Melissa’s Blog

I can’t believe how fast summer is going by. I love having the kids around. It has been a different summer than the past. Now they want their friends around and more electronics rather than just running to the park. It definitely takes more to entertain them. We also have been somewhat of home bodies, enjoying hanging out at home, playing video games, and having friends over. Bret had to go to San Francisco for work for a Red Hat conference. We tagged along. It was a fun trip but it had felt like we were just in SF. We did the usual things like Fisherman’s wharf, see golden gate bridge, and museum,saw the Full House house etc. We met some friends and went to Alcatraz with them. It was cool to take the kids to Alcatraz especially since they did a report on Alcatraz in 3rd grade. Alcatraz was spooky and cool. The kids and I went to the Academy of Science Museum which was very cool. There was a rain forest there and a cool earthquake simulator. Here are some pics from our trip.

We went to a restaurant in Fisherman’s Wharf called Wipeout. We had to take these pics:

And the kiddos tried Cronuts for the first time:

Happy last day of school! Last day of school is the best. The big smiles on the kids faces. I thought I would just have my kids so I put streamers and balloons in the car. I ended up with extra kids, so it made it fun but balloons were going everywhere. We went to Yogurtland with a group them swimming!

On June 1st, the kiddos had their music concert. It was cool to watch Justin play the cello and Nikki sing. Justin had to wear a collar shirt which is so rare. Nikki was at a friend’s house before this so I wasn’t able to capture a picture of her. The concerts were both great!

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Both kids did amazing this last trimester at school. Nikki accomplished a goal of all A’s. She made up her mind to do this and she did. Justin got all A’s and B’s which is also pretty amazing. Love my smart kiddos.

Soccer season has come to an end again. So great to see Nikki still loving soccer. This elite season wasn’t as wonderful as the last. I think that is typical of spring though. Nikki was disappointed that her team didn’t win the tournament. The team let her down. We realized we should have put Nikki in club months ago. Most of her 1st elite team went to club but we chose another season of elite. After lots of consideration, we decided to let Nikki pursue club. This has given Nikki a whole new happiness for soccer. We are off for the month of June but then club will be in full force.

In the everyday events, it is so easy to forget how wonderful being a mom is. These kids make me crazy,  make me smile, make me love life, make me everything……It is fun to be mom. I surprised the kiddos with rainbow bagels in their lunch today. I ended up telling them last night as I had to get a picture. Can’t wait to hear all about what people say about their lunch.

Nikki was in the annual talent show at school. Her friends performed a dance to Megan Trainor’s “NO”. The girls did an amazing job and I got some cute photos.

It was great to go to open house this year and see all the kid’s work. It was a little crowded but all of us parents are trying to all get in there and take pictures. 4th grade has been an interesting year. Lots of work and the kiddos are growing up so much. They are getting more and more independent and it is a good thing but I can’t help being a little sad.

So proud of our kiddos, both made honor roll. In elementary school this is all A’s and B’s in a quarter. Nikki came so close to all A’s, just had one B+. Everyday the kiddos surprise me at how much they have to do for school. So much homework and projects, etc. Nikki has made principal honor roll this entire year. Love when it happens for both of them. Nikki is definitely more concerned about grades then Justin. It must be so hard being a twin, seeing what happens to one and not the other. I like the kiddos are getting involved in different things so they become more individualized.

Back in January the kids participated in a Walk Through CA. It was really  great. We got to watch and the school hired a company that comes in and they discuss early CA. It was pretty entertaining and enlightening. I never really studied CA history in school, mostly pilgrim, etc. It was kid participation-they had to learn the meanings of certain words and were called up to recite. Nikki loved it as well. Justin thought it was a little boring in parts. I had to sit through two of them and still found it entertaining. They split the kids into teams and thankfully both Justin’s and Nikki’s teams won.

Since Zoe passed away, we decided maybe it was time to get the kids a dog of their own. Life seems a bit empty without Zoe. Here is one last picture of Zoe and the kids that I just love.

After trying to figure out what breed to get and looking around, we decided on a golden doodle. Finding a golden doodle that was available was a little bit of a challenge. We finally found one available in Banning. It worked out perfectly as the lady needed to come to Fashion Island so she met us at Castle Park. We went to see the dog and I remember thinking we will just look. The minute I saw the puppy in his little stroller there was no turning back. I fell in love with this cuddly dog named “Snuggles”. It was a perfect name as he is snuggles but he needed a real name. It took us a while but we decided on Cody. Cody was born on 12/10/15. His first vet appointment and weighed a little under 5lbs. He fits right into our family. Here are a few pics of the little guy:

His Parents are Merida (Mom, golden doodle and the dad is Yetti the Snow Monster, standard poodel)

Merida is our registered F1 Standard Goldendoodle. She is very active and loves to go hiking.  She is lap dog in a big dog body and still tries to sit on our laps.  Her puppies have coats that are wavy to curly.

Yeti the Adorable Snowmonster is our new double registered Standard Poodle.  His Pedigree is full of Show Champion lines on his father’s side, and Champion Hunting lines on his mother’s side.  He is related to Betty White’s “Maneetas Del Zarzosa Fuego Fatuo” and Duck Dynasty’s “Cooper”.  His impressive lineage hasn’t gone to his head.  Yeti enjoys playing in water and has a fantastic sense of humor!  He loves being with the family and making the kiddos laugh.

He is growing so fast. Now, he is almost 14lbs. We have taken him wherever he can go. He has been to lots of soccer games, soccer and tennis practice, etc. We tried to take him to dog beach but some of the dogs were crazy so it was a little hard for him. Cody is not a very strong dog, in fact, he is a floppy goofy awesome dog! We took him to Alan’s cabin in Lake Arrowhead over Spring Break. It was nice to get away but Lake Arrowhead wasn’t too exciting. The weather also wasn’t great. They have so many TV’s in the cabin and so many channels we don’t get so we did watch a little too much TV. Bret and I were even able to watch a couple movies. Both kids found their comfy chairs and cuddled with blankets and Cody. We took walks in the Nat’l Forest which is in the back yard. The high light was the falling snow. We kept on hoping it was going to snow and finally noticed it coming down around 9:30 at night. We were outside in having a snow ball fight, it was so exciting! The kids kept on yelling it is a Christmas miracle!! HA We made a little snowman and Cody decided to lick his head! We also went luging but not enough snow to go tubing or skiing.