Car or a Couch

Jeff is trying to sell me on a new car.  A Land Cruiser with a straight 6 engine that is 17 years old.  For the price of a new sectional-from Pottery Barn.  Oh, and the car is in Colorado. 

Apparently a couple of Jeff’s bff mountain bike buddies each have a “fun” SUV they drive whenever they meet up.  Woody’s car is decked out for all manner of outdoor fun, complete with a bed for overnight camping.  No joke.  Jack’s car is in the beginning phases and with enough of his encouragement, Jeff is now trying to convince me it’s a good idea.

He’s going with the whole, we can use this SUV to tow our boat (you know, the one we don’t even own yet) and go on “family” vacations (you know, with Chloe). 

I have to admit, for a small sliver of time I almost said yes.  And then I realized HELLO WE HAVE A FREAKIN MORTGAGE!!

And for a bit of left over cuteness from this weekend…

I love that she has her elbows on the tray and watching TV, like a regular teenager. 

Like Theodore and Eleanor

Last night I was struggling to open a bottle of wine and could not figure out why. 

Ha!  Left the foil on. 

Today Shannon and I hung out with the older nieces and woke up early to see the first showing of the Pirates movie.  It was funny but I think the girls prefer something with a princess and lots of singing. 

After some errands, Shannon dropped us off at our house and the girls burnt off some energy playing at the small park by us. 

Then we moved the party to the garage for some sidewalk chalk and trikes.

 

I took the below picture of Kalea because I thought she looked so cute with her legs crossed. 

After dinner, the girls I headed out to the Jacuzzi for some late afternoon swimming.  After changing into my bathing suit, I put some shorts on over.  Kalea asked why I was wearing shorts and I mentioned that I was too chubby to wear just my bathing suit outside.  Brooklyn started to giggle and says “just like Theodore and Eleanor.  They are chubby too”.  And yes, as in the Chipmunks.  She just compared me to chubby chipmunks. 

After we bathed, we made some smores and then called it a night. 

Good night girls!

Chloe’s New Spot

She’s found another place to rest her head.

Jeff put her bed on top of the couch for laughs and sure enough she jumped right in and had a great view of outside.  She stayed up there for so long without moving!

Angels 5k

Light up that halo, we finished!!

Our race morning started off with a 5am wake up call and some toast w/PB.  We headed out a bit late but made it to the stadium by 6:40am.  Thankfully the lot is huge and we found parking fairly quickly. 

This was probably the 2nd biggest race we participated in.  There was a ton of red in front of us… 

…and a ton of red behind us. 

While a majority of people in red were wearing their race tees, Jeff and I chose to wear our Angel jerseys.  And yes, we were TWINSIES!!

The first mile went by relatively quick but for some reason, was tough.    We took a short walk break around 1.5 miles.

While we were running, I noticed a girl wearing a Ragnar Relay shirt.  You know, that 200+ mile relay that went from Friday to yesterday!!  I tried to take a picture but it came out blurry.  She’s the one in the blueish/green top below.

Pretty soon we were headed back to the stadium. 

As soon as we turned into the parking lot, we saw the kiddos finishing their 1k lap around the Big A. 

And then we were on the field!! 

It was pretty cool running the warning track and looking UP at the stadium vs looking down. 

As you ran by a certain point, you made it up on the big screen.  I had trouble spotting us (no glasses) but Jeff saw both of us. 

And then we headed out of another tunnel and were only .1 from the finish line. 

Official finish time:  36:37.

Immediately after they had a table of water, oranges and some bars.  We grabbed a couple and headed over to FanFest 2012.  Our bibs got us free access. 

There were a ton of vendors and we got a lot of goodies; a couple of Angels backpacks, juice, yogurt, pistachios and 2 $10 off Knott’s admission. 

Jeff posed with the Rally Monkey, who was more interested in his treat versus looking at the camera. 

It was a really fun event and totally work the cost.  Without going into fan fest, you get a tech tee and a free ticket for an Angel game.  Plus the cool course around and through the stadium. 

The only bummer was the lack of crowd support. I know it’s only a 5k and it doesn’t draw a lot of spectators, but the employees who lined the course weren’t cheering at all.  Only 1 lone guy at the very end was cheering. 

We headed over to Flo’s for some breakfast, sweaty jerseys and all.  It was the best way to end a fun morning!!

I have some major run envy

Today was the kickoff to the 2012 So Cal Rangar Relay.  The relay consists of teams of 12 runners split into two vans that run multiple legs, over 2 days.  The So Cal edition starts in Huntington Beach and finishes 200+ miles away in Coronado. 

As Jeff was driving to his office, he saw one of the transition areas with a ton of white vans and runners hanging out. 

I have to admit, being able to commit 2 days to travel and running sounds like so much fun!  Sweaty, stinky, no shower, sleeping in a van fun. 

Next Stop: Angel Stadium

I did my last run on the treadmill today, an easy 2 miles. 

Our next run will be the 5k at Angel Stadium this weekend!  Jeff has even agreed to be my twinsie and wear matching Angel jerseys! 

On my run today, I tested out my newest running accessory, a Bicband headband.  True to what people say, it did not move AT ALL!!  Plus Bicbands donates part of every sale to charity, so that’s why I have to buy one in every color.  Right Jeff???

An aDORAble Birthday Girl

Sunday afternoon was all about this little girl.

Noelle turned 2 and had a Dora themed party on Sunday.  She had cousins on both sides and the kids all got along pretty well. 

  

Chad made hamburgers & hot dogs while Crystal had prepared a salad and chips/dip for everyone to enjoy.  The park remained pretty empty the entire time and the weather was perfect!

While we were waiting for cake I tested Noelle on her Dora characters.  She knew every single one!  That girl loves her Dora!

And then with Hailey…love that Noellie was tasting the cake during both pictures.  Quality checks are a must!

Happy birthday to yoooooouuuuu….

Noelle got a lot of cute clothes and almost a new pair of shoes to go with every outfit.  Her grand finale gift…a new Dora bike! 

 

Happy Birthday Noellie, I hope you enjoyed your special day!!

The Discovery Science Center

Why oh why do we insist on going places during the most busiest times???

The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana has had a Star Wars exhibit since mid-November and this weekend was the last weekend to see it.  Shannon originally wanted to see it and since C&C have a membership, suddenly everyone was going.

We arrived there and had to park the next street up which wasn’t too bad.  But it was cold!  Thankfully the girls all had their jackets and were prepared.  When we got there, the lines were LOOOOOONG.  We waited easily for 30 mins and finally got our tickets to head in. 

When you head in, the Dora & Diego exhibit is right there.  So the lines were backing up and it was work to just get there. 

I literally got 1 picture each of the girls.  It was just too crazy to let one of their hands go to get more pictures.  (PS Crystal, I hope you like that yellow top with a big fish on it…you’ll know what I mean tomorrow.)

After we explored everything we could inside, we head out (into the wind!!) to run through the dinosaur/Harry Potter? area.  The girls each got a wand and a mission.  When they found the spots on their mission map, they had to point their wand to find out some info about the dinosaur they were looking at. 

Kalea was the first to tire out and gave her wand over to Noelle when she was done. 

Everything was going good until Noelle tried to spell a little boy and smacked him in the eye with her wand.  By my dad’s description, it sort of sounded like it was justified (WHAT!?!) but truly it was just an accident.  Maybe.  Not likely.  But yes, seriously it was.  Hmm…

On our way home we headed over to Orange Circle for some lunch and cupcakes!

It was empty as we headed into the cupcake shop and then a long line formed behind us.  We tried to move as fast as possible, but with a large group, I’m sure there was some eye rolling.  Especially since we made a last minute change as the girl was ringing us up.  I know those people in the store LOVED us! 

Doesn’t that look good?  It’s a banana bomb and I hope Chad likes it since we picked it for him.