Newport Beach, CA

Graciously my family offered to watch our boys so that I could travel with my husband on his business trip to Newport Beach. I had a great time! We were there for four nights.

We left on a Monday and got to the hotel around lunchtime. Josh had to go right to a lunch work meeting, but since it had been an early morning up I decided to just stay at the hotel. I ordered room service (when does that happen?) , read in bed , took a nap, caught up on a show....simply the gift of staying in bed for hours was awesome.I enjoyed having a lazy day until it was time for our dinner reservation!

Conveniently, a Japanese restaurant I had heard good things about just opened within two weeks of our visit. I was very grateful for being able to get a reservation, and as it turns out it was also the best night for Josh to venture out.

Right by the harbor. We sat outside so it was awesome just to stare at this view during sunset.

The most delish - yellowtail with jalapeno.

Mahi mahi? I can't remember which fish this was. We also got a sushi roll, edamame, and dessert.

We had such a pleasant two hour dinner there. It was really nice not to be rushed!

The following morning, Josh and I had breakfast together before he left then for work. There was a outside shopping center nearby, so that is where I spent most of my day! Shopped, went to a movie, just generally hung out and had dinner and went back to the hotel. It was nice Josh had mornings free, we had time to sleep in and get breakfast together, but he didn't get done until 7-8pm.

Champagne while I shopped! The above set was also my Mother's Day gift :)

The following morning we headed to a place called Balboa Pier, still in Newport. I had reservations this day to go whale watching so we had breakfast together there before Josh again went to work.
There wasn't much to do on this part of the pier other than what I was doing (well, I should say it wasn't as nice as the other side of the pier I would have to ferry across to). So, all I did was my whale excursion before Josh was able to break away and took me back to the shopping center, where again I was able to hang out and have dinner before going back to the hotel again. Thankfully our hotel had a shuttle from the shopping center back.

This was definitely a highlight of the trip! I had upgraded my ticket to "VIP", which meant I got to board first, had my own little section of seating outside, plus got to meet/go in and out of the Captain Corner as much as I pleased, so I enjoyed getting to talk to the captain. Oh, and as soon as I boarded I got asked if I wanted a drink. Like, an adult drink. I obliged :)

My seating section roped off. I ended up being the only VIP that day, so I had it all to myself!

Heading out of the harbor, already with a mai tai in hand!

Hard to see, but we saw a mother/calf gray whale couple! We spent a good deal of time following them around.

Perfect day! Weather, sights...

We saw this group of sea lions as well as dolphins

Our last full day there I enjoyed the "nicer" part of the pier, where the street lined with small shops, restaurants, etc. I enjoyed a good part of the day there, with lunch at a fancy restaurant! (certainly by mama standards)

Josh did get off a bit early this last night so we went out to a nice seafood restaurant by the harbor for dinner.

Everything went real well at home with the  boys while we were gone, with the minor little problem that Aaron got a fever Wednesday :( It ended up lasting until Saturday morning. Thankfully though it didn't spread and it wasn't anymore severe. I was thankful my parents decided on staying at our home versus trying to bring everyone over to theirs, they at least could leave germs at our house. It overall made the experience easier on everyone, I think too, to be in their own surroundings - especially since we discovered that Preston doesn't care for the pack-n-play :p

We're very grateful and excited to have another couple trip in June!

Thanks Newport!

Preston at 7/8 Months

I guess I've decided to try and stay ahead of the game by writing for two months :p It seemed like a minute ago he turned seven months, and now in two weeks he will be eight!

At seven/eight months, Preston is...

--Army crawling! Much like Aaron started out, I remember. In fact he started this within a few days of turning seven months. He's very excited now to get to toys or whatever he wants to play with. The swimming in place is gone.

--Still eats about anything. All kinds of vegetables, fruits, even them mixed together. He'll eat up to 3 jars at a sitting, now for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've been having to puree food on a weekly basis now to keep up!

--No teeth yet! I'm surprised, though thankful in a way. Teething nights aren't fun! I can remember Aaron I think having four teeth by the time he was eight months old! Watch Preston get ten teeth at the same time, right? I'm also feeding Preston some of the other food we eat, as long as it's fairly soft (hummus, soft parts of bread, noodles,etc)

First zoo visit

--Starting to sit for little bits of time on his own...probably not long enough to sit in the actual tub, yet. We're in a "in between" stage! Too big for baby infant car seat, but not quite big enough for shopping cart or some high chairs.

Brothers are still good playmates

--Has started to collectively sleep through the WHOLE night! (party horn) Naps 1-2 hrs twice a day, then bedtime by 7pm and he sleeps until 6-7am! Now that he is starting to consecutively sleep good most nights, we can probably start to decrease the amount of formula he's still getting at the 9/10pm slot. Hopefully we'll find that he no longer needs it, eventually.

Getting meatier!

No thanks, mama, I don't like kiddie pools, even with warm water!

I don't have pictures yet, but Preston had his first little splash in our swimming pool the other night. He seemed confused at first, but seemed to like it...he didn't act like he did above! :)

With all my 'gents!

He's got the cutest baby laughs and baby talks going on. Soaking it all in!

Really, that's the biggest news in the last two months. Things feel like they're finally clicking along!

Easter

Because of Josh being in Japan for the actual holiday this year (sad face), we sort of celebrated with him a little early.

For starters, the weekend before we visited a local restaurant again for brunch with the EB.

Not quite sure what to think - he just wanted to pet the bunny

Following brunch, we colored eggs.

The night before Easter, I continued with the tradition of putting glowsticks in eggs for an outside hunt when it was dark. My family came over to enjoy that with us, unfortunately it was past Preston's bedtime so he didn't get to partake.

It seems to be something we look forward to doing each year!

Then the boys got their baskets (and notes!) ready for the bunny to come.

I can read my kindergartner's handwriting better than my 3rd grader's!

Then below, the aftermath.

This was also a busy day as I volunteered to host the Easter holiday at our house, so we were busy bees (I paid the boys to help!) getting ready. With being on my own and Preston not liking his pack-n-play and to avoid having a ton of stuff to travel around with, it was so much easier to be home.

Boys got bath bombs with Shopkins inside, so first thing they wanted to do was get cleaned up!

Preston with some new bath toys . He's so close to sitting up on his own to start using it.

Inside egg hunt time

The Easter bunny also visited my parents' house, lucky boys! I enjoyed time with my family while the boys played. We missed daddy but had a good, fast holiday with mine.