Lovely in Lavender

Every year for CNY, I take a nice picture of the girls in one of their nice Chinese dresses...Years ago, back when I was organized I'd take a photo, and send out Chinese New Year cards to friends and our travel groups.....unfortunately, I"m lame now, and not organized anymore...

here are some of the highlights from our photo session...

Piggy Jammies

I had to post these jammies I found for the girls the other day...appropriate for the Year of the Pig!

A Jelly Belly Sugar Rush

Our week of school vacation is winding down, so this morning, since it was raining, I took the girls to Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly Factory. We were accompanied by Meigan's preschool buddy Pascale, her Mom Jean and baby Noemie. We had a very fun time touring the plant, seeing how they are made, smelling the intense lemon scent of the lemon jellybeans, and best of all..was the FREE candy at the end and tasting many of the flavors! I held out hopes for Meigan taking a nap on the way home, but that was foiled, since the sugar rush of a kazillion jellybeans kicked in! Lunch was something, as you'll see from the picture...a jellybean shaped cheese pizza! pretty creative thinking!

Pacsale, Meigan and Catie infront of the giant inflatable jellybean

We got special hats for the tour.........

The girls looking down at the factory where the jellybellys are packaged up...

this is the jellybean shaped pizza...think there is enough cheese on that??? My 2 girls ate all but 2 pieces of this...

and last but not least....

THE LOOT.... I left there with $15 worth of jellybeans...what WAS I thinking???

Words escape me....

Truly, this really is my finest moment as a Mom, I think.....I mean really, what's NOT to be proud of when your 3 1/2 yrs. old daughter says "Mom, look at what I can do"...and you turn around to see this....well, the pride just wells up within! and yes, snot is what's sticking the kleenex to her face.....

A Monterey Weekend

The Lone Cypress..This is one of California's most enduring landmarks and it has been on this rocky perch for over 250 years!!!!

April 9th will mark my 15th year of living in California. While I do miss New Hampshire, I can't imagine living anywhere else! We are so very lucky to live here! The California coastline is truly stunning!

This weekend, we took the girls down to Monterey! We spent Sunday at the Aquarium, and today, driving the beaches, and sightseeing along the incredible, breathtaking and famous 17 Mile Drive, home to some of the finest golf courses and ocean viewing in California, and some of the most amazing homes I've ever laid my eyes on. Where do these people get their $$$$$????? We had a really great family weekend of fun, food and lots and lots of laughter and jumping on hotel beds! (scroll down for those photos)

Here are Catie and Meigan being eaten by a giant clam at the Aquarium...

This giant stuffed sea otter was outside a store right next to the Aquarium...the girls got nice and cozy with him..as it was a chilly, foggy breezy morning..

And when it really comes down to what a great family weekend getaway is all about, I think we can all agree that it is ALL ABOUT jumping on the beds in a hotel!!! This has been our ritual everytime we go to a hotel...the girls "have to" check out the beds first to be sure they're a-ok for jumping on! As you can see, Catie got some good air with her between the beds jump! She prefected this move in just a couple of minutes! I say a definite 10 for form and style!!

Now, you didn't think it was ALL about the kids did ya? heck no...Brian and I found this fabulous brewpub downtown Monterey in the Portola Plaza Hotel.....Peter B's was excellent! really really good beer they brew, and the food was great, and it was very kid friendly...we stumbled upon this place and were really happy with it! I had a fantastic caesar salad, and the kids got grilled panini jack cheese sandwiches and fries, and Brian and a great grilled skirt steak....

Then it was back to the hotel, the girls sharing one queen sized bed, and Brian and in another..

here's the Sunday night scenario..Meig passes out at 8:20pm (had to be first asleep in order to get the ONLY remaining cookie left in the room), Brian snoring by 8:35pm, Catie and I watched a great whale segment on Animal Planet and ate Tootsie Rolls, and then by 9:00pm I sipped wine and watched Desperate Housewives.

....then throughout the night, Meigan was restless and Catie was yelling at Meigan to get her feet out of her face...... nothing like all sharing a room for a peaceful night's sleep...needless to say, we were all up by 6:15am today...

These are from the beaches along 17 Mile Drive...the wind was howling, and whipping cold, and as you can see from these pictures, it wasn't a good hair day for any of us! but we saw a TON of seals in the water, on the shores, etc. and it was such fun! This coastline is just spectacular!

CAtie counted at least 25 seals around this spot...these guys on the shore and a bunch were right in the water.....now, the beach here, is infront of this huge house...I couldn't get a really good picture of it, but it was outrageous..HUGE... serious big bucks around this area....crazy!

Funny Meigan

Here is Meig this morning...gloves on, getting down and dirty helping Daddy outside ripping out this old dog cage...she's happiest when she can help...she rushes to get dressed on the weekends and follow Brian everywhere! she can be heard yelling "Dad, wait for me"...can't leave her out of anything...

and now....the beauty queen.....oh, the love of makeup! This is Meig's new thing....getting into Catie's play lipstick....only, this was her OWN..I'd got her some, so she stops getting into Catie's stuff...

notice the dark circles under eyes.....she's not had a nap in DAYS! she WILL NOT sleep...and she needs to...and i refuse to get in the car and give her a gasoline sedative everytime she needs a nap.....here's hoping Sunday brings a marathon nap.....

this kid is such a crack up....

Caged wild children....

This was the scene last Saturday at the FCC Between the New Years annual festivities....the girls got in the jumphouse...but it was a tad crazy with all the kids...and this was taken before the roof came down on the kids....man, what's with these jumpies coming down on kids? Catie got trapped in one in October at a birthday party, and it fell over, and she hit her head on concrete...it really flipped her out (and scared me too)....so when this one started to come down, Catie, super-smart big sister, grabbed her little sister and dragged her by the arm out of the jumpie, where I was waiting by the entrance...needless to say, that was the last these girls wanted of that jumphouse...

HELP!! ALERT THE FASHION POLICE!!!

This is just brilliant fashion sense...

actually, it was "clashy clothes day" at Catie's school last Friday (yes, I'm a week late in posting this)...and she put this outfit together all by her sweet little self! she wouldn't let me see until she was done, and it was just hilarious! we all had a good laugh! Her entire elementary school had all the kids, including the principal dressed this way...really fun for the kids!

I'm thinkin' she's a shoe-in for Project Runway, don't you agree?? :)