San Diego 2010

We just got back from what is now my new favorite city (except for Austin, of course) in the country- San Diego!!! We took a 6 day vacation to sunny California with Mimi and Papa. The Tramontes were supposed to join us also but had to cancel last minute which was a major bummer. Although we missed having them with us and getting to see Gaby & Mia enjoy all the sites together we still had a great trip. San Diego is awesome and has so much to offer so we kept ourselves busy and attempted to see as much as we could.

The morning we landed we headed straight to the world famous San Diego Zoo! It really is a wonderful zoo with not only great animals, but beautiful plants and trees all around. We took a bus tour, rode the air tram, and walked around for hours. Gaby's favorite animals on this zoo visit were the pandas- they were sooo cute!

We spent the next couple of nights in La Jolla which is such a quaint little beach town- beautiful and laid back. It was pretty chilly in the mornings and nights so we did not attempt to get into the ocean although I was so surprised at how many people actually got into the frigid 61 degree water. But we played on the beach and dipped our feet in the water. There is alot to see in La Jolla- the La Jolla Cove, Children's Pool (which is where all the harbor seals live), The Torrey Pines Reserve, Mount Soledad, just to name a few.

One day we headed to Carlsbad, California to visit Legoland! It is the perfect amusement park for the under 8 crowd. Gaby was a daredevil as usual and had an absolute blast riding all the rides and roller coasters.

The last two days of our trip we parted ways with Mimi and Papa who began their 3 wk California/Seattle/Alaskan cruise vacation (lucky kids!!) and headed to Mission Bay which is more central San Diego to check out the sites there. We took a cruise of San Diego Bay to see some navy ships, seals and sea lions, the Coronado Bridge, and other famous San Diego sites.

I just love San Diego and think it is such a neat city! I can see why it is always ranked so high as one of the best places to live in the U.S. Hopefully we can go back and visit again sometime :)

As you can imagine, I took over 600 pictures and it was very hard to narrow it down to the select few I've posted here. But I think these give a pretty good glimpse of our little vacation....

Fun :)

Double Past Tense

Do all three and a half year olds do this?

It is so darn cute, most of the time I don't want to correct her.

But her Daddy is a stickler for proper speaking!

My thought is she's going to figure it all out eventually, right?

Here are a few of the cutest gems...

"He licked-ed me!"- talking about the puppies

"Mommy, I bonked-ed my head!"

"I ran-ded all the way here!"

"Did you bought-ed it for me?"

Cutie :)

Labor Day Weekend

We were lucky enough to spend Labor Day Weekend at our friend's, The Brauchles, house in Lake Livingston. They have a beautiful home there and invited us and the Hulshofs there for some lake fun. We had a blast riding the boat and jet skis and just hanging out and relaxing. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was beautiful out there! Gary & Kyle Brauchle Jumping off the boat dock... Tubing off the jet ski. Gaby had NO fear! The kiddos- Owen, Gaby & Kyle. Jet skiing w/her daddy. Again, NO fear! Water hose fun! Riding the boat... Waiting for daddy to get up on the skis... Go, Byron, gooooo!!! Sunset cruising... Yipeee!!!!!!! We had such a great time in Lake Livingston.

Thank you Gary, Maren & Kyle for an awesome weekend!

Back to the Routine

This fall we've decided to do two extracurricular activities. Since Gaby is now going to school Mon, Wed and Fri that leaves one a day on Tues and Thurs. Gaby's picks for this fall are dance and swimming. This year we decided to try another dance school, Synergy Dance, to see if we like it better than last year's school. Gaby and five of her old classmates all moved to the new school and so far the girls are really enjoying it and the moms are much happier with the new place.

Walking in...

There's Reese, Ellington, Maddie, Gaby & Elizabeth.

She also started back up at Emler Swim School and is in the Advanced Beginner class (This is the 3rd level for kids 4yrs and up. Gaby has bypassed the first two levels and as you know isn't even 4 yet. That's my girl!!) She has definitely become an confident, fearless swimmer this summer, but being in this new class she will actually be working on form and strokes. It's starting to get a little serious now ;-)

Sooo happy to be back at Emler...

Doing the I-glide...

A small class means much more personalized attention. Her classmate, June.

Keeping her bottom up and big splashy kickers...

I look forward to watching Gaby learn a whole bunch of new skills this fall and have fun doing it! It's good to be back into a normal routine again!!

Grandparents Camp- Take 2

We went to Houston last weekend and we left our little Gaby behind so she could spend a few days in Houston w/Pito & Pita. Here are some pics of her, Lulu, Suzy and Pita taking a train ride downtown. Gaby thought riding a train was super-cool! Then Mimi picked Gaby & Mia up from Houston for a fun few days at the farm in Louisiana. It sounds like the girls had such a great time together! Of course, there were the usual "disagreements" over who got to play with what and who got to go first for whatever, but overall they got along wonderfully and probably exhausted poor Mimi & Papa out! Here are a few pics... Our little city girl going country and playing in the dirt... Tractor fun! A little movie time at MawMaw's house... Morning strolls... And you have to have the gratuitous bathtime pic.... The girls got to visit with alot of the family and really enjoyed their visit to the farm. I just love it when they get to spend time together!

Schlitterbaun

We went to Schlitterbaun in New Braunfels w/Lulu, Carlos, Tiffany and Ellington. We packed a lunch and headed out there to beat the heat with some water park fun. Of course, Lulu and Carlos ran around and enjoyed the big kid thrill rides while we stayed at the little kid friendly slides, sprays and pools. Gaby and Ellie had such a blast! It was fun watching them enjoy it so much!

Cousins

Lulu and Carlos came to hang out with us for one last week before school started back up. We had alot of fun running around, but I basically didn't end up taking any pictures. These are the only proof that they were here... Love you, guys :)

Rockin' River

Gaby's friend, Drew, came to visit us this weekend from Dallas and brought along his mom, dad and sister Lily. We always enjoy our bi-yearly visits w/The Davis'. On Saturday morning we headed to this cute little water park in Round Rock called Rockin' River (Thanks Victoria & Tripp for telling us about it!). Drew and Gaby has so much fun going down the slides and floating the lazy river. Surprisingly, it wasn't as unbearable hot out there as we expected! After a yummy late lunch at The Salt Lick and a power nap, us adults headed out for some fun out on the town. Gaby, Drew and Lily got to watch a couple of movies and ate pizza with the babysitter. A great night was had by all !! :)