The Color Run

On a sunny weekend in November, we spent a few days in San Diego, renting an Air Bnb with our friend, Lucero, and her kiddos, Kennedy and Sebastian. We were there for a 5k fun run, the Color Run, at the football  stadium, but Samantha, Amelia and Meredith were most excited about having a sleepover party with their friends!

We stayed at the cutest beach rental, right across the street from the beach, and the kids loved their “hotel.” Sebastian stayed with Lucero in their room, we had the perfect little closet space to put Meredith inside her pack n play in our room, and the twins plus Kennedy had their very own couch bed. The girls fell asleep to a movie and everything seemed to go okay, until about 12 a.m., when Amelia randomly woke up crying/screaming and wandering to our room. She took forever to fall asleep again, at which point, Kennedy was fed up and slept in her mom’s room. Needless to say, we were all a little cranky in the morning, except for Meredith who slept peacefully in her closet.

Despite a bad night’s sleep, we got to the stadium bright and early for the 5k Color Run.

The kids were super excited about their swag, especially the gold glitter tattoos.

Ready, set, go!

The course was set up outside the football stadium, and wasn’t the most scenic of 5ks I’ve ever done, but what it lacked in scenery, it made up for in fun!

I did my best to run in spite of feeling not the greatest due to morning sickness and pregnancy fatigue. But fortunately, I kept just the right pace with the kids! Kennedy ran almost the entire way, while the twins, Meredith and Sebastian ventured out from their comfy strollers occassionally when we made them get out and run.

At each check point, volunteers stand on the sidelines throwing little balls that burst with colored powder, hence the “Color Run.”

But the best part was one of the checkpoints that featured an awesome bubble party! Definitely the favorite.

Meredith was not a fan of all the bubbles and screamed when she got wet. She refused to come out of her stroller and play with the other kids.

We made them run the last stretch and they complained the entire way.

Amelia shows off her medal.

Even though they said the powder was non-toxic and safe for pregnant people, I still didn’t want to breathe it in, so I brought a bandana to cover my face anytime there was a color bomb that burst.

The girls’ favorite part of any fun run is all the free stuff they can grab afterwards. The Color Run had some particularly popular swag, including fruit pouches, flavored sparkling water, snacks, epsom salts, protein bars and beauty products. Lucero and I grabbed as much as we could and stuffed all of it in our strollers.

After a quick lunch stop at In n Out, we showered off all that color back at the beach rental and walked across the street to the beach. The kids had a blast making an epic pool in the sand.

We were sad Lucero and kids had to go back home that day, but we hung out at the beach and stayed at the rental an extra night.

Samantha the tree climber.

The next night of sleep was significantly better than the first. It seems like whenever we go anywhere, the girls have a hard time adjusting to the new sleeping quarters, sights, sounds, etc., and never get good sleep! Everyone was so exhausted the second night that they conked out and slept in the next day. We walked around town, ate breakfast and hit the beach before heading home.

Cupcakes, anyone?

Sad to leave!

Super sad to leave!

Lots of love,

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Scootering Balboa Island

It’s been a while since the girls had played with their friends, Kennedy, and Sebastian, so we met up with Lucero and kids for a spontaneous hangout at Balboa Island.

Kennedy told the girls all about her new American Girl doll, Kelly, and now they want to trade in their Bitty Babies for a big girl doll and go to the AG store in LA with Kennedy.

Meredith is normally a total nightmare in restaurants, but today she decided to people-watch contentedly while we munched on strawberry waffles at Le Pain Quotidien.

Bee helmets on and ready to scooter Balboa Island.

A playdate at Balboa is not complete without a hippo cookie from the famous Dad’s Donuts. There are so many cute shops, ice cream parlors, and bakeries on Balboa that we could have spent all day browsing, but the kids were scootering down the sidewalk faster than we could catch them.

Couldn’t leave without a chocolate banana from the Original Frozen Banana Stand. Meredith enjoyed a lick.

We promised the kids we’d go down to the beach, thinking they’d just stick their toes in the sand for a minute, but NOPE. Samantha and Amelia dove in, jeans and all! They looked miserably uncomfortable on the ride home in their wet jeans, but I didn’t hear any complaints, so they apparently didn’t mind. Meredith made several escape attempts to the ocean and was quite enraged each time I pulled her out of the water.

Constructing a sand castle with Kennedy.

Amelia has been sporting a bandaid prominently on her face for the past week and a half after Samantha burned her with the hot glue gun during an afternoon building a birdhouse with Daddy. Samantha has been very remorseful about the incident and even told her teachers during share time about what happened and how she’s tried to make it up to Amelia with extra hugs and sharing her favorite stuffed animals.

Sebastian shows off his “fish.”

The best part about getting together with this crew is how nicely all the kids play together. Even though Kennedy and Sebastian are a little bit older than the girls, they run off together like the best of friends, lost in their own little world. It’s always nice when I can chat with my own friend while the girls play happily with theirs.

Until our next adventure with the Smiths…

Lots of love,

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Paddleboarding and Sandcastles

Our paddleboarding adventure with the Smith family began on a relaxing note.

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Kennedy helped Samantha and Amelia make sand cakes while we were getting the paddleboard equipment ready to go.

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Photobomb by Ryan.

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Sammy whacked a few people with her paddle before we made it to the water.

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And they’re off!

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I thought the girls would be a little nervous as this was their first time paddleboarding, but they hopped on totally nonchalantly.

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Changing of the guard.

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Sammy swims to shore.

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Kennedy was hesitant to get on, but ultimately decided to join Sebastian and her mom and ended up loving it!

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All that paddle boarding called for a huge dinner.

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Beach baby (noun): A salty sass with sandy toes and a sunkissed nose.

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Kennedy is such a great playmate with Samantha and Amelia and Sebastian was mostly off doing his own thing, so Lucero and I kicked up our feet and watched from afar.

 

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Let go of my hair!

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Who, me?

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Time for your nap, Meredith. Night, night!

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Samantha and Amelia got epically sandy.

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Pretending to be crabs. Samantha and Amelia adore Kennedy and Sebastian and always have a blast.

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Meredith contemplates life’s grand injustices when she woke up from her nap, only to find all the chocolate zucchini muffins had been eaten.

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The kids found a sand castle someone had built and scooped mud (they kept calling it “seagull poop”) from the shore to fill in the moat.

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Kennedy practices her sand ballet.

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All that hard work by someone destroyed in about five seconds.

Had a great time, gang!

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These girls crack me up. Beach bums for life!

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Lots of love,

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Spring Strawberry Picking

Spring means strawberry picking! We’ve done Tanaka Farms in the past, but this year we decided to try out South Coast Farms along with the Smith family. It was crazy hot and windy in San Juan Capistrano, and we had four little red faces by the end of the afternoon– half from the sun and half from strawberries.

Jake stood back in the shade with Meredith in her wrap while I went out with Lucero, Ryan and the kids. Kennedy is always such a good friend to the twins and helped them find some of the juiciest strawberries out there.

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Amelia and her pickings.

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Samantha found a very small, green, unripe strawberry, which she picked and told me it was a “baby strawberry for baby Meredith.” She was very adamant about protecting her baby strawberry so that she could give it to Meredith later. Unfortunately, after filling her carton with her pickings, she tripped on the way back, with the strawberries flying everywhere. Many tears, scraped knees and wipes later, her main concern wasn’t refilling her carton, but finding the baby strawberry! Samantha is a sweetheart to her sister.

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Rosy cheeks!

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Watch out for Kennedy and her tractor.

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Backseat driver.

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I wonder what it will be like when the twins start learning to drive for real!

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Next door at the Ecology Center, we got some refreshing strawberry basil lemonades and the kids learned all about gardening.

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Watering the plants they arranged.

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We need a water pump like this in our house– seems like the perfect multi-purpose way to get some energy out.

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It was an incredibly hot and windy 86 degree day and I was paranoid about the less-than-cleanly environment (e.g. the porter potties were overflowing and there was no running water/soap for hand washing on site, unlike Tanaka Farms), so Meredith stayed safely in her stroller/wrap while we were out, while I guarded her from sun exposure, dirt-caked hands and prying well-wishers.

One thing we found so funny was the amount of people with babies, some as young as Meredith, in carriers, COMPLETELY exposed (no hat, blankie, cover) to the midday, sweltering sun. Compare them to me darting at lightning speed from tree to tree and constantly scanning the environment for the next shady location I could move with Meredith, and I probably looked like a basket case. I have a dermatologist friend, so maybe that’s made me paranoid! Either way, shade-finding was my major source of exercise that day.

The girls had a great time with the gardening and strawberry picking, but due to the fact that they had been running on only some snacks I brought, plus the lemonade and falafel for sale (they wouldn’t touch the other vegan options there), it was pretty much a scream fest all the way to the car when we were done. In the words of Jake, “This place is obviously run by hippies!” No complaints from Meredith though– she thought the whole experience and being out in the fresh air was great!

Granola baby!

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We had a babysitter arranged for the evening, but because we were too exhausted from sanitizing the twins/running around in the heat all day to go out for a proper date, we left the twins (who had collapsed upon arriving home and were still napping at 5 p.m. when we left) with the sitter and grabbed a quick bite to eat after grocery shopping with Meredith for our “date night.” Good thing being out with just Meredith is always a treat– she’s a star!

While out, the stars aligned when we spotted some rhubarb and knew we were destined to make rhubarb strawberry pie for dessert. It was gone before I could take any pictures.

Lots of love,

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