Camping at the Beach

The first big kick off weekend of the Summer has come and gone and so has our Memorial Day Weekend camping trip. We spent the weekend at our new favorite camping place, San Elijo State Beach Campground, with four other families from church. We had a great weekend and I have lots of cute pictures to share.

Camping with Rachel just gets easier and easier the older she gets, that and the fact that the people we camp with have older kids and therefore enjoy loving on small kids by taking them on walks and spoiling them with special surprises and treats. LOL.

We arrived to the campground late Friday afternoon after picking up Hannah from school. We got our tent set up and our gear all placed and then we were ready to relax and enjoy all the weekend had to offer. Rachel was ready for a stroll on the beach with Daddy. The tide was high that evening, but it didn't stop her from enjoying her beach stroll.Having had a nap in the car on the way down on Friday afternoon, Rachel was wide eyed and bushy tailed late into the night. In fact, I was in bed before her! Her and Steven finished off a game of "Go Fish" and came to bed after 11:00. It didn't prevent her from waking up at her normal time the next morning though, and after a stroll on the beach looking for shells, it was off to the donut store for donuts, or in Rachel's case, a pretty cookie. She loves the pretty cookies and cupcakes at the bakery and chose the Happy Face cookie over a donut. She was happy with her choice.Mid Saturday morning, friends who normally camp with us but weren't able to get reservations, came down for the day. They brought their puppy and Rachel fell in love with little Preston. She loved being able to carry him in this purse. In addition to the five families camping this weekend, there were three dogs and both our girls were in 7th heaven playing with them, hanging out with them, etc. But Preston was just Rachel's size!Late Saturday morning, the kids dawned their bathing suits, everyone was lathered in sunscreen, sand toys were toted and we all headed down to the beach. Rachel was happy to have her friend Caleb to play with, even if it was only for the day. Despite not having anyone her own age to play with most of the time, she managed to be kept entertained. She played dominoes with the big people a couple of times, and rode her bike, and went for walks and helped walk the dogs that were camping with us. During the trip to the beach on Sunday, after taking over 2 hours for Steven to build this sand castle, it took merely seconds for Rachel to destroy it, and had a blast doing so! Just look at the smile on her face. Priceless.Sunday evening, Uncle Bart joined us for dinner and chatting around the campfire for a while. Uncle Bart always provides the fire wood for our camping trips at the beach as he literally lives just a mile away from the campground. It was nice to have him come back and join us for dinner and Rachel loved having him visit as well!Monday morning, after a trip to the donut store again, and one last game of dominoes, it was time to start packing up the campsite. Check out time was noon and we packed up and made it out with time to spare. We met Uncle Bart for lunch and then were on our way for home. The sure tale sign of a great weekend, sleeping kids on the journey home, exhausted from playing in the fresh air, the sand, and late nights. We had a great time once again. And of course Rachel is already asking when we can go back camping at the beach. I love that we're providing great vacation/get away memories for our kids and that they have just as much fun being away from home as we do!

Our Last Preschool Open House

This evening was the annual Spring Open House for the preschool. It's an evening whereas the current preschoolers can bring all of their family - parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends, etc, etc, to check out their classroom and their school and see all the fun arts and crafts they've been working on for several weeks leading up to tonight. It's also a time where the new families registered for the Fall are invited to come and check it all out and see what their little ones are in for.

I seriously thought we'd skip going to tonight's Open House, we have a Bible Study that we started attending at church last Thursday night and I just thought we'd skip this year since we've been to three over the past few years and we know the routine, etc. But then I got to thinking about it, really thinking about it, this is our LAST preschool open house. Our very last. Exactly four weeks from today, our baby will be done with preschool, and will be on her way to Kindergarten. So aside from being asked if I might be able to help out in the kitchen tonight, I was pretty much leaning towards going and I'm glad I went. Steven went ahead to our Bible Study and the girls and I made one last visit to the annual Open House. This year, the teachers decided to do a different theme in each of their class rooms. And wow! What a great job on all the classes. But there were three classes where the teachers put a lot more effort and energy and creativeness into theming their classroom, and if you are a follower of my own blog, you'll know I'm big on theming. LOL. Rachel's class was a jungle, complete with lions, snakes, tucan birds hanging from the ceiling, jungle leaves everywhere, and monkeys hanging about all over the class room. Intertwine all those animals with about twenty four full size body pictures all over the room and you've got yourself a real jungle! It looked awesome! They kept the parents out of the rooms this morning during drop off and pick up so that the rooms would be a surprise for tonight and what a surprise they were, they were amazing. And the kids all loved it and were excited about showing off their themed classrooms.

And with that, our days of Preschool Open Houses are behind us. Come August, it'll be visiting two classrooms at Back to School night at the same school!

Simply Amazing

Rachel loves to hold the door open for people. Whether it be at Miguel's when we're exiting, or even yesterday afternoon, after our dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

I stood and watched as Rachel held the door open for handfuls and handfuls of people.

Only a couple people said 'thank you', much less even realized the door was being held open by a four year old!!! Most people, like the one in this picture, just walked right in. Only a couple of people even acknowledged the door was even being held open for them.

It just amazes me how rude we have a society have become.

"May the Fourth Be With You"

We had dinner guests this evening for dinner...
2 Jedi's, Darth Vadar, and Princess Leia. May 4th is Star Wars Day.
Happy Star Wars Day!

Kindergarten Physical and Registration

Rachel had her Kindergarten physical with our Pediatrician this morning. Overall, it went well. For the last few days, she kept asking if she was going to be getting shots, and we didn't lie to her, we told her that she probably would be getting shots. She was fine with that, didn't say she didn't want to go, etc.

Our regular nurse wasn't there and I think that made Rachel nervous. She wouldn't cooperate for the in-office hearing test, which didn't concern me too much, she had an official one with our audiologist in January and it was fine. But she cooperated for only half of the vision exam. She wouldn't let her left eye be covered. Dr. Berry checked her over and everything is good. Rachel has has a couple of warts appear in the last year, and for the last couple of weeks I thought they were spreading everywhere. She itches these bumps to the point of bleeding and that can cause warts to spread. We have an appointment with the Dermatologist in two weeks that we've already been waiting four weeks for. This worsening outbreak kinda had me worried, I mean come on, what mother wants to see their child covered in warts? I had a friend take a look at her bumps on Monday and she said it was Eczema. Dr Berry confirmed the diagnosis and prescribed an ointment to apply at bedtime when she's in a flare up, as well as suggested a lotion following bath time.

Next came the immunizations, four of them. Two in each leg. As much as we've endured with Rachel - handing her off to surgical scrub nurses, watching her be whisked off to surgery, the hospital stays, you'd think that a couple of shots would be no big deal, but no, when your child cries, you tear up and shed a few tears too. She was not happy! She cried all the way out of the clinic (had to carry her out), all the way to the car, and all the way down the block to Starbucks where I promised her an apple juice and caved when she asked for a chocolate Frappacino. I figured four pokes, she deserves chocolate. That made her happy.After our stop at Starbucks, I hopped on the freeway and went straight to the enrollment center for our school district and registered our baby for Kindergarten! It was kinda sad and kinda exciting at the same time. We made up a song about being registered for school in the car and she's excited. And thus the never ending question of "When do I start kindergarten" has commenced. I love that I was able to get this picture. The banner actually has the school name listed on it, as this is the week that school allows Kindergarten registration, but for safety reasons, I've blurred the school name out. It's such a cool picture though and I cannot believe come August 4th, we'll be dropping two children off for school...everyday!

Field Trip to the Pizza Place

There's a local hole in the wall, Mom and Pop pizza kitchen who's kids went to the preschool over 15 years ago. And ever since then, they've opened up their pizza kitchen to our preschool for a field trip. Not just a tour of the kitchen, but the kids get to make their own pizza! The kids had a blast! And the pizza was out of this world!

First, we got to see where they mix the pizza dough. After washing their hands and taking their place in line, they were given a dough round. They used a special little roller to punch out some the air, and they patted and even tossed the dough back and forth and then stretched it onto the pizza plate.Also at the same station, they added and spread the pizza sauce all over their dough. This sauce is the best! You can taste the spices and seasonings and the garlic!Next up, the cheese and topping counter! Rachel loaded up her pizza with lots and lots of cheese. And for toppings she picked pepperoni, sausage, and olives! She was so proud of her pizza creation.After only a few minutes in the big, big ovens, the individual pizzas were done and ready to eat! Each preschooler got their pizza in their own box. They enjoyed a slice or two fresh out of the oven, and then got to the take the rest home! Nothing like steaming, pipping hot, fresh pizza straight out of the oven!Another great field trip had by the preschoolers! We're very appreciative of Capone's opening up their kitchen to us. The kids, and even us Mommies, had a great time making our own pizzas and of course eating them!

Coloring Eggs with Friends

Rachel was SO excited to be having friends come over after school this afternoon to have a "coloring Easter egg party". There were seven kids, eleven cups of coloring, and in the end, forty five eggs had been colored! They all had so much fun and it was a great way to kick off the weekend.

The First of Many

Today, Rachel had the first of many, many years of dental procedures.

At last month's check up and cleaning, it was discovered that she had four tiny cavities that needed filling. We were going to break it up over two appointments, but the dentist was able to knock them all out in one appointment! Which not only was an answer to prayer, but it saved us about $70, as the insurance doesn't cover the nitrous gas and we won't have to come back for another appointment and another round of nitrous gas.Overall, Rachel did great! She sat so still while Dr. Hoffer got all the 'bugs' out of her teeth. Rachel did cry as we were walking out to the car. But I think it was because she was extremely numb and the sensation was new to her. A trip to the Dollar Tree for an additional prize and a stop at McDonald's for an ice cream and Sprite helped in the recovery though. If anyone is looking for an awesome Pediatric dentist, I have one and will highly recommend her!! Thank you all the for the prayers for Rachel this morning!

Prayers for Rachel's Dental Appt

This morning, at 9:00am PST, Rachel has her first of two dental appointments to take care of a couple of cavities in her teeth that are deeply grooved.

They will first administer some laughing gas, and then do a shot to numb the areas. They take the highest precautions to make this a good experience as she has years and years of dental work ahead of her.

Would you please be praying for Rachel. For her dentist, Dr. Hoffer, and for her assistant. That Rachel will tolerate the 'giggle juice' well and it won't make her sick. That she won't become scared or anxious. That overall her appointment will go well.

I really would appreciate any and all prayers for this appointment. Up until recent months, I've had a high anxiety level for going to the dentist and I sure don't want that for my own children. An update and pictures will follow sometime in the afternoon.

Spending the Day with Uncle Bart

Today is Uncle Bart's birthday and what better way to spend the day (besides going to Disneyland) than a picnic? Today was Papa's last day of vacation, so we packed a picnic lunch fit for the birthday king and drove to Encinitas. We went to the park near his house and had our picnic in the surroundings of a beautiful park and beautiful blue skies.

We've been to this park once before and it is amazing. I wish we had a park like this near us, we'd spend a lot more time at the park if we did. This particular park actually has someone who lives in an RV in the parking lot (don't worry, it's out of the way and still attractive) who keeps the park up and the restrooms clean and chases out the homeless at night. The play structures and things for kids to play on is all so different and a lot of fun. After lunch and our time at the park, we made our way to the beach. We stopped off at the beach just down the road from the campground we go camping at with our church friends and family. You can see the campground behind Rachel in this picture. Wish we were able to join Uncle Robbie and Auntie and the girls there next week for Spring Break, but someone has to go back to school! Wahhh.We had a great day at the park and strolling the beach. It was absolutely beautiful with blue skies, crisp ocean breeze, and plenty of sunshine. We enjoyed the day and hope Uncle Bart did too!

A Week of Easter Festivities

I know, Easter is well over a week away, so why the earliness of the Easter Festivities? Because the preschool is on Spring Break next week!

The official festivities began on Tuesday when they hunted for eggs on the front lawn of the preschool/church. They were allowed to collect four eggs. Within minutes Rachel had her basket full and needed to actually put some back. LOL. Gave me a good idea as to who'll attempt to get all the eggs on Easter when we hunt for eggs with their cousins. LOL. Today concluded the festivities at school. They had an Easter party, followed by an Easter parade where they wore their giant egg and chick posters and sang songs about Peter Cottontail and the bunny's fuzzy tail and other bunny songs. Gramma came to see her youngest granddaughters parade about, and Papa has been on vacation this week and he came too! Sadly, this parade today marked the very last preschool parade for our family. In the Fall, both Rachel and Haylee will be starting Kindergarten, at schools at opposite ends of the city! Here are our little chicks.

Family Park Day

A new ministry erupted a month or so ago at church. A ministry focused on families with young children, elementary school aged and below. Today was a family picnic at the park, and while only five families showed up, we had a GREAT time!

It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies, warm weather (85 degrees), and lots and lots of sun. There was even a little bit of a breeze that the kids were able to get their kites from The Dollar Tree up in the air. Here are some pictures of our great afternoon with our church family.After playing for five hours,
everyone was worn out, and a little sunburned.

Field Trip to Stater Bros!

Last year, the preschool had a field trip to another grocery store that didn't act very happy to have us there for a tour. And because of feeling as though we were a bother, it looked like a grocery store tour wasn't going to happen this year. But all it took was one phone call to Papa (who's worked with the company 40+ years) inquiring about a possible filed trip to Stater Bros and we were hooked up!

Yesterday and today were the preschool field trips to the local Stater Bros store and it was AWESOME! The girls from the corporate office really worked hard and rolled out the red carpet for our school and all the kids had so much fun!

We were greeted before we even entered the store by one of the ladies from where Papa works. She gave everyone a colored apron and then explained what kinds of job you would perform when you wore that apron. Rachel's apron was green, which meant she does a lot of customer service work - bagging groceries, collecting carts, putting groceries back on the shelves that weren't purchased.Our tour started in the produce section of the store. There was a cart of vegetables and Terina showed the kids the vegetables and why they are important for us (carrots are good for vision, etc). She explained that the lighting in the produce section is very similar to that of the sun, and that's to help the produce not go bad so quickly (need to ask Papa about that one!) and how the vegetables are sprayed down every 15 minutes. The kids all got a chance to water the vegetables and I'm sure that particular section of veggies is probably good on the water for the remainder of the day. LOL. From there, we got to go into the produce refrigerator, into the freezer where they store the ice cream and popsicles, and to the Meat Department where everyone got a special hat! And then we got to go behind the meat counter and watch the Meat guys wrap some packages of meat and another man tell us about what kinds of meat they have. The kids all loved their Stater Bros hats and wore them proudly!From the Meat Department we headed to the regular refrigerator where all the milk and yogurt is stored. Not quite as cold as the freezer, but it was COLD! From the refrigerator we stepped into the back room and learned how everything in the dry food area comes to the store in cardboard boxes. The kids got to see the baler compact some boxes and that for some reason was very exciting! At the very end of our tour in the store room, there were two tables set up for decorating cookies! This particular store doesn't have a bakery, but the bakery supervisor brought in sugar cookies and lots of icing and sprinkles for the kids decorate their own cookies! They were in handy dandy little deli containers with lids and once the decorating was done, the lids went on, and into a brown bag to take back to school! After we completed our 'behind the scenes' tour of the store, we made our way to the front end where a check stand had been reserved just for us! There were some groceries that needed to be rung up and each kid got to scan some groceries. Boy was that ever fun! All the kids loved scanning the boxes of cereal over and over again. LOL.At the end of their scanning, each preschooler was handed a brown goodie bag! Inside was a Red Delicious Apple, a small bottle of water, a Stater Bros pencil pouch complete with a Stater Bros ruler, eraser, and pencil, as well as an official card that when brought to the bakery counter of any store gets them a complimentary cookie!!! We also went back to school with "I'm a Staters Kid" balloons and coloring sheets!Rachel wore her "Stater Grand Kid" shirt that we made for Route 66 last summer. You couldn't see it once she was wearing her official Stater Bros work apron. But she looked cute nonetheless.

It was fun to visit this particular store because my Dad opened the store when he was a store manager! I think this might have been the store that I remember Mr Twinkie being at for the Grand Opening?? Or maybe it was the other nearby store. At any rate, our tour was awesome and both Kim and Terina were the best tour guides we could have hoped for! Thanks Papa for hooking the preschool up, and thanks Stater Bros for all the goodies and loads of fun!

Hmmm, I wonder if Papa could arrange for a tour of the corporate offices? We'll save that request for Kindergarten! :)

Disneyland Adventures

We went to Disneyland twice this week. On Tuesday after preschool with friends whose daughter was celebrating her birthday, and this morning, meeting Uncle Bart.This morning we arrived to the parks before 9:00 in hopes of getting on some rides and doing things before the Spring Break/Birthday Freebies/Friday afternoon-evening passholders started to arrive. Our plan prooved successful as we got to ride and do a lot of things the first 2 1/2 hours we were there. After that, the crowds started increasing and lines were becoming long and sidewalks unbearable to walk on.We eventually made our way over California Adventure, where it was busy as well. We did a few rides, of course visited the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail for rock climbing and zip lining and enjoyed an ice cream cone. We left the parks and headed for home about 2:00 and were happy with all the things we were able to do today before the crowds hit.