10 months old

Zach was not in a good mood today when we went for pictures. Even thou he hasn't acted like his teeth hurt for days, today his hand were all up in his mouth in most of the shots. These shoes were a special gift to Nate from his Auntie Jen when he was born but his feet were so darn big he never really got to wear them! Here are all our outtakes:

Sailing, takes me away...

On Thursday we took an impromptu trip to the lake with my folks and the Reynolds. The kids really liked feeding the ducks there. Nate and Seth were excited to be "pirates" on Papa's boat.

Here's what the event was like: half hour to unload the boat and get it ready, dad took off with the kids but forgot Kevin so it took about a half hour to get the boat back to pick up Kevin, the little guys had enough so they called us and said they were bringing them back, it took another half hour to get the boat back to drop them off, after 1 last adventure and getting back to shore it took another half hour to load the boat and pack it up.

I spent all of this time making sure Zach didn't put weird stuff in his mouth and making sure Nate wasn't escaping to run down the docks. But it was fun to hang out :)

Check out this awesome picture of Seth putting on Nana's knee highs!

Random park pictures

Easter fun

Easter was nice this year. I made 4 different kinds of cupcakes and took them to both parties we went to. The cupcakes were: Dark chocolate with vanilla bean-cream cheese frosting (my favorite), Peanut butter with a P.B. cup inside and chocolate frosting, real strawberry with vanilla-strawberry frosting and sprinkles, and boston cream pie cupcakes. But I made too many cupcakes (109 all together) so I was giving them away for the next 3 days!
After church in the morning we went to Ryan's folks house for lunch and hunted for eggs with the boys cousins: Blake, Lindsey & Maddie along with Ryan's cousins: Travis and Hailee. Yes, they ALL hunted for eggs, even the big guys were looking for the good chocolates!
Then it was off to the Smarts for more egg hunting (and more cupcakes) I wont tell you what my aunt said about my cupcakes but you should ask Darlene to tell you! :)

Sea World and more

Since Ryan had 2 (yes that's right 2) days off work for spring break, we took our very first family vacation by ourselves. We went to Sea World on the first day, spent the night in La Jolla and hung out at the beach the next day. It was a awesome vacation, we kept getting little cool perks along the way. First the lady taking the parking money took my $10 then handed it back and said it was on her today - sweet! Then we brought food and thought they might make us throw it out but the guy at the door checked everyone else's bags except our stroller crammed with stuff - yes! Then we sat right in the middle of the "Soak Zone" (Ryan's idea) and the people on both sides of us got soaked but we got barely a sprinkle - yipee! Then at our hotel they upgraded us to an awesome room overlooking the ocean (new carpet, granite countertop kitchenette, flat screen), we found out later it was the sample for a remodel of the whole hotel so no one else had a room as nice as ours! So here we are at Sea World. 1 day admission gets you the rest of the year free, anyone want to join us for at our next visit? Big ups to the Powells for swapping strollers with us, Zach had a good time "pushing" the stroller around. We fed fishes to the dolphins and picked up starfish. Sea World had beautiful flowers everywhere. I think Ryan was tired of me pointing them out continuously. I need a girl there with me next time to appreciate them with me.

Here is the awesome view from the balcony of our hotel room.

These pictures dont do it justice, trust me it was awesome. The beach in front of the hotel is for guests only so we were all alone on the beach for most of our time there.

The boys had fun playing in the sand and very small waves. Ryan and I liked watching the 1st time kayakers trying to launch nearby and getting toppled in the waves.

Before heading home we went over to the tide pools to look for crabs. Then we walked to Mother's Beach to see the seals that took it over. Those specks on the beach behind Ryan are the seals.

Chop Chop

Zach got his very first haircut today (other than a trim around the ears a few months ago)

Here he is in all his long hairness:

I know it's not THAT long but it points straight down his forehead and into his eyes and enough in the back to make a little ponytail so it was time to cut it. He did awesome, sat in his little car and watched a BabyEinstien video. He even let them use the electric clippers and the trimmer and never fussed once.

Of course Nate had to sit in a fun chair and watch a video while Zach was getting done. And of course he wanted to wear the tarp as well.

Looking good!

Sheesh... Disneyland again?

I know, I know. Twice last week and twice this week but it's a fun place to go!
So here we are on Monday with Erin and her boys. Determined to show her how fun it can be, we set off for another day w/o the husbands. The big boys had fun playing in the water (no pictures cuz by the time I fed Zach and ate a little, the boys decided that they were done)
We ventured over to the "less visited" west-side of DCA and the boys ran wild on the play boat. It's not the best place to let them run wild cuz you lose visial contact with them unless you follow them the whole time.
Here's all 4 boys sittin in the strollers, ready to head home:
On Friday Ryan made a rare appearance with us as we took Seth and Kenna to the park with my folks. We also met up with the Powells for some extra fun!I think I'll call these photos "Two pirates and three possums"
We waited (and waited) for the Electrical Parade and the kids provided some pre-parade entertainment for everyone. Here's the quadruple hug and more waiting...
I guess Ryan really wanted to sit down cuz he squeezed his booty into our stroller!