Coon on Deck

Lilo and Stitch are usually howling to get out, they were tentative as I opened the back door. Lilo stopped on the door mat and was sniffing around and I had to shove Stitch out. The pillows from the couch were on the ground and I didn't think that it was left that way last night! After I went to sit down I noticed Lilo acting wierd on top of the deck, I went to look out and this is what I found! It looks like he might be moving in?! And I thought Lilo and Stitch caused havoc in my life!

5 years of Asia

Laney has cold ears!

Asia's got a great "gotcha day" 4-4-04. 5 years ago our little Asia was handed to us in Guanzhou, China. Today we did an impromptu chinese food lunch with Laney and Ali. This was just a few hours after the krispy cremes that Asia had requested for her gotcha day.

Should I be worried?

Translation: Dear Jack I love you so so so so so so so so so much, I wish I could marry you!
Those are check off boxes on the upper left, for him to just check off his decision. the 4th one says "I would be delighted!"


Here is a picture of my future "son in law" The one in the blue, she has pretty good taste-huh?!!

Firepits and Boys...what was I thinking!!

To Celebrate Drew's 13th Birthday. He is grilling honeydo

< Cole is grilling Asia's favorite beach toys a plastic seahorse

The plastic on fire

Asia's response to the flaming toys.

Note the white shirts from the morning and previous post are not getting any whiter.

Grillin dogs over the fire pit
Anna looks pretty good here considering she got hospitalized for pneumonia the next night.

Part of the crew, I know I was feeling pretty grungy by now with sand and smoke in everything!

The Corona del Mar beach has a nice calm break, good for kids.

Making a sandwich
I told her to look a little better than the picture below, Nae Nae is not impressed with the white shirt that has just been laundered in the muddy sand!

Ok, I can check firepit on the Beach off the list! If I were to do it again, don't invite boys....my boys. It was day 2 1/2 of not having big daddy around and mom presents them with fire, can you even imagine! I was living in LaLa land...what was I thinking!!! It provided Jo with relief that she never pursued adopting boys, and Heather and Aaron with concern to not expand their family. Yes, they were grilling EVERYTHING, fruit, pop bottles....

It all started with this picture...

Weren't they cute when they were 4 and 5! Dana Point




Then there were 3, at Carlsbad, CA

>


Then there were 4. Crystal Cove

This was my favorite, it actually was unrehearsed. I had justasked the boys to help the girls. Aaah how cute! The cuteness ended about noon, my next post you will see how we endured the firepit!

A step back in time in Southern CA at Crystal Cove

The front of the restaurant

Drew's Birthday breakfast, he is officially 13 tomorrow! What a view!

I did splurge with the Filet Mignon Chilaquiles at $13, but soo worth it...the boys ate half of it!

I asked Terri from San Clemente what her favorite breakfast place with an ocean view would be and she said the Beachcomber. You have to park across the highway and it is a trek for those who don't take the shuttle. We got the best table and had a fabulous breakfast. Huge portions, but I have teenage boys! It is a little south of Newport beach but north of Laguna.

Happy April Fool's day!

Faux berry pie

The grilles cheese sandwiches

There is some cocoa powder in the meatloaf and Beets make the potatoes pink

I really was not in the mood to do this, but the girls were looking so forward to it after the meatloaf cupcakes last year. I had to quick take the pictures since they knew something was with the Berry pie for dinner...they knew it was meatloaf, but they actually ate all the potatoes before I confessed the beets in it. But, I did get all of them with the "grilled cheese" sandwiches.

They are grilled pound cake with orange frosting for the cheese.

The boys join us

The Doc from Back to the future

Drew and Jade are scared of what might hop out of the mummy area of the backlot tour.

The kids in Hollywood

Jaws

Fiona needs some character pose lessons, every picture she was looking away!

Marilyn and gang

The fountain statue right behind Cole is a real guy.

It was Bike night at TGIF in Knotts Berry Farm

We did the Chicken dinner

Our bliss ended when we picked up the guys from the Orange cnty airport. We headed to Knott's Berry farm for dinner, it was ok, the chicken was a little tough. A huge amount of food, the big hit was the rhubarb, go figure!

Thursday we did Universal Studios. We stayed in a cheap hotel across the street from Disneyland, so I knew this would be my scenic live the LA culture and enjoy the freeways! It only took us an hour to go through the heart of LA, Hollywood to Universal. The boys were pretty good until Cole kept pounding on Drew to force him onto the Mummy ride. Drew did, but said he kept his eyes closed the whole time.

Then we were back in time to watch the fireworks from our hotel room.