Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Softball ♥

MaKenzie has been anxious to start a sport or some sort of after school activity. Finally, we decided on Softball. MaKenzie was very anxious, excited and nervous before her first game. Her team is the Purple Ponies. After her first practice she fell in love with it. Her nerves went down a little but she was still nervous that everyone was going to be staring at her during the game. Opening Ceremony was a lot of fun. It was a busy day for us. First meeting all the other teams at the ceremony. Then we had pictures and our first game! MaKenzie's first game was nothing but pure joy to watch. I couldn't have been more proud of my little girl. She played awesome. She was excited and great the whole time. The smile on her face was absolutely priceless. Titan loved watching his big sissy play too. He was her number one fan cheering her on!


One of the things MaKenzie was most excited about was that daddy got to be an assistant coach on the team. Of course Arek loves it as well. It has given them a lot of time to bond one on one and I'm sure he has to be very proud! Titan and I love watching and cheering them both on from the side :)




We are now approaching her last game and it's kind of sad. The season has flown by, but it has been so much fun to watch her play every game. She has grown a lot and learned the sport pretty well. I couldn't be more proud of her for going to every game givin it her all. She is a great player and it is definitely a sport we will sign up for again. As of now we are looking into signing up for Cheerleading for the Sierra Vista football team starting this summer as our next adventure :)



Irvine park & Huntington beach ♥


Day four was more of a relaxing day for us. We started our morning off eating breakfast at Burger King. Then we headed to Irvine Railroad Park. The kids absolutely loved it there. It was a beautiful park with gorgeous scenery. We had lots to do at the park. First we went on a train ride around the park. Which of course both of the kids loved. Then we did a pony ride. I wasn't sure how Titan would like it but I knew MaKenzie would love it. Surprisingly Titan loved it, too. It was a lot of fun for both of them. After that we took a walk around the park and went to their zoo. We all love animals so it was great. They had a nice little petting zoo area too. The kids got to feed, pet and brush the goats. After our fun at the zoo we rented a deuce coupe bike and rode around the park. Everything was very relaxing and fun.



After all of our fun at the park we headed to Huntington Beach. One of my favorite places to be. Although I wish the weather had been nicer! When we first got their we walked the pier. The ocean is so beautiful.. I wish we could live somewhere close to one someday! After walking the pier.. Arek got in the water with MaKenzie as Titan and I stayed more on the edge. We searched all searched for shells then Arek and the kids dug tunnels in the sand. While they were digging they found little crabs. MaKenzie found the first one and was terrified but they thought it was pretty neat and found a few more before they were finished.





After the beach we headed back to the hotel, went swimming then ordered pizza. It was a great day and night. Vacations are exhausting but we did take this day for nothing but relaxing activities. I love the quality time more than anything! I cherish our vacations and hope we continue to have at least one every year!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Family Vacation ♥ Legoland & Seaworld!

Day three of our vacation we headed to Carlsbad, CA which is an hour away from where we are staying and went to Legoland. The kids had been super excited for this park since it is completely geared towards their age group. Sadly, we found out that they close at 5pm and we knew right away that we would need a second day since that only gave us a few hours from when we got there. Thankfully the park was not crowded at all. We must have went on a really good day because we almost felt like we had the park to ourselves, little to no lines every where. It was nice! We finished a little more than half of the park that day. The kids had a blast and spotted a water park area. So we told them when we came back for the second day we would bring their swim suits. They were excited!

Day five was our second day at Legoland. This time it was definitely more crowded and really busy. There were lines, but we got to finish the second half of the park. Legoland was definitely our favorite of all the parks we went to. The kids had a blast and loved every second of both days! Although they were excited for the water park area the first day... Titan only lasted a minute in the big water area and was much happier in the small sprinkler water area. MaKenzie is a fish and loves all water. She went down the slides a few times then wanted to join her brother! We ended our day their with the best Ice Cream cones! They were so yummy :)


Our original plan was to leave straight home this day, but with Adding extra days at Disney and Legoland, we pushed Seaworld aside and was going to stay another night, but we finished Legoland in time to enjoy a couple hours at Seaworld so we decided to go there for the end of the day and then Arek drove us home that night. Seaworld is one of our favorites.. but since we have been there a few times we knew we didn't need a whole day there. Besides, after we got there we learned they are doing construction on half the park anyways.


After going to see the penguins, sharks, dolphins, starfish, aquarium, and more. Oh and of course playing in Elmo's World.. We headed to the car and started our drive back home. We had a great vacation. Our last big thing before Liam comes. Can't wait for future vacations with all three of the kids. Nothing means more to Arek and I then watching our kids eyes light up and truly enjoy themselves in everything we can give them and they deserve. I hope when they look back on their younger years they will always remember our yearly family vacations. It's a ritual we definitely plan on keeping for many many years to come! :)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Family Vacation ♥ Disneyland!

This year instead of taking a family vacation in the summer, we decided to take one during MaKenzie's spring break. That way I could enjoy it more without being huge and farther along to where I shouldn't be leaving town anyways. We went to Orange, CA to go to Disneyland, California Adventure, Legoland and Seaworld. On our first day there we checked into our hotel room then went over to the Block at Orange. We got dinner then headed back to the hotel room and waited for my mom and sisters to get there. We were excited that they got to spend part of our vacation with us. Of course the kids were thrilled to have them there!
Day one we all woke up early.. went downstairs ate breakfast and headed out to Disneyland. We had a three day park hopper for Disneyland and California Adventure and didn't think we would need even two days. Once we got to the park we slowly started to learn that it was definitely going to take more than one day to get through. We hardly got through half of Disneyland and we were there for about ten hours! It was a long day but we had a blast. The kids loved all the rides and characters they met. The best part was watching the kids get excited over everything. Titan hasn't been old enough to fully remember and enjoy our last family vacations so it was exciting to see him really get into everything. He was running around just as excited as Kenzie was. MaKenzie was fun to watch because she is now tall enough for every ride and she had a blast riding big kid rides with Daddy. They were both a joy to watch. We ended the night going to dinner at Denny's and then back to the hotel room to pass out!

Day two we had other plans but decided we would be going back to California Adventure and Disneyland. After breakfast we headed to Disneyland Adventure first. Disneyland takes so much time because it is extremely packed and ridiculous lines. It causes a stressful environment as well. It was definitely a different feel at California Adventure. It was still busy but not nearly as stressful. We actually enjoyed it more than Disneyland. We only spent a little more than half the day there and got everything done that we wanted to. They have a neat area called "Redwood Creek Challenge Trail" which is a fun place for the kids to run around, play, slide, and explore! They loved it and had a blast not having to wait in line and just have fun. Another favorite there was "Bug's Land". They also got to meet some more characters and ride more rides. It was a lot of fun. Then we headed back over to Disneyland for the second half of the day. We went to a few must sees and then headed out to dinner. It was another fun filled and exhausting day. We had a great time at both theme parks!

It was great to spend time with my mom and sisters on the vacation too. They loved seeing the kids excitement. They spent the third day at Disneyland and California Adventure but we had to part ways in the morning because we were headed to Carlsbad to go to Legoland!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Snow day ♥


Oh how we have been anxiously waiting for a snow day. I was sure that we were not going to get one this year. It snowed a couple times, but not enough to stick to the ground or play in! So when the weather said 70% chance of snow, I was not too convinced we would actually get it. MaKenzie knew there was a chance of snow the night before. So when she woke up in the morning.. the first thing she did was run to the window. She screamed and made us all jump out of bed and look outside. There was a beautiful white blanket covering the ground and roof tops. So pretty! We all ate breakfast and got dressed in our snow clothes. We usually go to the mountains on base when it snows because they get more than we do but it was closed off due to the roads being covered. So we went to the parade field on base and enjoyed a ton of snow! We did stop by the Lakeside park first. It was beautiful. We of course brought Kera out with us too. She is in love with the snow. She had just as much fun as the kids running around playing. Her favorite thing to do was catch snow balls!



Arek has never built a snowman from the beginning... so a lot of our time was spent building a snow man. The kids had fun helping with the snow man. MaKenzie is a snow bunny but Titan is usually hesitant to playing in the snow and doesn't last long. That was not the case this time. He could have played in the snow all day if we would have let him. He was non stop playing, running around and doing his own thing. Both of the kids had a blast and are anxious to move to Colorado to get winters full of snow :)
We had a great time playing in the snow for hours!

It's a boy ♥

Military insurance is amazing in every way, except when it comes to ultrasounds. They believe you only need one ultrasound at 20 weeks and that is it. Unless of course issues arise and you need more. So we decided on going to a 4D Ultrasound at 17 weeks to find out if we are having a boy or girl. We were all four beyond excited to see our baby love and even more excited to find out we were having a baby boy!

I had a feeling it was a boy for a while before we got the ultrasound but still kind of hoped for a girl, just because I like pink :) So when the she told us boy, I asked are you SURE? She then showed us this wonderful shot of the wang wang. haha. There is no doubt about it he is all boy! Baby boy was not bashful at all with his private parts... he showed us proudly, but when it came to getting a clear shot of his face he was being bashful. He put his hands up or was moving around.

Our ultrasound was twenty minutes long so eventually we did get some good shots of his precious face! We all four loved seeing our baby love. The place was set up very nicely.. in one huge room was a nice bed for me and the other half was a sitting area with couches, a huge screen and toys for the kids. The kids played for most of it, but were excited when she would point out his face and show the kids on the big screen. It was a wonderful experience. We got several pictures printed out, several on CD and a 20 minute video of the whole session! We definitely plan on going back during the last two months to get another ultrasound.
The kids are very excited for a baby brother. MaKenzie talks about helping take care of him and can't wait to meet him. She kisses my belly all the time and anxiously waits to feel him kick. She also sings and talks to him! Titan is excited but does not show it as much as MaKenzie. He kisses my belly too and says he will show him trains, cars and how to play! He insists that no matter what we name him though he will be calling him spider man! haha.
Speaking of names.. after weeks of debating back and forth we have finally decided on our baby boy's name. Liam Jerimiah Brock ♥ We both absolutely love it and can't wait to meet our baby love!!




Mom visits!


The day before we were suppose to come home from Las Vegas, Arek had an idea talked to my mom and surprised me that she was going to be coming home with us for a couple of weeks! It was so nice to have some mom and daughter time. The kids loved having nana here with us every day too. We were so happy that she got to spend two weeks with us. Of course it made it hard when we all had to say see you later! We didn't do much while she was here except are usually daily routines. We just enjoyed each others companies and had some great laughs. The weekend before she left we did go spend a day in Tombstone! We also had a mom daughter date and went out to eat and the movies. It is something we are going to have to plan more often for sure ;)