First Family Vacay-cay

Over Spring Break, we decided to pull a crazy and go on a road trip to the end of California (San Diego) with an almost six year old, four year old, and a seven week old. Surprisingly, things weren't that bad. It took nearly the entire day for us to get down to LA, thanks to many pit stops. It also took close to an entire day to make the trek back home. Overall, I would say it was successful. Kids had fun and baby adapted very well to vacay-cay! (Beware: Lots of pictures)

 Venti coffee for the adults as well venture off at 10am

 First stop: lunch break at Anderson's Pea Soup

Verdict: meh. It was better than your typical pea soup, but it wasn't to die for. This was a bucket list stop since we always saw the billboard for this place when driving to LA.

 Pretty much

 In between rest breaks, they got some iPad time

 Fog on the Grapevine

This was scary! It was gloomy when we left San Jose and remained gloomy till after we passed the Grapevine. We survived a very scary (maybe ten minute) drive while on the Grapevine. There was some crazy fog where you can't even see the car in front of you. We learned about driving with your emergency lights on at a very low speed so that you can see. Scary!

 Stopped by Luxe buffet for Dan's birthday dinner

Verdict: meh

 Day 1: Legoland

 Our guide

 Made them pose here because they're Chinese

 Posing with their father

 That's one big Lego Death Star

 Proof that the baby came too

 More proof that baby was there

 Lucas didn't get the serious memo

 Crazy kid

 Look at that creeper sitting all by himself on a toddler ride

 Kids loved the Ninjago ride

 Bye Legoland, see ya next time!

 3/3 Shinn kids out

 I still can't believe there's three of these little people

 First time she wore short sleeves (it was HOT!)

Day 2: Sea World

 Giant turtles

I didn't take a lot of pictures at Sea World. Whoops.

 Another bucket list item:  Brodard's

 Little poser

 First time these kids stepped into a Rainforest Cafe

 Too bad those snakes aren't real

 RAWR

 What baby was doing during our time at downtown Disney

 He spent hours here! We have Legos at home!

 PO-ed!

 Pit stop @ Bravo Farms

 Awesome area for kids to run around

Our pit stops usually take 30 minutes. We spent two hours at Bravo Farms! This is going on our list of pit stops during our trips down to So Cal.

Awkward sibling picture

And tomorrow is Monday. Kids are back at school, Dad's back at work, and me... well, I'll be relaxing (hopefully) with an eight week old.

First and Third

I remember when we had Lucas, everything was prepped, washed, and ready two months in advance. I bought that special laundry detergent, read books, put on cocoa butter religiously, the works! I was even contemplating following Babywise. Luckily, Lucas was an easy baby and he eat, pooped, and slept really well (so screw you Babywise). We stayed home when Lucas was sleeping and all that good stuff. We bought all this stuff that were baby "must haves" and ended up not using a lot of it. 

With Evangeline, I read zero books, I finished everything the week before my scheduled c-section, and her laundry is mixed in with the rest of the family's. Baby naps whenever and is transferred in and out of the car seat due to the older kid's school pick up and my errands. She's co-sleeping between us at night (and now we realized we can probably survive in a one bedroom condo for the first year of life with a baby). 

And Charlotte... what about Charlotte? She's the middle child, the forgotten one (sorry, Char).

 She's already gone to the dark side

 She's kind of unsure about what to do...

 When baby naps, I Netflix

 Dessert in Cupertino (Icicles and Yogurtland)

 Two more years till these sisters share a room

 Sorta smiling now

 And tummy timing

 Making sure baby sister doesn't cry

 Books for days

 She has the same hairline as an old man

 Rogue One in 3-D at home

The Forgotten Child

Just kidding. Charlotte is a really good helper and when Mommy's busy cooking or showering or whatever, she steps up and takes care of baby (even though she says it's boring swimming rings all the time). Whenever baby cries, she's the first to jump up and stuff a paci in her mouth. For some reason, Charlotte also always knows where the pacis and blankets are too. I've never seen this nurturing side of Charlotte till Evee was born.

 Fun at CuriOdyssey

 Live lion dance up close and personal

Sister sister

Char is still waiting for her baby sister to grow up so she can take pictures with her, play store with her, have a tea party, and do other girlie things. 

And it's already week 6...

Life Lately

It's been five weeks already and as a family, we're slowly getting back into the groove of things. Little Evee is more alert now. Although (no offense, lil girl) she's still a bit boring, I know she'll be on her way to holding her head up soon! I'm still waiting for her to drop one of her night feedings so I can sleep for longer than a 4-5 hour stretch at night. But honestly, I really shouldn't be complaining. She's a real good baby at night - wake, feed, back to sleep.

 Sister sister

 Big brown eyes are opened longer now

 What you do when your sister passes out after a play date

 Fun on the activity mat when your siblings are at school

 Working on those neck muscles during tummy time

My sweetness

 My three rascals

 Second family picture (first was when I looked like a hot mess at the hospital)

 Books at Target

Oldest and youngest 

My two big helpers passing out door hangers for an Easter egg hunt