The Floats

In one of those moments of reminiscing, I asked Phil, "Do you remember when we went to see the Rose Parade floats when the kids were teeny?" We shared a laugh over it recalling that we very likely had more fun that day than the kids who maybe might have been bored out of their little minds.

In any case, we woke up the next morning and Phil decided we should go again and maybe the kids would enjoy it more now that they're older.

Famous last words.

Because seriously, what's there to enjoy when there's only stuff like this to look at?

A couple of birds, big whoop.

There was just a touch more excitement over seeing this float because 1) they saw it on tv the day before and 2) Trader Joes!

This was the only time that day where there wasn't a crowd of people around us so I grabbed a quick shot (still the Trader Joes float).

Not ten minutes there and already they were too hot. (Granted, it was a very warm day- the start of a very long heat wave with temps well into the upper 80s. In January! But apparently, these are beach kids who can only tolerate temps 75 +/-3 degrees.)

Not entirely pleased with Daddy's method of cooling him down.

Then they decided they were hungry. We thought this small Jonah-sized snack would tide them over. For a little while.

So we pressed on.

Like I said, it was crowded.

Thankfully, we still have the tank-like stroller that automatically creates space around us. Just the baby sitting on top of the stroller is different now.

But despite the heat, hunger, and crowds,

still totally worth it

to see all the different floats

 and so much creative detail in each one.

Depending on who you asked.

Paying homage to his motherland.

Do you hear the theme song in your head? No? Yeah, totally me neither.

Seriously people, what's not to love about this thoroughly enjoyable day?

A cute, crazy labor-intensive duck!

This sweet, I'm going to say, donkey, made of kernels of corn and red kidney beans among other things!

This big doggy looks like he's licking Jonah's head.  Har har.

This random bucket of potatoes among all the flowers that I still find puzzling now as I look at it again.

But no, none of my enthusiastic commentary or Phil's antics were enough to make them want to linger longer.

They were ready to leave.  Shocker.

Big brother lending a helping hand to his sagging little brother.  Anything to get us out of there faster.

He wanted to push the button and did it the way he's seen his siblings do it- with the back of his hand instead of his fingers. Illness averted. Well done, son.

The biggest smiles of the day? On the way running back to the van.

Hmm. It's looking like we'll not be back anytime soon. But give us another four years to forget the moans and groans, the heat, the hunger, and the crowds and we'll get to reminiscing again about how teeny they were and do it all over again.

Because you know, they'll be bigger then and would enjoy it more, right?

Right?

good times with good friends.

last week, we had the fun privilege of having our good friends from minnesota stay with us for a few days while they were here on vacation.  dave and phil were in med school together and brooke and i had fun times getting together for playdates and commiserating over our similar plights.  so it was really, really nice to see them again and have a few days to catch up (though it still didn't feel like enough!) as well as show them a few sights.

the fermins were raring to go even after a long flight over.  so off we went to check out the whale fiesta over at the cabrillo aquarium in san pedro (mikey asked if we'd see you, esther!).  we kinda caught the tail-end of it, but still managed to have a good time!

whale skeleton!

allie went straight to the coloring table (she's been BIG on drawing lately).

luke watching as his daddy finished cutting out his dolphin door hanger.

catching krill in between the baleen.

seahorse!

phil and i totally didn't see this fish until we saw the EYE looking at us!

checking out the touch pool but not quite ready to stick his hand in there. 

don't worry luke, i've never done it either!  :)

we finally let lauren out of the baby carrier to get a closer view of the fish.

samuel stayed a happy camper strapped to his mommy's back.

the boys became fast friends and had a blast playing together.

here's phil modeling the latest trend of using tights as a fashionable scarf.  it's all the rage!

lauren made herself comfy in the sand.  it later even found itself down her shirt.

this little rascal kept making a beeline for the ocean
and kept his mommy running after him!

lauren did her best to convince dave that he and brooke
need to have a girl baby sooner rather than later!  :)

the next day, the fermins headed over to disneyland while we took mikey and allie
to school.  but we picked the kids up at lunchtime to join them soon after.

quick pic with minnie just as we got into the park.  allie later told me that she liked minnie,

but didn't want to get too close to her.  that's my hand on allie to keep her from bolting!

we met up with the fermins in the bug's life area
where the bigger kids rode the bumper cars.

lauren didn't meet the height requirement, but found
a little porthole just her size to look in on the fun.

then it was on to heimlich's ride!

happy little guys.

what?  don't they look like they're having a blast, too?

samuel enjoyed the part of the mickey mouse clubhouse show he was awake for...

mikey and daddy getting in on the fight scene.

and we caught the pixar play parade, too!

mikey (and phil) thought these army guys were pretty cool.

little bo peep stopped to blow a kiss and wave to allie,
which about thrilled her to pieces.

in between all the outings, we had a bit of time to kick back at the house too.
lauren LOVED having another baby around.  but i think samuel could have
done without all the feminine attention.  : p

we (minus phil) visited the long beach aquarium on our final day together.

here are the boys sizing up this rather large whale.

brooke claimed that holding lauren balanced her out. 

(thanks brooke, for keeping me from losing any of the kiddos!)

always fun to see a diver in there with the fish.

THANKS fermins for coming out to visit us!  we had a great time and only wish we could have played longer!  we miss you guys-- especially mikey, who kept asking if luke was going to come back after you left. : (