to see Eric and Diana and meet their precious kiddos! Thanks for having us, guys!

Rael and Carson were fast friends!

Our last full day of the trip, we made our way south to San Diego to visit the zoo and meet our friends, the Beltraminis, for dinner. It just so happens that we caught the zoo on the 1 in 5 days that it actually rains in San Diego each year. What luck?!?!? Thankfully, they had a bus tour that we could take around the zoo to avoid the rain for a bit. The rain cleared up after a bit, so we were able to enjoy the zoo even more. It was a great zoo!

It was so great to see Ryan and Alisha and meet their adorable kiddos! Oh, how we wish these California guys were closer! Love you all so much!

Someone obviously wasn't interested in having her picture made, ha!

Precious, precious girls!

Love this girl!

The main item on the itinerary for our final day was enjoying a spanish latte from Urth Caffe. It did not disappoint!

We had such an awesome week together exploring the California coast. I am so glad we took the leap and made the trip with the kiddos. The kiddos were great, maybe even better than we ever expected. Here's to many more adventures! We are looking forward to it!