Wheeler Farm

A couple weeks ago, we went to Wheeler Farm with Katie, Trever,and their kids. (Wheeler Farm is an old dairy farm that the county bought, restored, and made into a park of sorts.) We had a little picnic, then wandered around the farm for a while. It is such a fun place to take little ones because of all the animals. And the best part...it's FREE!

My two boys! I love this picture of Justin and Austin!

There were lots of animals to see: cows, horses, sheep, pigs, chicken, turkeys, bunnies, a donkey, a rat, and lots of duck and geese to feed bread to!

When Austin saw the sheep, he let out a big "BAAAA." Such a smart boy!

One of Austin's favorite places to be...Daddy's shoulders!

Austin with his little friends. We don't know what we are going to do when they move away! He has so much fun with them, and gets so excited when I tell him we are going to see "the girls!"

Me and my boy!

We had a really good time. It was nice to go do something with good friends. I think we will for sure be going back soon. Austin really enjoyed it, and has been playing with his toy farm a lot more. Since our trip to the farm, he now says "cow," "moo," and "e-i-e-i."

My New Eyes

I had my second eye surgery this past Tuesday. Both surgeries went well. It is pretty amazing what they can do these days. I had a rough time after the first surgery because I only had the one eye done. Things would seem blurry off and on all day long, and were especially bad in fluorescent lighting. Now, I can see GREAT at a distance, but things are very blurry up close. My doctor says this is normal and expected, and that it will take time for my brain to train itself what to focus on. In the meantime, it is just very frustrating!!

Some of my favorite things about my new vision:

1. Colors...they are so much more vibrant than I thought they were...especially black and green.
2. Austin's hair. It is darker than I thought it was. And there is more of it!
3. Our carpet. I know it sounds dumb, but I like to look at it now, because I can see each little piece...it still looks good after nearly 3 years!

My big day

Tomorrow is the first of my two big days this month. I found out about a month and a half ago that I have cataracts. I know what you're thinking...isn't that something that usually happens to people when they get old?!? Yes, typically. But, I have them...in both eyes. So, tomorrow I go in for surgery to remove and replace the lens in my left eye. I will then have the right eye done August 26th!! This is what I will be having done (if anyone is interested).


So, to help keep myself from stressing out too much about it all, I decided to spiff up the blog a bit!

Huntington Beach

On Tuesday, we headed out to the beach before we had to head home. The closest beach to the hotel was Huntington Beach. It ended up being a really nice beach area. Austin wasn't quite sure what to think of it all.

We had a lot of fun playing in the water. Austin and I played right a long the shore for a while. Then he got to go chase the birds with Gram and Sarah. Justin and I stayed out in the water longer, just enjoying the beautiful ocean.

I can't believe how foolish I was though. I decided that since it was cloudy, and we were only going to be there for a while, that we didn't need to put sunscreen on. Luckily, my Mom put some on Austin. Justin and I got FRIED. It made for a very long flight home, and rough next couple of days. But, we survived, and I have definitely learned my lesson.

We had such a wonderful vacation, and are so glad that we were able to spend time with each other and with family. Thank you Mom and Chuck for this wonderful experience! We had so much fun. We love y'all!!!!

San Diego Zoo

Have you ever seen anything cuter?

On Monday, we headed back down to San Diego to visit the zoo. It is such an amazing zoo. We ended up only staying a couple hours, but got to see almost everything. We took the bus tour around the park, then walked to see the things we hadn't seen from the bus. Somehow, I only got pictures of the pandas.

There is a baby panda in this last picture. You can hardly see her, but she is there...playing with her mom!

Disneyland Finale

We spent Sunday at Disneyland also. We got up early and entered the park as soon as it opened. Did you know that you could ask for an autographed picture of characters at City Hall (if you give a good story about it being your birthday or something!)? So, since Charles and I had just celebrated our birthdays, we went and put in our requests. I, of course, had to get a picture of Tigger for my little man!

They will also give you buttons for a variety of different occasions. I got a birthday button and Austin got a "First Visit" button! Mom and Chuck got "Just Married." Here are the newly weds outside the castle!

Then it was off to Breakfast with Minnie. I don't think a trip to Disneyland would be complete without this event. It was so nice to have the characters come to us, rather than spending all day hunting them down in the park. Austin was so cute with them all. He even tried to share his breakfast with Minnie.

Later that morning,we heading back to California Adventure. We took Austin to Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. He absolutely LOVED it! We even got to meet Manny after the show!

That night we got a prime spot right in front of the castle to watch the fireworks. They were AMAZING!! Austin fell asleep right before the fireworks started, and slept the rest of the night. I could not believe it!! After the fireworks, we played and shopped until the park closed. It was a long. but very fun final day at Disneyland!

More Disneyland

We spent all day Saturday at Disneyland. We finally made it over to Critter Country, and took Austin on the Winnie the Pooh ride. That may have just been the highlight of the trip. He was SO cute, and SO excited the entire time...smiling and pointing at everything. As soon as we got off the ride, the characters were there to get pictures. Austin just walked right up to them all. He was so excited to see Tigger, that he tripped and fell right on his face as we were walking up to him. Before we knew it, Tigger was there helping him up. What do you know...he was so happy to have Tigger there, that he didn't even cry about falling.

Austin couldn't stop looking at Pooh Bear

He kept pulling Eeyore's ear

Tigger helping Austin up

That afternoon, my Mom kindly offered to take Austin back to the hotel so that he could get a nap (and cool off a bit!). So, Justin and I got to go on rides together and spend some time with Sarah, James, Erin, Jessica, and Lucas. I had made reservations for the 2 of us at the Blue Bayou later that night. It was a very nice dinner. I have never tried gumbo before, but they had some AWESOME chicken gumbo!!!

That night, the three of us went over to California Adventure. We took a quick ride on Monster's Inc. before watching the Electric Light Parade. It was a great parade. Austin watched the ENTIRE thing, and was asleep within minutes of it ending! We had a lot of fun at Disneyland, and were really glad that Austin enjoyed himself so much. I wasn't quite sure how it would be with a 14 month old, but he did great!

Just the three of us waiting for the parade

Austin cheesin' it in the stroller! Cute little guy!

Electric Light Parade

California- Part I

It will probably take me several posts to document our whole trip. Our first day in California (Wednesday), we spent at Disneyland. It was awesome. Austin loved it, and was absolutely WONDERFUL on the entire trip. We spent a good part of our day in Toontown. We stood in the forever long line to meet Mickey Mouse. It was worth it though, to see Austin's reaction when he saw Mickey! He especially liked Mickey's nose!!

Playing Mickey's piano while we waited in line

Me, Austin, Mickey, and Charles

Part of the gang: Justin, Me, Austin, Mickey, Charles, Chuck, Shannon, and Erin

These are some pictures of us playing around in Toontown.

The boys busting out of the dog pound!!!

Sarah and Shannon bustin' out!

We also watched the parade later that afternoon. I could not believe how enthralled Austin was in it. He just stared at everything that went past, and would point and say "This, This!"

Watching and pointing as the parade goes by

He loved it!

On Thursday we went to SeaWorld. We got a few pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. We didn't get there until mid-afternon thanks to good ol' LA traffic (there had been a horrible accident). It took us about 4 hours to get to San Diego...stuck on the freeway!!! Anyway, we had fun. I really enjoyed the night time shows they had. I actually think they might be better than the regular show. Austin and I also spent time in the kids area with Mom, Chuck, and Charles. He was so cute on all the little rides we took him him on. He would puts his arms in the air, and say "Whoa!" These are pictures from the night time dolphin show. (Sorry, they are not the best pictures!)

On Friday, we went to Universal Studios. It was okay...fun for adults, not so much for kids. Justin and I did go on the Mummy ride, which was awesome! They also had a new Simpson's ride, that Justin really enjoyed.

Justin outside the Kwik-E-Mart

Justin being eaten by Jaws

Mom and Chuck being eaten by Jaws