With the school year approaching and summer winding down, I decided to take the boys to the beach for one last beach day. It was an unusually cool summer this year with only a couple weeks of high temps in the upper 90’s or above. There were also a lot of overcast days and they all seemed to be on the days that we went to the beach. So even though it was plenty warm to go, we never got a good, sunny beach day, only lots of gray days. That didn’t really deter the boys though. They love the beach and playing in the sand.
On this trip we went to the beach with big waves, so Evan wasn’t very interested in spending much time in the water. But Seth kept wanting to go and play in the waves. Just as I would sit down, he would tell me he wanted to go by himself and off he would run. Of course, since he can’t swim I had to go charging after him since he kept geting knocked over. He would just keep walking deeper and deeper into the water with no fear. I was proud of him and terrified for him at the same time. So we held hands a lot and I helped him jump over the waves. He had a blast. Even when he was cold and shivering, he wanted to keep going back in. All in all, it was a great last beach day.
Evan showing us his feathers.
They love digging a big hole.
It’s been a pretty busy summer and I haven’t had much time to celebrate the impending arrival of our new little one. So some friends got together and took me to dinner at Macaroni Grill for a little baby shower. With this being my 3rd baby and another boy it certainly wasn’t necessary, but it was so sweet of them to still want to do something for me. I really appreciated it - and we had a great time and a yummy dinner. It’s a rare occasion for many of us to get to have a dinner out without kids. And I got such adorable gifts. I have some wonderfully kind and generous friends.
Since the boys love trains so much we went with some friends to Irvine Regional Park to ride the Irvine Railroad. They really enjoyed riding the train, although they complained the whistle was a little too loud. After the train we ate lunch by the lake, watched the ducks and looked for turtles, then walked over to the Orange County Zoo at the other end of the park. Since they also like animals so much, this is really a great outing for them because it combines two things they love. They saw owls, a mountain lion, some farm animals and a bunch of other local creatures. Their favorite was the “american” eagle, which is their name for a bald eagle. Evan was very excited and wanted to tell anyone that would listen about the eagle.
While we were there we got a flier for the pumpkin patch that will be at the park later this fall, and Evan is already asking to go ride the train again and look for pumpkins when the time comes in a couple months.
We were driving home this afternoon after picking up Evan from preschool when I got a little hot from the sun shining directly on me – or maybe it was the 8 pound bowling ball in my belly, I’m not sure which. Since I didn’t wear a ponytail today (I know, it’s a shocker!) I decided to put my hair up behind me over the headrest of my seat. Evan proceeded to ask me why my hair was spread out and I told him it was because I was hot. Since Evan loves my hair down (I think I’ve addressed this before on the blog) he told me that he loves it when I spread my hair out. When I asked him why his reply was, “because you are so beautiful when your hair is spread out.” I know I should have stopped there. But silly me, what mother wouldn’t want to fish for a compliment from their 4 year old? So I asked him if he thought I was beautiful when my hair wasn’t spread out. His reply was, “no, you are not beautiful.”
We wanted to take some family outings this summer so we decided to take a trip this weekend to the Orange County fair before it closed. The boys had a fun time eating hot dogs bigger than their heads and seeing all the farm animals. They wanted to pet every single one – goats, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens…you name it. Jonny took Seth on a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel, which Evan would have nothing to do with. So he and I sat and watched and waved every time Jonny and Seth went by. And there was a pavillion dedicated to cheese where we saw a lifesize cow carved out of a big piece of cheddar. Inside the pavillion was also a display from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese where kids could play in a big bowl of foam orange pieces that looked just liked the stuff. They liked that a lot.
Of course, I thought Jonny grabbed the camera and he thought I did, so we ended up with no camera. All we had was the camera in Jonny’s cell phone so we got one not so great picture of the boys. Oh well, next year we’ll remember.
