Train Ride

Today we took Andrew and Allison to El Dorado Park for a train ride. After driving like a bat out of hell through the biggest park in Califonia (ok maybe not the biggest, but that place is ginormous) we made it just in time to catch the last train ride of the day. Grandma Duck came along as well. Afterwards we went to the Long Beach Town Cener for play time at the the playground, dinner at El Torrito, shopping at Old Navy, and soft serve at Foster's Freeze. Such a fun day!

The Welsh came to Long Beach

Our dear friend Sarah came to visit us all the way from Wales! OK so she didn't come to just see us, she came for other reasons, but she made time out of her busy trip to come and have a visit with her old college buddies! Her and her friend Huw arrived at the bus station in downtown Long Beach, so the kiddos and I headed on down to pick her up. Andrew was a HUGE fan of the bus that the rode on, so therefore he started off on a great foot with Sarah and Huw. He immediately felt comfortable with them and talking to them and playing with them. And of course little Miss Allison is quite friendly with most people so she had no problems with them either. We came back to our house and had some chip, salsa and Coronas and waited for Paul to come home. Once Paul showed up with fired up the Barbecue and had a good old American traditional meal... hamburgers, corn and baked beans followed by cooking smores over the fire.

We put the kiddos to bed and busted out a board game and played Pandemic until the late hours of the night. The next day we hopped in the can and drove north to San Pedro and checked out the beautiful California coastline and headed towards Cabrillo beach. There we set up camp and played in the water and built sand castles. Andrew had a blast! He was dumping water and digging holes and driving his truck everywhere on the beach. Allison wasn't so sure about the sand. I was able to snap the first picture of her standing on her own. She stood on her own about 1 week ago and she got really good at it today because she was a little apprehensive about the sand. But she was a good sport and got into it as well, before I knew it she was practically eating the sand. That is my little Pipsqueak! We soaked up the sunshine for a few hours and then packed up the car and picked up Enrique's Mexican food. We rushed back to the house scarfed down the food and barely dropped off Sarah and Huw at the airport on time. We all had fun and I must say it felt like we were on vacation as well!

Barbeque and Playdate

I have been friends with my neighbor Trisha for over a year now. We met when she was outside taking her son Logan for a walk, and I was taking Andrew for a walk. We were both pregnant and I thought I would be bold and introduce myself to her since we both looked like we were in the same place in our life. It turns out we have a lot more in common we are both registered nurses and even in high school we both swam and were lifeguards, I am even sure we probably swam against each other. Well over the past year or so we have had many play date and Disneyland days and now we are helping each other stay in shape by walking with each other in the mornings. Well we finally had their entire family over for dinner. Kyle, Trisha, Logan and Nixon all came over to play and eat. The boys had a blast in the backyard and little Miss Allison can't wait to join them I am sure. She sat and watched from afar. The dad's thought it would be a great idea for Andrew and Logan to eat their dinner in the playhouse, which made for some super cute pictures but not much eating occurred. We had a yummy Barbeque dinner and then cooked marshmallows over the fire inside the house and ate smores. I think it is safe to say a good time was had by all.

Happy Easter Egg

Today was full of Easter madness! It all started yesterday when we colored Easter Eggs. Andrew had a ball! But for some reason almost all of his Easter eggs turned out blue. I think he had more fun breaking the shell and peeling and eating it that he did coloring them. Allison held an egg in her sweet little hand and watched from the other side of the table. That same afternoon we stuffed a bunch of plastic eggs with grass and a little note advertising Paul's business and passed it out to all of our neighbors and when Andrew would but the egg on some one's doorstep he would say "Happy Easter Egg!" It was priceless. Andrew and Allison set out their Easter baskets that night along with some carrots for the Easter bunny.
Easter morning came bright and early. Crazy Uncle Dude and Soon to be official Aunt Becky came over bright and early followed shortly by Grandma Duck and Papa Razzi. The kiddos looked through their Easter baskets and saw all of their little gifts, goodies and treats and then it was on to go do the Easter Egg hunt in the backyard. We managed to still have enough eggs for them to find after Liberty rummaged through them all. Andrew couldn't get to the eggs fast enough. There was absolutely no time to stop and take a picture of course :)

After the kiddos found all of the eggs, we made a feast! Paul and Mike cooked breakfast sausage, bacon and Kielbasi. We also had scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit! We had a great visit and then it was on to the next event.

We went to Aunt Carol and uncle Terry's house for lunch. We had a nice potluck and Andrew had a lot of fun playing with his second cousins Rachel and Dominic. He played and played all afternoon. We all had fun exploring the huge additions that Aunt Carol and Uncle Terry have completed on their property. The kiddos even had another Easter egg hunt, and at the end each kid got their own sand bucket filled to the brim with all sorts of goodies! Once we left both kids were asleep before we left the driveway. Such a blessed little family we have!