Marshmallow Roast

Steve and Elise came down in February for Steve's dad wedding and decided to have a get together at Elise's parents. We had a marshmallow and hot dog roast.

I finally got a picture of Steve! And btw Steve, closing your eyes doesn't count because I can still see your face! HAHAHA!

Ben didn't come because he was sick, but the rest of the kids had a blast roasting marshmallows and playing with the other kids.

Going to the Bogles brought back lots of great memories of lots of great times. I had a fun time reminiscing and hanging out with some awesome friends. :)

Dinner with friends

Whenever Chris & Merilee and Elise & Steve are in town we all get together for dinner at Oreganos. This time we got to go to Oreganos one week and The Keg the next week. And even though Steve ordered a brownie sundae for an appetizer at the Keg and let me eat half of it, I still prefer Oreganos.

I love that we can pick up right where we left off and just hang. I love that everyone gets along and we all crack each other up.

I can't wait until we do it again.

Day 3

On day three we....wait for it....went to the beach! We checked out Crystal Cove and Laguna Beach (btw, when I become a millionaire I want to live in Laguna Beach) but the boys were not impressed by the waves there so we went back to Newport. This time we went to the other side of the pier where the waves break much further out. Xander likes it better at that part of the beach because there are rocks to catch crabs. First up: Boogie boarding! At one point I lost track of Evan. I looked over and he was climbing the rocks with Max. I about had a heart attack! I ran over there and one lady remarked, "Is that your son? Because he's climbing skills are impressive!" I was too busy freaking out to even respond. Max was proud that he had caught a crab - and then I had to burst his bubble by reprimanding (that's a nice way of saying yelling) him for going over to the rocks without Ian or I.

The boys would play in the ocean and then bury each other in the sand to get warm.

Evan and Ian built sand castles.

On the third day Ian and Ben were out boogie boarding when Ian spotted a school of dolphins about 20 feet from where they were. He started to point them out to Ben and then noticed that Ben had taken off toward the shore. I guess Ben thought they were sharks and was out of there! Nice that he left his dad behind. The dolphins stayed for quite a while. Steve told us later that the dolphins like to play with the surfers at Newport - knocking them off their boards.


I love this picture of Xander.

Ian and Evan spent a lot of time building a massive sand castle. Many people came up to admire it. Evan loved the finished product!

After the beach we went back to the hotel to get ready to go Steve and Elise's for a BBQ. I ran to Corner Bakery and got some baked goods and we headed over. We hung out, ate, watched SYTYCD (while the kids told ghost stories downstairs) and had a blast! Some of my favorite parts of the trip were when we were hanging with Steve and Elise.

Beach Vacation - day 1

We were able to go to the beach the week before school started up. We left on Sunday and stayed with our good friends Steve and Elise Sunday night. We had so much fun chatting and hanging out. The next morning we walked with the kids to get doughnuts at a little shop near their house. Then Elise, Ian and I went to Target to find me the perfect beach chair. We gave Elise a little glimpse into the wacky relationship that is Ian and Sheri. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed the show :). And I did find the perfect beach chair! Woohoo!

So...we had planned on spending most of our time at Newport Beach, but luckily Elise knew of some better beaches. On the first day we went to Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point (right by the Ritz Carlton). It was gorgeous and fun!



I was so glad that Elise and the kids decided to join us (Steve had to work). We had a blast hanging out and catching up. And all of the kids got along great!
Ben spent about 90% of his time boogie boarding with Ian. Xander and Max boogy boarded for a while, and then went to find crabs. They came back with a bucket full and stuck them in a big hole on the beach.



Evan thought he wanted to boogie board - but quickly changed his mind.

After a while, Evan, Xander, Kaz, Addy and I decided to go exploring down the beach.

We saw many sea creatures in the rocks. Xander is holding a sea slug.





Elise buried Zoe and Max while we were gone.

We stayed at the beach all day long then checked into our hotel in Costa Mesa. Steve and Elise got us a room at the Wyndam resort - free of charge! We are so thankful for their generosity. We feel so lucky to have such awesome friends!