san diego with just moms and kids

last week i flew down to san diego to meet up with jocelyn and stay at my aunt brooke's house.

but lest you think it was a girls trip... think again! we took all our kids with us. this was first time i had flown with all three of my children by myself (i dont think i even flew with tagg and sully by myself) and i was pretty nervous. but everything went great! i mean, if i had time to play around on photobooth it couldnt have been too bad. 

our first day there we drove over to coronado to play on the beach and meet up with jocelyn's sisters. it was a perfect day. 

tess was loving life and even took a nap in her stroller while the fighter jets flew over. 

it was a long walk from our car to the surf. but worth it! 

after the beach we went back to brooke's house to swim, swim, swim.

rough life!

the following morning was fathers day so we facetimed craig to wish him a 'happy fathers day' aaaaaand to check in with our girls. 

tucker had come down from his internship in orange county to play with us while we were in san diego. we sure do love this guy.

then it was lunchtime at in-n-out.

tess loved their salty fries. :)

after lunch we drove down to balboa park. it was another gorgeous day. 

jocelyn and i are such mean moms. that water kinda grossed us out so we only let our kids look at it. :)

dont feel too sorry for them though. they got to pick a toy out at the science museum gift shop.

while we were waiting for the tram to take us back to our cars three tourists walked right up and (without asking) started taking pictures of/with tess. they were freaking out over her and couldnt get enough. kissing her feet even! the funniest part? tess was hamming it up for them. she loved every second of it.

still on her little cloud nine after all that attention. (you know, because she hardly ever gets any)

later that night we enjoyed smores by the pool. doesnt get better than that. 

the next day we met up with hanna and her boys for lunch and ice cream. it reminded me of how much i miss her!

then it was back to the pool for more shenanigans. 

last night of hot tubbing for these hot tubbing fools. 

i cant even begin to explain how lucky we are to have brooke in our family. she is not only generous and thoughtful but she is also such a good time. we love her.

these brothers.

the flight home. i cant say it was the most relaxing five days of my life but it sure was fun. 

school's out

tagg just finished first grade. on the left was his first day of school and on the right is the last. those teeth! he made amazing friends at his new school, loved buying lunches on mondays (cookie day) and excelled at math. 

AND rocked each week's spelling test. photographic memory much? he is a clone of craig.

i love this self portrait he painted. 

i cannot believe he will be in SECOND GRADE. what?!

this little nugget of joy finished his second year of preschool at miss judys. only one more year to go! :) talk about clones, i took a side by side shot of me and sully and it was kinda scary. (on the left was his first day of school and on the right his last)

that is the cutest watermelon i have ever seen. not to mention the way he put the "o" on the bottom of the "l". so artistic. ha

my almost 5 year old! hoooooow do they grow up so fast?

the cutest dodger around

tagg's first year of coach pitch baseball just ended and it was a great season. the weather was pretty fantastic throughout the entire season which made watching this guy play even more enjoyable.

front and center!

nothing cuter than a baseball tee.

GO TAGG! when i was choose my boys' names i make sure they sound like good baseball names (nothing beats what my dad wanted to name taylor: dusty short).

a little hopper for his last AB of the season.

                                 

felix hernandez is a big deal pitchers on the seattle mariners. tagg was on cloud nine after recieving the felix hernandez award from coach owen.

we love you, tagg!

las vegas and cowabunga bay

we all went to las vegas for memorial day weekend. it was wild but fun. the first night there we parked at the bellagio and walked out front to show tagg and sully the fountains. 

tess loved her daddy AND all the lights.

then my dad took us to his favorite restaurant in town, hashhouse. my boys were in HEAVEN with their watermelon drinks (and with tucker!). i didnt take a sip (i dont do weird liquids) but craig said the bottom green part actually tasted like the rind of a watermelon. i didnt believe him. 

for the first two nights of our stay we were over in lake las vegas (bleh). the boys did love the water slide they had at our hotel though.

icees and back rubs. 

they were very proud of their red tongues!

as soon as the clouds cleared that morning is got HOT so i jumped in the pool with the boys. 

for lunch we went over to grimaldis pizza. so good. afterwards we walked around the very beautiful bellagio gardens.

that evening we played around on the "beach" back at our hotel.

my favorite seven year old.

tess is in that stage of giving big, wet kisses. she sure is a happy baby girl.

and she sure does love her thumb. 

after the kids went to bed, craig drove over to get us in n out. dang, that stuff is gooooood.

the next morning we went over to COWABUNGA BAY! my dad's company built this amazing water park last year and we have been dying to test it out. it was very busy but very fun.

tess was a good little girl and went to everyone who wanted to hold her (so i could ride a few slides).

like this monstrosity! you climb to the top, step inside that red pod, get shut inside the red pod, and when you least expect it the floor drops beneath you and you free fall down into the waterslide. i almost cried. just ask tucker. and the poor employee who i held hands with while she tried to calm me down.

family racing down the baby slides. much more acceptable. 

it was my aunt's birthday that day so tucker offered to watch the kids while we all went out to celebrate. we love you, brooke!

our last night in vegas we switched over to stay at green valley ranch. it was sooooo stunning and the sand pool was so interesting and pretty.

before we caught our flight back home we played in the pool and enjoyed the sun shine. a very entertaining weekend.