San Diego

With my pregnancy sickness mostly gone, a new van, summer still in full swing, and a looming fear that we won't see Cam & Auds for about 4 years (Cam got accepted to periodontal school in Maryland so they'll be moving), D & I didn't question setting aside a week to drive to San Diego with the boys to log some family and beach time.

Sunflower in Cam & Audrey's neighborhood

The drive went so well... we left around 6 am and got there around dinnertime.  The boys were true angels the whole drive down and didn't sleep hardly a wink.  We got to Cam & Auds' house and they picked right up from where they left off.


 

We had dinner and the kids played... then after putting them down, Auds taught me how to blanch peaches while Cam and D watched the Olympics

Lennox & Claire

\

D went for a run one morning and I got out for a walk one of the mornings too... their neighborhood is so pretty

Jig was dying to be with Grant all of the time.  Thinks he's the coolest and most hilarious.  They had some classic piano playing moments!

We stayed the first night with them, but then moved out for a couple nights to the Residence Inn nearby... Croz & I had a little pool time!

That afternoon we dropped the boys off to Cam & Auds and drove up to Ocean Beach where Hodad's to-go was waiting for us.  We just ate on the beach, took in the sights, got to talk.  So nice.  And then walked around hippietown; people-watching galore!

Pier

Ocean Beach

Love it so much out here!

Back to our little nest #10

At bedtime D & I were going to banish the boys to the living room/kitchen area with Jig in his crib and Croz in the sofa bed.  We couldn't stand it though... after bathtime Croz snuggled into this cloud bed in the main room and was so incredibly happy there so the boys slept in there together... Crosby was sawing some serious logs in that dreamboat bed!

We ate breakfast together, took our time, played in the room, D was playing his guitar.  It was such a vacation :)

Coppertone butt

Vacation.  My boys.  Trying to picture one more baby face in this crowd; he'll be here before we know it.

Beach day with Cam and Audrey and kids!  Croz couldn't WAIT!

We drove up to Laguna and landed at Treasure Island beach... let the fun begin

Seriously?  They are cute!

Our baby shark.  The water was so gorgeously blue.

Even though the sand was quite on the abrasive side and we were in an undertow danger zone,  after eating some hoagies and cookies and splashing in the ocean we all felt pretty darn fancy free!

Auds & I splashed in the ocean; it was so so fun!

D's always the designated sand digger with the kids

Our Yoda kite; Grant became a master flyer!  We left it stuck in the sand for someone else to have.  Crosby is still asking me about it; "Who got our kite?  Do you think they liked it?"

Fresh from the surf

Perfect V

After lots of beach, we took a short drive up to Alta Laguna Park, also known as the "top of the world"

 

Up a trail from the park are a couple short trails to get you to the top of the world/beautiful view of Laguna and surrounding 

I am so thankful for our new van!  It made for such a smooth and comfortable ride everywhere we went... we had only just gotten it about 4 days before the trip so it was good timing.  Packing up to head back to Chez Beck for the rest of our stay.  

We hit La Jolla Beach; Jig wanted to put his own sunscreen on

D & I grew accustomed to noshing on the beach...  my finicky pregnant self was DYING for burritos the whole trip for some reason so we kept trying little Mexican spots and it tasted soooo good!

La Jolla was extremely crowded... parking was insane

But once we scored an awesome spot the boys were in their glory again... endless sandbox!!

The crew

That night D & I stayed with the kids while Cam & Auds went to the Navy Ball... oooh la la... they looked so classy and nice!  We went for Frosty's and goofed around; the kids were in a wacky mood that night so it was nice & memorable :)

Saturday was another fun day spent together... we all admitted we wanted to check out Hash House A-Go-Go with their larger than sin portions and delicious food... not disappointed!  At least we knew to share!

This is just a dinky kids' pancake... WOW... notice that the plate could hold 4 of Grant's heads

We had a two-hour tour of the harbor on a boat; it was such a fun San Diego-y thing to do that none of us had ever done!  It was very beautiful; end of the day light out on the water

Beautiful fam

So pretty with the sun on the water

The kids were a tad on the antsy side toward the end; Jig was running in circles

I will ride on a sailboat someday.  Like on "What About Bob"... I'm sailing!

Those dimples spell danger.  Holy cuteness, Brig!

The U.S.S. Midway.  This is where Cam & Auds attended the Navy Ball the night before!

San Diego, we love you.

Later that night we partied with Marie Callendar's pie, ice cream, dancing to Vanilla Ice on the patio, and star gazing on the tramp.  It didn't feel like a sad goodbye the next morning for some reason.  I think part of it is driving.  It feels friendlier as you drive away, as if you'll be back the next day.  We love you guys so much Cam, Audrey, Grant, Claire, and Brig!  It was so wonderful to spend that time with you all... here's to soon, we hope!

We had planned to split our trip on the way back and stay in Vegas Sunday night, so we already had our place reserved.  D & I made an extremely last-minute decision to forgo Aliso Viejo beach in Laguna on our way to Vegas and hit Venice Beach, because he still hasn't seen it in full swing! Then after a jaunt along the crazy we'd let the boys wander the canals.  So after driving the extra hour we made it to Venice no prob BUT there was not a single place to put our vehicle; it was insanely crowded.  Packed.  We were there almost 2 straight hours with absolutely no luck; you can imagine the sadness and frustration.  So I had to take pictures from the window of my beloved Venice Beachtown :(

D drove around while I took the boys to at least wander the bridges & canals and move their little legguns.  Poor us; literally NO place in the city to park... nowhere!

Croz loved all the bridges.  Sigh.

Once we headed back on the road we were all so beat.  Our detour set us back 3 or so hours so we didn't get to Vegas til 11 pm and I had a mega case of swollen walrus foot by the time we made it to the Springhill Suites.  Even though we were painfully tired some of the best memories of the trip were from that night; everyone was giddy and it was a spankin' new hotel with fancy sliding doors to the bathrooms and Croz and Jig were going nuts with those.  We had to track down some EasyMac to feed the boys and they were eating it under this spotlight and there was wrestling and Spongebob and laughing. This palm tree was at some gas station on the way; I love it.

Next morning we woke up and went down for breakfast and got on the road to the Bellagio!  The conservatory is a must-see in my book; it is always so lovely.  The HYDRANGEAS!

The light streaming in was so gorgeous.  My sweet Crosby.

Giant bees.  There were giant ladybugs too!

Now where to go next?

Brothers

Barua Brother #3 is on his way!  These guys have no idea how much fun is in store.  Due 1/13/13.  We are stoked.  Gonna be needing a few more trucks for the rice ;)  Names anyone??!

Competition

Tonight Crosby gave me some attitude and so I told him, "You lost your reading time for the night." He replied, "Fine, Mommy, you lost your date with Daddy." Lately I've had some competition around here! These boys are the dream of my life but at the same time they can give me a real run for my money. Lennox physically a lot of the time and Crosby very much mentally! Boy do I love these guys to pieces and pieces. Croz has so much to say and is DYING to learn anything he can wrap his mind around. Jig is too smart for his own good. He's hands-on, just like D. They are *kinda* learning to play together; it comes and goes. Every once in a while I'll catch them sharing something:


 


Jig is saying so many things. I almost forgot how cute it is to hear not-really-a-baby-anymore little ones form words. *Shoe = "sue-ie" *Hey = "hi" *Hi = "hi" *Therefore we can't tell sometimes if he's saying, "HEY!" like a New Yorker or a deep-voiced, "Hi!"  He's a very noticeably masculine little dude.  It makes me laugh; even down to his stance.  Other words... *Water, Truck, More, Mom, Daddy, Star, Cake, Cookie, Help, Out, etc. etc. Our favorite is when he says, "Show..." as he turns on the TV, climbs on the couch, and sucks on his fingers.   Crosby is a reading machine! He has shown little interest when I try to teach him HOW to read but he finds great joy in MEMORIZING books. I am impressed at how the books he's memorized, he isn't off a single word.  So we hope... good test taker???  So now he just reads to Jig. His favorite book lately is "Ten Black Dots." He just is in love with it. We got it from the library but have maxed out our time with it, so I just ordered it online today.  He loves "Curious George and the Pizza Party" and still absolutely can't get enough of UFO's/Aliens/Space & Planets. Tonight he was begging me to let him paint an alien on his water bottle.


 


The ship's a-sailin' for summer... here we go!

Success

The bake sale/March for Babies walk came on QUICKLY this year! 2012 is zooming by way too fast. Already June is approaching and it seems unreal. This was the bake sale fundraiser's third year! It felt easy this year and not stressful at all. It's like the party of us that plans it knew what to do and away we went. It's also because it's such a team effort these days. There are lots of people who donate their delicious goods and time. We are thankful for all of the help; my mom and I are able to concentrate on baking and packaging and the rest gets taken care of! Signs, advertising, etc. We had a great turnout once again... Lucy worked it in her lemonade stand and lots of friends, family, and community/neighbors supported the sale. This year the fundraiser brought in over $1400! It feels so good to give the money away to such a wonderful cause. The whole event came and went and I had *count 'em* ONE picture! (The candy sushi my mom made)

Team Lucy Bug! March for Babies walk at This is the Place park

Brinton (!) & Caitlin

The bouncy slide crew

Dancing

Lucy with our little crew :) We love you Lucy. We are glad your parents give back to this cause each year; you are everyone's ray of sun!

Hobbies

Jig likes to play the piano.

Crosby LOVES to read!

Being outside is their favorite though...

By far.

"Whoa."

Happy Spring!

My Heart.

It's starting to hurt to see this one grow up.



Lennox is now a year and a half and I can truthfully say I don't know how it happened. I don't know where time has run off to. Lennox is a mystery man. He is curious. He is funny. He likes things his way or the HIGHWAY. He can hear the crinkling of a candy wrapper from... anywhere. His first word as far as we can tell was "waffle." He knows exactly what he wants. When I say, "Want to read a story?" he finds a (suitable) book within reach and doesn't walk but RUNS. And it has to be the chair in his room. His very favorite book is the one we have about bugs. We can tell all he wants to do is get to the very end where there's the picture of a huge hairy tarantula so he can round those baby lips into a big "WHOA!" "Wanna go outside?" - shoes in hand within 10 seconds and once again... doesn't walk but RUNS. Still says "WHOA" with furrowed eyebrows and a macho voice if he sees a truck or a bus or a digger or a - heaven help us - GARBAGE TRUCK! He still sucks those fingers when it's "time for sleepytime."

These guys are a great duo. They are each other's priorities 24/7.



Jig loves Crosby so much and watches his every move.



That classic Baby Mozart video that circulates at many a garage sale... well it's been a hit for both of our boys. In fact, worth its weight in gold if ever they're inconsolable. Croz still loves it. Lennox usually gets ecstatic at the sight of the drummer bear in the beginning. I hope they're always this nice to each other...



Dad & Jig are still one of a kind chums.



Hey Lennox! Dad & Grandpa built you a fence but how come you already know how to open it? You want out all the time but I can't get a stitch of yardwork done. Stick around!



And one other thing. No more biting! You have teeth and you sure know how to use them. It's getting a little better... mostly out of excitement now when you can't control how happy you are but still you know how to retaliate if you need to... watch out.



Lennox, we are so in love with you and everything you do. You are known by many names and they all have their place. Jigga Magoo, Jig, Mo-Jig, Mo-Boogs, Mooga, Mikadu (when you're causing trouble... even Croz says, "Jig you're a mikadu!) You are extremely special to our family and we love your funny ways, your curiosity, and your baby squeals of joy.



Last week Audrey's grandmother died :( and so Cam & fam came over from San Diego on a whirlwind trip. We had two nights with them and tried to catch up the best we could, play lots of lion hunting games (Brig: "I get to be Steve's lion cub" and Jig with his flashlight and wow! everyone's taller even since January). We love you guys VERY much, glad you're home safe, and can't wait for much MORE time.



Easter came and went too. We've had weird health stuff going on around here... finger infections, ear infections, yeast infections (GROSS!), sinus infections (or cold??), dermatologist appointments. Hmm, time for a clean bill of health :) Nothing serious at all, just ready to feel healthy again. Easter was nice, just went by quickly.

We pulled off some egg-dyeing time. Crosby loved it.



The Easter bunny made it to our place, strangely though not until after 9 am church. For Lennox it was a straight shot to the chocolate bunny on a stick. No question.



For Croz, it was check out my new toys. (Notice Jig in the background chewing madly on a Tootsie Roll)



I must say... those egg dying tubs have been a real hit in the... well, tub. They've used them every night since!



Can't keep these guys still for a half second. Munga bought them Easter suits and they were little men.



My mom made a turkey and mashed potatoes and it was so delicious! I made the most HORRIBLE batch of from-scratch rolls to date. Beth and my mom had an Easter egg hunt all ready to go... the boys loved it!

I love this picture of the girls on Easter; gorgeous day- they are all SO grown up and beautiful!



We also celebrated Beth's birthday with cake and ice cream. D & I gave her a little bell we had bought in October at the Portland Japanese garden. It has an ocean wave on it to symbolize one of my fondest memories with Beth. It was October 2001 when my family + Beth visited the Oregon coast and stayed in a house on the beach. Beth and I shared the room downstairs where we came face to face with the enormous ocean outside our window. We talked away the hours and I'll never ever forget it! I love you Beth, with all my heart!