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.

No school!

Veteran's Day was on a Thursday, so you would think the kids would have had Friday off as well like other school districts did.
But no.
So I declared a 4 day weekend and we played.

Nicole and I made plans to meet at the zoo on Thursday. Apparently along with everyone else in Los Angeles. After exiting the freeway, it took me 20 minutes (no exaggeration) to actually reach the zoo parking lot, which was completely packed with no parking available anywhere.
We decided to go to Travel Town instead. It was much less crowded and the kids had a great time. I don't have many pictures because Nicole and I were chasing toddlers around while trying to talk and catch up on each others lives since its been months since we've seen each other.

Seriously.
She looks older in every picture!

Sammy declared Savannah (Nicole's daughter who is Sammy's age) to be his girlfriend on the drive home. I asked him what made her his girlfriend and he said "because I like her." Hmmmmmm. Makes sense to me. Although he may want to inform Savannah. :) Should I be concerned about my 1st grader even knowing what a girlfriend is? Maybe I should have questioned him further.

Friday we went with Krista and Lauren to the Pilgrim Festival in Claremont. Valerie's been telling me for years how fun it is and I finally remembered to go. It was perfect weather and there were a ton of random booths selling just about everything from homemade jams to plants to paintings.

I asked everyone to hold still and look at me for a picture.
This was the best I could get.
Could they look any more thrilled to be there?
(They had a good time, I promise!)

There was a Mayflower replica you could ride.

Cotton candy was the carnie food of choice.

Hannah was excited to get her face painted.
She chose a butterfly.

Cute!

See, I can be a fun mom...sometimes.

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.