3 Musketeers at the Botanic Gardens in Encinitas

Peggy and Paxton stayed in California for a week after their trip. Peggy and I loved having more time together and we especially loved watching the kids play together. One day we took Liliana, Layla and Pax to the Botanic Gardens.

planting succulents:
Creating masterpieces:

These girls are too cute together:
Pax thinks so too. Look at him checking them out!

"Come here Layla, give me a hug!"
"Now I want one from you Lila!"
Handsome little explorer:
Cooling off and playing with boats in the stream:

Cabo Trip with the Walters

The Walters traded their time share in Belize for a week in Cabo San Lucas...A WEEK adult-only VACATION! Adam and I haven't done that since our honeymoon five years ago. We thought of this as an anniversary trip. It was really hard to leave Liliana and tears were shed a couple of mornings on the trip, but it was a much needed getaway and we were having so much fun that it was easy to stay distracted from how much we missed our babies. We made SO many amazing memories and laughed until our stomaches hurt. We had too much fun to fit in one blog post, so here are just a handful of the 100+ pictures of all of the fabulous things that we did on our vacation.

Snorkeling trip in Cabo Pulmo...it was a long drive, but the water was beautiful and clear and we saw a lot of great fish.

Beach in front of our hotel:
Lots of crazy-fun nights out in town. We patronized practically every bar in downtown Cabo:

We took a day trip to Cerritos beach where we found a small boutique hotel that was completely empty. We took it over for the day and enjoyed the swim up bar and view:

We took a boat tour to the arch and enjoyed being the only people on a little cove of Lover's Beach.

We had a lot of great dinners together:

And did some serious relaxing in our hotel pool:

Meanwhile, Liliana was having a "fa-cation" of her own.

She didn't cry a bit when we said goodbye to her. In fact, she rushed us all morning so that she could get in the car with Grandma and Grandpa and get her trip started. Her first stop was Ojai Valley Inn where she was spoiled with a fancy "big girl" bed, room service (her fave), nice dinners, and a showing of Beauty and the Beast while floating in the hotel pool and eating popcorn. Then they headed up to my parent's house. She went to San Francisco for a ladies luncheon and some shopping, went to Fairy Land, Little Farm petting zoo, swimming with Uncle in the pool, saw Winnie the Pooh in the theatre and much more. She was so distracted by all of the fun that she was having that she didn't miss us a bit. When we would call her or Skype her she would say, "AGAIN?!?" Towards the end of the trip she started telling my mom, "Grandma, I'm sorry, but I think I need to go home soon. Are you going to be sad when I leave? Are you going to cry?" Then, when we picked her up from the airport she told my mom, "Thank you for everything that you did for me. I love you. Now, go home." She had a blast with them and is still talking about all of her adventures. She tells me almost every day about the different things that she did with Grandma and Grandpa and that she misses them and wants to go see them.

Breakfast in bed at Ojai Valley Inn
Swimming at the hotel with Grandpa
Forts with Uncle in Lafayette
Grandma's chicken noodle soup--her favorite

Story time

Swimming with Uncle
Tire swing in the backyard
Fairy Land in Oakland

Summer Fun

Liliana is very into "seasons" and the way we celebrate and enjoy them. She often asks while we are playing at the beach or swimming with friends, "is this summer Mom?" :) I'm sure there will be more summer fun and pictures to come before the season is over. For now, here are a handful...

Backyard Baby Pool with Will and Aubrey:

Impromptu splash session at Irvine Spectrum (note: when I texted these pictures to people in my family they immediately inquired about Liliana's uncharacteristic outfit choice. She was actually in Tinkerbell dress-up dress and I took it off for the water play. She would NEVER leave the house in green shorts.)

Sharing Watermelon with Brayden (at Brayden's house):

Skinny Dipping and Dance Parties with Layla and Pax (at the Tollack's Annual BBQ/Pool Party):





Dinner picnics and bonfires at the Beach:
Giselle
Stella
Kisses from Will
Liliana kissing Baby Maddie Gendreau