NO KEN!! DON'T DO IT!!!

So the other morning, I looked over at Emma's doll house and saw this...

Poor Ken has had a rough time the last couple of weeks and I guess it all just got to be too much.

Emma had him outside a few weeks ago and was swinging him around and accidentally hit his head on the sidewalk and knocked it right off. Don't worry, we did surgery and repaired the damage. However, I think that Ken is now embarrassed by the "ring around his neck".

Don't worry Ken, you've got a good woman by your side. She loves you no matter what.

Our 4th of July weekend

Every year for Emma's birthday, Michael's dad, Grandpa Oz, comes for a visit. And since her birthday is right around the 4th of July, we always try to go and do something fun. This year, we decided to go to the coast and relax for a few days. I found an amazing place to stay online and off we went. We stayed in Cambria which is right by Hearst Castle. Our hotel was so COOL!!! They had these amazing gardens that were everywhere! Emma loved running in and out of them and exploring all the different gardens...

Her favorite one was the "secret garden". Every morning after breakfast, she would run out the door and head over to the "secret garden" to explore.

Emma leading the way...


It was so pretty.

On the 4th of july, we headed to Cayucos for a parade....

• 

Emma was not a big fan of the loud fire trucks.





Lucas fell asleep and I got a little tired myself, so we took a short break.

Can anyone guess who took this picture??? Hint - it wasn't me...

There is also a sand sculpture contest on the beach that we went and checked out...


This snake wound around the pier.

The sculptures were so cool and I can only imagine how long some of them must have taken.

We had lunch in Morro Bay....


where we saw some harbor seals laying out in the sun.


After that, the kids got a little tired...

so we went for a drive down the coast to Pismo Beach. It was pretty crowded so we ended up going to Shell Beach just a little north of Pismo and we found a little cove that we could go down to and play for a minute.



After all that, we ended up just going back to the hotel and watching fireworks from our parking lot and on TV ( New York puts on a really good show with a symphony and everything). The kids were pretty tired (and Mom got too much sun and not enough sleep so she wasn't feeling too hot either) so they fell asleep and didn't even realize what they were missing. It was a VERY fun and busy day.


PIEDRAS BLANCAS AND HEARST CASTLE

The next morning (after Emma explored the gardens again) we went up the coast to see the elephant seals. They were HUGE!!

They migrate down from Alaska to the same spot every year. Each month they come to do something different. We were there while the males were molting.


The big ones weigh about 5,000 pounds and they just lay on the beach. We really want to go back in January and February when the babies are born. The moms only nurse them for 4 weeks and then they leave them on the beach to fend for themselves.


These guys were just messing around (or so the guide said).

We had some time to kill before our tour of Hearst Castle so we decided to go check out San Simeon Pier and the beach. It was so pretty. It used to be the Hearst family beach and was totally private. It was perfect and not crowded at all.

We walked on the pier and looked at all the marine life. There were dolphins playing out in the ocean and some seals kept popping their heads up.

And we also saw this sea otter that was playing in the waves and eating some shell fish. So cool.

Lucas liked playing in the sand.

After we played for awhile, we went over to Hearst Castle for our tour.

The view on the way up to the castle.

One of the MANY amazing statues there.

One of three guesthouses. The thing was HUGE!! I think it had 9 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms or something like that! It was CRAZY!! And this was just a guesthouse!

One of the bedrooms. There was no flash photography allowed so it was really hard to get good pictures that do it all justice.


The ceiling. Our guide said that if it looked like gold, then it probably was.

Neptune pool and some of the statues that were in it.

Some of the beautiful gardens. I really want to go back and do a tour of just the gardens someday.

Casa Grande.

Unfortunatley, Lucas and Emma both kind of flipped out on the tour of the inside of the main house so I didn't get to see much of it. They both wanted to get down and play and got upset when we wouldn't let them. However, they do have a really nice "break" room for the kids that had some books and toys to occupy them. Lucas also kind of freaked out at the end of the tour when we saw the underground pool (I can't remember the official name) so I didn't get any pictures there either.

The whole castle reminded me of the castles I saw in Germany 12 years ago. I would highly recommend doing a tour of Hearst Castle to anyone interested. Oh, and we asked our guide, there have been talks about closing the castle at the end of the summer because of the budget crisis here in California but as of right now, they are keeping it open. So my advice, go while you still can.

Happy Birthday Emma!

On July 2nd, we celebrated Emma's 4th birthday. She got to choose what she wanted to have for a special birthday breakfast. She picked eggs, potatoes and bacon (her favorite) and I made some cinnamon rolls to surprise her.

Despite the look on her face, she really did like them. I even stole my mom's idea of putting sprinkles on them to make them more festive.

For her party. we went to Jastro Park and played in the spray park. It was so simple and easy and the kids really liked it. Plus we had a pinata and some cupcakes. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures ( I was too busy playing) and I can't find the CD that Grandpa Oz burned for us that have the pictures of the party on it. So, when I find it, I will post some pictures of the party.

After the party, we went to John's Incredible Pizza for a little party of our own. It's like Chuck E Cheese on crack. They have ALL sorts of games for the kids (and adults too) and the pizza is actually pretty good. Emma and Michael got to ride on the go karts....




I couldn't get a good picture of the action but you get the general idea...Emma giggling uncontrollably while Michael grinned and went as fast as he could.



Lucas' favorite part was the kiddie play area. He was bound and determined to climb up the slide and kept on trying and trying.


It's amazing to me to think that our little family grew in more ways than I could have imagined when Emma was born. Although we struggle sometimes (she is WAY too much like me), I can't imagine a life without her and her spunky attitude. She constantly keeps me on my toes and I am grateful everyday for the chance that I have to be her Mommy.

We love you Emma!!

Aquarium of the Pacific

One of my good friends from Vegas, Kat, got married last summer and moved to Seal Beach. Well, she just had a baby last month and they are now moving to Seattle so, we decided to take the day and go down to see them before they left. However, I forgot to take my camera inside so I forgot to get pictures of her and her family....

Since we were already there, we decided to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was so cool!! Plus, they have a deal where you can get a ticket to the aquarium and the LA Zoo for only $26 (the aquarium is usually $23 just by itself) and you have up to a year to use the other ticket! Don't worry, I'll post pictures of the zoo when we go.


First we hit some of the touch pools. Emma was a little freaked out and wouldn't put her hand in the water. But she loved watching all the "sharks" swimming around.


Then we went over to a play area where Lucas showed off his new skill....WALKING!!! That's right....I SAID WALKING!!! He started about a week ago and is getting pretty good at maneuvering himself around.

Emma got to be the "Queen of the world!" (Get it...from Titanic??)



Next we saw the sea lions and the seals. Emma and I went right up to the the plexi glass and watched them swim around. She got such a kick out of the seal (or is it a sea lion? I can't tell a difference) that got into the tub to "take a bath".

We also went to a tide pool touch pond where Emma got brave and actually felt some of the starfish and anemones that they had. I think it was because none of them were actually moving.


Then we went inside where we saw LOTS AND LOTS of fish....

A seahorse or two...


And some really pretty coral...

And some weird little girl sitting by the glass...

And this really hot, almost bald guy who was watching all the fish....oh wait, that's MY HOT ALMOST BALD GUY!! Back off ladies, he's taken!!


If you can't tell, Emma was fascinated with all the fish and stingrays and sharks and turtles and eels.

How did Lucas like it? Well, at first he was pretty excited to see all the things but....
after a while, it got to be too much and he crashed for the rest of the time we were there.



The most colorful fish were the ones that can change their sex depending on how many males or females are present. They were so bright. These pictures don't do them any justice.




Right before we left, they had some divers in a huge aquarium that were feeding the fish. Those fish swarmed the divers and ate it all up. We absolutely loved the aquarium (Emma keeps asking when we can go back) and I highly recommend it to anyone! However, may I suggest going on a weekday in the winter??? It was a little crowded on a Saturday in the summer.

On the way down, our car rolled over 100,000 miles!! We have had it for 5 years now and she is still going strong (despite the deer incident in November).