2 WEEKS OF FUN

Well, if you haven't noticed I have been extremely lazy on my blog!  We have had Stacy, Megan, Alex and dad here with us for the last two weeks and have done LOTS of things that I should have been blogging about.  BUT, I didn't!  Soooooo, now I'm going to do one big post with lots of pictures showing the FUN that we have had over the past two weeks!

At the beginning of the two weeks we spent a couple of days walking and shopping in the downtown areas of both Carlsbad and Encinitas.  They have some cute little shops just a block off of the beach that are always fun to explore.

Maleah, Me, Dad and Megan waiting for the others to come out of a store in Encinitas.......

We spent a few nights out by the fire visiting and making smores.......

We all went to the movies to watch the new Disney flick "Brave" -- it was cute and we all enjoyed the movie and the popcorn and soda!......

After the movie we went up to our community pool and took a dip......

When everyone was tired of the pool we went back home where Maleah and Megan laid out to soak up a few more rays!.......

Maleah and Rena were excited that Megan and Stacy got to see them at their gymnastics class......

Cameron and Alex spent much of their at home time building with Legos.......

On the 4th of July the girls baked goodies for desert......

We had a little bbq on the 4th with some friends.......

Rena loved having Megan around!......

Maleah loved having Megan around also......

At the beach having fun......

Every Saturday morning the girls gymnastic gym has "open gym" so all of the kids went for the hour and got to play and have fun on the equipment.......

We went to Old Town San Diego for an afternoon.  Alex got this cool hat......

Rena was a little bit tired on the way home, but luckily had Megan to lean on!  :) .......

Movie night!.......

Back at the pool for some more sun!......

One afternoon Dad, Stacy, Megan and Rena took a trip to Balboa Park and Coronado.  Maleah wasn't feeling good and the boys didn't want to go so we stayed home while the others went out touring.  These are pics from the fun afternoon that they had.......

The next day everyone was feeling good again so we all headed down South about a half hour to Pacific Beach.  The boys were ready to go and patiently waiting for the rest of us......

This is what we always look like when we arrive at the beach -- everyone coating themselves with a thick layer of sunscreen.....

Pacific Beach is a lot of fun because it has lots of little shops, rides and food.  We decided to look around a bit before hitting the sand.....

Megan decided to get a Henna Tattoo while we were there.......

Alex, Cameron and Rena rode the bumper cars -- and the rest of us watched......

We had a good lunch at a little outdoor place........

.....and then FINALLY - we made it to the beach!........

Rena and Maleah got buried in the sand......

The kids made a big pile of sand to jump into.......

......didn't look very fun or comfortable to me, but they seemed to have fun.......

BAD landing for Rena -- I think she ate some sand........

While we were on the beach Megan's tattoo got messed up so we headed back to get it fixed and since Megan got a tattoo, of course, Rena and Maleah wanted one also.  At first I told them they couldn't, but then decided that since they only last a couple of weeks and since they were willing to spend their own money on them that they could.

Rena ended up with a dolphin on her ankle.......

Maleah chose a bird on her back shoulder.....

Unfortunately we are now down to our last full day with Stacy, Megan, Alex and Dad.  We decided to make one last trip to the beach.  This time we stayed closed and just drove about 10 minutes to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas......

Stacy helped with the Sandcastles this time.......

It was Rena and Cameron's turn to get buried......

Rena was completely covered in sand and decided to take a shower at the beach, but thought that the foot shower had more pressure and gave her a better wash -- she thought she was sooooooo funny!  :) .........

After the beach we headed to Rubio's so that Stacy could taste a fish taco before she left.  I think she liked it.........

Since we had a late lunch at Rubio's and no one was very hungry at dinner time Stacy treated us all to dinner at Baskin and Robbins -- the kids thought it was the best dinner we'd had since everyone had gotten here!........

Unfortunately, Thursday morning arrived and it was time for everyone to go home.  :(   We, of course, had to take a bunch of pictures before we headed out.......

After we finished our pictures at home we headed north - Stacy in her car, dad in his and me and the kids in the van.  We drove north about an hour to have lunch with Gimi, Scott, Tami and Tami's boyfriend, Andy.  Tami and Andy had just flown into LAX from Chicago that morning for a vacation with Gimi and her family so we decided to meet up with them before Stacy, Megan, Alex and Dad all hit the road towards their own homes.  It was a quick visit, but FUN to all be together.

Tami, Me, Gimi and Stacy......    

Andy, Scott, Dad, Tami, Me, Cameron, Gimi, Alex, Rena, Stacy, Megan and Maleah......

And with that -- the family get-together came to an end.  I always HATE good-byes, but dad had a good attitude in the parking lot as we were all hugging and crying and saying our good-byes -- he said "don't be sad that it's over, be glad that it happened!".  And, for once, he is right!!!  (Just joking, dad!)  :)  We did have a great time and are thankful that it did happen!  I am, however, ready to plan our next get together already -- maybe in Hawaii next year?!!?!!  :) 

Oh, and not only was I bad with my blog for the past couple of weeks, but I was also bad with my camera.  So, if you've been looking at Stacy's blog you will probably recognize half of these pictures cause I just stole hers before she left!  Thanks Stacy!!