For Memorial Day we took the boys to the
Kidspace museum in Pasadena. It was a cute little place! Warning: this post had
ALOT of photos, I guess I felt like I had to
document everything
cuz we'd never been there and there was
alot of
different things to do there. This is how cool the entrance is:
The first thing the boys did was build with giant shapes
I thought this place was gonna be lame
cuz these shapes were just on a carpet under a canopy in the middle of a dirt field but it got better.
Inside there were lots of climbing areas to pretend you're a bug
Here Nate is learning about erosion
Ryan and Nate doing more climbing:
Nate in front of a bee hive:
There were lots of bugs and bug/garden-themed things inside
Outside there were fun bikes to ride:
And water play areas
Outdoor climbing things:
Playing drums with water guns:
Anytime water pops up out of the ground my boys love it!
There was tons of "nature stuff" outside
Ahh a rare treat: a semi-decent picture of mommy and the boys!
It was a fun place, I'd totally go back. It only cost $8 each to get in (I found a coupon online) and they had a nice place to eat lunch (
mmm... chili fries) and it
wasn't too crowded!
Once I had Nate I knew I wanted a tattoo with my kids' names, I just had to wait until I had the other one to find out the other name. This is actually my 2008 Mother's Day gift I was supposed to get last year but never got my design finalized until just now. I actually printed it out and wore it around for a week to make sure I liked it and had to tweak it a bit - I found out the skin on your wrist moves really weird. I'm really happy with how it came out, now if I can just stop bumping it everywhere!
We decided for the removal because the Dr. said it could never go away, it had been growing like crazy, and if he scratched it it would bleed for 20 minutes. We scheduled a surgery for 7/16 but I called them 3 days later to try and get in sooner cuz it had grown to the size of a pencil eraser tip. Then it went from bright red to black and kinda shriveled flat - yuck! Here it is just before Nate scratched the whole thing off in his sleep the night before surgery:
They gave me a special gel to put on 2 hours before the surgery. Nate and I left camping in San Clemente early to get him there. We picked up some McDonald toys on the way which helped entertain him in the waiting room.
Nate is so loved not only did my mom and dad show up to wait with us, but Jen, Ethan, Kenna, Seth and Chase showed up too! And they all had presents for Nate so he was pretty happy at that time.
Nate was such a trooper. He slightly pulled away when they injected him but other than that he just laid there wrapped up in his burrito blanket :)
The worst part for him was after they were all done they had a sticky monitor pad on his leg that they had to pull off and that really hurt him. I had told him when the surgery started that I had a special Transformer for him if he could stay still like a statue the whole time so we whipped that out while they took off the pad.
All better!
On our way to the Schnitz for some corndogs!
Nate hasn't complained about his face hurting once, got no swelling and no bruising. Now I just have to keep him out of water for a week and protect it from infections (we are going to spend 5 days camping at the beach next week!)
Ryan has a bunch of family living in Oregon and they all came down to celebrate Grandma & Grandpa's 60th wedding Anniversary. His family has a tradition of camping at San Clemente State Beach so we spent 3 days there. The views were BEAUTIFUL, the campground... meh.
Walking back up the hill after you've been at the beach for a few hours sucks!
Nate and Tristan liked being buried in the sand.
Zach is just a good lookin kid!
This is Nate's sand goatee.
Back at the campground, the kids loved to climb the tree in our site.
And hang out in the back of our car watching videos and playing with toys.
4 years ago Nate and Tristan were both 6 moths old (they are 1 week apart) and we drove out to see the family for the day and took this picture of them:
Here they are together again:
Here's some more beach fun (it was cloudy on/off the second day)
Zachy really like to play with cousin Lindsey
Here is everyone who came to the beach, some just for the day. Tricia got sick so her and Dan stayed home but everyone else made it!
Some super cute boys in front of the sunset for your enjoyment:
It was a medieval theme this year at wacky week, Nate was totally into all the knights!
Of course he had to test out the princesses too!
Each day the kids made pieces of the armour of God, Nate liked to play drums on his breastplate of righteousness with Sophia
Worship time was Nate's favorite, he loved jumping up and down to the Happy Song.
Of course he loved all the extra time with his best bud Seth...
bouncing in the jumper...
and more Seth!
We were super excited that some friends from his preschool class came too!
And the cherry on top, the waterside on the last day!
Thanks Paul and Angie and everyone who helped out, it was super wacky and super awesome!
It was free kid's jersey night but they were all XL so Nate swims in his and Zach could use his as a sleeping bag
Who needs 1 seat per person? Not Zach and Chase!
Nate was having so much fun with everyone he was sad when I tried to get him to sit by me and Ryan
Rerynolds fam + Nate - Seth who is hiding behind Ethan
Both my boys like black licorice.
We arnt really Angel's fans but thanks to Walmart, we looked the part at last Friday's game :) 
We joined Ryan's sister's church for the game and some tailgating.
The boys did a little goofin around and got some energy out before we went in.
Here's the family to 1 side: Papa Roy, Grandma Gaye, Grandma Donna, Grandpa Corky and Rosemarie (Dan's mom)
Zach was a little overwhelmed at first with the height of the stadium and the fireworks that went off for every homerun
But sittin with a Papa always makes him happy
The boys got new hats and Nate was having a blast pokin Uncle Danny with his bill.
Zach was ready to go long before the 7th inning stretch.
We had a blast, cant wait to go and be poser fans again... maybe soon!
We were super lucky that Deanne offered us her free passes to the Wild Animal Park last week. It was fun, we had 4 kids and 4 adults (me, Deanne, Dawn and Auntie Lydia)
Nate was too freaked out to feed the deer but Zach was all over it!
This dear only had 1 eye, the other side had a big crater that fascinated the kids 
Behind the boys 2 lions are eating bunny rabbits - nasty!
This cat-thing (I missed it's name) came out and the trainer flung toys on a rope above it's head and it would flip backwards and catch it.
My boys LOVED it!
We did the tour "safari" thing, here we are waiting in line for it
Here we are on it
And here's what my boys spent a good portion of the tour doing: not looking at the animals, looking thru the holes in the seat!
Flamingos!
We came across this water play area and my boys couldnt resist getting wet.
The kids kept waiting for this bucket to fill up and dump, they loved it.
Nate was SO happy to play in the water, he could have spent all day there.
Luckily I brought changes of clothes and shoes.
Learning about compost (not really)
There was a cute playground we spent some time letting the kids run at.
Calm down, this lion is also pretend.
The kids all got to pick something special on the way out, Nate chose this mask. 
The whole way out we kept saying things like "What a cute panda" and he'd rip off the mask and say "It's just a mask!" "Uh oh, a panda is escaping the zoo" "It's just a mask!" Nate thought it was hilarious :)
I got to stay in his class and "help out" - I didn't do that much but I had fun and I love seeing Nate at school!
We brought Dirt & Worms for the snack (another mom beat me to the cupcake signup)
Even though it was chilly we got to go outside for fun centers! Hello? Where is the warm weather?
Friends from school: Gabriel, Chris & Tyler
Jakob was not that down with getting his picture taken.
I forgot to get a nice picture with Nate's teacher Mrs. Neise - doh! Sorry Melissa! Guess we always have next year!
Last weekend we went camping with my folks at Ventura State Beach RV Park. It was not beach weather.
We did alot of bike riding and playing at the playground. 
The boys played some air hockey.
This is what Nate does when he makes a shot:
We went off the paved trail on to a dirt path on our bikes. The path got smaller and smaller!
Candy time:
Havin fun in Nana's pop up tent:
Before we left Nana caught a little froggy!
Not pictured is the HORRID Karaoke night the campground blasted until 10pm! Just imagine trying to get your kids to sleep while some drunk guy is screaming "Enter Sandman" into a microphone - not good.
On Saturday we all went to see my nephew Blake's band perform at a church in Upland. (the photos look weird cuz they were super dark and I lightened them)
Normally Zach is so bad at getting portraits done that I have to LAY DOWN on the floor and have him sit on my stomach so he will stay in front of the cameras. So our last few have only been headshots. 
This time I had some tricks that totally worked, we had tons of good photos to pick from. First was brand new light up shoes that he'd never worn so he kept jumping up and down and thought it was so funny. The second was bringing the new motorcycle that Auntie Darlene and Auntie Debbie got him - worked perfectly!
Buggy Party #2 We did 2 parties in 1 day cuz I'm crazy like that. Here's the family party:
More fun in the bounce house:
More presents:
More viewings of the birthday video:
A personal cake: (we had frozen banana's for dessert and those are hard to put a candle in)
The 2 Musketeers:
The 2 Mini Musketeers:
Zach is into bugs (like all little boys I guess) so we did a major buggy theme for his parties.
Here's Nate and Zach getting some private bounce time in before the party started:
I'm a punk and I forgot to put up Zach's birthday countdown 2 nights ago before I went to bed (Hey, I been staying up late) so we had to start his countdown a little late. Better late than never. 
Today I took just Nate to our Mops fun day at the Sawdust Factory in Upland. (this photo was taken after a few families had left)
The before shot. We made "Mother's Day Projects" so I picked out the giant flower for Nate to paint. BTW you will see lots of goofy faces on Nate in this post 
I wanted Nate to do all the painting himself but he wanted us to paint together so I helped a 
Of course he picked blue paint and then dark blue paint - luckily they just put some green paint on our table so he used that too to give it some nice variety.
Nate and Wyatt:
The finished project and Nate's new doggy: Fluffy
The reason we got Fluffy is because last time we came to the Sawdust Factory Nate made a dog house and got to pick out a doggy (
Another great Family Camp in San Diego. This year there were over 200 Flipside folks at the camp - it was awesome! Here is a shot of Jasen at our site (this is the only one I took of our cute tablescape - it made me so happy!)
Scoot:
Electric Scoot: (Zach could do this ALL day!)
Bocce ball:
Play doh:
Bounce house:
Nate at the playground with Luke Corbett:
Just how many people can you fit on a 4 seater bike? Those bikes were loaded all weekend!
James and Grace being silly with Nate:
The men in the fam minus Kevin (btw that's Becky's cousin Phil if you didnt know)
The ladies in the fam minus Becky:
Me and my boys:
This year we had a nice mello Easter. The boys had to hunt for their baskets in the morning which were hidden in plain site in the kitchen. Zach found them first.
