it's my birthday too yeah...Yup, I turned 35 this weekend and went down to San Diego with my family to visit a good friend I've known for over 20 years. I just love her to bits.
I should mention that after we got through security with very little fanfare (I just remember how it used to be such a tremendous hassle to get through security, gathering the kids, taking off their shoes, folding down the stroller, emptying the pockets blah blah blah) my husband and I nearly hi-fived each other out of joy for having been so quick and efficient getting through the security mess. It wasn't until we were boarding the plane that we realized why it had gone so smoothly and easily...we had left the kids car seats in the car!!! OOOPS! No wonder we were not bogged down and not struggling to juggle a ton of things... tee hee! We had to pay to rent carseats at the rental car place and they were DISGUSTING and OLD and we'll never forget the carseats again....
Anyways, we had a great time. My birthday was wonderful. We all went to the beach and the hubbies watched the kiddos while she took me out for my first time of Boogie Boarding. I had a blast and was totally exhausted after only an hour but couldn't believe how quickly the time went by! I was a competitive swimmer growing up and so was not afraid of the waves but a few times I did get caught in the rumble of the crashing waves and got flipped around a few times and distinctly remember that I had NO IDEA which way was "up" and could feel my heart beat a bit faster wondering how long I'd be able to hold my breath before figuring out which direction to go to get some air! It was a blast though and I wish our water out here was warmer so I could have fun doing this more often. I'm a total woos when it comes to cold water!
Then later that afternoon the family and I went Kayaking at the Oceanside Harbor which was so much fun. I love being anywhere near water so it was a great way to spend my birthday.
We also hit Legoland with the little ones and I do believe that was their highlight of the trip.
Sadly, I got sick the next day and ergo I then had to fly home with a massive case of the flu and two very cranky "also getting sick" kids. I am feeling like death warmed over today and really hoping to start feeling better soon. Nothing is working to make me feel better and my husband is back at work for a few days... I really hope I kick this nasty bug in time for my next shoot. Plus I just took my daughter's temperature and it's a lovely 102.8F so I'm guessing I won't be getting much sleep tonight either!
I brought my point and shoot for this trip and so the quality of some of these images is TERRIBLE. Please bear that in mind when you look at them. You can easily tell which images were taken on the good camera and which were taken on the P&S.
Anyways, here are just a few quick snapshots from our trip down south for a couple days. And a video of Ellie at the end. The kids were enjoying an ice cream cone after our Kayaking and Ellie spotted her reflection in the mirrored glass of the restaurant. They were playing music outside the restaurant on the speaker system. That's all she needed to "get down". I only caught a couple minutes not wanting to waste space on my memory card but who knew that she'd go crazy with Big Audio Dynamite blasting in the background. To further age myself I should mention that I actually saw them in concert in S.F. when they were at the height of their stardom... I know...I am a total child of the 80's, what can I say!? And yes, I fully intend on doing something completely ridiculous to mark my entry into my status of "middle aged"... ideas anyone??? :)
Here's Mr. Moody waiting for his lunch. He has been so incredibly challenging lately... he's lucky I love him so much!
Miss Personality sitting directly across the table was in a totally great mood as usual...
a ride on the carousel
We then let the kids run around in the backyard with the sprinklers going, which sadly lasted all of 2 minutes because all three kids stepped on bees AT THE SAME TIME! Can you imagine the pandemonium that ensued?? Yeah, so they all got their first bee sting at the same time and fortunately there was one adult per "victim" to tend to their injuries...
So Ellie cracks me up with this little habit of hers of holding her hat when she walks towards the ocean. She is convinced that the strength and power of the waves will blow her hat off so she holds it down as she walks towards the ocean and then runs back towards us as fast as she can after she has collected her water. So funny!
So Gavin may appear to be a boogie boarding dude in this next shot but it took about 2 hrs to get him to even lay on the thing! And I had to be right next to him, holding the strap and pulling him with it... He wouldn't go further than shin depth. But after 2 hrs he started getting more comfortable with it and was willing to go KNEE deep,, alone, and ride the bitty waves in... hey, it's progress!
Eating ice cream is VERY SERIOUS business. Whatever you do, don't smile.
uh-oh, you smiled!
he almost didn't get that ice cream.... yeah, he's been driving me crazy...anyone else have a very moody almost 6 year old? Or is it just me!?
Legoland
I timed it so I could get both of them together in this next shot even though they were at different parts of the ride. I'm pretty proud of this. Hey, it was a really hot day and that required ALOT of my brain ok?
Lest you think I am actually enjoying this ride (possibly more than my two kids sitting in front of me), I should explain that the arms in the air is not out of excitement over the ride but rather me celebrating the fact that I was able to get my derriere to fit in that teeny little plane. You have NO IDEA how small that seating was back there!! That actually ended up being their favorite ride and they had to do it three times in a row.
A quick Kayaking shot. The kids loved it and I had a blast reading all the names on the boats in the harbor...you can really tell alot about a boat owner based on the name they pick. Very interesting stuff!
So, what do you do when you are stuck in traffic on Interstate 5??? You tell the kids to make silly faces and document it for them to look at on the LCD. Cheap entertainment folks and prevents meltdowns, trust me. I even saved a few for the fun of it and deleted the other 300...
This is the day we left and we were all coming down with the plague. I had it the worst. Good times people, good times...
Don't ask how I got this smile, I haven't the slightest clue...
Behold how I tricked them all to carry/push everything for me... haha! Must be the wisdom that comes with turning 35...
I seriously love this shot
Gavin, naturally, LOVED take off and landings the most... I had to put the camera down in front of him and shoot up at him without even knowing what would be in the frame and used my thumb to depress the shutter. There were alot of rejects to say the least but I did snag a couple I liked.