Clare got married last weekend, and we made the trip up to Woodland to celebrate with her and Andrew and of course the rest of the Cunninghams. It was hot up there and pretty busy with people, both of which made the kids somewhat out of sorts (mainly Zi). But the mornings were cool, quiet, and peaceful and Eden was in heaven running around with the pups, feeding the chickens, working in the garden, and getting some extra special attention from her Grandma Kathy.
This picture and the one below is just such a classic Zion moment. He is very intrigued by animals but somewhat deathly afraid at the same time. Below he just can't take Rogers proximity any longer and just breaks down.
This month we decided that we had held out long enough in feeding Zion fruit. He now has full access, and as you can see by the pic below he greatly appreciates it.
This was Eden's second attempt at being a flower girl in a wedding. This time she made it down the aisle which was a vast improvement from our last attempt. It's hard to tell from the picture but below you will see that all of the flower pedals ended up at her feet where she stood. None down the aisle. Oh well, at least she seemed to have fun. At one point she said being the flower girl was her favorite part of our trip. Thanks Clare!!
This evening we had returned from a long afternoon down in North San Diego, at the botanical gardens and visiting Nanny, to this beautiful dragon fruit bloom. We have been growing this strange looking plant for years now hoping and praying for it to give us some of its delicious fruit, and we had just about given up on it when Eden spotted what looked to be starts of a blossom on it at least a week ago. The dragon fruit is a night blooming flower so each night we have looked for its flower but each night we have been disappointed to see nothing. Tonight it finally bloomed and it was well worth the wait - I just wish Jon were home to see it.
I am also posting pics of Zi from the gardens today. I just can not believe that he will be 1 next month. He is getting bigger and bigger, but the older he gets the more I begin to really see that he will always be my little baby, even more so than Eden is. I suppose that is inevitable with your second and your last. In any case I am in no hurry for him to grow up, Jon would probably disagree but I have a feeling that I should freeze him right at this stage before he gets a chance to grow up and move out on me.
It is unbelievable to me that Eden is 3 now. She is one little ball of magic this one is and we are so unbelievably blessed by her each and every day. We celebrated her in a big way this week. With a big birthday party at SanO on Monday and then a big lunch at Ferrels with Grammy, Grampy & Daddy (who actually took a couple hrs off of work to attend).
Eden thought it was so cool to have candles on her french toast that she made me do it again this morning. I'm trying to figure out how to not make this a thing.
One of our friends let us borrow this super cute birthday hat. Thank you Kate!!
Eden's new favorite activity at the beach: Digging for sand crabs - turns out it's a favorite among all the kids.
Her other favorite activity: boogie boarding. Once I brought out the boogies I couldn't get her off of them.
So many kids made it so much fun for Eden!
Thank you pinterst for this cute cake design
At Ferrels - Eden was pretty pooped from her big party the day before.
It was Eden's big day but this little guy was kind of stealing the show from these two!
July is a big birthday month for us, starting with my mom's in the beginning then Jon's, Becky's & Eden's are all clustered into the last week or so. We celebrated Jon's bday on Tues and despite the kids being a bit under the weather it was a beautiful day. Jon went diving down at the Coronado islands with his buddy for the first portion of the day and brought home some beautiful yellowtail (3!). Apparently it was magical out there, the boys also brought home tales of seahorses, dolphins, and great blue whales - as it turns out the tales were almost as delightful as the actual fish. One day I will sneak may way onto the ski for one of these adventures. (: Later in the afternoon, Jon's family came over to celebrate with presents and cake, and Jon's mom was super sweet to take the kids and we got to go on a little date. We walked down to Del Mar sans the kids and it just felt so strange (and quiet) to be walking anywhere without them.
Eden waiting patiently for some raw fish
One of the first cards Eden has made so I had to take a picture
Jon being silly with the kids
I think these pictures are so special I wish they would not have come out so dark
Yesterday Eden and all of her (near by) cousins went to visit Jon at the fire station. The Walla cousins are not shown because I do not have permission to put them on this blog. Anyway, it was lots and lots of fun. Especially fun to spend some time with Easton. Eden absolutely adores him and they are at such a special age where they are just starting to really play and interact with each other. I really can not get enough of those two together.
We did baby beach in two parts today. Pre- zion nap and post. The morning was super peaceful and perfect. All the kids were pretty relaxed (especially Zion) see below. The afternoon was equally perfect but just a little bit more crowded and crazy. Eden was stoked to be playing with her cousins again!
Zion wanted a ride on the boogie so badly today that he did not care how he got it. This is how Eden placed him on it, so he just went with it. It was quite strange to see her dragging him through the water like this. Tracy and I could not believe how relaxed he was about it.
This is the new move Eden has been working on.
She is actually getting pretty good at it.
She also Loves the wiping out part - can't get enough of it
I can't believe I have let so much time pass since I have posted anything to this blog. But even now as I try to post something Eden is badgering me about picking this picture or that for some imaginary game she is playing. Which is wonderful and great fun but absolutely not conducive to my own personal productivity. That, in addition to the fact that she decided to quit napping and Zion decided to start crawling, and somehow my days are a constant blurr of trying to keep us all alive and in one piece.
Updates on Zion since the last post:
He started crawling on Easter day, since then he has climbed out of his crib, crawled up stairs (while no one one looking), and now he is walking along furniture. He also has several words including mamma, dada, Eden, and Ya (in response to "Do you want this?"). We have also heard him say hi once or twice but not consistently.
Updates on Eden:
She is riding her scoot bike really well. Rides it all the way down to the school, around the school and home. Jon says it might be about a mile which seems like a lot for a 2 1/2 yr old (which is how old she was when she started doing that). She is also swimming really well and starting to be a lot more comfortable in the ocean. Recently she started letting the waves crash over her head.
That's all I have for now. Eden is relentless for attention. I don't think I can ward her off for another second.
Here is a sneak peak into our daily rhythm...
And one more because I can not help myself - this one gets a bit long, but it is pretty special to us. A bit of background: we have fairly recently discovered books from the library. Just about every other week now we go and check out new books. It has been incredibly fun! A few weeks ago we came across a book that Eden came to love dearly. We read it so many times, and she loved it so much that one night as Jon was reading it she just started reciting each line before he got a chance to read it. We didn't get that first moment on video (we were just enjoying it too much and didn't want to break the spell), but the night before we returned it I tried to capture it. At this point she had become somewhat bored with the book so it didn't happen as magically as that first time she did it, but it was pretty special.
