Preschool

Our Eli B is doing another year of preschool. It's the same one he went to last year so it was a breeze! He knows some of the kids and we carpool with our neighbor so it's been going great. He loves it and Sophie and I have been enjoying some time with just the two of us. Here's to a great year at the Little School of Fish Preschool!

Second Grade

This handsome dude is in second grade. He loves school and has lots of friends. He plays soccer at every recess and has to wear "sports shorts" every day. We've had a bit of an adventure with the bus with the construction at the top of our street- he has to cut through 3 yards, go through 2 gates, a hole in a fence, and jump over a creek to go to the bus stop, but it seems to be working out. He's doing great and we're proud of him!

Sophie's Birthday

 This little cutie turned 2 last month. Oh, we love her and she adds so much to our family. We went to the Treehouse Children's Museum during the day and had a low key celebration that night with presents and cake with my parents. She got a necklace, bath toys, some clothes, play dishes and food, a bouncy toy, and a doll bed. (She's potty training hence the no pants!).

 She love bugs so we had a ladybug cake (freaky looking one according to Jace).

 She's 2!

 With all the lovely moods that come with being 2!

This girl. She's too cute for words. Jace describes her perfect that she likes boy things but also likes girl things. She worships her brothers (especially Eli) and loves to be rough with them, play "guys," sword fight, loves to touch bugs, and jump off high things. But she's also very gentle with her doll and feeds her, changes her diaper, wraps her up and sings to her before putting her to "bed" every night. She also loves to pretend play, animals, playing at Grammy and Popcan's house, puzzles, loves baths, cleans up after her brothers, and likes to go on walks/runs. Her favorite color is yellow and she is turning out to be opinionated and a bit feisty (like Jace!). She's starting to like letters and numbers and whenever she hears someone say a number she yells "I'm two!" She gets very serious during prayers and yells at Jace and Eli to fold their arms. She loves to go to nursery at church, dance to music, and is most of the time a happy girl. Happy birthday to our princess!

LA

 After we checked out of our beach house we stopped by the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach for the afternoon with the Authiers and Moores. It was super cool with lots of touch tanks. Jace is touching sting rays and sharks (Eli was too scared).

 Eli finally brave enough to touch a sea cucumber.

 Then we drove up to Los Angeles to check out Maret and Peter's place. They were great hosts and we loved spending time with them. We ate a Mexican place for dinner then walked around Santa Monica beach and pier that night.I loved this picture of Eli and Peter in the same position.

 The next day we ate a yummy pancake breakfast and headed to the LA Space Center to see the Endeavor which has been in space 25 times. It was very cool. We loved seeing where the Walkers live and being able to spend time with them.

Disneyland

 We spent one day at Disneyland. First time for the kids and it had been a long time for Ryan and I. It was of course a magical day for all of us (but hot!). It started off a little rough for Sophie because the first two rides we took her on were the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion so by the time we went on It's a Small World she was traumatized and totally freaked out by it. She chilled out a little by the end of the day, but the day was definitely for the boys. The boys loved seeing the Iron Man suits.

 Buzz Lightyear.

 Waiting in line with Bridgette.

 It's a Small World.

 Watching the parade, it was so fun and the kids loved it.

 Waiting for the parade.

 Teacups.

 We randomly ran into Peter Pan (one of the kids favorite movies!). Eli was too scared to stand by him. That's the only character we saw. Eli wanted to meet Elsa and Anna but the line was 2 hours!

 Sophie's favorite ride was the Teacups.

 The end of a long, tiring, hot, but wonderful day!

Eli's favorite ride was Star Tours and Splash Mountain. Jace's favorite were Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. He also got to go with his cousins the next day to California Adventure Park and loved every second of that too! Lucky kids.

Beach House

 We spent a week of pure bliss in an awesome beach house in Huntington Beach. All of the Melvilles were there at some point during the week. We had a huge house that we all slept in and walked out to the beach multiple times a day.

 The kids were absolutely in heaven to be at the beach and with cousins.

 One of the highlights is getting to spend more time with this cute new cousin. Eli loves babies!

 I was so excited when I heard we could go whale watching out of nearby Newport Beach and that they have been seeing lots of blue whales (like 26 two days before our tour and 15 the day before!).

 Cutest girl on the boat.

 Well, we saw some cool dolphins but no whales! It was a bummer (especially since Dave and Tyler saw two the day before while deep sea fishing) but oh well!

 Somehow our souvenir we came home with was a Bear flag.

 Loved these tiles at Newport Beach.

 We ate at a great Mexican place in Newport Beach that had the best fish tacos. Jace and I were in heaven and he has been craving them ever since!

 Sophie was a natural California beach baby.

 Eli loved the waves as well. He was an expert sand digger and crab catcher.

 Girl cousins.

 Embarrassing of me, but had to document the boogie boarding.

 Jace and Gauge were inseparable.

 Ryan took surf lessons and got up a few times, so fun!

 I swear Jace is cold blooded and gets so cold when he swims. So he liked to take breaks in the sand to sun himself.

 This kid was so good at boogie boarding. He totally got the timing of the waves and loved it.

 Lots of family time!

 Cute cousin with their sea shell bags that my mom made. They loved collecting shells.

What a wonderful week. The boys cried and cried when we left because they wanted to stay and live in California.

Swim Lessons

 We did two weeks of swim lessons in June. After flunking swimming lessons last summer, we were proud of this kid for doing great and passing!

 Sophie was a champ and sat through all the lessons.

 Jace's class.