Tropicana Gardens Reunion

My bestie Elena was in town for a wedding in Santa Cruz last weekend.  Since she flew out all the way from DC she thought it was a good idea to have me and Jackie crash the wedding to hang with her.  Well, she was right.  It was a GREAT idea!  


The 3 of us were put in an off-campus apartment together in our first year at UCSB.  The reason we were matched up was because we all played water polo and were going to try out for the women's team once school started.  We hit it off right away - not so much with our other two roommates who were strictly sorority and way to girly for the likes of us.  The 3 of us remained close the entire 4 years of college.  Elena and I even lived together for 3 out of the 4 years.  It would have been 4 out of 4 but we kind of got screwed at the last minute when it was time to look for housing.  Boo.  Regardless, the 3 of us were always together anyways.  And we've remained close friends 11 years after leaving.  I'm totally aging myself by saying that!  11 YEARS since I graduated UCSB - ugh, old lady over here). 


We each have 3 kids now, every combination of 1 girl and 2 boys.  We all brought our youngest along for the wedding fun.  Oh how times have changed.  Chasing kids, changing diapers, nursing, barely an adult beverage to be had.  But it's almost like no time has passed at all, we fall into conversation like we just hung out yesterday.   Now only if we had Jenny Day with us our little circle of friends would have been 100% complete.  Jenny - we miss you!


Here's a rundown of the kids…
Elena: Oliver - 6, Simone - 3, Rocco - 10 mo.
Jac: Natalie - 5, Owen - 3, Emmett - 14 mo.
Jen: Noah - 6, Julian - 3, Naomi - 8 mo.
  

Naomi & Rocco

They really like each other

So happy together!

Playing in the fountain

moms & babies

Emmett joins the scene

Ruffle Butt in the air

Rocco & Emmett playing with hula hoops

Kids & hoops

Rocco walks!!

Moms

Moms & kids

I love that Rocco is talking to Emmett in this one

New Food

Last weekend we went to Boogie on the Bayou in downtown Campbell.  We usually eat lunch there since it's all yummy cajun/creole/spicy food - our favorite!  Noah and Julian get the teriyaki chicken kabob.  But this time they both were up for trying something new.  It actually makes me really happy that my kids are not a strictly chicken nugget, pasta, and cheeseburger eaters.  They are pretty adventurous and eat lots of different cuisine.   So here are a few pictures of them giving the mystery food a try (they knew what they were eating and asked to try it).   Can you guess what it was that they ate?

Noah's first taste

not so sure

decided he liked it enough to eat a couple pieces

Julian's first taste

does NOT like it

gave it a second try and still didn't like it

The boys on a ride together…they recovered from the Fear Factor food challenge.

SO DID YOU GUESS WHAT THE FOOD WAS THAT THE BOYS TRIED?  IF YOU GUESSED ALLIGATOR YOU WERE RIGHT!!  WINNER WINNER ALLIGATOR DINNER!  LOL.

Jog-A-Thon

Today there was a jog-a-thon at the boys' school.  It was quite a to-do…lots of tents set up, a dj with speakers, a stage, water booths, a bbq, and a race with the principal.  There was a raffle to select the kids that got to race with the principal and Noah's name was pulled.  He was super excited to hear his name announced over the speakers!  I didn't realize the preschool was participating so I didn't have Julian with me.  But I quickly amended my mistake and had Leo bring him over to jog.  


Leo stayed with them for a little while and reported back to me that Noah ran at top speed the whole time.  Julian was a little shy at first, then ran laps around all his friends.  Both got a t-shirt with a "counter" on the back to keep track of how many laps they made.  Noah ran 15 laps and Julian ran 5.   Noah was a little disappointed that he didn't run as many laps as he said he wanted to.  When I asked him yesterday how many he thought he could run he said 30.  The pledge sheet said "most kids run between 12-25 laps."  That's my boy…overachiever just like his mama!  


Leo was able to get a few pictures of both boys, Noah ran laps the whole time.  Julian's "track" was more like an obstacle course.  What a fun day they both had!

Noah is behind the girl in white shorts

Look at that stride!  

I can't tell, but I think he's holing up his index finger…he's #1!

High steps!

He's gonna pass her!!

Through the tunnel….

and he's spent.

Sibling Fun

I know the time is coming.  My kids are going to be hiding in a room, whispering plans, in cahoots against me.  But I'm happy about it.  The kids are always so happy to play together.  Noah and Julian will be playing with blocks on the floor and Naomi will crawl over to play with them.  They get irritated when she takes their toys, but you can hear in their voices that they really aren't that annoyed.  And they never try to take the toys away from her.  When Noah and Julian are wrestling Naomi get equally excited and starts bouncing on her knees laughing.  She will throw herself at them in an attempt to wrestle - they let her.  It turns into a bouncing, giggling mass of kids.  I love my kids.  

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was last Sunday and I was treated to a very nice family outing to Santa Cruz.  We went to The Boardwalk, ate waaaaaay too much fried food and rode as many rides as we could.  Everyone had so much fun!  We all went into the (not so) newly remodeled Haunted Castle.  Noah said "It wasn't bad at all!" but I think Julian was a little scared.  I couldn't get Noah to ride the kid roller coaster with me, but Julian volunteered and he had so much fun!  He laughed through the entire ride!  So proud of my little thrill-seeker!  

happy to get a donut

eye c u

first game...

Julian won!!

the prize!

Noah knocked down all the milk cans…honestly, he did it all by himself

He won a stuffed polar bear

daddy wanted a potato

big rig drivers

me & my kids

me & Julian on the mini-coaster

headed onto the beach for a bit

tuckered out

sand play

burrying daddy's feet (while daddy gets a minute of phone time)

For lunch I got to go a place near and dear to my heart…Woodstocks Pizza.  YUM!! I ate this on a regular basis in college, ok - like every night.  Hello freshman 15 (or 20).  When I found out there was one in Santa Cruz a few years back I was all about heading over to try it out.  Same great pizza, wildebread and cinnabread.  Happy mom over here!

oh-yeah!

the surf bird!

mini cheese pizzas = happy kids

cinnabread - sooooo good!

All in all, I'd say it was a happy Mother's day!  Oh, in case you didn't see here are the gifts the boys made me at school.

from Julian - the hearts open like a clip to hold a picture or art

from Noah - it's a portrait of himself, in a frame. 

Bath time

The kids had a fun night in the bath together. In fact it's the first time Naomi took a bath with her brothers. She loved it! She played with their toys, splashed and laughed the whole time. Julian nicely shared all the tub toys with her. Noah made sure she didn't get her head under the water. But I think I need the bathtub chair, so next time I don't have to sit awkwardly in the side of the tub holding on to Naomi.