Descanso Gardens Visit

We stayed home from church today because Sammy randomly came down with a 102 degree fever Saturday night and I was up until 3am with him. He threw up only once, but was lethargic for the entire day.

Today was a gorgeous day with temps in the high 70s. I just couldn't bear to stay inside another minute, so I called Krista to see if she was up for a visit to the Arboretum. Well, I had perfect timing because she had the same thought...only it was to go to Descanso Gardens to see the lilacs in bloom.

Perfect.

I have never, ever, seen it so crowded--obviously everyone else had the same idea. Fortunately, the grounds are expansive, so the crowds weren't bothersome at all.

Hannah and Ally always hit it off and love to hang out, giggle, whisper, and pretend.

First stop was to check out the pond.

And see all the fish.

Sammy still wasn't feeling well, so he spent pretty much the entire time in the stroller with Helene.

The lilacs were so pretty and smelled divine!
Not sure why I don't have more than one shot of them.

Then we headed over to the amphitheater area, where the girls
sang and danced and jumped around.

Sammy even got out and joined in.

Love the pose
(You can tell which pictures are mine and which are Krista's since she has a much better camera than I. The colors on her shots are amazing!)

Helene was a bit obsessed with pushing the baby doll stroller around...

But then decided to play with the big kids on stage.

Love all the colors.

Hannah wouldn't cooperate with me for a shot...

but Krista managed to capture one for me.

There was plenty of rest time with snacks.

And I really do let Helene out of the stroller to play a bit. She discovered the daisies...a girl after my own heart, as daisies are my favorite flower.

These mini daisies are just adorable...

Me and Helene

Discovering flower petals...

Then we headed over to play in the maze.

Helene found a friend just her size.

Hannah and Krista hanging out.Poor Sammy, he looks like he's trying to hard to smile here...you can tell he just doesn't feel very well. And he actually looks a bit pale to me in this picture. Poor guy.

Helene also found a chair just her size.

We headed home soon after that--and poor Sammy went straight upstairs and put himself to bed. I felt like a bad mom making him go out after that. I guess he really wasn't feeling any better. He'll be staying home from school tomorrow, for sure.

Maybe it's just hereditary...

While I was upstairs organizing some stuff this afternoon, Sammy and Hannah yelled at me to come down and look at Helene.

And this is what I saw.

Yep.
She had climbed onto the computer chair and started guzzling.
Seriously. That cup is bigger than her head.

Of course, I grabbed the camera before
I took the Diet Coke away.
But I don't think this is a good sign...you can see in her eyes that she means some serious business.

The Rest of Spring Break

I don't have many pictures for the last few days of Spring Break so I am going to just lump them all into one post.

Wednesday we went to Souplantation with Tasha and her darling baby, Gywnn. It's Lemon Month--one of my faves. (Oh who am I kidding? Every month there is my fave.) Helene ate like a champ, as usual, and my other two kids picked at their food and then told me they were hungry about 30 minutes after we got back home. Nice.

Thursday we went to the zoo with some of Hannah's classmates and their moms. We got there at 10am and the weather was absolutely perfect. Couldn't have asked for better weather--it's the best way to enjoy the zoo. Hate walking around, pushing a stroller when it's super hot.

It was a little chaotic with all the people so I didn't take many pictures...which is probably fine since there are already a ton of zoo pictures on the blog.

Some of the girls...and Sammy.

Hannah and Ally

He looks so old to me here.

That may or may not be another sucker in her mouth...I plead the 5th.

They actually took turns!

Always obsessed with the telescope.

Sammy took this shot, so I wanted to include it.
We went to the bird show for the oh, probably, 8th time. I really like it--it's fast paced, light humor, and keeps the kids entertained and isn't too long. I think it's 20 minutes max.

Friday we met up with Krista and played at Lacy Park (always a favorite place to play) and enjoyed some perfect 70 degree weather again. Love this time of year before the 100+ degree temps hit us.

It's back to school on Monday and I'm ready to get back into our daily routine. I need some stability after a crazy week.

Besides, I think the workers at the Arcadia In-N-Out are probably wondering where I've been.

Spring Break Day 2

So Tuesday we headed out to Debs Park. Danielle coordinated an outing there so we could all enjoy the beautiful weather and get the kids out of the house for Spring Break. I've heard Valerie rave about how great this place is since before I even had children...and yet somehow I'd never made it over there to check it out.

And it was everything that was hyped.

You would never guess this existed right off the 110 Freeway at the Avenue 52 exit. (Does anyone else besides me LOVE to drive that freeway? I can't decide if I like all the curves best or the 0-60 freeway entrances).

So, I wasn't really sure what to expect. And I made the mistake of telling the kids that we were going to a park we had never been to before. Wrong use of the word park because as soon as we walked in they both asked me "where are the slides and the swings?" Ummmm....yeah...it's not that type of park.

They quickly got over their disappointment when they saw all the fountains and ponds...

..and all the dirt to play in.

Hannah loved the kid-sized broom

(I need to one of those so I can put
her to work around the house...)

The area we were in wasn't great for a toddler so I kept Helene in the stroller as long as she would stay in without complaining.

Snacks are always a good incentive.

Danielle suggested taking the kids on the butterfly loop hike, and after attempting to maneuver our stroller on that terrain for just a few feet, I decided to take advantage of the park's free jogging stroller rental. So we upgraded to this:

It took me a while to get the hang of steering a stroller where the front wheel doesn't move at all. It had some crazy terrain with lots of overgrown shrubs, some steep hills, and drastic drop offs, but absolutely beautiful scenery and a feeling of being somewhere other than Highland Park.

After the hike, I let Helene out to play and explore with the older kids

She was in heaven just sitting in that dirt/gravel/sand (whatever)

Yep...eating dirt. Bad mom...

Hannah took a little break to eat some snacks

Just us girls
And nice to see that Laura has an addiction to her phone too...
See, I'm not the only one.

Our friend April was nice enough to offer to bring Sammy home with her a little later (thank you!) since I needed to leave and put Helene down for a nap--and Sammy didn't want to leave. He was having so much fun with all the boys!

It was so beautiful and peaceful to be around so much nature...I can't believe it took me so many years to finally check it out. Nice to find a little sanctuary just a few miles from our house.