Brady's 11 months

 How can this baby almost be ONE??? This has been the fastest year yet! My precious mess turned 11 months while we were in San Diego.  And I think that trip has messed up his sleep for good :(.  We were on a roll with sleeping through the night but now we're back to waking up every. single. night.  I hope it's not his new normal!  Month 11 has been a big month of change for our little guy.  He:

• rode on an airplane
• started pulling up (no standing yet but getting closer)
• switched to whole milk like a champ
• started eating a lot more big people food
• crawls so fast with his head down it's hysterical
• found my tupperware drawer, and all the drawers in our bathroom
• will scream if you walk by and don't pick him up
• says 'ah' for Ally, and says mamamama all the time (so cute) his favorite words are still Da-da and 'that'
• loves his bath time, but has started to drink that water-boo.
• always has something in his hand and usually paper or a ball
• eats anything and everything off the floor.  leaves are his personal favorite
• laughs all the time, and has the best smile ever with 8 teeth now
• So entertaining, and loves it when we're all together

My sweet 11 month old getting a little thumb suck

'reading'

 not still ever

 saying uh-oh when anyhing drops

 crawling to his noise maker, another favorite

 putting everything in his little mouth

 so curious

 and sweet

 and smiley

 and almost ONE...sniff sniff

April 9th will be here before I know it.  I am trying to savor these days, and sleep when I can :).

Last Day of our San Diego Trip--The BEACH

We had survived FOUR different theme parks, waking up early every morning, eating out non-stop (that part I of course loved), all five of us in a suite, Mark's award ceremony and NFIB stuff, and the constant on the go.  So...the last day, we ALL wanted to chill at the beach.  San Diego is a BEAUTIFUL city and the harbor was 5 miles from our hotel.  It was so nice to see all the sailboats, ocean and the beach. There's just something about the ocean that immediately calms me.  I always feel the Lord at the beach and am I'm amazed by His creation every single time!

We decided to take the 10 minute drive to the gorgeous island/city of Coronado and experience the cold Pacific water...buurrrr.

Brady taking in the sights

crossing the bridge to the island of Coronado

 all sun-screened up and ready to go!!

 a two minute walk and we were here

 Happy Woods

 Ally was constantly photo-bombing on this trip...cute at first but not so much on the last day.

 Brady loved being outside and the kids immediately wanted to be buried in the sand

Brady's first ocean experience

 This pic was followed by immediate screams because the water was FREEZING!

 He recovered quickly

 Sandy faced Ryan

 I LOVE this picture of Ally because it captures her J-O-Y perfectly

 sweet 11 month old

 They did this all afternoon.  Such a great day

 You like my swimsuit?? he he.  73 degrees is still too cold for me

 LOVE him

 Ryan wrote "epicness" for his class back home, pretty sweet from my big 9 year old

 In the background here you can see the Del Resort, which we all walked in and swam and pretended to be staying at!! Mark Wood at his finest.  It was a beautiful resort and the kids enjoyed the nice warm pool 

After a day at the beach and pool it was time to eat.  We headed to the nearest steakhouse and had a wonderful last meal in SD.

I don't think I can fully recap this trip in words, that's why I took a million pictures.  My children prayed for this trip, saved money for this trip and were SO proud of their dad for making Summit and taking all three of them.  I tear up thinking about what a great time we had as a family.  It wasn't perfect, but neither are we :).   I loved every day and I know my kids made lifelong memories.  I would HIGHLY recommend a Southern California family trip.  I hope one day we can go back when the kids are older and you know maybe only one amusement park, and more beach time :).

San Diego Day 5--Disneyland

Day five was SUCH a beautiful day in Southern California.  The weather is perfect- low 70s, sunny and then a little cooler at night, I loved it...especially the no humidity.  We woke up early to make the 90 minute drive to DISNEYLAND!! yay.  I've been to Disneyland several times growing up and I much prefer it to Disney World.  It's smaller, more manageable and easier to navigate.  It was still Spring Break and a Monday so the crowds were there but overall the longest line we waited in was 45 minutes (which was hard because my kids loved the fast passes.)  We had a wonderful day and we would definitely go back.  A BIG thank you to Daryl for getting us passes, we are very grateful.

 Let's do this! 

 Wishing well

 Ready to see Sleeping Beauty's castle

When you wish upon a Star...

 Pretty cool (Cinderella's is much bigger but this was a highlight for Ally)

The bigger kids rode Indiana Jones scary ride.  I was happy to miss that one!  Then we rode Nemo's Submarine, and Brady fell fast asleep.

Then onto the monorail to catch our breath

 and Buzz lightyear's adventure.  I didn't take nearly enough pictures this day but with the stroller checks I kept forgetting my camera (thank goodness for the iPhone)

The boys rode Space Mountain and we went on the castle tour, then Ryan and I rode Matterhorn.  

 Funny pic! After a full day at Disneyland we went to California Adventure for a couple more rides.  Somehow I got to go on every ride that required getting wet...not so sure how that happened!

 Cool Cars Land

about 5:00, Brady was DONE! He boycotted the stroller and needed to crawl.  While we were on the Rapids Mark took him to the fancy Grand Californian and he crawled and crawled and crawled.  Honestly we were all pretty tired.

FREEDOM!

This is what I wanted to do too.

 After a quick dring and snack we headed to Downtown Disney...so fun.

 somehow this was the only face she wanted to do

 Ally and Lego Friends

 the Hulk

 and dinner at the ESPN zone

 then on the tram and the long drive back to San Diego.  We could've have easily spent another full day or 2 here but I'm glad we drove back and spent our last day in San Diego.  Also the thought of re-packing would have pushed me straight over the edge! The constant packing the diaper bags, snacks, sweatshirts and drinks every day was plenty.

 sweet boy, he did so good until he didn't :).  

Disneyland=fun.