Thursday, July 15, 2010

San Diego with Nielsens & Newport with Theurers












We have been lucky enough to already have spent two lovely weeks at the beach this summer. Both weeks were a little cold (high 60s, low 70s) but when you live somewhere that is between 105 and 115 in the summer, cold can be very good.
We first spent a week in San Diego with Eric's family. We were in a beach house right on the beach. It was fun being on the boardwalk and we took the kids over to the rides a few times to take a brake from the overcast beach. The girls had so much fun spending time with cousins and it was a very nice vacation all around. I didn't take any pictures except the one with Livy and London in the lovely Mexican hats. That is from one evening when Eric and I took the girls over to Old Town San Diego. It was a fun little area with great shops and really good food. I wish I had more pictures from the trip. I will have to steal some from other family members :).
We packed up on a Saturday and drove from San Diego up to Newport where we spent the next week with Elisabeth & Jesse Theurer and their cute kids William and Ellie. It was a cool week too but we had a really good time and we found plenty of other things to do. We stayed at the Marriott Villas which were gorgeous. We went shopping at Fashion Island, walked around Balboa, went to the Tide Pools, went to the beach and the piers and most importantly ate lots and lots of really good food :). I am now addicted to Chronic Tacos. Luckily (or maybe not so lucky) we have a Chronic in Tempe so I am able to continue on with what Jesse and Elisabeth started me on in Newport. I could talk about food for a while but I will move on. . . . We went over to Balboa twice and one time we made a stop at T's Toe Rings. Liz Higham introduced me to this little place a couple years ago and we had to stop by again and get new toe rings for all the girls for the summer. Livy and I got one and this year London was big enough to get one too! We couldn't find one small enough for Savvy so she will have to wait another year or two to get one. Livy, London and Savvy got along so well with Ellie and William. It was so fabulous because they did a really good job of playing together and entertaining themselves. We had so much fun being with the Theurers and we have to do it again but next time with a little more sun :).
Yesterday was Olivia's 9th birthday!!! I of course forgot to take pictures (what kind of mom am I?) but luckily Jamie was there :). So, I will have to get them from her and then post the pictures. Livy went shopping with Lala for new clothes and then we had the Nielsen's, the Schramm's and the Hyde's over for pizza and cake. We are doing Livy's friend birthday party on Saturday and hopefully I will remember to take pictures this time. Then on Monday it is off to Beach Week for two more fabulous weeks at the beach. Yeah!!!

Suzuki Concert, The Pool & Dance Recital 2010














Okay I need to do some serious catching up. Livy had a suzuki concert at the end of school and she was fabulous. I can't believe how well she can play the violin with just practicing at school. We may have to pursue this further :). She has started piano lessons and is loving it. Maybe we will add violin soon.
We have done a lot of swimming this summer and I actually have taken a few pictures to prove it. Jamie (a.k.a. picture nazi) is starting to rub off on me :). Gavin and Savvy are so funny at the pool. Savvy has no fear which can be a little scary. The picture in the back of the pathfinder is when Eric decided to take a few kids to the pool. He took our kids, 3 of the Davis' kids, Ava and Morgan. It was a very interesting pool trip.
The other pictures are from Livy's Dance Recital. Eric had the idea to rent a hummer limo for the mini company girls to ride to recital in. One of the mini moms, Jamie, bought boas and star glasses for all the girls and Eric helped Livy put together a playlist of songs for the ride. They thought they were so cool - and of course they are. London was included and me and Jocelyn (a mini mom) rode along to keep things under control. Recital was amazing and it was really fun having London in a class too! I helped in the back this year so I am looking forward to getting the DVD so I can see all the other dance numbers (I got to see a few from backstage).