Aquarium of the Pacific

The first day the kids came out we took a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Although I wrote about it here I found that going with Jordyn and Alex
was a completely different experience.

We had so much fun!

They went everywhere and did everything.

Here they are touching the sharks in one of the many petting pools.

The people who work there are great.

If for some reason there isn't a shark swimming by,
they will actually pick one up so you can touch it,

You are also allowed to touch the rays in these pools...
but we couldn't reach them!

Seriously, B had to put his entire arm in to reach it and he came out with a wet sleeve.

We fell in love with these 8 week old Arctic Fox pups.

I love that he has two different colored eyes.

Aren't they so sweet?!

Jordyn and I are having a discussion about whether or not they are called
kits or pups.

Any input?

We also spent time looking at the other exhibits.

Peanut's favorite was the school of fish in the otter exhibit.
HE watched them swim round and round and would've stayed there for a really long time.

We spent some time looking at these very, very odd garden eels.

I'm not sure how I feel about them.

They're like sea worms.

They stick out of the sand and when I got close to the glass the nearest eel actually sunk back down.

The kids are at this great stage where they want to take turns pushing Peanut around.

Love it.

We spent some time touching see slugs, anemones, urchins and other things in these tide pools.

Jordyn and Alex both fed the Lorikeets in Lorikeet Forest.

You can buy nectar and the birds will come right over to you,

some actually landing on you.

There is a meter outside that will tell you how hungry the birds are.

Every time we go we see something new.

From itsy bits starfish to sea dragons,
the ocean never ceases to amaze me.

2nd Annual Visit with the kids

Our niece and nephew arrived this morning from Sacramento!

They'll be staying with us until Sunday night and we'll be galavanting all around Orange County.

We spent a great day at the Aquarium (which I'll be posting pictures of soon)

and the kids have kept Peanut entertained all day long.

He's never been this (over)stimulated before in his life :)

Jordyn helped me make Peanut's dinner (recipe on dandy baby shortly)

and then fed him dinner.

Alex read him several books and did try feeding Peanut a bite or two.

I think he realized it's not actually that fun.

Alex is a bit freaked out by the amount of drool Peanut is producing these days.

It's like having babysitter's for the weekend!  :P

Daniel's 1st Birthday

We recently celebrated my great-nephew Daniel's first birthday.

Doesn't that make me sound old?  My great-nephew!

(I'm 17 yrs younger then my brother and 8 yrs older than my nephew)

Anyway, we did a baseball/Angels theme all organized by my mom.

She is the official family party-thrower.

I made a photo collage and the fabric bunting for the highchair.

I made it my own-self!

I have a feeling I'll be doing more of these.

The birthday boy and his daddy.

Daniel is actually wearing shorts and shoes that were his dad's.

Who remembers LA Gear?!

My mom did this awesome kids table.

The day before my nephew let me know that there would be 7 kids on his mom's side.

I rushed around buying party favors and such.

Apparently he counted his cousins and brother.

Out of the 7 only 1 was not a teenager or older.

Boys.

I think at first he was a little wary of the rally monkey staring at him.

Eventually he had a taste of the cake.

Mmmmm, sugar.

I feel like this picture is sort of necessary for a first birthday.

Daniel is not a fan of having his hands dirty.
He does not like touching his food.

Cousin love.

This little girl was hilarious and she loved Peanut!

She was such a sassy little thing.
That girly attitude comes early!

Daniel did really well opening his presents and being the center of attention.

Here the boys are trying out Daniel's new wagon!

It even came with beer holders.


Happy 1st Birthday Daniel!

P.S.  No babies were intoxicated in the making of this post.


After all, they were only light beers.

Sweet potatoes, hand-smashed please.

I've been cutting all kinds of things into chunks to help get Peanut used to finger foods.

One of his favorites are sweet potatoes.

He is very delicate with his foods as you can tell.

~hmmmph~

He rubs his face and tugs on his ears (he does this all the time, and yes, I've had his ears checked) 

and pats his head and by the end there isn't an orifice within reach that doesn't have food wedged in.

Let's not even talk about the carpet.  

Splat mat or not there is always some food in the carpet.

I loathe carpet.  Especially crappy apartment carpet.

He occasionally eats some of it as well.

I'm pretty sure he had half a can a peas a couple days ago.

Today he couldn't get a particularly sticky piece of banana up,

 so he just leaned over and sucked it off the tray.

I would've done the same thing.

Eventually he tires of this nonsense and demands I release him from his sweet potato sentence.

It's a rough life.

P.S.   I promise tomorrow will not be another Peanut collage post :)

Playing, the way we used to

We were having one of those days. 

I was running on fumes because Peanut had been up all night growing teeth and such.

He wanted to be held and carried all day long.

He currently weighs 22 lbs.  

I cannot hold him all day long.

I had a stiff neck and was moving like a robot.

You know, where you have to turn your entire body to look at something.

That's hard to do when you have a little that is all over the place, 

scooting and cruising furniture and trying to lick the bottom of whatever shoe he finds.

I just needed him to play for a while like he normally would.

I needed him to entertain himself for just a bit so I could regroup,

or eat, or change my clothes or pee forloveofGod.

One at a time I pulled out all of the toys that he normally loves.

Of course, he couldn't be bothered to look at any of them.

He pushed them away, moved them aside and pulled on me to pick him up.

So I looked around, grabbed some tupperware containers and filled them with 

rice, beans and baby food lids.

Anything that would make some noise and look remotely interesting.

He was entertained for an unbelievable amount of time.

He loved it and I was reminded that we don't always need all the fancy toys.

I mean, I love them, don't get me wrong.

They teach and entertain and help him grow and learn....

but man, sometimes you've just got to keep things simple and new.

The Maple Bacon Donut

It's Orange County Fair time!

B seriously looks forward to fair food for weeks and weeks.

I've talked about the fair before and especially about my love for bacon.

Specifically bacon and chocolate of which I'm sure I'll have on one of my other trips to the fair.

Things like simple chocolate-covered bacon or even chocolate covered Oreos wrapped in bacon.

But this year I couldn't help but be drawn to this massive "Texas" Maple Bacon Doughnut.

It takes up a whole plate and it is completely delicious.

My mom said it best when she described it's taste as breakfast.

Think pancakes with maple syrup and a side of bacon.

The doughnut itself has the lightness of a Krispy Kreme raised doughnut

 (vs. the heavier cake doughnuts),

the maple glaze is thick and the bacon...

well, it tastes like bacon.  Need I say more?

Try it... but it's definitely one to share.

Phew, after all that heavy richness I feel like you need a nice refreshing glass of 

Minted Melon Agua Fresca.

Head over to Dandy Baby to get this recipe!

Yes, Dandy Baby is for baby food but this recipe was made just for you!

Cinnamon Productions, Ladera Ranch

Oddly enough, in our city there isn't really an independent breakfast place.  There's Coco's and Mimi's and a bunch of coffee shops but not really a go-to place for breakfast.

When my friend Courtney suggested we try Cinnamon Productions about 15 minutes away, 

we jumped at the opportunity.

In addition to an awesome lunch selection and

having an drool-worthy bakery (that I somehow didn't photograph),

they also serve breakfast all day!

Have I talked about how much I love eggs benedict?

I try really hard but I just can't resist ordering it.

I love hollandaise but surprisingly, I've learned that not everyone does it the way I like it.

It's supposed to be hollandaise sauce, not lemon sauce!

CP does their hollandaise wonderfully AND they serve their eggs benedict on a croissant.

A croissant.  ~sigh~  And Black Forest ham.  And fantastic hash browns.

The eggs benedict normally comes with a fresh baked muffin, toast or breakfast bread.

What is breakfast bread?

But since I'm watching what I eat, 

I opted to spend an extra $1.25 and have a cinnamon roll instead.

You heard me!

The cinnamon roll is gooey and delicious and everything it should be.

B was originally going to order the same thing and I was.

When he does this I normally change my order so we get to try 2 different things.

He ended up getting the belgium waffles with fresh strawberries and a side of sausage.

How do they get their waffles so light and airy and so crisp on the outside?

And look at that pile of strawberries.

My only complaint was that he didn't get it with whipped cream... or butter.

I need whipped cream or butter with my fruit.

We usually swap plates halfway thru.

Courtney had Dave's Breakfast Sandwich with eggs, Black Forest ham, 

cheddar cheese and lettuce on a croissant.

It normally comes with tomato but she doesn't like tomato.

I like to give her a hard time about her distaste for tomatoes.

I might have to get this the next time we go.

Cinnamon Productions has 2 different South OC locations.

They do french toast with cinnamon rolls... what exactly is this about?  

I must find out.

Their lunch and dinner menus look equally delicious.

I'm already thinking about the things I want to try from the bakery side. 

Loads of delicious desserts.

This is Courtney's car.

She's a bit of a Harry Potter fan. 

Just a bit.

Her license plate is Harry Potter themed.

The other side of the car said "Down with Voldy!"

She cracks me up.  

I cannot wait to see the last movie.  Who wants to babysit Peanut?!

Little Snaggletooth

Little Peanut or Big Moose, depending on the moment,

 has been growing teeth like you wouldn't believe lately.  

The first 2 teeth came in at the end of April and beginning of May, 

and the 3rd tooth came in the middle of June.

Then we sort of hit a stand still, where he had 3 odd teeth (well 2 normal and one very odd)

and I wondered when the next one would come in.

But in the past 7 days he has gotten 3 more teeth.

Oh boy, he really hasn't been that cranky,

but he's up every 2-3 hours all night.

The weird part of this whole teething business is the order in which Peanut has been getting his teeth.



The diagram on the left shows the average baby mouth and the way teeth normally erupt.


They usually come in pairs, starting with the bottom and then moving to the top.


Usually.  But you know how that goes.

This diagram shows how my little Moose is growing his teeth.

When his third tooth popped up, I was really surprised it was on the bottom.

I kept checking for the other half of the pair to come in.

It was weeks and weeks before we had any activity and it ended up being the top right side.

I wondered if he would grow all the teeth on the right side of his mouth first.

We just keep on getting more surprises!

his new funny face

I can't wait until they are really prominent and all at varying lengths
so we get a better snaggletooth visual :)

It appears that the next 2 will be coming in this week,
I can see them under the gums but can't feel anything yet.

This growing teeth thing is some serious business.

Tired and Delirious

I left my camera at my parents earlier so other posts will have to wait.

Instead you get another video of Peanut.

A lot of the time when he gets tired, he gets really silly.  

When he gets like this it makes me laugh and laugh

Have a great weekend!

Splish Splash

Today was Daniel's 1st Birthday!!

Although we'll be partying on Saturday we couldn't help but 

celebrate a little today.

Birthday boy had his first taste of cupcake.

He doesn't like to touch his food (unless it's dry like puffs or yogurt melts) so Grandma held it for him.

Peanut just wanted to smash it into the ground.

Afterwards they both needed a bath so we put them in the sink together for the first time.

Hey, what are you doing in my bath?

It was hilarious and everything/ everyone was soaked.

There was water all up the walls, the floor, the ceiling... here is a little video to prove it!

Happy Birthday Daniel, can't wait to really celebrate this weekend!