Disneyland with Grandma - Part I

 Grandma was coming to visit!! But this time she wanted to meet in Southern California to take a certain special little boy (and his Momma!!) to the happiest place on earth first!! What a treat! We woke up super early and got to LAX three hours before Grandma was to arrive. Where to go to kill some time with a three and a half year old? Venice Beach! :)

It was surprisingly clean there (and lots of police were present), so I felt somewhat "safe". Although except for down by the water, I didn't let Brock go more than 2 feet away from me.

 The sand was AH-MAH-ZING though! I would have loved to go back and just lay on the sand and play in the water! Can you tell Brock is loving this!??

Beautiful beach, mountains in the distance, palm trees, blue skies - it was just like a postcard!

Thought this was cool on the lifeguard stand!

I must have picked the best place to park ($20 for the day, $15 for 2 hours - yikes!) because not too far from where we were playing in the sand was a fabulous playground!

 I was skeptical Brock would be able to walk around barefoot, but I saw how truly clean the sand was - and not too hot at all. He loved it because he could slide down the slide right into the soft sand!

After running to the bathroom, we sat and watched a three on three basketball tourney going on before stopping for a kodak moment in front of Muscle Beach.

Finally we picked up Grandma and headed to Uncle Al's house! Uncle Al lives in Torrance and was so nice to welcome us in to his home the first night as flying standby caused us to come a day earlier! (He's familiar with that too since he retired from American Airlines in 1982!) It worked out great so we could visit with him and he could meet Brock!

My mother had done some research on kid-friendly things to do in Torrance and she found Los Arboles Park, affectionately known as "Rocketship Park" to the locals. The rocketship has been a fixture since the 1960's (even being featured in an issue of Life magazine in March 1963), renovated and returned in 1992 to make it safer for the children.

But together with the super steep drop and the amazing view of the valley below, Brock was in no shape to continue his descent down the slide.

Panorama view

It was a little windy on top of that mountain!

We let Brock nap in the car while we did a driving real estate tour of multi-million dollar houses. Then stopped at Torrance High School, the filming site for Beverly Hill, 90210 tv show and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It was a really nice, but quick, visit with Uncle Al and remembering my dear Great-Aunt Marilyn, who passed away three years ago. Aunt Marilyn was the youngest sibling of my Grandpa Herbert Rosenfeld.

The next day we were off to Anaheim!

Brock's First Day of Preschool (3 year old edition)

Brock started 3 year old preschool last week! He was really excited because we got him a new Blaze and the Monster Machines lunchbox! (And Paw Patrol thermos)

I told him he could do a few crazy pictures after the "nice" ones. Of course all he wanted to do was jump! 

Drop off was a breeze this time! We stopped in the previous week for the "meet the teacher", so he knew the teacher, his classroom, and he knew which cubby was his! (He's #4!) He kissed me good-bye and walked right in, no tears! Yay!!

He's going to a new school this year, but we are planning to stay here next year too! He's going three days a week this year, 2 1/2 hours a day.

Right by the trash can!

As I was going through some things this past week, I happened upon a picture from my 3 year old preschool (obviously Christmas-time). Yay for Preschool!! :)

Parties with friends!

We needed an excuse for Abbey to finally get inside a Chuck E. Cheese, so we scheduled a playdate with Casey and her boys! (Brock and Elijah & Kanoa had their birthday parties at C.E.C. but someone from Abbey's family was sick on both of those days!!)

I think it was safe to say they both had a lot of fun that day!

Brock was in heaven with all the games.... and he sure knows how to use up the tokens faster now that he's older! We just continued to give the kids tokens so us moms could enjoy some conversation! It was a win-win, I think! :)

 Brock loved this game to see how hard you can kick the soccer ball. He's practicing for when he starts soccer next week!!

Such a fun time and we like that it's clean! We will most likely be back this winter! ;)

Zoe turned 4!!! She had her birthday at the gym and it was super cute!

The coaches had lots of little games for them to play and they stayed very active for that hour and a half!

Best friends! 

I liked how they had things for every age range - Brock and Kade both loved the bubbles!

I mean, but really, who doesn't love bubbles??!?

Here's a video of my little cutie trying to jump on the trampoline!

Time for cupcakes!!

Brock ventured around a bit, but everyone's favorite was the ball pit!

The last event was the zipline! Wouldn't you know, my 3 1/2 year old would not even try it.... but my 14 month old? Loved it and held on to the very end!!

Such a fun party! Happy Birthday Zoe!!

Cousins in Kirkland!!

Seattle is the place to be! All the cool kids are moving here! (Hear that Brian and Nancy??) Yup, our cousins from San Francisco have officially relocated to the Seattle area and bought a house in Kirkland! Yay!! We are so happy to have more family around!

We met Lauren and Ara at an indoor play area in Redmond before their moving truck arrived - poor family had to wait over a week to get their stuff!

 Super fun to let the kids play together!

This past Sunday, we met at their NEW house for dinner. Aunt Carol was there too!! (But we are so bad and didn't take any of her with her granddaughter) :(

We brought Kade's highchair from home - thought it would make dinner so much easier!

So much prepwork for such a fast dinner! Lauren, Andrew, Brent and Aunt Carol made a delicious dinner - bruschetta for appetizers, coho salmon, homemade mac & cheese, brats, and chicken wings (there were vegetables in the bruschetta)! Everything really was delicious! Kade loved Aunt Carol's mac & cheese!

They are toddlers - they pass food... and germs.

Hey look - I do have a picture of Aunt Carol!! I bet you were eyeing those delicious Seahawk Football cupcakes I made though!!

We love your new kitchen Lauren! :)

This is the before picture. Kade and Ara thoroughly enjoyed their cupcakes! Kade likes to put food in his hair.... Which lead to a super-cute bath with all the kids.

After bath, it was story time with Andrew! (Kade better start loving books like his big brother and his Momma!!)

We are so happy you guys are here and look forward to getting together with you guys often!! HUGS!!

Last summer trip to the Zoo!

 Now that Kade is a bit older and walking, I wanted to get back to the zoo on a "quiet" day so he could explore and see some animals!

He was ready!

Brock and Kade both loved the giraffes! It's nice when we see them before they go out to the grassy area - we are so much closer. We also have to remember - don't go on Tuesdays - that's the only day of the week they don't let you feed the giraffes.

The boys sat and watched the Asian otters for awhile! They're always sleeping when we pass through, but this day they were wide awake and fiesty!

We also had a good view of the Sloth Bear. What an interesting animal - super long claws and big furry ears. They are not very large - a bit taller than Diesel, but with a bit more weight and fur!

This was also our first time checking out the new butterfly garden... which I also learned will only be open in the summer months. Boo! Sorry Seattle, Museum of Life & Science in Durham has a much nicer butterfly garden.

I told him he could blow gently!!

Brock is checking out the snake!

Kade enjoyed watching the toucans, but would jump every time they made their "caw caw". It was cute.

Brock was so cute and remembered that at the end of the zoo, there's a playground!

We also saw the new baby gorilla, 9 months old in August, but we were among quite a few people at that exhibit, so no good pictures. Another fun trip to our local zoo! :)