Our pediatrician is SO cool and let us come weigh our pumpkin at the office! 

 

When we got there, I asked if I needed to sign in that we are here to weigh the pumpkin.  The receptionist said, “When is Pumpkin’s date of birth?”  I couldn’t believe she said that with a straight face.  I showed her the pumpkin and said, “It’s a literal pumpkin.”  Ha, Pumpkin Pond!

Wow!  We grew a pumpkin that’s bigger than our baby! 

The girls had so much fun showing off our little bit of country!

But they’re still from the city, and we like it that way!

                    

Backstory: We got a pumpkin seed from story time at the library last spring
(around March).  The girls and I put it in a baggie with a moist paper
towel and let it bud in a sunny window for a few days.  Then, we went
out and planted it behind our A/C unit where there was no grass.  The
vines have been growing and growing ever since.  Much to our dismay,
there were no pumpkins.  So as not to disappoint the girls, Mike and I
bought a dinky little pumpkin and hid it out there for them to
find.  They were so excited!

But that’s just where the excitement begins!  So, Mike and I worked in
the flower beds last weekend with Rara and decided it was time to weed-eat down the vines in our side yard and tell them goodbye.  During the chopping process, Mike found this!!!  An enormous pumpkin that WE GREW!  YAY for city girls!

We had so much fun playing at the beach and taking pics of the fam!

 

26 weeks!

 

Got a little too close to the water – Oops!

I couldn’t pick between these pictures because the girls and I had so much fun!

Double oops!

Back for more (one more)!

Love their sopping dresses in this picture!

Thanks Clarissa and Cindy!  You’re the best!

 

I wanted to get a few pictures to capture the baby’s first visit to the beach!  Noelle made my bracelet “for the beach” from her bucket o beads collection!  I love it!

Okay Mike and Clarissa, this may be a little dorky, but I thought it was sweet, so I guess that makes me a little cheesy!

 

Pier fun after dark!

 

Noelle pretending to be a lifeguard on duty… what a crack up!  Goodnight beach!

Curt gave me a cross “Cali-style” that was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever thought to do for me, but that’s just Curt for ya!  

One last game before our flight back to Texas.  We sure will miss those Californians!!!

The Ziemkes know how to party, that’s for sure!  They had an awesome fiesta the last night we were there.  The CZ in the background is on a stone wall that reflects into the pool – it’s so cool!

Grandpa Jim arrives on the scene!

Playing before the guests arrive

 

Jim and Ray – the life of the party!

 

Enjoying the fire pit!

  

The kids had a blast playing together!

Thanks for the fun night guys!

Go Corbin!

Corbin and Lauren (sweet family friend of the Ziemkes) with the girls!

 

We had tons of fun on Corbin’s school play ground!

Go Cayden #35!

After we took pictures on the beach Thursday at sunset, Jim and Celia took us out to eat!  Thanks guys for the wonderful meal and special time together!

We had a blast at Sea World with the Ziemke family!

 

Cayden and Anna Kate

Checking out the starfish!

 

I think this is the last visit where Corbin will truly be a little boy – these kids have grown up before our eyes!  I love this picture of him discovering new things (from the eyes of a child)!

Penguin palace – it was amazing all of the things we witnessed them doing.  We even watched a Mommy penguin regurgitate a fish and feed it to her baby – pretty gross but cool to see!

 

White arctic whale watching

Anna Kate kept screaming “Teddy Bear” over and over.  So cute!

Cayden, Clarissa, Curt, Cindy, and Corbin in the den of the polar bear!  ROAR!

Watching the walrus eat fish was so cool!  He was HUGE!!!

He even let the fish stand on his back.  Watching him swim was incredible – it was like watching this blob swoop through liquid, again, kind of gross, but cool!

Having fun at Sea World!

Artic whale!

Cindy and Curt in the penguin exhibit!  

Noelle had three things on her list: feed the dolphins, see Shamu, and go through the shark tank!  One check down!

I was taking walking pictures all day because my heart was melting watching these kids, whose hands I remember holding like this, loving on my kids!  

Shark tank!  Check two off the list!  Scary, huh?  You should see their teeth up close – rows and rows baby!

I bet you’ve never seen someone drive a wheelchair like it’s a motorcycle!  Let’s just say this man’s got some skills (and he’s a daredevil)!  

 

Waving to Shamu!

Saying “Hi” to Shamu!  Check three!

Shamu spun around in circles, before spinning back into the water – that was cool!

Noelle told Cindy the whales were obeying her as she directed them. Love her mind!

Synchronized spirals in the air – how do they teach this?  We were so impressed!

All the whales taking a bow (tales all came up at the same time and flapped back down together).

The gang!

At the end of the day, we went to Sesame Street to ride the rides and do fun kid stuff!

This was Noelle’s first ride that goes up high, and she was pretty scared!

Bounce zone!

Anna Kate with Cookie Monster and Elmo!  She LOVED Cookie but didn’t want a thing to do with Elmo.  So funny to watch!

We even got to pet the sting rays.  They were so slippery!  That was cool!

  

Last but not least, the big kids got their fun!

Mike and Corbin got so wet they had to change in the car… so.worth.it!

 

Amidst finding the rays of light where they can, one thing’s for sure, nothing will keep this family from having a good time!  One minute I’m in tears watching one of my closest friends care for her soul mate, the next I’m laughing that teenagers are SO teenagers… and that’s the limbo in which they live every day.  Please keep them in your closest prayers!  What an amazing day and what an amazing privilege to share life with each other, and you too!

We had so much fun trick-or-treating as a family in Coronado on Halloween at the stores along Orange Avenue!

  

Anna Kate loved all of the attention and kept smiling, waving, and saying “hi” to everyone!

And of course Noelle loves being a princess anytime!  I brought these dresses because they were the lightest thing I could think of to pack… they loved being Cinderellas, so we were all good! 

I love the picture of the girls checking out their candy.

 

We trick-or-treated down one really cute residential street on our way back to our car to get the true California Halloween experience.  Everyone was so sweet!

Noelle took this picture of Mike and I next to this gorgeous birds of paradise plant. 

We had so much fun here!!!

Sunday (Halloween), we stopped by the beach on our way to lunch to check it out!  Although we had no intention of staying to play or take pictures, the fun sucked us in!

The rocks on La Jolla beach were so fun for the girls!

Anna Kate deciding what she thinks about standing in sand!

Writing names and throwing sand 

Throwing more sand!

This plane could not have been any lower to the water.  If you look closely, you can see the bird is flying higher than the plane.  We were in awe! 

 

Anna Kate loves birds!!!

Bird calling!

Saying “bye bye” to the birds 

A little more nature on our way back to the car – fun little detour!

 

The girls and I had a blast swimming at the pool every morning while Daddy was at his conference.

 

We were so happy when 5:30 rolled around, and Daddy came back to the room to hit the town with us!

Rara has really taught Noelle how to love reading magazines at night.  It was so funny to see our 4 year old in her big hotel bed enjoying her magazines!

 

More swim time!

 

Thanks cousin Anna for the new suit! 

Powdered donuts for breakfast – it’s really a vacation around here! 

 

The girls and I would go to the mall (Horton Plaza) after lunch and walk around and window shop.  They loved getting fresh squeezed lemonade from “Hot Dog on a Stick.”

Our last night in San Diego we went to Old Town and ate at The Old Town Mexican Café, voted San Diego’s #1 Mexican restaurant.  It was great!  Here’s a pic of Anna Kate holding her tortilla and churro, which cracked us up!  She didn’t put the tortilla down until we reached our room at the hotel!