Since Parker's birthday fell on a Monday this year, we celebrated all weekend long! We started off with his chosen breakfast on Saturday morning--Mexican pastries--and then made a long, rainy drive up to Bass Pro in Rancho Cucamonga so he could get some new fishing gear. (Which was followed by In-N-Out for lunch.) The next morning, he and Jared went fishing together in Mission Bay, where Parker caught a spotted bass! They came home in time for lunch and then family and his best friend joined us for a birthday pizza party! And that was all before his actual birthday! Yahoo for Seven Years Old!
Look out behind you!
Parker requested cheesecake this year, which I was happy to learn how to make. Although it tasted delicious, it certainly felt like a comedy of errors making it--for one, don't look too hard at the raspberry sauce decoration on top, it was far from the consistency and delicate "drizzle" effect I had envisioned!
Momma's recent "surfing" safari helped to inspire Parker to get out in the water more and boogie board this year (and maybe even learn how to surf!).
Time for a new, bigger bike--this time with gears and hand brakes!
I found this picture of Levi on my memory card when I got my pictures from Catalina--I don't remember if I posted it already back then, but it sure is a cute blast from the past!
Jared's request for his 40th birthday celebration was to camp together, just the two of us, in Catalina! This was my first time making the crossing over there in his fishing boat, so it was quite the accomplishment for me. I found that it wasn't scary in any way, just a little exhausting after a couple of hours of nonstop driving. We lucked out with an amazingly warm, sunny weekend--it felt like we were in a tropical paradise. Although Catalina isn't too far away, it feels like a different world--the water is so blue, and was so incredibly clear--it felt just like staring into an aquarium. We lounged around in our blow up raft, went for early evening walks, played games by the campfire, and tooled around all of the nearby coves in the fishing boat the next morning. We had an easy crossing back to Dana Point, and I'm pretty sure Jared is already planning our next trip back :) Happy Birthday!!!
Leaving Dana Point, 6am Saturday morning.
The view from our campsite at Two Harbors (you can see part of our inflatable raft on the left--the boys are going to have so much fun playing in it this summer!).
Hiking very carefully among the cacti on the hillside.
I may be wrong, but I think this was our first vacation together since Parker was born!
Sunset view of the cove at Two Harbors. So quaint.
Tropical island paradise!
Buffalo roaming through the campground--we opted to walk back up the hill and take the long way around to our campsite! About an hour later, once it was pitch dark, we heard a man shouting and yelling--seems like he was walking along the trail in the dark carrying a load of fish he had caught while diving, and walked right into the buffalo! Scared him to death, and he dropped all of his fish...which the buffalo proceeded to sit on. We had lots of laughs that night.
Waking up in the morning...funnily enough, the small waves washing up on the beach and the seals barking all night were almost too loud for sleeping! And I thought the sounds were going to be so charming...
Jared's traditional blueberry pancake camping breakfast.
The water was SO CLEAR. We sucked it up and put our bathing suits on and jumped in before we left--it was definitely very cold! I think I swam as fast as I could to climb back on the boat! Luckily the weather was nice and warm so we recovered quickly.
Fancy lunch: plastic plates! cloth napkins! peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! good beer!
A dolphin send-off before we headed home.
Passing big ships at sea on our way home.
We also passed GIANT kelp paddies--Jared said these would have been incredible fishing opportunities if it was summer and the water was warm.
Jared had to take a business trip to New York (so fancy) during Parker's President's Week vacation, so the boys and I headed down to Point Loma for a little San Diego staycation. We enjoyed visiting with the neighbors--the "other" Prindles and Mimi and Grandpa Niki--and had fun at the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park and exploring the Midway downtown. It was definitely a fun mini vacation for us!
Levi is quite the chef--he loves helping out in the kitchen.
We played lots of "wall ball"--Levi's ultimate goal eventually became to get his beach ball to launch over the wall and land in the fountain on the other side.
Mimi and Parker playing one of many very intense games of wall ball.
Checking out the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.
Levi painted lots of animals!
When Levi paints, all colors become one.
How you keep a 3-year old shopper happy.
Cousin Alex gave the boys these stuffies, and they wanted to bring them everywhere we went. Luckily Mimi's spaceship (her van) has lots of seats so we could all be safe while underway.
This is where the bad kids go on the Midway! In the brig.
I told Levi to pretend the shark was biting his hand.
They look like pros directing jet traffic up on deck!
