Marin's Birthday

She did it!! Marin is officially 10 years old. Can we now take a nap? This kid can pack fun and parties and events into days like no one else I know. We finally had to write a list of all the things we have done for her birthday this year......it filled a page. This is the first year (since she turned one) that we have not had a huge party. Most years she creates and hands out invitations and I am left with baffled mothers calling needing more details. Thank you Marin for listening to us this one time and understanding that we could not handle another party this year.

Some of the things she did and got for her birthday:

• Vacation to California
• Surfing lessons
• Drove a Volvo (made out of legos) and got her license (to drive a lego Volvo)
• Clothes from both sets of Grandparents
• Bounce house time in the front yard for neighborhood party
• Sleepover with best friend, Noella
• Target gift card
• Camp Rock DVD
• Played with kittens at Humane Society
• Watercolor picture from Grandma
• Stay up late and get up late (before school starts)
• Took treats to school for first day so she can get 2 birthday events at school - summer birthdays are celebrated later in the year and this way she gets 2!

We do not feel old enough to have a 10 year old in the house but we are so grateful she is ours. What a priceless gift we have been given! Thank you Marin! We adore you!

Vacation!!

We finally pulled our resources together and planned a family vacation! WOO-HOO!! Gabe is very interested in Legos right now so we decided to head to Lego Land in California. 6 days was just right and by the last day Gabe was begging us to take him home.

We stayed in a very nice hotel right across the street from the beach and the historic Oceanside Pier. It was heavenly to wake up to waves and gulls in the mornings and watch the sun sink into the ocean every night. The kids had a great time going from the beach to the pool and staying waterlogged and squishy. Even Lego Land managed to get us wet a few times! All in all it was a great vacation (and Brett didn't even bring a computer!).


Gabe had 2 awesome days in Lego Land and spent a small fortune on lego sets that we have never seen here. They also sell legos by the pound in any color and shape you want. I think we came home with about 4 pounds of assorted car parts, flowers, energy crystals and odd shapes and sizes. 4 pounds is quite a few bags of legos!!

Marin got an early birthday gift.....she had an early morning private surfing lesson. Steve, her instructor, said she was the best young student he has ever had. She was strong and listened to his instructions and had great balance. The big success was that she got up on her very first wave! He was thrilled with her success and we only took 60 or so pictures and 3 video clips..... Nah....we aren't proud of her or anything!!




We also managed to run on the beach nearly every day, eat some wonderful meals, drive around a bit at Camp Pendleton (hoorah), try on silly hats at Sea Port Village, shop for books in Carlsbad, cruise the Pacific Coast Highway a couple dozen times and watch some of the Olympics. Brett was the only lucky one to get searched at the airport.....he looks so mischevious all the time....and we didn't have to stop at Dairy Queen (although it got close a couple of times). Now it's back to school and hopefully the kids have some great memories and we have some incredible pictures to remember it all with.