While the boys are away...

So being way way behind on my blog....I attempt to catch up....this was the middle of Summer....but Jacob just started school today, but that story will have to come another day....

Back in July....

This last week was scout camp for Jacob....who left on Monday. 

I was glad that he didn't go too far so I knew if he really needed me I would be close. 

They were at Lake Perris getting merit badges done. 

In the meantime Jeff was getting ready for his scout trip with the Teacher's quorum. 

They went up to Utah to hike and horseback ride at Zion and Bryce Canyon.

So while the boys were hiking this week...

I took Ashley and her friend Chloe hiking up at Sycamore Canyon...nice and local but a little hot.

I brought water but by the end their water was done and Chloe wanted me to carry her...Sorry when you are as tall as me there is no carrying happening ;)

But before Jeff left the Bagleys offered to do a date night in belated celebration of Jeff's birthday. 

They have tickets for the Diamond Club. An Angel game with great seats and a waiter getting your food order while you sit in your seat. 

This is the way to watch a baseball game!

Thanks Bagley's! 

On Tuesday Taylor, Ashley and I drove up for a visit at Angela's house.  

My mom flew in for the month to help out and with Jeff and Jacob gone I thought it would be a perfect time to come out and hang out with Angela and Robert.

Since Robert was still in the ICU at the hospital I got to spend lots of time with Ian and my mom. 

Even he isn't sure about my picture taking.

I learned that Ian likes his bottle....

He likes playing with Ashley....

He likes it when Taylor is silly with him and pretends like Ian is strong enough to have the basketball fly across the yard. 

And he loves the fruit in his backyard!

Every time he goes outside in the back he wants to pick a fruit. Luckily they have plenty of fruit to pick. 

He will then start eating it, rind and all. 

His sharp little teeth tore right through this grapefruit and started tearing it apart! Angela says she lets him eat it all. I guess seafarers used to eat citrus rinds to ward off scurvy....and it didn't hurt them.

 I have never seen a child eat more fruits or vegetables more willingly than Ian does. 

I guess he has something to teach my family :)

And Angela and Robert will never have to worry about Ian getting scurvy.

On Wednesday before Angela headed to the hospital we went to a local U-pick farm where we could feed the animals for a quarter. 

Ian tolerated the climbing toys....

but loved the sand.

So while Angela was at the hospital my mom and I took Ian over to the beach to hang out for a bit. 

He didn't want to go into the water much that day, which made our job easy.

Ian loved the sand and us feeding the seagulls.

After we got home I gave him a bath and tried not destroying their bathroom in the process. 

Ashley was getting out of the shower as I was drying off Ian she accidently pulled down the shower curtain on top of herself. As I was trying to put back up the curtain Ashley tells me that Ian got the soap. I look to see him holding the soap with a death grip with it getting in between his fingers and under his nails. One I got him cleaned up I tried putting the bathroom back together. As soon as I turned around he had unwound 1/2 the roll of toilet paper. 

I am obviously out of practice taking care of 1 year olds!

Thats OK the next day Angela freaked out and when I asked her what happened she said he had managed to get poop in his mouth while she was changing his diaper. I guess babies are unpredictable weather you are experienced or not. 

The next day we went on a walk through Angela's hilly neighborhood. She lives in the hills of Camarillo, their balconies have a great view and it's away from busy streets. I was amazed at how silent it was compared to our house...(except for Daisy the neighbor's St. Bernard that barks at all hours). 

No pictures mom!

The last day we visited Robert at the hospital. We had a great visit and even snuck in Ashley even though she wasn't really old enough. The only bad thing was they wouldn't let our whole group in at one so we had to split up a couple at a time. 

Afterwards I brought them to our new favorite homemade ice-cream cookie sandwich place Diddy Riese. 

(Even the nurses sneak out for a Diddy Riese breaks)

This week I brought Taylor rock climbing with a friend from LPA. Joanna and I have been planning LPA events for the last few years and her son Jack has become friends with Taylor. So we invited them out to try rock climbing. 

Taylor is trying to master climbing up the crevice...he almost has it. 

It was funny watching the two boys trying to challenge each other. Jacob did an awesome job for never really doing rock climbing. 

Afterwards we went to California Pizza Kitchen to feed them some lunch. It was nice to catch up with Joanna as well and not have to worry about LPA stuff. 

Then these boys randomly thought it would be funny to shop at Forever 21...they laughed when they saw they actually had a boys section.  Laughed even more when they were pulling out clothes they wouldn't be caught dead in. 

Not a wasted trip thought because I scored a couple of cute things for Ashley for back to school. 

The next day Ashley and I went to Temecula to help run a Little People of America party. 

We got all the food now we're ready for the party people. Not many people came but we got to meet a new family that came for the first time and I was able to answer some questions for her.

There was a train ride....

Mom will you ever stop taking pictures! (no)

We swam...

and played mini-golf. 

Later that day Jacob got home from his trip...and Jeff was driving his boys home from Utah...of course they had to stop and take a ride on the Buffalo Bills roller coaster.  

On Monday we went to our last beach day at Newport for the summer. 

Our friends the Bagleys were at their beach house so I brought the kids down for the day to hang out. 

Along with hanging out at the beach we decided to rent paddleboards. 

Taylor had paddle boarded before and liked it and I figured I could rent a kayak and take Ashley with me. So I rented them and they said "here you go"

I was looking at it thinking "now what" I guess you had to manhandle them to the water yourself and bring the wheels they rest on back to the place. 

We managed with a little help from the worker guy. 

So fun!

We went on the bay side where there aren't any waves and it was perfect. 

The boys kept trying to rock each other off though. Crazy. 

That night Jeff met us down in Newport to go to dinner. 

We found an Italian place that had great food. 

Even though we had to wait a while to get a table they gave us samples, bread and water to keep us fed. 

We had them sing to Jacob for his birthday. It's getting close he's almost 14!!