First Day of School!

Yesterday was Ava's first day of 1st grade.  That sounds so much older than kindergarten somehow!  

She woke up excited but I could tell she was getting really anxious once were inside her classroom.  It's always hard to walk away the first day. She said she had the best day though!  

She loves her teacher (who we've known from church for years) although she only has a few friends from her kindergarten class in her new one.  

She hopped out at carpool this morning with all the confidence in the world and she is all smiles at pick up!  I'm thankful she is loving it.

And today was Keegan's first day of preschool!  

He was excited and ready to go this morning!

He has Mrs. Sherri (Ava's preschool teacher) and it's fun to be back at her preschool.  Everyone remembered Ava and the teachers were so excited to have little brother Keegan.  

He would have walked in by himself if I would have let him.  He put his backpack away and headed for the toys with the other kiddos.

At pick up he talked about painting with a paintbrush, having a 'cookie' snack and the song 'move it, move it' in Ms. Connie's body movement class,  He is so excited to go back on Thursday!

I know this is going to be the best year for these two!  We are getting back on a schedule and soaking up the excitement of all the new fun they are having!

California 2014- San Diego Part 2!

The next day we headed back to harbor village to tour the USS Midway.  It was a United States Navy aircraft carrier and it was huge!  The views from the top were amazing.  The kids loved sitting in the jets and helicopters but Jeff loved it the most.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on Coronado Beach.  It was a really rough afternoon.  Ha!

Here's a video of Keegan at Coronado Beach...

We drove to La Jolla Cove that evening and walked the most beautiful stretch that included caves, boulders, sea lions, giant waves....It was the most beautiful place.  

We went back the next day to La Jolla shores down the coast a bit and the water was clear and the views were amazing.  It was just SO crowded.  I guess everyone knows about La Jolla's awesomeness :-)

Ava started to get really good at body boarding and loved it!  Here's a video of our girl at La Jolla....

We stopped at the Mount Soledad Cross in La Jolla.  It was so beautiful.  We've been following the news on this memorial for a couple of years and praying with our church for its future.  It was so special to be there and pray with our kids around it.

We had dinner at Candelas on the Bay in Coronado.  The view was beautiful and the food was so good!

And our last day we spent at the San Diego Zoo before driving back to L.A.  We saw polar bears, panda bears, grizzly bears, koalas, and lots of other animals.  Ava was so excited about riding on top of the double decker bus.  Keegan passed out in my lap but Ava enjoyed every minute of it, taking pictures, viewing with her new binoculars and pointing everything out.  

We made it back to LAX around 5:30 and ordered a pizza by the pool.  We were in the air by 9:30 the next morning and back home at 4:30 (losing 2 hours).  

It was an amazing trip and we are so thankful everything went as smoothly as it did.  We will be talking about our adventures for a long time!  And now my babies get ready to head to school this week.  We are spending the weekend getting ready for a great new school year :-)

California 2014 - San Diego Part 1!

We spent four amazing days in beautiful San Diego!

The drive down from Anaheim Friday evening was easy and so pretty.  We checked in around 9:30 and crashed!  We spent our first day at Mission Beach and had lunch off the boardwalk in Belmont Park.  We were all ready for a few relaxing days at the beach.  We took a beach tent and bought the kids these body boards at a shop on the boardwalk.  We played in the waves, built sand castles, went shell hunting, and did some reading each day on the beach.

Late afternoon, after lunch we packed up, made a coffee run and drove San Diego while the kids napped in the car.  We drove  through Balboa Park, the seaport and then over the Coronado Bridge to find a good spot for the next day.

We walked Seaport Village that evening....

Then we grabbed panera bread sandwiches to take back to Coronado.  We ate dinner on the beach and watched the sunset.  This was our very favorite night.  Coronado is so beautiful and it was so peaceful in the evenings.  Ava found the best shells there and Keegan chased the birds and waves.

Ava jumped up here and yelled "surfs up!' then asked me to take a picture to blog it.  Ha!  

And of course little brother had to do it too..

My sillies on Coronado Beach.....

The perfect end to our first day!