The Elmo Show!

And now, finally, the post that prompted the last 3 posts. Elmo 1-2-3 Imagine! Whoo hoo! So exciting... sort of. Emma & TJ were very excited to go see Elmo. Even Mikayla was into it, as she still will watch Sesame Street with the little ones on occasion and she loves to go see any kind of show anyway.

So we went to see Elmo. Emma enjoyed the first half of the show but, true to form, got moody after the intermission telling me she wanted to leave and that she had already seen Elmo. But then they opened with an actual "Elmo's World" segment and that made everything better. She loves that part of the show. TJ loved the whole thing and was clapping and singing along, as was Mikayla which was funny to see.

The kids were each allowed one souvenir and, funny enough, they all wanted the same thing ~ binoculars! So Karen bought 3 pairs of overpriced plastic Elmo binoculars. They were a hit. Especially since I had bought us seats up in the nosebleed section! They loved using the binoculars to see the characters close up though. And they loved the stairs. That's how we spent our intermission... on the stairs. I stood at the top (to keep them from tearing off down the hallway) and Karen stood at the bottom (to catch potential trippers) and we just let them go. I think that giant staircase might have been one of the highlights of the day. All in all, it was a cute show and a fun weekend with the kids. It might not have been Tony Award worthy, but they liked it none the less and I love taking my girl out to try new things.

Kids love hotels!

After we finished up at the beach we checked into the hotel. These kids (all kids?) love staying in a hotel! Something about the swimming pools and ice machines I think... at least I remember those being highlights when I was a kid. :) So as soon as we unloaded the car they were stripped down and in their bathing suits ready to head to the pool. Emma & TJ are much more pool kids than ocean kids. They love getting in the "cold pool" (only on the steps) and then hurrying over to get in the "hot pool." Back and forth, over & over. The hot tub always wins out though. They are definitely children of creature comforts.

After swimming we went back to the room for a "hotel picnic" with sandwiches we had packed at home. Hey.... it's a recession. Gotta cut costs where we can! The babies (& even Kayla) thought it was cool to have a picnic on the beds, something they would never get to do at home. Next it was time for baths and then movie night. I brought the laptop with us so we could watch a DVD and we had a big bag of candy and goody snacks. The kids were thrilled. Mikayla chose to do some reading during this time as well. That girl always has a book in her hands but especially now as she is competing in an AR contest at school & is currently in the lead! She read almost 2 whole books this weekend!

At the Beach...

Once we finally made it out to Camarillo, we decided to head to the beach for a bit. It was beautiful there and remarkably uncrowded. I hadn't been to the beach in 2 years and was excited to bring Emma with me to enjoy it. Originally, the plan had been to spend a good few hours there but we ended up spending that time in traffic instead. So we only played at the beach for an hour or so. We didn't even bother with bathing suits and towels, just changed into flip flops and headed for the shore. Turns out, bathing suits would have been a waste of time anyway as neither of the little ones wanted anything to do with the water.

Emma walked right out to the shore with me when we got there and, as soon as the freezing water hit her toes, she flipped out and practically climbed up me to get away from the water. She cried for a good 2 or 3 minutes telling me how she "does not like the beach!" But, after we sat and watched the water for a while, she decided she DOES like the beach... just not the ocean part of it. She says she only likes the sand.

TJ was loving the beach, running back and forth from the crashing waves and shrieking with delight as the water ALMOST got him each time. And then Karen made the mistake of letting the water ACTUALLY "get" him, or his toes to be more specific.... Bam! Same reaction as Emma. Apparently he "does not like the ocean" either.

The only one of the kids who actually does love the ocean and would love to go in and swim is Mikayla. And she is still recovering from her electrical incident last weekend so its not like she could take her bandaged hand into the water. So she just enjoyed walking along the shore, throwing rocks, and digging for sand crabs.

On the road again...

Karen & I took the kiddies on a overnight mini-vaycay this weekend. We went to see Elmo Live and decided to turn it into an overnighter with a hotel stay and a stop at the beach. These are some pictures from our travels there and back... We had to stop off at a medical supply store to get more gauze for Mikayla's hand and the little ones were happy to get out of the car and stretch their legs. They wanted to zoom off on the power scooters though! Then we stopped for a potty break and a Coldstone ice cream treat. The kids enjoyed their goodies while splashing a bit in the fountain. By the time we headed home yesterday they were TIRED. The little ones were asleep within a few minutes and Mikayla passed out not long after that. Karen was an awesome chauffeur this weekend and it was so cool for me that I didn't have to drive for once!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

I took Emma to her first professional baseball game Friday night. We met up with 5 other families from our playgroup so there were lots of little ones for Emma to run around with. We also got lawn seats so the kids could run and play on the grass rather than being confined to a seat for an entire game. The stadium was having a promotion for "50 cent Fridays" which was great since we were eating at the game as well.... hot dogs and quesadillas for 50 cents each, sodas and beers for $2.50, and admission was only $2 too! And free for Emma since she's not yet 3 years old! We had a great time. Emma loved running around and having hotdogs and cotton candy for dinner. She was a little nervous about meeting the mascot though. He came right up to the fence and the other kids clammored for a spot to see him, but Emma preferred to hold back and just watch. She is just not a fan of large costumed characters. Can't really say I blame her though, they can be kind of creepy. There was also a woman there dressed up as a clown doing face painting and balloons. Oddly enough, Emma loved her. She ran right up and hugged her! It must be something about whether or not she can see the person's actual face...

We only lasted till the 5th inning. By then Emma was getting a bit cranky and I was ready to head home too. I figured we needed to get to sleep at a decent hour since we were leaving early in the morning for our Elmo show and I still needed to finish packing. So I decided it was time for us to leave. On the way out to the car Emma had a bit of a meltdown and it took me half the drive home to figure out what was wrong.... Apparently Emma was upset that she never got to go down on the field. She was under the impression that we were going to go PLAY baseball with our friends, not just WATCH it. So, when I made her leave, she was upset that she had never gotten a turn to play. Understandable, once I figured it out. Emma is also insistent that we now need a playdate with her friends where they can PLAY baseball. So funny. We shall see...

First Swim of the Summer...

We went to Uncle Kino & Aunt Pauline's house yesterday to BBQ and potluck. Ever since Grandma Baca's death in 1999, the family has tried to get together annually for a memorial mass and potluck. Some are only able to make it to the church and some (like us) usually just end up showing up for the party. We usually spend the day swimming in their beautiful pool as well, but the weather this week has been crazy. In fact, it was drizzling on us as we drove out there! But the sun peeked through and that was enough for Emma, TJ, and Bubby. They convinced Uncle Todd to come swim with them and Uncle Kino turned on the hot tub jets so they could play in the warm water. Emma loved it and we can't wait to spend some more time swimming this summer!

Blueberry Picking!

We drove out to the Temecula Berry Company yesterday morning to pick some fresh blueberries. Emma & TJ were so excited to go! We carpooled with our friends Erin and Sophia, and met another family from our playgroup out there. The kids all had a blast. Emma loves playing with both TJ and Sophia so she was in heaven to have two of her favorite people with her for the day. And TJ seemed to be getting a little kiddie crush on Miss Sophia... All day long it was, "Where's Sophia?" and "We need to find Sophia." Too cute I think they ate way more berries than actually ended up in their buckets, but that's okay. It was fun to just explore and climb on the tractor and check out all the neat scarecrows and hay bales, etc. Erin even brought a set of little binoculars for each of the kids so they could explore more in depth as they tramped around on, what they referred to as, their "adventures." We ended up buying some extra berries too and the kids LOVE them. They are already asking when we can go pick "pink berries" (aka raspberries) next.