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.