San Diego & Escondido

 I know I posted some pics already but these ones were too cute to pass up. I just love seeing my kids play with my cousins kids. It is just so fun to see them having as much fun as we all did as kids! They all loved watching these dolphins. 

 Lauren and Jacob were hilarious. They lead the way with the map. 

 I love how she is telling him what is up here!

 Our tour guide!

 The crazies that rode the ride even though it was starting to rain. Kevin got so wet! 

 Ben displayed a new side of himself on this trip and gave his sister a run for her money in the tantrum department. This was just one of his many uncooperative moments on the trip, he refused to be in this picture of all the cousins on the beach. We decided to make him be in the picture, because that is what good parents do, right? Oh Ben, we love you, crazy and all. 

The grouch with mama

 Emma, Jacob, & Lauren had fun playing Ring around the Rosie. Ben of course didn't want to participate. He was busy "Vroomin' Cars" as he puts it. 

 Lauren loves to hear stories of my childhood and her very favorite one involves Uncle Ryan tricking me into riding down this hill when I was 5 on my bike. I fell about 1/2 way down and I scraped my knees up really bad. I am still traumatized by it! She had to see the hill. Ryan says it's not that big. I say it is if you are FIVE!!!

 We grew up in a really cool barn house. I've told Lauren all about it and wanted to show it to her. Well, we pull up and it was tented! Apparently it has termites. She was less than thrilled about this, guess we'll need to make another trip soon:) 

 One night we got to see my cousin Claire which was so fun. She plays golf for Biola and they had a tournament just a few minutes from my cousin Marie's house (where we were staying). So we picked her up and went out for frozen yogurt (all the rage down in CA, there is a yogurt shop in every strip mall). As always it was so fabulous to see her, the kids ADORE her! 

 On our last day we headed down to Seaport Village. I spent a lot of time there as a kid and it was just as fun as I remembered it. 

 This lady asked if she could take a family pic for us and we said sure. Well turns out she's a photographer and she wanted to take about 100 shots of us and make it just perfect. Ben wasn't cooperating and kept running away from us.  I just wanted to scream, take the damn picture, but I was trying to be polite since she was so into it. Then she asked if she could take one for fun with her fancy camera. Can't wait to see us show up on the Internet somewhere! 

 Yet another carousel ride, because we can't say no to those! We always rode the carousel at Seaport Village as kids though, so this one had some some sentimental value to it. 

And last but not least, we visited Grandma Charlene's grave out in Point Loma. It is in the most beautiful setting, up on a bluff over looking the Pacific. Really, there couldn't be a more beautiful place to spend eternity. They were doing some construction there, hence the orange fence. But it was still beautiful and great to show the kids where she is. When we pulled into the cemetery Lauren said, "So are we in heaven now?" It was pretty cute:) 

We had a great time on our trip and are so thankful to everyone who gave us beds to sleep in, cars to drive, and food to eat! Not to mention all the great company! We love you all!

Palm Springs

 We went to The Living Desert and got to feed the giraffes which was really cool. It was so neat to be up so close to them. I think they are just the most beautiful animals. 

 The kids got a kick out of the purple tongues. 

 I was really impressed with how brave Ben was, I did not think he'd be up for this at all. That boy was full of surprises on this trip...

 The kids took every opportunity to sit on all the animal statues around the place. 

 They had a really cool desert themed play area that the kids loved. Ben was too scared to go in this cactus but Lauren loved it. 

 Kevin even joined in the fun!

 Ben braved the tunnels, with Opa in tow of course! 

 The first 2 headed turtle!

 Ben's first time riding on an actual animal on the carousel. He usually rides on the bench. 

 Kevin taught them this, so cute:) 

 Lauren was loving this climbing wall, she said to me, "Mom, I think I want to be a rock climber when I grow up but I don't know what to do because I also want to be a veterinarian." Apparently you can't do both. 

 This is when the Bieber fever really hit. We had a little case of the fever before we went, but after this, the girl was in love. About 10 minutes into the movie she leaned over to me with the biggest grin and said, "Mom, thank you SO Much for bringing me to this movie." She also wanted to know if we were going to meet him afterwards. 

 We had fun playing with these parts of the palm trees that fell down during a windy night. They made cute hats. 

My favorite girl and I

Lauren with her twin, Einstein:)

What a great trip to Palm Springs, Thanks Oma & Opa for everything! 

Little Bieber

Found her like this in her room today playing the drums. She played for awhile, so long that her hands got all sweaty. She is obsessed and I mean obsessed with him. She dreamt that he slept with her (thank god she has no idea what that actually means!), she is jealous of him because he's so cool and cute, she talks about Canada all the time because he's from there, she pretends to be him and tries to dress like him. She always tells me how he is a really cute teenager and that he is a great singer and dancer. She listens to his cd 24 hours a day and is trying to steal his dance moves. She makes Ben pretend to be his little brother and Ben is now calling her Justin instead of Lauren. Last week I was a Bieber fan too, this week I'm about ready to ban him from my house because it's getting a little crazy! 

Oh and she is working on a sticker chart for her bedtime behavior, if she earns 12 stickers she gets to do something fun, i.e. sleepover, movie night, go out for ice cream. But what did she pick? Oh to go and buy a Justin Bieber t -shirt. Of course, what 4 year old wouldn't. 

California Fun...a sneak peek!

 Here is a little sneak peek of all the fun we've been having in Cali! We had a great time at Sea World and the weather stayed sunny until we were ready to leave, lucky for us!

 The kids had a blast riding the rides and we got to walk on each ride since no one else was crazy enough to go in the predicted rain!

 I looooooooooove the tea cups!

 Family Shot:)

 All the cute cousins at the beach, minus Ben because he refused to be in the picture!

 The newest life guards in Carlsbad!

 We visited Grandpa Fred at his new home!

 We shopped at El Paseo and felt super fancy!

 We've become obsessed with Justin Beiber and we drew BB in the sand for him since his last name has two B's in it (she even asked me to send him this picture!)

 The amazing view from the golf course we are staying on.

 We've made new friends and been swimming like fish as much as we can!

And we've had a great time visiting with Oma & Opa! We still have 5 more days, yahoo!