The Pirate Adventure!

We FINALLY made it to the Pirate Adventure & we had a BLAST! They had several live shows where Jack Sparrow fought with Captain Hook or Davy Jones. It was very entertaining. The kids loved it.

There were also several separated "areas" here as well. There was a huge sand pile with pirate treasure chests & a giant shark mouth silhouette. Taya was playing in the sand & uncovered a gold coin. She was SO excited. Once the other girls saw that Taya found something by digging they started to dig their hearts out. Cadence found a beautiful red jewel & Lorien found a bouncy ball. I guess they put prizes in the sand every day of the fair & if a child digs one up, they get to keep it. Our girls were the first girls to figure it out that day. It was VERY exciting.

They also had a "Pirate in the Sky" attraction where you could pay extra money to do a zipline over the pirate area. All three of my girls were DYING to do it, but Cadence was the only one that was old enough & fit the height restriction. Lorien was a little bummed, but didn't get too worked up over it. Taya on the other hand was COMPLETELY devastated that she didn't "get a turn" on the "magic swing." Poor thing. Cadence did a fabulous job though. She wasn't scared one bit, & went for it full force. She came off feeling like a million bucks & wanted to ride again. My little girl is growing up.

They had cute little cutouts all over the fair. The kids LOVED putting their faces in them. Such cute kiddies!

We had a blast at the pirate adventure. What a fun part of the fair.

The Enchanted Forest

Leave it to my three little girls to find "The Enchanted Forest" at the fair. We thought we were b-lining it for the Pirate Adventure, but somehow wound up at the enchanted forest. They were thrilled to find a "real life princess" at the end. They insisted on sitting on her lap so we could take pictures. I guess I'm destined to have girly girls. Don't they realize that I need SOME pirates, cars, & dinosaurs in my life? Thank heavens I have Bladen!! He keeps me well balanced with my princesses!

Auntie Tarrish's "Cool" idea

We were all dying of heat stroke by the time we made it out of the barn. I was feeling a little better, but still not great. It's really amazing to me how temperature can make you un-well. I've never had an issue with it before, but boy I was struggling here. Well, Tarrish came to everybody's rescue & was waiting in line at the shaved ice stand while we looked at the animals. When we came out, she was ordering & got everybody some shaved ices.

It was even better than it looked. We all suddenly felt cooled down & rejuvenated again. We were having fun & couldn't wait to keep exploring at the fair. And let me tell you, there isn't a flavor in the world that can top tiger's blood or pina colada. Mmmmm.

Old MacDonald had a farm. . . E I E I O!!

We walked all the way to the back of the fairgrounds where we found the big red barn full of fun farm animals. I was pretty sick at this point. The heat wasn't doing me any good & I was really dehydrated. Trek literally sat me down in the stroller & was pushing me around because I was wobbling when I stood up. I could see black dots in front of my eyes & I just knew I was going to fall over any second. But Opa came to my rescue with a HUGE cup of ice cold water. It's amazing what water can do for you! Within a few minutes, I was back on my feet & enjoying myself again.

The girls had SO MUCH FUN here. There were cows, goats, pigs, chickens, little baby chicks, you name it. There was also a huge playground where the kids could run & jump all around a bunch of bales of hay. Talk about FUN!

But their favorite part was the cute petting zoo. Usually Lorien is SUPER scared of un-gated animals, but she did SO good. She walked through the zoo & let all the animals nuzzle up to her. She sat with them & petted them. Taya LOVES animals. Cadence was "too hot" to go around the "stinky sweaty" animals, but the younger two LOVED it. They did such a great job at being gentle with the animals.

I'm SO glad we went to the barn first. The fun we had there cancelled out all the other "long line & expensive" issues we had before. We were having fun at the fair.

Have a great time at the fair. . .

I don't know what possessed us to go to the LA County Fair on opening day when admission was $1 instead of $18. Not only that, but it fell on Labor Day weekend & was 106 degrees outside. Can we say MASSIVE CHAOS? It took us at least an hour just to park the van & then we had to walk a mile to get to the ticket office. They were only offering the dollar tickets until 1:00 pm so we were RUSHED to get through the line. We waited in that line for thirty minutes & actually bought our tickets at 12:56. I still can't believe we got THAT close to having to pay $18 per person to get into this madhouse!

Once we got in, the girls had to go potty (go figure) so that was another 20 minute line & then we were all hungry. It took 40 minutes to get 3 corndogs (which cost us $15 EACH!!!) Needless to say, we SHARED corn dogs. $50 for corndogs? Really? Did I mention the 106 degree sun? We were off to a great start!

But then there was a super cute parade with farm animals & pirates & that livened up our spirits. Nancy caught a beaded necklace that Captain Jack Sparrow threw our way. We knew we HAD to go see the Pirate Adventure.

So we ate our HUGE corndogs (which were delicious by the way) while we waited for Opa, Oma, Tuhk, & Tarrish to meet us (from the airport). Once we were all together again, we headed into the heart of the fair. . .

Arriving at Opa & Oma's House

Trek got Friday off of work, so as soon as the girls got out of school, we packed up the van & headed to Los Angeles to visit Opa & Oma. We were all SO excited. It's been over 2 years since we were there last. To make it even more exciting, we met Tylee when we hit the 5 freeway & she rode with us the rest of the way. I loved having her there to entertain the kids for the long drive. She let Bladen play with her iPhone the entire ride. We were laughing SO hard. He's definitely his daddy's boy! LA is only 5 hours from us, but with all the bathroom breaks, a nice dinner at Quizno's, & waiting for Tylee to arrive it took us about 7 hours. So we were pretty excited when we finally pulled into Opa & Oma's house.

As soon as we walked through the front door, Oma had the presents out & ready to give. Each kiddo got a cute foam hat to wear at the fair. They LOVED their hats. Then they also got their very own Hannah Montana microphones to sing their hearts into. SO HILARIOUS!! Oma knows how to pick the perfect toys to play with.

We had to go to bed shortly after that. It was pretty late & we had to get up early & go to the LA County fair in the morning. SO we got our beauty sleep, woke up, had breakfast waiting for us (thank you Oma), & then played around until Nancy arrived.

And when I say "played around" I mean Trek was a mean big brother to Tylee & flipped her around & tickled her until she couldn't breathe. It's so funny to see him with his siblings. He's a whole different person. I love the relationship he has with them & I hope my kids have the same relationship with each other someday as well.

Then Nancy showed up & visited for a little bit. . . & then we were off to the fair!!

11 Weeks & Counting

I know it probably looks like a teeny baby bump to all of you, but this is huge for 11 weeks compared to my other 4 pregnancies. I had to break out the maternity clothes at 13 weeks because I couldn't button up my pants anymore. I guess my skin has truly become elastic & is finally giving up. ha ha ha.

Dinner on Cannery Row

The Friday after we got all our stuff, we decided to take a much needed break from moving furniture & unpacking boxes to go to the Marina & Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey for dinner & some family fun. The beaches here are beautiful. . . a little chilly, but beautiful. Where we parked, there were birds everywhere. The girls LOVE chasing birds. Lorien had her camera & was snapping TONS of pictures of the birds. She is so stinkin' cute.

In the picture below you can see across the peninsula. That is Seaside, where we live. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get to Fisherman's Wharf from our house even though it looks like it is SO FAR AWAY. It's not far at all.

For dinner we ate at El Torito. . . our first Mexican food experience since we moved here from Germany. It was SO wonderful to eat as many chips & salsa as we wanted. We had ice in our water & water was FREE. No carbonation & as many refills as we wanted. I love America!

They sat us right against the window overlooking the peninsula. It was such a beautiful view. It made our dinner even better.

Bladen loves food. He managed to stuff HUGE chicken strips into his mouth all at once. And then he was totally addicted to the salsa. We were cracking up because he would beg for more & then wipe his tongue & cry because it was hot. And then he'd beg for more again. He's so funny.

It was a beautiful night for us. It was nice to take a break & get away with the family in the middle of the hectic-ness of moving. I love my little family.

Partners in Crime

Taya & Bladen have officially become partners in crime. With Cadence & Lorien in school all day now, all they have is each other & boy do they use & abuse it. I swear, while one is peeing on the floor in the bathroom, the other one is emptying all my pots, pans, & tupperware in the kitchen. Then while I clean that up, the other goes upstairs & changes her clothes about 10 times leaving them scattered all around the upstairs area. Then I clean that up while the other one takes off his own diaper & wipes the floor with what's inside. It's like a never ending JOB with these two. And they KNOW they're trouble.

But I absolutely love watching the love they have for one another. The way Bladen looks at & touches Taya's cheeks is so special. And Taya protects him like a mother. They love each other so much & that makes me SO happy.

They broke into the baby "box" when we were unpacking & look what they found. . . Then they crawled around for hours talking like babies.

Costco is one of our favorite places. Bladen loves to pull Taya's hair since they sit right next to each other in the cart. To get even, Taya takes Bladen's "samples" & eats them while he's watching which makes him SO mad!

But they sure do love each other anyway.

They also have this little game of "chase" that they like to do. Bladen screams just as loud as Taya does. It's so cute to watch them interact with one another.