ice cream

Last week it was in the 80s here.

So I took the kids to McDonald's for an impromptu ice cream cone.

And yes, Sammy had one...he just ate it all before we got home.

See, I'm a nice mom...sometimes.

a little summer preview

So..it's been in the 80s for the past few days. I'm definitely not complaining (well, maybe I did just a teeny tiny bit today when my phone said it was 87 while we were at the park this afternoon...and we were in direct sunshine, so it was probably hotter than that) because who doesn't want to wear capris and flip flops in the middle of January?

Since the kids were off of school for the MLK holiday, Samuel took Sammy to the Clippers game this afternoon and I took Hannah and Helene to In-N-Out for lunch (big surprise, I know) and then off to the park to ride bikes.

Quick side story:
I got Hannah a new bike on Saturday. She and Sammy wanted to ride their bikes since the weather was so nice. So we got the bikes out from the back--only for Hannah to discover she was too tall for her Dora Big Wheel. Her knees kept hitting the handlebars and she was in tears that she didn't have a bike to ride.

(And here is why I LOVE living in the future...)

So we went inside and looked on Craigs List. I found a bike in Pasadena (no picture though), texted the seller to see if we could come by and see it, she replied with address and a picture--it was purple and had Disney Princesses (SCORE!)...and she lived about a mile away. We drove over, picked it up and she even included a purple helmet--all for $20!!! And the same bike is currently selling at Target for $70. YAY ME!! Love it!

You know when we were kids, we would have had to go to garage sale after garage sale to find a used bike and it would have been a week or more to find the right one. So yay for technology!!

Here is my awesome Craigs List find.
Hannah picked out her outfit today knowing that we were going to ride bikes at the park--I LOVE that she color coordinated her outfit with her bike.
Totally something I would do. :)

And Helene inherited the Dora Big Wheel. Her legs aren't long enough for it yet, but she's completely content to just sit there and push all the buttons that play music and make noise.

Uhhhh....yeah....that's an In-N-Out cup in the basket.
She took it and put it in there all by herself.

What can I say? She's clearly a mini me.

She was pretty proud of herself...smart girl.

Krista and Ally met us at the park and Helene traded Ally the big wheel for her scooter.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the summer temps--although I'm hoping I get a chance to wear sweaters and my new scarves (my new fave accessory!) again soon.

2011 Rose Parade

One of the things I love about living in Pasadena is going to the Rose Parade. And what makes it even more enjoyable is it's walking distance from where we live--so we don't need to worry about parking or sleeping out.

The weather was perfect.
Sunny and not too cold.
(i.e. temps weren't below 50)
You can read previous posts here and here.

This post won't be as detailed as last year since I had a toddler to watch/entertain and didn't take as many pictures as I wanted. But let me just say this. We had the best seats EVER. (Sorry Lyndsey). We had friends from church who slept out and I texted them that morning and they said to come on down--and there was a front row spot for all 5 of us right behind the infamous "blue line".

Yeah...we were that close.

Hannah was pretty busy eating the M&Ms I brought.

And, of course, we got some cotton candy.

Uno! One of my favorite games.
This float was so pretty in person...
and so was this one.
It was nice that there was room for Helene to get up and run around during any lull in the parade. She was obsessed with the camera.
City of Burbank float
PacMan
And that's it...told you it wasn't going to be a very detailed post.
Happy New Year!

Pretend City!

Time to play catch-up on the blog.

I've been wanting to take the kids to Pretend City in Irvine ever since reading this post.

Dana was in town for most of December, so one day I let the kids play hookey from school and we drove down to the OC to meet up.

The kids were fascinated from the minute they walked in the door.

Then they turned the corner to see this:

I didn't even know where to begin and luckily the place was small enough that I felt comfortable letting them run around and do their own thing.

They all went for the mini golf.

But then they discovered the water play.
Fun for all ages with the water gun...

and fishing.

Helene did a little grocery shopping

and driving around.

Sammy found a car that was more his style.

Then they decided to dress up and put on a show

Owen had some serious dance moves.

Wheeeeeee!

We made pinwheels. Lucy was too cute!

Sammy loaded blocks on the conveyor belt.

A brief rest on a bench.

The farm area was my favorite.
There were a bunch of trees to pick fruit from.

And dirt to plant seeds and pick carrots.

And flowers to plant

Hannah and Lucy were so happy to play together after not seeing each other for so long.

This is my favorite picture.
The farm area was complete with baby chicks.
So adorable.

And, of course, the Dana and Doris outing
wouldn't be complete without a visit to In-N-Out.

It was so good to see Dana and Lucy and Owen--we've missed you guys!!
Come back and visit soon!!