labor day

i love my family!  i was so blessed when God created families because i hit the jackpot TWICE!  i was born to the most amazing parents and i continue to realize that more as i'm older and now a parent.  i also have the most fantastic relationship with my brother that any sister could ask for.  and 20 years ago when i moved here to lb, and i was "adopted" by my sister-in-law, mita's family, that made my life complete.  i've watched over the years as we always got together for family functions, just waiting until i could eventually have my kids involved in all of the fun things we do.  now that it's here i look forward to the holidays, trips, parties and random get-togethers more than ever.  

i was telling matt on our way to the beach that i worry now since all of my family's kids are grown that they'll stop doing as much and jake won't get to experience what we've been doing for the last 20 years.  i wish he was closer to his side because they have all of the little ones jake's age and i want him to have the memories with his cousins.  one can dream...

anyway, labor was a blast!  we all met at mother's beach and had a day filled with fun!  jake lived in the water and sand (and in the punch and chips) and sophie was passed around to everyone.  my dad was here which made it extra special.  life is good.

my nieces... best babysitters around!  

 tafa playing with jake

 grandpa marks

 deep conversation with auntie carma

 sophie stylin' with uncle jason

 mommy got overridden on the decision to take jake on the kayak

uncle jason and sophie wiped out

flashback...day at shoreline...before summer 2012

i was looking through pics trying to remember the "before sophie" events with jake that i lagged on blogging about and i couldn't not post this one.

matt has lived in the lb since he moved here from hawaii 1984.  i've been here for 20 years. we've been to shoreline village separately and together tons of times BUT we've never rented the bikes and rode the beach path.  leave it to me to suggest it at 7 1/2 months pregnant and with a 2 year old in tow.  i can't tell you how many times i've seen people pedaling away on these bikes while talking and laughing and me thinking oh that looks fun and easy.  and here's matt..."babe, take it easy and let me do most of the work."  here's me..."i work out 5 days a week, spin, run and all of this while pregnant....i got this, i can pull my half."

hahahahahaha...to both of us!  we stopped so many times to rest and were sweating and talking about turning back every few minutes.  but the burger stand at the end point was like a dangling carrot and we were the rabbits.  real talk though...so much fun, jake loved it, especially the french fries, and a great bonding experience for matt and i.

finishing up with the much-loved arcade

fingers crossed for a future Laker

summer...santa ana zoo

lisa and i decided to take the boys to santa ana zoo.  it's definitely smaller than the la zoo and there really aren't too many interesting animals besides the monkeys.  luckily they had  a carousel, train ride and a playground.  those were the highlights.  considering how animal-obsessed my kid is, we'll stick with the la zoo and hopefully san diego zoo real soon.  he kept asking for the lions, elephants and giraffes.  i did what any mom who didn't want to feel like a failure would do...i told him that those particular animals were taking a nap and we couldn't wake them up.  yep, i'm saving my money for therapy.

with charlie and harrison

summer...first trip to the dentist

being the "teeth obsessed" mom that i am, it was time for jake to go to the dentist.  really, it was matt's appointment but his dentist encouraged him to bring jake and let him get used to screaming sitting in a dentist chair.  it was all good until she got close with the freddy clear mask.  matt had to have him sit on his lap which didn't help much.  i basically gave the green light to continue the torture so a)i could get a good photo and b)know whether he's gunning for a toddler root canal since family daycare providers we let him eat pretty much whatever he wants.  good news...she says he has great teeth.  love those rotating toothbrushes!

eating those fruit gummi snacks that i know are just great on the teeth.

summer...waiting for the ice cream truck

remember those great memories of the ice cream truck rollin through your neighborhood and the anticipation of what you were going to get...along with the stress of wondering if you could get to your money in time?  i do!  and now jake will, too. the ice cream man rolls down our street daily (at some very strong urging of my husband who asked told him to make sure he comes down our street every day and go slow as he gets to our house).  so here's how it plays out.  1) jake hears the ice cream truck tune (that hasn't changed in my 40 years). 2) he screams " daddy, daddy, the ice cream truck" over and over until matt jumps up from whatever he's doing. 3) jake runs over to grab his ice cream money (loose change, that matt makes sure is filled up regularly, in a little bank that my dad gave him). 4)he runs to out the front door with matt behind him and up to the truck. "hi ice cream man", he says so loud our neighbors must think he's heading for a diabetic diagnosis. 5)jake and matt stand there for a good 3-5 minutes trying to pick what he's going to get, even though the choices haven't changed...ever. 6)he gets his ice cream, says thank you and "bye ice cream man, see you "y"ater."  it is so fun to watch...both of them actually.  these are the times i just fall more in love with my husband.

this is what we call "summer hair"

summer..."legoland"

well not really legoland but that's what jake kept calling this water park.  my friend ruth lives in a fancy community in ladera ranch and this water park for young kids is in their "backyard" and free to residents.  she had us over twice this summer and jake LOVED it.  it was the best of both of his favorite worlds...water and a playground.  he spent hours running around (more about the running later), dumping water on himself, pretending to swim and saying hi to any kid who would look his way.  he's the friendliest, most outgoing boy who gets so excited about life and i love that so much about him.  following rules...not so much.  the lifeguard kept telling him to stop running, as did mommy (from my lounge chair) but he kept on.  i guess (translation...i wasn't paying attention) he ran into another kid and they both fell down so she gave jake a time out.  he had to sit out of the water for 5 minutes.  torture for me him.  we were the brownest ones in the park so i was on the verge of being one of those "why did you only have my kid sit out?" moms but remembered what i tell my students at school..."just because you're the only one who got caught, doesn't mean you get off the hook when you still did something wrong."  

note to self, mom.

summer...adventure city

matt's sister theresa gave jake adventure city tickets for xmas last year and we finally took him...with month-old sophie in tow.

we were supposed to take him for his birthday (see february mom-meltdown) but now i'm glad we waited so he was older.  it really is an amusement park for little kids. besides the 95 degree heat, we jake had a blast.  here's the funny thing, most of the time he just wanted to run around the park to explore all of the different sights.  he did ride a few rides like the firetruck ride (many times), the train and the merry go round  but there were a bunch more he wasn't interested in (could have been the fact that one of the first rides matt took him on was the hot air balloon ride that went way too high and way too fast). he loved the arcade and the thomas the train area.  they had a petting zoo and jake's been to many and always loves being around the animals but for some reason he was scared this time and matt had to hold him.

not wanting to get off the ride