an ingenious wading pool, lots of cupcakes and Griffith Park

arrr matey

weeee!

splash!

they played with Britt's old dollhouse for hours

resting up

helping Aunt Brittany

Travel Town at Griffith Park

choo choo

waiting for the train

looking at the model trains

Daddy works at the Beach

While we're in LA to visit Zach's family, of course, the reason we stay so long is so that Zach can get in his days working on the beach. He's still a recurrent Lifeguard for the LA County Fire Department, and to keep the job, he has to pass an annual recheck, and work about 5 days. Thankfully he was able to get work while we were down, so he's fulfilled his commitment this year.

The girls love that their Daddy works on the beach. We went to drop him off at Dockweiler one day, so we stuck around for an hour and played in the sand. I'm really quite proud of myself that I was (almost) by myself at the beach with two toddlers. I got everything and everyone packed up and back in the car safely. We didn't even need the Lifeguard to rescue us!

Pony Rides

Vickie and I took the girls to the Lakewood Equestrian Center to ride ponies and visit the animals in the petting zoo. The girls were so proud, riding the ponies all by themselves. I could tell they felt very grown up.

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Constance had a thing for the goat with no ears. I think she wanted to take him home with us. I don't think our cat would have liked that much.

Disneyland

First up, Disneyland!

By far this was the most fun Disney day so far with the girls. It was a blackout day for Vickie and Ian was working, so Zach and I took the girls. By now they have seen Sleeping Beauty enough to totally recognize Princess Aurora's castle, so it was priceless when we were walking down Main Street and the castle came into view. I brought the girls into the center of the street and crouched down to them. I said, "look, girls, what's that?!"

"Princess Aurora's Castle!!!" They both exclaimed, as the incomparable Disney magic look came over their precious faces. I just about cried, my heart was so full of joy at that moment. Then we ran to the castle together.

We rode on some rides and met up with our friends the Dunns. The girls met Goofy and fell in love with the Pirates. They are now asking to go to Disneyland to see the Pirates. I think it's because we made such a big deal over the dips in the Pirates of the Carribean ride

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LA Trip

10 days is a long time to be away from home. We had a wonderful time in LA, but I am very happy to be back. This trip was packed with fun for the girls, and I think they had the best time yet. They turned 2 and-a-half on Aug 9, and are at the point where they know exactly where we are and who we are with. They can ask specifically for what they want (most of the time) and are usually pretty polite about it. Victoria even says "no, thank you!" while throwing a tantrum. It cracks me up, but I try really hard not to laugh out loud when she does it.