baby sister comes to visit

Jenna is going on a mission in August to Edmonton, Canada. Super thrilled for her and also superthrilled that we got to host her for a few days over her spring break. We went to our favorite spot, 22nd street in Hermosa, as well as Venice beach boardwalk (for the people watching and salt and straw obviously), Manhattan Beach Pier, and Disneyland of course! What a treat. 

taking ADVANTAGE of the rain - empty saturday at disney, check.

beach days of late

honey comes to visit!

the girls are always in heaven when Honey comes!  we tried for the tide pools at abalone cove but they were closed, so we settled on trump golf course, instead.  we saw all kind of sea creatures, including a tiny OCTOPUS.  it had to be one of the coolest things ever.

idaho summer 2017

country western day.

hazel's school goes above and beyond.  we are so blessed to go here.  a couple weeks ago they did a "country western day", and the kids got to ride ponies, pan for gold, pet farm animals, and milk a "cow".  

the downside to such an amazing event, is that i had to bring cora along to watch/take pictures, and it was TORTURE for her not to be able to participate.  especially in riding the ponies and the petting zoo.  don't worry, heffalump, you'll get your chance to go to preschool too. ;)

our last three disney days we have gone with mimi, met up with honey and jenna during their choir tour, and then met up with mimi again, along with jayme, doug, and cousin sydney!  this has all been over the last three weeks of course ;) i am amazed at how much easier disney can be with another adult to help out!  but, even on the days i am outnumbered, we have a great time.

disneyland with daddy.

there's just something so magical about disneyland around christmastime!  after the fireworks john commented on how amazing and magical the show was.  yes, yes it was.  it was a very late though and after the show hazel said, "mommy, i want my bed, please".  

and look how beautiful that castle is!

disneyland!

my family has always been a little obsessed with disney.  my grandma instilled a love for all things disney (especially the parks) in us from a very young age.  i can remember going at least once a year for several years growing up, which may not seem like a lot to some, but when you only take two vacations a year... making 50% of them to disneyland is no joke.  so you can imagine my excitement at moving here to LA and having the chance to get a year passport!  it took us awhile to commit (because i'm afraid of the freeway and traffic...) but i'm so glad that i got brave and took both the girls on friday.  they were in heaven!  (especially hazel!)  and the drive is only about 45 minutes.  not bad!

of course we cruised through fantasy land, small world, and a lot of the kid rides first thing.  cora napped while hazel and i shared a dole whip and met snow white, cinderella, and ariel.  hazel's face in that picture with ariel has to be the best thing ever. and then we enjoyed the jungle cruise, tikki room, and pirates.  cora was really brave on pirates, snow white, and mr. toad's wild ride.  all of which are a little scary for a one and a half year old!  

cora's favorite seemed to be dumbo.  although she's doesn't look happy in the picture we took on it because we had just gone on snow white and it is terrifying.  

hazels favorites:

small world and peter pan.  hands down!

every day since hazel has asked to go back to disneyland, see minnie again, and fly with the stars on peter pan.  i'm hoping we can make it out there on wednesday :)  what a dream you are, CA!

strawberry picking with cousins:

john's cousins invited us to go strawberry picking at tanaka farms with them yesterday and we had a total blast. if there's one fruit my girls love, it's strawberries! we got a tractor tour of the farm, and tried out different raw vegetables. here is my very picky girl licking an onion! it was a big day for us:

the girls and i tried corn, green beans, onion, and carrots. green beans are one of my favorite veggies but they are terrible raw. i grew up eating raw carrots out of the garden and that was just as delicious as i remember. cora happily knawed on that carrot the entire tractor ride:

and of course, we got filthy eating delicious strawberries right from the bushes. 

we love outside.

- especially this time of year.

zoo for days!

when we first moved out here, i bought a zoo pass to the little zoo near us.  it's only a 15-minute drive from our house and the perfect size for a 1 or 2 hour outing.  plus, hazel asks to go to the "zooon!" every. single. day.  needless to say, we go a lot.  

these pictures are actually from two different zoo days.  a penguin came right up to hazel to chat, and cora got an up-close look at the fish.  (hazel also asks for "nemo" the second we get into the zoo.

"we're on the train!" - hazel

cora, smiling at her sister moving up and down on the carousel.
this time, hazel chose the tiger:

we are now securely in the phase of weird smiles when i tell her to smile for a picture.  it's amazing.

the turtleback zoo:

we have had such an amazing and crazy couple of weeks!  we have been going and going and i am pretty exhausted at this life trying to be a fun mom to my girls and sometimes i feel like i am going just fall over dead but i am so blissfully happy with this life of ours.  life is good, God is good.  anyways, we had a great time at the zoo last week.

hazel thought this giant cow was pretty cool, and loved standing up in front of it!

not happy at all ;)

and hazel chose the bald eagle on the carousel!

the farm!

on wednesday we went to an actual farm in new jersey.  i don't know if you remember but hazel has this obsession with raspberries.  so we drove up and saw the animals, rode the hay ride, and picked raspberries right off the bush and ate them.  we picked quite a few peaches too and i have been enjoying delicious peaches and cream all week.  and tonight we made peach cobbler with said peaches and it was completely amazing.  hurray for farms nearby!

cora's rolling tongue (laugh crying emoji) ^^^

if you look closely you can see hazel's raspberries smothered all over her face ^^^