Avila Farm and Beach

Last Friday, Eric had work off and because he was going to be spending that night and Saturday morning on a scout campout, we decided to make most of the day by heading up to Avila Beach.  We first stopped at farm to feed the animals, eat icecream and cobbler, walk out to the orchard and pumpkin patch and stock up on apples pulled straight from the tree.  After that, we went out on the pier to watch the pelicans and seals play.  The weather was so hot and of course we dressed in jeans, so we were sweating, but I'm not complaining.  It was heavenly.  And it forced us to play in the freezing cold Pacific afterwards.  So lastly, we headed to the beach to play in the water and sand.  Lillie found cool shells and rocks and Henry spend the entire time rolling around in the sand.

Henry hurt his ankle on the slide at the park the day before and was limping around a little so we thought it would be faster to have him ride in a stroller.  He loved being in that thing.

Obviously this was not me taking this picture.  I would never let my kid touch a wild animal.  It is dangerous and germy.  Eric said the pelican didn't even move.

Sunbathing Harbor Seal

Also a picture not taken by me.  I don't like getting close to wildlife.

These security guys came by and sprayed the seal until it got back in the water.  He did not like it and was growling loudly.

Yes, I am that white trash parent that lets my kids run around in their undies at the beach.  It was sooo hot, you had to get wet.  You just gotta do what you gotta do.

As you can see, Henry is wearing a princess pull-up (leftovers from Lillie).  We are potty training and he's doing quite well.  He went the whole day without wetting his pull-up and went on a public toilet for the first time.

Ready for Halloween

Finished the last details of our Halloween costumes for this year. Whew, so glad to be done with those. If you can't tell, Lillie is Little Red Riding Hood and Henry is the Wolf. He does a pretty mean howl too. I was happy to see that he'd even wear his costume, especially the hood. Let's hope they're still compliant on Halloween night.

Family Photos on Biloxi Beach

My crazy talented friend, Krista, took pictures of our family before we left Mississippi this summer. She did such a great job, my kids were NOT easy to photograph. These are some of my faves:

Surf Beach

There were two days this past week with freakishly warm weather. In a house without A/C, we needed to get away and so we took a trip to the beach one afternoon to cool off. This is the closest beach to us, so I know we'll be going there often.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went up to Avila to the farm! The kids had fun at the petting zoo, feeding the animals, and going through a couple hay mazes. Then we went on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, where Lillie found the perfect little pumpkin. Before we left, we got roasted corn and the yummiest berry cobbler. We are definitely going to have to go back for that cobbler. You can pick berries there in the summer and apples and pumpkins in the fall. It was a fun time for all!

Hide and Seek

Henry's favorite thing to do lately is play hide and seek. Many times, I've been calling for him and it isn't until he decides to give himself away that I know where he's been hiding. It's usually in the drapes, but he's silent and won't come out until he wants to.

Binkies Be Gone

Saturday night Eric snipped off the ends of Henry's pacifiers before bed time. He's been wanting to do it for a really long time, but I finally agreed that after we moved and got settled, he could do the deed. Henry's been using Avent pacifiers and it's given him an open bite. When he puts this teeth together, his front teeth don't touch. So it's bye bye binkies. Henry cried for a couple minutes that night and kept saying Binky got broken. But surprisingly didn't wake up during the night and has done fine ever since at night and during naps. So I hope he continues to do well and this will be the end of an era. Henry is not a baby anymore! Now we've just got to get rid of the diapers to make it complete. We've just started working on it. It doesn't look like it'll be a fast or easy process.

A New Beach

We finally got to the beach (Jalama Beach) last weekend and got reacquainted with the Pacific. We followed a very windy road to get there and paid ten bucks to park. I was carsick by the time we got there and wasn't in a very good mood, but the sound of the waves and the smell of seaweed did their job to cheer me up. Lillie looked for seashells, Henry chased the seagulls, Max dug in the sand. Eric and I talked about how we were unsure if we could ever settle down away from the ocean. It was a good trip.

We're Still Alive!

We made it! Driving over 2000 miles in 4 days was not something I will ever want to do again but wasn't as bad as I was expecting. And what about traveling with a puppy? Max was great, best behaved one of the bunch, something about driving puts that dog to sleep. Seriously he slept 95% of the time we were in the car. Lillie and Henry were great too. The highlight of the trip was when we were able to spend half a day with our amazingly awesome friends, the Adams, in San Antonio. I seriously didn't want to leave. And neither did the kids. We love them and had fun hanging out like the good old days... The day we arrived in Lompoc, all the hotels in a two hour radius were completely booked. No joke. Except for one smoking room. So of course, we stayed there and it wasn't so bad. Thank goodness, because we were super tired after having driven like 9 or 10 hours that day, the fourth day of traveling in a row. We were not looking forward to getting back into the car to drive back to Los Angeles to find a place to sleep. It seemed like we were living a nightmare at that point. Turned out ok tho. After 18 days without our stuff and 17 days living in hotels (which was got REALLY OLD), we finally moved into the house we will be renting! It's a cute little house, built in the 60's, so its older but still a decent size and has a good yard, which has been our favorite thing. The couple who owns it seem great and we have been BUSY this week unpacking boxed and trying to get moved in. We have much less storage than we had in our last place, so we've got a bunch of stuff we're not sure where it will go, but hopefully we'll be all settled by the end of this week.

Match Made in Heaven

If you are friends with Eric on facebook, then you probably already know about our new pet, a mini Dachshund named Max. Henry and Max were so funny at the beach the other day. They were both so excited to be out of our little hotel room, to run around, get dirty and dig. This dog is going to be a digger!!

Proof that I can be Happy

After that last post, I feel like I need to prove that we are a loving and usually happy family!

i hate moving

You know that saying from Thumper the rabbit: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." That keeps coming to mind whenever I think about blogging about what has happened over the past week. Let's just say, it was the hardest week of my life. Movers packed and loaded our house the second part of the week and I've spent every spare moment cleaning. We are currently living in a hotel and will be for at least a couple more weeks spread across the bottom of the country. Yes, it could be worse, but honestly, I REALLY want my boring old normal life back. I'm about to start another week that will take the top spot as worst week ever. Traveling across the country, through the freaking hot and boring desert of the southwest, with a husband, two toddlers, and a puppy in a stuffed full car. TORTURE.