here's to summertime

last week was enormously filled with things to do. we had our final week of swim lessons for the first session. jj did really well, but didnt pass his level yet. hopefully after this session, he will, and we decided to not put ellie back into swim lessons. after hearing her scream over every little thing that the instructor asked of her, we decided she wasnt quite ready.

on saturday, the day before fathers day, we had a little bbq at jesse's parents house. it was nice to see everyone, but one of jesse's sisters wasnt there. she is REALLY pregnant and has been on bed rest for the past 1 1/2 weeks. she will be having a c section on the 8th unless little baby sophia decides to make her appearance earlier. the whole family cant wait to see her. i am guessing that she is going to be a HUGE baby. her brother was over 9lbs. we will just have to wait and see when she comes out.

on tuesday, june 23, jesse and i celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. wow, how time has flown. we had gone out on father's day evening for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. we went to a japanese restaurant and they cooked us dinner on the teppan grill. it was lots of fun. we even had sushi too. we LOVE sushi. we left there, rolling out the door.

on wednesday, jesse's sisters and their significant others went on vacation to the dominican republic!!! they were using my in law's time share at an all inclusive resort and spa. it was amazing. the pictures online were beautiful. after talking to them on the phone throughout the week, they told us they were having the time of their lives. the rooms had a jacuzzi in the floor and it felt like they didnt belong there. it made them feel high class for sure. they come back tomorrow night and i cant wait to hear all about their trip.

also on wednesday, me and my mom took the kids and my nephew vincent to disneyland. this was vincent's first trip to disneyland. we werent quite sure how well he was going to do, but he really surprised me. no tears at all. he was definitely cautious around the characters, but as long as they didnt make any sudden moves, he was fine. he even touched some of them. that is huge for a 15 month old. if i could describe his day and night at "the happiest place on earth" it would be amazement. he was amazed at everything and everybody. he watched the electrical parade at night without a wimper. i picked him up at noon and he didnt sleep at all until 10:30 pm. i was shocked. i didnt post any pictures of ellie in her princess dress, but it was too funny. of course, it was pink. she had a huge pink flower in her hair and was wearing her pink lanyard with her pins on it. she was all pinked out.

jj and ellie waiting for the electrical parade to start. of course, a silly face!

we were waiting in line to see mickey. he liked him at first...he even touched his nose, but once he started moving. it was over. he wanted out of there...fast.

all the kids in front of cinderella's castle.

one of the blogs that i follow is about doing little girls hair. in the past i havent really been motivated to do fun cute things to ellie's hair. lately, though, i have become obsessed. i have tried some really funky things. now that her hair is longer, it is much easier to pull up and braid and do other fun things to it. one cute idea that i had to try was this picture below. pretty easy.

i have something really fun planned for 4th of july. nothing too "out there" but just enough to make the look.

over the weekend, jesse went to vegas to visit friends. i stayed home with the kids...well actually we stayed at my parents house. we really just hung out and relaxed. the kids always love gaga and pop pop's house.

on sunday, we finally celebrated father's day with my dad. he was sick last weekend, so we waited until he felt better. we had planned to take him to the boiling crab. it is a restaurant in garden grove. it is quite a drive, but it is ALWAYS worth it. if you like seafood, then you really should try it out. the outside of the restaurant doesnt do it justice. it looks like a hole in the wall, but it has excellent food and service. we always enjoy ourselves there. happy belated fathers day, dad.

this past monday, was the first day of jesse's summer vacation. it was nice to have him home. jesse had a lot of errands to do yesterday for his car. that took most of the day. meanwhile, the kids and i went to the city pool and swam a bit. i use the term "swam" very loosely.

today, jesse took jj to swimming and ellie had to tag along. mama finished getting ready while they were out. later, we all went to kohls to find a dodger shirt for jj and some board shorts for jesse. we found both. yay!!! on the way out, they have the kohls cares for kids items. usually they are stuffed animals and books. since i declared a house rule of "no more stuffed animals!!!", jj wanted to get a book. he was especially interested because they were animal books. he settled on the book, "actual size". this book is awesome. every animal they have in there, is drawn to actual size. they have a great white shark mouth, tiger face, crocodile mouth, anteater tongue, etc. jj, being the future zoologist that he is, LOVED it. he spent all afternoon reading it over and over. then eventually moved on to his pokemon cards.

i am writing this post while the boys are on their way to a dodger game (see the previous post). they are meeting logan and jack at tops and then making their way to chavez ravine. this is jj's first dodger game. i gave jesse the camera and told him to take lots of pictures. we will see what he comes home with. jj was excited but doesnt really know what to expect. he has only been to a single A baseball game before. he asked if the stadium would be big like the last game he went to. he has no idea!!! their seats are in left field, first row. manny isnt back yet, so they wont get to see him. maybe next time. it is fireworks night, but we didnt tell jj that just in case the boys got too tired and antsy. they could leave without a fight and a meltdown. i cant wait to post in the next few days about that experience. especially from a guys perspective. maybe one of these days, jesse could write his own post.