I wish they all could be California girls.....

Here are some pictures of another Newport Beach trip we took this last weekend. I was able to bring my family down with us, and as you can see we had a great time relaxing AND playing.

This is such a happy picture. I smile because of everybody else's smiles. Except for Lucy, who doesn't seem to know what all the fuss is about.

I love how Kelsey and Kyle's legs are long enough to touch the floor even when their horses are all the way up.

The Ferris Wheel that I will probably die on some day because it is so creaky, but I still have to go on because it is now our tradition.

Josh was trying to win Maddie the "diamond ring" that was 1000 tickets. I believe he won about 4 tickets and Maddie didn't understand why she couldn't get the diamond ring from the prize wall.

All the grandkids riding in the coolest wagon ever.

My mom making sand castles and other things with Maddie. (If you are thinking about how hot my mom is, you would be correct. She is fifty, and I am half her age, and her body is fabulousness.)

Every kid has to eat a lot of sand on their first trip to the beach. Cole is no exception.

Every baby that is supposed to only have milk has to be fed yummy things by their favorite Aunt Rachel. Lucy is no exception.

Maddie has been exposed to too much sun lately.

Rick & Karen: This is proof that my entire family spent HOURS on Sunday on our hands and knees scrubbing every square inch of the beach house. Thanks for letting us stay for the weekend.

I Heart New York

I have been talking about going to New York for almost a year. So Josh, being the romantic guy he is, surprised me by booking a hotel and flights. Of course, it ended it up that he couldn't go because of work. I completely didn't mind going alone, but Josh, being the protective guy he is, insisted I couldn't go alone. So I called up my friend Kara. She had never been to New York, so I knew it would be a great experience. 

Reasons why Kara is a good travel friend: She is a picture-taking-aholic and I never take pictures, and she blogs in real time, so I am going to be lazy and just cut and paste pretty much everything from her blog. 

First Day in Kara's words straight from her blog: "Here I sit in the Marriott Marquis overlooking Time Square. So far our experience of New York has been a super scary cab ride where we literally thought 'Singh Surinder' the cab driver from India...was going to kill us after numerous close calls and lots of laying on the horn.  (pictured here) 

We finally got to the hotel where Josh had got us a corner suite...We then dined at the top of the hotel in the rotating restaurant, 'The View,' and came back to unpack our things..."

Second Day Highlights: Having a cabbie tell us with a NY accent: 'This is 2 blocks from here, you can walk. Don't waste my time.' Me: 'But we have really cute shoes and don't want to walk. I'll tip you really well.' Cabbie: 'It's only 2 blocks up and then 2 blocks over!!' Kara: 'You know what, that's okay. If you don't want to take us we can find another cab.' Cabbie: 'Yes, do. It's a waste of my time.' We decided to walk...  

We also got to practice lots of hailing taxis, see Xanadu on Broadway, 

eat at The Four Seasons Restaurant (supposedly one of the finest restaurants in the world, which I would agree with - Yummy!), 

take a death defying limo ride, 

watch Legally Blonde on Broadway, 

get room service, and let our poor feet relax.

Day Three in Kara's words: "Woke up, got ready for our date with the 'Sex and the City Tour.' (Rachel wore very special gear just for the occasion, namely a very large flower broach and a large feathery flower headband that gathered many glances, smirks and giggles. She says it was her tribute to Carrie 'circa season 4!") We grabbed some fruit and took a cab to the Pulitzer 

fountain...

We met up with our tour guide and loaded on the bus. The tour was so much fun!!! It really personalized the city. We went to several of the movie and show spots and learned lots of trivia, ate cupcakes, 

drank virgin cosmos from Aidan & Steve's bar, 

and walked through West Village, where lots of the stars live and where Carrie's "stoop" is. 

The neighborhood was amazing...The tour finished at the HBO store where I lost my battle for fabulousness giving in to aching feet, the headband that hurt, and the jacket that was too hot. I quickly changed into a Sex and the City T-shirt and some Sopranos flip-flops (hey, desperate times call for desperate measures!)...

We shopped and walked all down 5th Avenue - including Tiffany's! (So Audrey!) It was not quite the experience I had imagined because I was dressed like a complete slob and my credit card actually got denied!!!! Apparently, purchases at Tiffany's in New York looked like credit card fraud to my credit card company. It could have been horrifying, but, as Audrey said, nobody has a bad experience at Tiffany's.

Then we took a pedicab back to the hotel as our feet were now killing us. 

Once we got back to the hotel to get ready for Chicago, we both very begrudgingly (and thankfully) changed into tennis shoes. 

We very comfortably headed off to Chicago, and ended at the Olive Garden overlooking Times Square.

Unfortunately, I have the pictures from Day Four on my camera, so Kara hasn't been able to blog about it. I GUESS I will have to write it myself..... We started out with our reservations at Tavern on the Green. It is a very fantastical restaurant in Central Park that was both beautiful and fun.

The decorations were super over the top, and this picture doesn't do justice.

We followed with a carriage ride through Central Park, which was amazing and beautiful. I have been to New York five times before and had never been through the park. I am so glad we spent the day there.

We finished our vacation street shopping down 5th Avenue again (parents can never come back from a trip without gifts for the kiddies!), where Kara impressed me with her street savviness.

And lit a candle for Evan at the Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It was a very beautiful building!

We had a super "fabulous" trip (especially once we changed to tennis shoes!) I would highly recommend everything we did and everywhere we ate.

For more fun details and pictures, check out Kara's blog: www.showbows.blogspot.com

Maddie's Composition

Yeah for cousins!

We got to have all of the cousins over last weekend for a super fun swimming party in our backyard. Come visit again!

The big cousins: Hailey, Tyler, Maddie & Emma

The little ones: Jamie feeding Lucy and Grandma Linda feeding Mason.

And of course, there always has to be a cousin (Cole) that shows up without a swimsuit and swims naked. (We all argued over who would have to fish out the poopies if he decided to go while he was in the pool, and decided that was a Grandma job.)

The lessons that are learned in your childhood

Last night, Maddie said to me: "My kiki doesn't get her feelings hurt when I step on her because she doesn't have eyes."  (Her kiki is her favorite pink blanket.)

Pictures that warm my heart

Maddie insisted on wearing this outfit for the day. It was nearly impossible to get through the Fashion Show Mall because everyone kept stopping to tell me how adorable she was. I was wearing my hair in a bun that day too and one lady said we were the cutest sisters she has ever seen, and what a good sister I was to take my little sister out for a fun time. I didn't correct her.   :o)

She is quite beautiful, I have to admit. When did she start looking so old?

Josh was in charge of watching Maddie last night and took her to the baseball game. She loved it for the first five innings and then said, "I just want to go home Dad." It could be because her usual bedtime is 7:00 and Josh didn't have her home and in bed until 10:00. I guess I can't complain though, because it is sweet when Josh and Maddie go on "dates."

This picture makes my stomach sick and my heart warm. I cried when I got to T.C.'s car wash and saw how many friends of his showed up to help. I am crying now. I am always amazed at how giving and loving people can be. And of course, Maddie wanted to help wash my car too. She adores her Kelsey friend.

The following pictures are all of the same thing, but I couldn't decide which one showed what was going on well enough, so I put on all of them. (Stacey, these are for you). Maddie suddenly became interested in doing her hair. She came downstairs "ready to go" with her hair looking like this. What the freak? She also had a handful of other barrettes for me to "finish" her hair. I took this picture BEFORE I added about 20 more barrettes to her hair. Once again I debated whether people will see me as a cool mom who lets her kid express her creativity and expand her individuality, or just a neglectful crack head mother. Oh well.

Also, Kelsey, I don't know if I should let you hang out with Maddie anymore. I don't know what kind of influence you have over her. Two days ago, we were making super cool crafts. I walked out of the room for about 5 seconds, and I heard Maddie gasp loudly. I went in to see what was the matter and she looked terrified. In one hand she had scissors, and the other was a huge handful of hair.

This is the other dilemma of being a mom. When you just want to laugh, you have to pretend to be upset and "discipline." I asked her what the heck she was doing, and honest to goodness, her response was: "I just wanted to be a hair cutter when I grow up like Elsey."

The weirdest part was I couldn't really figure out where that huge amount of hair came from. Somehow she made it look like a professional hair cut.

My Perv Shoes, and other things to make Jamie laugh.

Maddie likes to "read" the papers in Chinese Fortune Cookies. She took mine from me yesterday and read, "You are a perfect mom. With a pretty little girl. And a handsome husband. The end." So true my little Maddie girl! So true.    :o)

I found these super cool summer sandals and excitedly showed them to Josh when I got home. What was his matter of fact response? "You can't ever wear those with a skirt." 

My response, "Huh?" 

His response, "You actually probably shouldn't ever wear those." 

My response, "What are you talking about? These are sexy." 

His response, "You will look like a pervert." 

The time went by: tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. And then I got it. And laughed so hard I almost fell over. I still love them though. (I wore them today with pants and stayed away from all women in skirts and dresses.)

Stucki kids, this is for you. Recognize anything in this picture? I almost didn't either. I actually might want to steal this glamorous "new" piece of furniture from mom's house? Who knew? (Mom, you are a visionary.)

My girl is so obedient. She waited until we got to my mom's house before she decided to throw up her purple medicine all over the place. Good girl. (Poor little sick thing.)

Newpeezy

Why do we love to go to Newport?

Only $2.00 to take your picture with "bird man." SO WORTH IT!

Maddie got to take the picture with the baby bird and is still talking about it.

Maddie would ride her new bike all freaking day and night if we let her. Up and down the board walk. Up and down. Up and down.

No trip to Newport is complete without a stop at the Balboa "Fun" Zone.

Where you can fear for your life at the top of the oldest, creakiest ferris wheel still in use.

And buy super fancy "name brand" sunglasses for only $5.00.

And rent a "speed" boat that goes about 3 mph around the harbor. Which is actually pretty cool. The houses and yachts are amazing!

Here is a picture of Maddie and Porter (the little boy in the above picture) the first time they went on this boat ride together about three years ago. Luckily, the life jackets fit much better now, and therefore might actually save their life if needs be. (We are planning on them using these pictures during their slideshow at their wedding in 20 years.)

And what does Maddie always want to do at beaches? Yes, that is right. MAKE SAND CASTLES!

Thanks Herreras for coming with us!