Aquarium of the Pacific

Last week we took a week long vacation to Southern California and packed it full of fun activities.  One Monday, we took the girls to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. We thought the kids would love to see all the fish and pet the sharks- boy were we mistaken.   They liked the aquarium for about an hour and we couldn't convince Chloe to touch any of the animals.  We finally bribed her with starbursts and she touched a shark for about .02 seconds!  She'll think it is cool when she grows up =).  Aaron and I were able to pet a jellyfish, a shark, and a sting ray... so at least we had a good time.

 Love Abby's face in this picture!

 While we were there, we went into a little bird atrium and were able to feed some parakeets.  Chloe was surprisingly not scared to do that!

 After the aquarium, we had time to spare so we drove to the Santa Monica Pier and walked around for a bit. I had the Beach Boys song about being on "Santa Monica boulevard" stuck in my head the whole time.

Dirty Dash

Last Saturday, Aaron did the corporate Dirty Dash with a group of co-workers.  He had such a great time and was covered from head to toe in mud.  I wanted to do it with him but since it was the corporate one, I couldn't.  However, we are planning on running it together this September.  Aaron had so much fun that I think he found himself a new hobby!

Team Connect (before)

 One of these thing is not like the others =)

We were standing too close to the finish line and we all got splattered with mud!

Man he's dirty!

Super Aaron

Check out those muscles!

Love Chloe's face in this picture!

Team Connect (after)

Moab or Bust

This trip to Moab was quite eventful.  The first two days we had 30-40 mph winds constantly and by Monday 3 out of the 4 Jeeps were out of commission.  By Saturday night, we were ready to pack up and leave if the wind didn't stop, luckily it did and we were able to have a nice couple of days.  Abby was sick the whole trip and was a major grump but at least Chloe was healthy and she was able to have a blast playing with her cousins.  So overall, I can't say this was my favorite trip to Moab, but any vacation is nice.

Stopping for lunch on the trail.  We tried to find a place that would be sheltered from the wind.  This place worked pretty good.

 Abby, Mom, and Chloe

 Chloe with Grandpa and Grandma

 My girls

 Chloe and Camryn

 What a good lookin' group (of Jeeps and men)

 Aaron going over the Golden Crack

 Something just looks wrong here!  Nope, totally normal.

 Chloe playing at the park

 Making music

 Chloe tackled Daddy while playing football!

Cruisin'

My grandparents came into town last week so we went up to my parents house to spend the afternoon with them.  My cousin Megan and her kids met up with us as well.  The kids saw the toy Mustang and went cruising around the neighborhood.  I could just see Chloe in 12 years driving around with her friends and lets just say, she has a lot of learning to do!

Chloe and Koby

Parking the car

Abby loved to chase after the car

Abby and Grandpa  (she was ready for a nap)

Chloe and Lincon

Playing Around

I got a new camera last week so I wanted to take it out and play around with it a little bit.  So I took my two favorite models and went out back to see what this camera could do.  Here are a few of the shots I took (I didn't read the manual yet so they aren't anything special but I got some fun shots so I wanted to post them anyways).

Chloe and her doll Sandy

A beautiful sunset

Abby

Chloe loves jumping off the green electrical box, so I was playing around with the action setting.  Chloe thought these pictures were pretty fun!

Mother's Day

Happy Mothers day to all the wonderful women who have been such great examples to me and have helped me become the mother that I am today.  I had a great Mothers day with the help of Aaron and my girls.  The day started off with Aaron making me breakfast and getting the kids ready for church all by himself.  Then to top it off, Aaron made me a delicious dinner, even though he wasn't feeling well by the end of the day.  

However, my favorite parts of the day was getting the gifts that Chloe made for me.  A few days prior, we were talking about Mothers day and Chloe told me she was going to make me a picture- but, she warned me that if I saw the picture before Mothers day she was going to throw it in the garbage.  So on Mothers day, Chloe gave me two beautiful pictures, a pipe cleaner caterpillar that she made, a gum ball, and some bubble wrap.  It was the sweetest thing ever, especially since she did it all  by herself.  I wonder sometimes how I got so blessed to have these two beauties!

 Love these girls!

 Look what Chloe taught Abby!

Preschool Party

Since September of last year, six wonderful ladies (including myself) have be teaching our children in a little preschool co-opt.  It was so much fun and Chloe learned a ton (plus, getting to hang out with her friends was a huge bonus for her as well).  For our last week, we decided to have a little party. We went to a local park for a picnic lunch and some good old fashioned fun.  The kids had a blast playing with their friends and it was a great way to end our preschool.  Thanks again to all the amazing women who taught with me =)