October break in Southern California Day 1 and 2

During Jack's first week of October break, we went to Southern California to meet baby Max and to go to SeaWorld and Legoland! We had such a good time!
We left first thing on Wednesday morning and headed straight to Maddie and James' condo. We  switched Kate to a big girl car seat and she did a lot better on the drive since she could watch shows with the boys.

We stopped at KTB bakery and deli in Coachella Valley right off the freeway on the way thanks to Yelp recommendations - I got the Mexican Marilyn Monroe and it was seriously the best sandwich I have ever had in my life!



Max Fielding Wirthlin - we all love him!!!



We went to the beach for a while and then James came home from work and we got our favorite Thai takeout in Oceanside before driving up to San Clemente to stay at my aunt and uncles house. We are so grateful that they let us stay with them :)

Kate just doing her yoga ;)

Kate loves the beach!!!









My mom was also in town for the week helping with Max - we are glad we got to play with her too!








On Thursday, we went to SeaWorld! We had so much fun! I haven't been since 5th grade and have heard so many bad things about SeaWorld lately (with the movie Black Fish and just that nothing beats Disneyland) that I had very low expectations for Sea World - we ended up loving it and it was  right up our alley (especially Jack's!)
Sea World day 1 highlights - the dolphin show, the mating walrus's (haha!), feeding the sea lions, and touching the sting rays. Jack and my favorite ride was the Manta rollercoaster, Spencer's favorite ride was the Electric Eel roller coaster, and David's favorite ride was the jellyfish swings.
Sea World day 1 photo dump:




My mom came with Calvin to SeaWorld and Legoland so that Maddie could have some peace and quiet and we were so glad they came too!



Jack fed two fish to the sea lions and David fed one fish to the sea lions and then a sea gull stole the second one right out of his hand!

Man, I love these cute boys!!!!

And the little girl too :)


Kate wanted to hold David's hand all through the park and it melted my heart :)


Kate totally knows how to say "cheese" for pictures! It cracks me up!



I couldn't believe that Jack was 48 inches and tall enough for the rollercoasters! He tried Manta and wanted to go again! I thought he would be terrified so it's safe to say we have a big kid to take on big rides for theme parks now! (kinda... he didn't want to go on the upside-down one! haha)

On the way back to San Clemente, we stopped at Phill's BBQ and it was SO YUMMY! Highly recommend if you are in San Diego!

Day 3, 4 and 5 coming soon!

Grandma Wirthlin

My sweet Grandma Wirthlin passed away on Sunday evening. We love her and will miss her so much!

 

Growing up, I loved visiting my Grandma Wirthlin in Utah. When we stayed at her house, she always made us homemade waffles served with canned peaches from her peach trees for breakfast. She took us on walks to visit all of her neighbors and up to Kaysville to visit cousins. She always let us watch whatever movie we wanted from her collection and I especially remember watching The Little Rascals on repeat! She always had her camera with her and took pictures to put in her volumes upon volumes of journals. She never forgot my birthday (Or Spencer’s or my kids’!) and she was consistent at sending a surprisingly large amount of cash for an elementary school aged kid!

She used to always come to Arizona to visit us in January for my dad’s birthday. When I was in 7th grade, my brother and I got electric scooters for Christmas. When she came for her January visit, my dad thought it was a good idea for his 70-plus-year-old mother to try it out! We watched in horror as she zoomed away, was unable to stop, and fell hard on the sidewalk! We are lucky that she didn’t die that day!

I was able to see my grandma a lot more when I moved to Utah for college. Whenever I visited her, I looked through her journals as she updated me on all of our family, all of her neighbors, and all of the current events. She held my hand and said over and over, “I hope you know how much I love you” and “I sure do love ya!” She always slipped me some cash in my hand on the way out the door.

My parents purchased her home this month and I am grateful that my kids will have similar childhood memories as mine in that same cute brick home on Sunnybrook Way. Because of her, I want to be more generous with my words, with my money, and with my love and I want to teach my kids to do the same.

Love this one! haha Our selfie outtake ;)

She made the best Au Gratin potatoes!

 

She always got stuck in the couch and anytime we tried to help her adjust she said she was fine and comfortable! 

 

I think my dad got his love of America and interest in politics from Grandma Wirthlin. My dad has a weird family 4th of July tradition where he always takes a ridiculous patriotic video with the American flag and sends it to us every year. He really outdid himself in 2017 by recruiting cute Grandma!!! She was such a good sport!

My grandma was a dedicated journal keeper. She wrote and pasted newspaper clippings, pictures of her family, and letters she received in her volumes and volumes of journals. She would have made an amazing blogger and I'd like to think that I got my blogging hobby from her :)

Day in the life - Sept. 26th

I decided to do a day in the life post last Tuesday! When the day was over, I had the thought to try documenting a different, more exciting day since it was so... plain/boring/regular, but I guess that's just my life right now ;)

6-6:30 am - I woke up and went running on the canal. I still reeeeally miss our Iowa trail but sometimes this canal really delivers some great views :)




6:30 - Spencer left for work and I started the process of getting Jack ready for school. We do his spelling, phonograms and reading in the morning which has improved our evenings significantly! I also started carpooling with a friend (they pick up in the mornings and I pick up in the afternoons) and it has made my mornings a million times less stressful since David and Kate tend to sleep in longer.


7:35 - Jack left for school (school starts at 8:25 but he and his friend love getting there right at 7:45 so they can have a "long recess" before school! David and Kate woke up sometime around 8 and I showered and got the next two kids ready for the day!
8:45 - We left to drop David off at school and then Kate and I hit up all of the errands - bank, school district, and Costco :)
If only this were actually helpful!!!!



11:30 - we picked up David from school and brought Saige home to have lunch and to play with us!

I had my fav Chinese chicken salad!

1:00 pm - Kate went down for a nap and I cleaned the kitchen, moped the floor, and worked on FB ads for my client.
3:30 - Saige went home and we headed to pick up Jack from school.
4:45 - Jack, David, and I went to family yoga at Lifetime Fitness



After yoga, we ran into Spencer working out!

6:00 pm - we had dinner (everyone had their leftovers of choice - I had Chinese chicken salad again ;) then the boys worked in the messy garage with Spencer on his passion project (at home gym stuff - he got the new flooring and built a PVC pipe pushup thingy ;)
It's really too bad that neither of our passion projects is to clean out the garage ;)


7:30 - the kids got ready for bed and Spencer left for a meeting
8:00 - read books, then put the kids to bed

Once the kids went to bed, I shopped online for family picture outfits then Spencer came home around 9:15. Spencer watched a show while I continued to waste time on the internet then went to bed around 10:00. I've been having trouble falling asleep so I read Harry Potter until about 10:30 :)

And that's a day in our life!

P.S. After I blogged about this day, I went back to look at the last time I did a day in the life post - turns out it was one day off from exactly a year ago - Sept 26th - and also a Tuesday! I had no idea! haha) Turns out last year was way too similar to this year - I started my day out on the canal, I also had Chinese chicken salad for both lunch and dinner (I really don't even make it that much!), Saige came over to play, I mopped the floors, and Spencer went to a meeting. So I guess I should feel totally validated when I say that I feel like I'm trapped living the same mindless demanding day over and over again - I pretty much am! hahaha