Two Weeks of Summer

After coming back from SLO, I've been pretty lazy about updating this blog on a weekly basis. So for this time, there's "SAHM Life Adventures", Father's Day, Char's Dance Recital, and friends coming over. We hosted quite a bit these past two weeks. And this week, I'll be prepping for Lucas's first of three (!!!) birthday parties. Are these kids spoiled or are these kids spoiled?!

 Backyard fun!

We fixed up half our backyard and the kids have really enjoyed hanging outside on our turf. Turf has come a long way since a couple years ago. From afar, it looks borderline real now!

 Initial pillows

Char spotted these pillow covers at Target and said she wanted them. I told her I'll buy them when they're on sale. And lo and behold, Target has their crazy sale once again. So yes, our couch is looking pretty cheeesy with our D, E, C, L pillows.

 Dinner with cousins

 Dinner with friends

Flag Day @ OSH

Our CDM passes expire at the end of July. I don't think we got our money's worth this time. I don't think I'll be renewing our membership this time around either. So from now till the end of July, I'm going to try to bring the kids once a week. It's so much easier with them this summer since they're self sufficient. 

Happy and happy

Didn't mess up their clothes... yes!

I can deal with paint on their hands

Thank goodness that didn't get on her white shirt

Also kept dry during water play too... double yes!

Since the weather was only in the 70s this past week, I also took them to HH. They had a blast on the new ride! Too bad I'm doing all the work for them. 

New ride

Moose!

Moose again 

 Lucas doesn't nap anymore, so he draws plenty of pictures during Char's nap time

I decided to stop going to Picture People for the time being since our backyard is background picture worthy. I took a couple shots of them for Father's Day presents. 

Aren't they the cutest?!

Trying out Kula

Char's been taking dance lessons since October. This is her first performance and she loved it. I was a bit stressed about it since it was right in the middle of her nap time and parents were just supposed to drop them off. I was very proud of how well she did. She's such a ham-ball!

Cute little ballet bun

Filling her up with sugar before her performance

We surprised her with flowers

Grandparents came to watch her

So proud of our little dancing queen

Celebrated Father's day with some legit sushi

"Mustache!"

Church had sausages and root beer for the dads

Life in Ghana

Our kids are pretty spoiled (and they know it). We checked our the Compassion Experience so the kids would be able to step inside a third world country without leaving home to see what life was like somewhere else. I think they got it a little? They've also been learning about less fortunate kids at school too, so everything is being pieced together for them. 

Lucas's Father's Day gift from school

Now I'll be spending the rest of this week planning out Lucas's birthday party.

SLO 2016

We're trying to have a mini vacation each month this summer. Basically, that just means two trips. For June, we went back to good ol' San Luis Obispo. The last time we were here was maybe around two years ago. This is one of our family favorites - it's far, but not too far. And overall, people are nice.

The only downer of our trip is that Avila Ranch Farm only had hayride/tractor rides over the weekends and I did not know that. The kids were really bummed about not being able to pick their own fruits. I guess we're going to Brentwood sometime this summer for fruit picking! On the up side, at least we got some delicious roasted corn!

 One happy lady

 First stop in SLO

 Beautiful children

 Spencer Makenzie for some fish & chips

 Doc Burnstein's

Mommy did not pack correctly for 70ish degree weather. We were used to burning in the crazy Bay Area heat wave. Although it was cold, we roughed it and still managed to get some ice cream!

 Visited an old friend

 Kids using the Force outside of Apple Farm

 "Swimming" in the pool

 One day... they'll learn to swim

 These kids know how to relax poolside

 Spent the morning at Pismo Beach

 My favorite sand people

Relaxing at Pismo Pier

Somebody did not want to take this selfie

 Must eat at Splash Cafe

 This guy normally does not nap... look what he's doing here!

 Crackin' Crab = yum!

We originally were going to eat HH at Steamer's (they have these clam appetizers that are to die for!). When we turned into the lot, it looked abandoned and closed. Why is their website still up?! Luckily for us, Crackin' Crab was pretty awesome. Plan B turned out to be pretty great!

 Chillin' at Embassy Suites (family friendly hotel of choice)

 Lucas wanted to go back to the farm and feed the animals again

 Stopping to smell the flowers

Summer family vacation #1 was a success. Another downer was Char puking on herself in Salinas. When we got home, we decided to surrender that puke infested carseat. I think it's gone through at least three throw ups. Overall, nice four day/three night getaway.

Summer Vacation Mode

Summer is in full swing. We still haven't gotten used to our summer schedule yet since we've been on vacation and all that good stuff. Now that there's time, I brought the kids to VF to have lunch at the much anticipated opening of Din Tai Fung. But before that, the kids had some fun browsing around some stores.

 These kids are getting way too big for this play structure

 Char insisted I take a picture of her and Kylo Ren

 Blue and gold... must be a Warriors game later tonight

 DTF!

Verdict? It was okay. Not amazeballs though. This definitely does not live up to its hype. I think I liked the spicy won tons more than the XLBs. 

 Homeboy is obsessed with Star Wars

 Isn't this pretty impressive though? Free draw! No help at all!

Lucas does not nap anymore. It's hard trying to figure out what to do with him while his sister naps and I want some downtime. 

 iPads... my favorite babysitter

While most people like to relax over their first week of break, I like to deconstruct the whole house and move rooms around. Here, the playroom has been revived once again. The three days before that happened resulted in a house that's a complete mess! 

 New playroom, side 1

 New playroom, side 2

 Matching Tsum sisters

 A restaurant with a chalk board? Yes!

 Last tee ball game of the season

Fresh turf!

We redid half our backyard so now it looks like our field got doubled and the kids can finally roam free in the backyard! Woohoo!