Vacation

We did it. We successfully went on a vacation with our two children and we all survived to tell the tale. Tim and I have not taken a vacation since Lilybelle was 7 months old. It always seemed like it was too much work to actually leave our house and go somewhere. But I got tired of not going anywhere and felt like Claire was old enough to try a small vacation. We decided to drive down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I figured it was a short enough Here are a few of the highlights.

We dropped Sophie off at my parents' house Monday morning, hung out for about an hour and then took off. I had a movie and TV shows downloaded on our various devices and a bag and cooler full of snack foods. I felt prepared. About an hour into our trip, Claire started screaming uncontrollably, and in the midst of her fit, Tim announces that the tire pressure warning light just came on. I thought we were doomed to never go on a vacation and should just turn around, but instead we turned into a gas station I took Claire out and into the little store and Tim put air in the tire. I got the girls some candy and we set off again. This time the tire was fine, and Claire discovered that chocolate (in the form of M&Ms) can fix all her problems. Just kidding, but she was happy the rest of the trip.

We got down to Seaside, CA where our hotel was, got checked in, and checked out the hotel pool. It was a huge hit. Afterwards we had dinner and settled in for the night. We decided that Claire was probably big enough to sleep on the hotel bed and so her and Lilybelle shared the sleeper sofa in our room. Lilybelle did great; Claire did okay. She got up a few times, but always went right back to sleep.

The next morning we got up, and had breakfast at the hotel. It was delicious. I'll leave it at that. We then got in the car and took the short drive into Monterey Bay. Since we got there early in the morning we were able to get free parking not too far from the aquarium.  We then walked around Cannery Row and checked out the beach because that was the whole reason Lilybelle went on vacation (she talked about the beach nonstop in car ride down). When the aquarium opened we got right in since I purchased our tickets online. Best advice that I found online for our trip. The line to buy tickets was already around the building before it even opened!

We read about the history of Cannery Row and then made our way to the touch exhibit. This is were you can touch a sting ray and other sea plants and creatures. Tim was super excited to touch the sting ray. It was a dream from childhood fulfilled. Lilybelle did not want to do it, in fact she didn't want to touch any of it; not even the kelp. Sigh. I thought this was going to be the highlight for her. Next we made our way to the penguin exhibit. It was cool to see the penguins swim and we even stayed for the feeding. After that we wandered around the aquarium seeing the various sights with various degrees of excitement. They loved the sea otters, Lilybelle loved the jellyfish, and Claire was mesmerized by the school of sardines. Claire threw a fit off and on throughout the aquarium as we struggled to get her back in the stroller between exhibits. If I had to do it over I would have left both strollers at home and just let them walk and carry them. That's the one thing I'd recommend and would do differently.

After the aquarium we had dessert at Ghirardelli. In my opinion, you have to have a brownie ice cream sundae when there is a Ghirardelli near by. After that we got back in the car and drove along the coast line and went to Point Lobos and hiked to China Cove and Gibson's Beach. We then drove down to Big Sur. After that we had dinner and went back to the hotel. The next day we drove back home, and the drive home was much smoother than the drive there. Thank you M&Ms.

Harbor Seals with pups at China Cove

Playing in the sand at Gibson's Beach

Gibson's Beach

The coastline from our car

To finish up 2015...

A new year which means another year is come and gone. I want to wrap up what the Simpson Family did at the end of 2015 before I start into 2016.

Thanksgiving this year was spent with my parents. It was a nice low key day. I made the apple pie this year and to make it look snazzy I used two star cookie cutters on the top crust. I even made it sugar free for my mom. It wasn't bad, but I think I should have used a juicier apple variety since there wasn't good old of sugar to help make the sauce. We just hung out at my old house while my dad entertained my girls. They seriously can't get enough of Papa. We also got a snow storm right before Thanksgiving. It was the first significant snow storm that Lilybelle has seen so I bundled both girls up and we went to the park to play in the snow. It didn't last long though because it was bitterly cold.

Swim lessons continue to go well. Both girls look forward to going and I look forward to taking them. It will be sad to give them up during tax season. Or at least Tim will be the one who has to take them since I will go back to full time starting in February.

This was the first year that Lilybelle really understood who Santa Claus was. She kept talking about him and how he was going to come to her house to bring her a toy. Yes, that was all she asked Santa Claus for this year, and he yes he brought her a toy. Some magnet building blocks that both Lilybelle and Claire like to play with.

Santa Claus came to Lilybelle and Claire's school so we got the annual picture. Lilybelle smiled her cheesy smile and Claire screamed. I felt bad for the poor girl. We also took the girls to a Breakfast with Santa event at a local restaurant. It was fun. Lilybelle gave Santa a hug; she was so excited that he was there, and Claire shook his hand. She seemed a little cautious about it, but no crying.

I also turned another year older, and I swear my biological clock is getting louder. I'm not sure exactly what to do about it. That's a discussion that I've forced myself to think about later. I celebrated with two birthday dinners, because when your birthday is close to Christmas you got to make a production out of it. My mom made me homemade eggrolls that were super yummy and my sister introduced Claire to whip cream in a can. The next night my friends threw me a nice birthday dinner with ham, potatoes, rolls, salad, and brussel sprouts.

We stayed home for Christmas morning and my parents and little sister came up to open presents at 6 am. Yes I made everyone get up super early and drive to my house to be here at 6 am. To thank them for coming to our house so early I made overnight waffles, fruit, and bacon for breakfast. We had a White Christmas this year which the girls enjoyed. Later that night we went over to Tim's brother's house and had Christmas Dinner with his family. It was a lovely time and we stayed much later than I thought. It was way past the girls' bedtime!

The Christmas Eve Jammie picture. Man was it hard to get.

I finally made Claire and Tim's stockings. Everyone now has a homemade stocking

Christmas Eve snow

Christmas morning hot cocoa station

We rang in the new year with sleep. No one in our house stayed up past 10 pm. And that's the way I wanted it. I did take the girls to the Discovery Museum with my dad, and we convinced Lilybelle to climb up in the clouds finally. Claire ever the adventurer followed her sister.

Halloween

This year for Halloween we trick or treated for the first time. The girls had a blast. We went over to one of Tim's brother's house and Lilybelle and Claire trick or treated with all of their cousins. At first, they were a little apprehensive about going to a stranger's house, but once they realized that they got candy at the front door they took off running to the next house. Lilybelle kept yelling that she wanted to be the line leader to her cousins, but I don't think they heard. I think Lilybelle was convinced that if she wasn't first in line she might not get any candy.

Before trick or treating that night, we went to my friend's annual Halloween party. It was a video game theme so Tim went as Mario and I went has Carmen San Diego from the game Where is Carmen San Diego? It brought back a lot of childhood memories. I used to love to play that video game as a kid.

We also went to our ward's trunk or treat. We didn't stay the whole time because Lilybelle wasn't feeling well. But it provide me with the opportunity to tweak their costumes. I had bought them both black tights, and I bought Lilybelle a size 3T to 4T. Big mistake. I took them out of the package and realized they went up to her armpits. I had to put Claire in black pants and give Lilybelle Claire's tights. I also realized that neither of them had black socks. So between trunk or treat and Halloween I had to go get black socks because I couldn't find black tights in Lilybelle's size.

Lastly, what is Halloween without the trip to the pumpkin patch. My dad came up one day and we all went to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins.

Reno Balloon Races & Birthday Part II

We went to the Reno Balloon Races this year. Tim and I haven't gone since we were first married. It's one of those events that you go once and you've seen it. It doesn't really change year to year. I figured that the girls would like it, and so I got us all up early and we trekked to the park. We didn't make the glow show and just caught the tail end of the dawn patrol, but I think it was the best time. Seeing the balloons in the air when it was still dark outside was amazing. I usually see them launch which is cool, but having them right over your head is better (that was neatly arranged by arriving at the tail end of the dawn patrol, and entering the park at just the right time).We found a spot to sit and had muffins and hot chocolate. Later I took Lilybelle over to see them inflate some of the balloons on the field. We didn't sit on the field for two reasons: 1 we arrived late, and 2 we had a stroller with us which was not allowed on the field. We stayed for the mass ascension and then left.

Once we got home and showered we picked up Lilybelle's balloons for her birthday and headed down to my parents' house for a family party and the swim center. We dropped Sophie off at my parents' house and then went to go swim. We didn't last long because the water was a little cold and the girls didn't like it. We stayed long enough for Tim to go down the water slides a few times. We went back to the house and had lunch and cupcakes. For her birthday I made a total of 48 cupcakes and a cake. I was so over it by the end of September. I don't want to frost a cupcake for some time. But they turned out cute.

Birthday Part I

We sorta kinda celebrated Lilybelle's birthday over Labor Day weekend. We only did it because that was the weekend that the stream trains were running. We still plan on celebrating her birthday with a family dinner this coming weekend. That party will be a Frozen party per Lilybelle's request.

The train ride was a lot of fun. My parents came up and rode the trains with us. It wasn't anything special, just a few loops around the station and the engine changing from front to back, but the girls liked it. Lilybelle was mesmerized the whole time. I asked her afterwards if she liked it and she uttered "yeah" in a very enthralled tone. Afterwards we had lunch at a restaurant per Lilybelle's request. She wanted to go to a restaurant with Nana, Papa, Mom, Dad, and Claire Bear. She's so funny.