God Bless the USA

Happy {belated} Independence Day!!

Elijah has literally talking about the 4th of July for the last 365 days. 

He keeps asking if we can watch fireworks and eat ice cream again. 

Well last night, all his wildest dreams came true! 

He kept telling us, 

"Fireworks are SO fun!! I just love fireworks!" 

Him and Adam lit some off in our backyard and played with sparklers too. 

And I'm pretty sure Adam's pyro heart could not have been more glad to see his son enjoy them so much. 

{Those boys are going to be trouble as Elijah gets older....}

Hope you all had a fun and safe Independence Day!

backyard campout

Aren't these boys the cutest?? 

Since Adam and Elijah didn't get to go to the Fathers & Sons campout [and it would have been freezing!], they decided to have a little campout in the comfort of Gigi & Grandpa's backyard. 

Elijah was SOOO excited! He loves camping and couldn't wait to set everything up. 

And he actually did sleep through the night! The first time they went it was so cold and he struggled sleeping in the sleeping bag. But he did great this time around. 

I'm so grateful for a husband who takes the time to make sweet little memories with his son. You just know that Elijah loves Adam and already looks up to him so much. It is one of my favorite things to see them interact with one another and create that sweet father-son bond. 

I love these boys so much! 

magic of Funland

Isn't it amazing how things that we, adults, might think is totally lame and dumb can make a little kid feel like he won a trip to Disneyland?? 

That is probably one of my absolute favorite things about being a parent: seeing the excitement & wonder in Elijah's face when he does new things, things that I know I take for granted. 

He's a pretty excitable kid and even the simplest things seem to bring him the most joy. 

Bubbles, puppies, shaved ice, chickens, airplanes, finding a coin on the ground... and cheapy, old carnival rides that just go around in circles are just some of Elijah's favorite things. 

Even though we adults might not have been able to do anything exhilarating at Funland, seeing Elijah light up as if he was at Disneyland was pretty much worth it. 

{Thank you Gigi & Grandpa!} 

Also, this was Elijah's first reaction to the fish ride because he said he was too scared of the octopus. 

We all pretty much died. 

This scene was also very worth it ;)

He got brave enough to open his eyes soon enough though. :)

love of grandparents {& micke grove}

Take Elijah for an afternoon of seeing little animals and that boy is in heaven! 

There is this little {and I mean little} zoo that we went to while visiting Adam's family and even if it was not the most exciting place for adults, Elijah thought it was just as great as going to a big zoo. 

His favorite part was seeing the rooster (of course) and kept trying to chase it around. 

I mean, out of all the more "exotic" animals, the rooster is what he focused on. 

My favorite part was seeing Eli grow closer to Adam's parents and see their relationship blossom. 

He didn't mind following grandpa allll around and holding his hand. 

And actually smiled and posed for pictures with Gigi. 

Every day when Elijah woke up, he would come in our room and the first thing he'd say was,

"Where is Grandpa and Gigi??"

And every day when Adam's dad came home from work Elijah would yell "Grandpa!" and run to him. 

And when Adam's mom was sick for the first few days, Elijah was so upset and kept saying, "But Gigi is sick for too long!" and couldn't wait to see her and play with her. 

Even though we are far and don't get to go see them too often, I'm so grateful for the relationship that Elijah has with Adam's parents and the bond that they share. It means the world to me that Eli has such loving grandparents who want to spend time with him, make memories, and spoil him rotten. I still cherish the relationship I have had with my grandparents and only hope the same for all my children. 

I mean, grandparents are kind of the best! :) 

where a kid can be a kid

Hello Big Belly!

We could probably just sum up the next few posts with "Elijah had the time of his life." 

Because seriously, this kid did not stop smiling with all the fun things he go to do. 

He got to go to a fun kid's park called Pixie Woods where there were lots of different playgrounds, a carousel, a train, and a fun splash pad. Everything Elijah loves. 

Plus he got to go to the zoo, the mini theme park, ice cream pretty much every night, camping, movies & gummy worms, Super Mario games, swimming, boat ride... 

I told Adam multiple times I wish I had his vacation. ;) 

He was totally spoiled. And he had a blast with all that stuff. 

But what I loved seeing the most was Elijah playing for hours in the backyard and making friends with the snails and bugs. I had never been more proud to see him come inside dirty from playing in the dirt. I loved seeing him have the space to just be a kid! 

After coming back home to the sweltering heat, I think I'm ready to move to California. :)

I'm on a boat { + getting healthy}

Continuing on with scenes from our vacation 

{that I totally dropped off the blog-o-shephere during...} 

One of our favorite things to do when we visit Adam's parents is get to go on the boat. 

Elijah loves being on the water and going really fast! 

And it's always really cool to see the huge ocean-liners & ships that come in from the sea to get their shipments. [Stockton has one of the most inland deepwater ports coming from the Pacific Ocean.]

Grandpa even let Eli drive the boat which he was pretty stoked about. 

Seriously, this kid belongs on the water! 

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::P.S. :: 

We as a family have been trying to make better goals to eat and live healthier. And also the baby is pretty much forcing me to because SHE HATES ALL FOOD! But really we have been trying to be more aware of our eating habits and fill our bodies with more whole foods & snacks. 

So I am really excited to try out this virtual e-course my friend has been putting on each month that helps motivate & support you through the transition to a healthier life! It is called Healthy Habits and starts at the beginning of each month. [It might not be too late to sign up for this month or you can wait til next]. It's a 28-day course with virtual e-coaching, daily lessons, action steps, and email access to a certified Holistic Health Coach. 

You can find out more information here and sign up for the course. PLUS you can use this code for a special 10% off! 

Here is a little sneak peek of what you will get with the course: 

Hope to see you in class and hear about your experiences! 

to the beach!

As a "Welcome Summer & holy-cow-we're-going-to-have-two-kids-soon" celebration, we decided to take a little family vacation to California to visit Adam's family and see some sights. We started our trip off with a stop at Pismo Beach and got to spend about two days there enjoying the sand and sun. 

We were going to meet Adam's parents there but his mom got really sick and wasn't able to come. So it just ended up being the three of us and we realized it was our very first vacation with just our little family. We missed Gigi and Grandpa (Elijah asked for them everyday! and counted down the hours until we would see them at their house) but it was a nice time to bond just the three of us. 

The beach was pretty cold and as you got to the shore you would get hit with a freezing blast of wind. But that didn't stop Elijah! We couldn't keep up with him and his need for the sand and waves. While we would be bundled up in layers, Elijah was totally fine just running around in his swim suit and getting chased by the big waves. He loved watching them hit the sandy beach and ran around looking for seashells and crabs. Seriously, that kid was meant for beach life. 

We also got to see a lot of wildlife while we were there which was really awesome! Our first night there we saw dolphins from our balcony jumping out of the water. It was seriously the coolest thing ever! Poor Elijah though couldn't ever see them fast enough, so instead he would just call out "Did you see that dolphin?!?!" really excitedly even when nothing was around cause he really wanted to be part of the excitement. We also went to the pier and saw barge-loads of seals & sea lions, some even swimming right below us. And at the tide pools we saw tons of crabs, urchins, and anemones and we even saw two big starfish. Life made. 

We love Pismo and it's full of so many wonderful memories for us. Adam grew up going there as a kid with his family and then we also got to spend a few nights of our honeymoon there. Going there again with our own little family was a pretty cool "Circle of Life" moment. I hope we can keep the Pismo tradition alive for our own kids and continue to make memories there in the years to come.