Sleepover

Remember this one:

I do just like it was yesterday. It was Reagan's Uncle Sean and Aunt Molly's wedding, and Colby and I picked up Reagan to have her spend the night so the entire Ireland family could celebrate. It was the only time Reagan has ever spent the night with us until...
Last night

So, it wasn't your "typical" sleepover. Reagan wasn't quite ready to stay by herself. Colby was in San Diego so Sarah, Reagan and Paige all had a sleepover last night.

Sarah and I had a great time talking with just the two of us WAY past our bedtime. The kids also had a great time playing, up way past their bedtime.

A Fun Sunday

Colby and I, along with our neighbors Anne and Darrel, all took the kids to Tanaka Farms for their Watermelon Wagon Ride Tour. I had been on the strawberry tour, but we didn't quite make it to the watermelon one last year. This was the next to last weekend, before the close shop on watermelons and start preparing for the pumpkins. We did the 9am tour, since it was already about 90 degrees then! The kids had a great time and we had lunch at Jerry's Famous Deli afterwards.

Bailey with a plate of her favorite, cucumbers!
Thankfully we got to sit in the shade while we tried out some of the delicious fruits.

Colby and his twin

Bailey tried out the yellow watermelon

I'm not sure why the grumpy face, she had such a fun time

Me and my little guy

Bailey got to go over to Annabelle and Vickie's house for a sleepover!

They put on a hula girl show for Anne and Darrel

Don't you just love camera phones! Anne texted me these pictures last night.

LA Natural History Museum

My neighbor, Anne, and I packed up all five of our kids and headed over to the Natural History Museum today. The 3 girls learned about dinosaurs during preschool this year. The director of the preschool loves giving the kids a little lesson so they beg their parents to take them to some of the wonderful museums Los Angeles has to offer. It was fun to take them and hear them talk about some of the things they had learned. The new dinosaur exhibit is really quite special and the kids had a great time there.

Bailey was either grump or scared, I'm not sure which!
Look mom, a dinosaur!

A view of the new exhibit

Bailey-still a bit grumpy. Raif was loving it, though.

Bailey was a bit happier once we moved to the African Mammals exhibit. Maybe she was scared.

Bailey's 1st Soccer Practice

Bailey's BFF played soccer last year for the first time, and her daddy, Aaron decided to be assistant coach this year. So....Bailey decided it was okay to give soccer a try (as long as she could be on Reagan's team)! Well, it all worked out and she had her first soccer practice last night. Our little ballerina, ran around on her tip toes the entire hour. It was actually really cute. We'll see how rough and tough she gets over the course of the season!

All geared up and ready to go.
Ball, cleats, shin guards- Check!

Bailey and Reagan-My how much they've grown

Kicking the ball

Go Bailey!

Taylor Swift Concert

Last Christmas, my dad surprised Bailey with tickets to see Taylor Swift. She is a huge fan of hers, and was so excited. It was really hard to wait 8 months for the actual concert. My dad also got tickets for my, my mom, sister, and two nieces. We had a fun GNO and headed over Phillipe's for some delicious french dip sandwiches. The concert was really quite a production. Even if you aren't a huge Taylor Swift fan, the show she puts on is quite amazing and entertaining. Taylor even walked through the audience and was 5 rows from us. We had great seats for the entire show. The look on Bailey's face when Taylor first came out was priceless!! Thank you to my dad for the tickets. We had a fun, memorable night.

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of Taylor Swift!

My little girl

Lexy and Jaymee's favorite part: Probably when Justin Bieber came out for a song with Taylor Swift.

My mom on the phone to my dad telling him about our awesome seats.
Bring out Taylor!

The sets were beautiful

The video screens in the back were so fun

The tree that she sat on for about 6 songs was only about 50 feet in front of us.

Long Beach Aquarium- Behind the Scenes

Last week, Margaret and Charley scheduled a behind the scenes tour of the Long Beach Aquarium. The aquarium just acquired some new arctic fox kits and some penguins. The fox and penguins are still under quarantine, so we didn't get an up close look, but we did see some interesting animals behind the scenes.

Waiting for our tour to begin
Bailey got to touch the only kind of jelly fish that don't sting- a moon jelly

Grammy's turn

A look at the new kits, so adorable

These are cleaner shrimp-they actually clean off all of the parasites from your hand and other fish

Raif in the BIG elevator they use to transport all animals

After our tour, we fed the lorikeets

Here birdie, birdie!

Catalina with Friends

Two weekends ago, our good friends joined us for a weekend of fun at Catalina. It was the first Tommy and Cameron had ever spent the night on a boat, but not first time boaters. The kids got along so well, and we had such a great time. I'm sure this is the start of many fun trips together to Catalina.

Late night fishing after the kids went to bed, we accidentally caught an eel. Colby and Matt, a few cocktails into the night, were trying to figure out how to get it off the hook!
Very unhappy eel on the gaff.

We did, however, catch a delicious halibut that both families got to bring back home and have for dinner!

Cameron, brave little girl, jumped off the side of the cockpit.

We blew up the rafts, tied them to the boat, for hours of fun for the kids.

Sarah and Tommy out for a paddle board ride.

Matt on that same ride.

Colby was DETERMINED to catch a ray. He hooked a few, but they are so strong they snapped the line.

More fun, tying up the paddle boards and letting the kids play with them on the back of the boat.

Bailey and Cameron on the rafts.