Melissa’s Blog

This past weekend we went to a Tae Kwon Do competition. The kids competed in tiny tigers, 8 and under. The kids had to do their form, nun chuck form, and some sparring. Both kids did awesome, I  like that they got to spare each other, so cute. At tiny tigers it is not really a competition, more like practice for competing and everyone gets a trophy. It was pretty cool to see how a competition works…I was hoping to see older kids compete but it was just way too crowded. Couple pics from the day:

Summer is going by way too fast. We went to Big Air Trampoline and the kids had a great time. Nikki was loving the rock wall and Justin was loving dodge ball.

Yesterday during lunch Nikki lost yet another tooth #8. Crazy how many she is losing. Justin still has only lost two but he will have his turn soon. I wanted to do something different than just leave $2.00 under her pillow. I learned how to turn $1.00 into an orgami little basket and put change in it. I couldn’t put it under her pillow so I just put it on her floor by her bed with a big bow. She came down this morning saying “apparently the tooth fairy know how to do orgami”, I love it!

We are having a great summer. We made a bucket list of things to do and have crossed out a few. We went to Dave and Busters and Chuck E Cheese. We dragged out the slip n slide. The kids had so much fun on it:

Also the kids got to go to the stables with Justin’s 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Ortego and her daughter Tess. They lease a  horse names Six for the summer. It was great as Tess gave them a ride on Six and even trotted. The kids had huge smiles with the trotting:

So we also went and saw the movie Turbo. Of course the kids loved it, along with Despicable 2. Both kiddos started swim lessons at Woollet and seem to be really liking it. Both kids are working hard to learn their strokes. Justin was having a little trouble with the back stroke and is improving so much. Nikki needed a little help improving her crawl stroke. So amazing to see how far they have come. The kids wanted to try a camp so through the city, they went to icamp. Nikki had so much anxiety about me leaving her but when she got there she just ran off and played. I loved hearing all about what they did and they were kept really busy. Justin said his feet hurt from standing so much. We have had lots of play dates too. Nikki is loving gymnastics so much. We have been coming to the open gym and Justin has fun playing and Nikki plays and practices. We put a rope in the backyard over the patio cover. It has been the best toy ever. The kids climb it, swing from it. I need to take some pics. When I bring my camera out the kids just run.

It is summer time and we have been so busy. Time really does fly by while you are having fun. The beginning of summer began with a visit from relatives. Tori and her boyfriend, Johnny, and Todd and gang. It was so great to see the kids all love hanging out together. Nikki and Henry hung out a lot more while Justin and Megan were together. Guess the personalties matched perfectly.

The kids just were so happy playing/swimming at Grammy’s the entire time. Johnny and Tori bought the kiddos lots of pool toys and they had a blast.

We did go on an RV trip together. We went to Dogwood in the mountains and Point Mugu in Malibu. Dogwood was beautiful but a bit boring for the kids. The gopher they saw occupied them for a while. In Malibu the kids just played together on the beach and in the water. We saw dolphins and sea lions, so cool!

Here are some pics:

Henry is really into knights so we went to Medieval times as well. The kids loved it. They were cheering for their knight like it was real. I think this was the first time N&J have really seen any knight thing.

We also went to Irvine Regional Park. The kids rode on horses-loved it! Then we took the Sanders gang to the Orange County Zoo. The kids wanted a sleepover with their cousins. So we made up Grammy’s family room floor with 4 “beds”. The kids all got cozy and watched a movie. After Bret and I went home we got a call that Nikki wanted to come home. So I went and saved her. Justin was still wide awake when I got to Grammy’s-I think it was around 11:00pm and he kept saying I am awake but then I read him a book or two and he was off to sleep. I was a little worried that Justin would wake up without Nikki and be a little sad. Nope he got up (no one made it in the family room but him) and just joined the family. The kids were in the pool that day from 8:00AM until 6:00PM, it was crazy.

On June 14th, Justin’s class put on a performance of Three Billy Goats Gruff. Justin was the littlest billy goat; he was adorable. He did an amazing job and Nikki was able to come watch too.

The kids also got gold reading awards at school.

The kiddos are now brown belts. They did so well with their form, we were so proud. I would be so nervous doing my form in front of everyone but the kids make it look so easy. They also got to break a board with their weapons, pretty cool.to break a board with their weapons, pretty cool.

Nikki has lost another tooth, tooth # 7. The one next to the front two to the right. She has 3 missing holes in a row. I still need to snap a picture. School is almost over about 8 more days. I can’t believe the kiddos will be second graders. Crazy how fast time flies.

And another tooth lost for Nikki. Looking at her bottom left next to the two front teeth.

1st grade open house was awesome. Even though we were still in vacation mode…it definitely has taken us a few days to adjust to the time change. The best part is the kids get a 5 day weekend for the Memorial Day holiday. The kids loved showing us around their classrooms.

Here are some pics from Justin’s classroom:

And here are some pics from Nikki’s class:

We just got back from our Maui trip. It was a fun family trip but fun definitely revolves around what the kids want to do. We did lots of swimming!! Nikki even swam in the rain. The kids loved the Luau. Nikki even went on stage for hula lessons. The kids didn’t really care too much about the volcano but we had to do it once. Justin was crazy about the big waves. The ocean was nice and warm. I went out snorkeling with Nikki. I didn’t snorkel but Nikki was looking in the ocean. She scared me when she freaked out a little when she saw a sea turtle. But when she found her first fish she was so excited. Unfortunately when I took Justin out he only saw one silver fish. We took the kiddos to Cheeseburger in Paradise, our favorite. Luckily the umbrellas in the food and drinks was a high light for the kids. Watching the kids have so much fun exploring was the high light of the trip for me. There was a beach that had a rope swing, the kiddos had never swung like that before. I think they could have stayed there all week. Big giggles and smiles while they were swinging. Our sub ride was a little disappointing. We saw a few school of fish but the water was a little murky. We all loved the Hawaiian shaved ice with vanilla mac nut ice cream and cream! This was our first trip with friends. It was nice that we were able to go on a date night. Bret and I went and saw a comedy magic show that was amazing. I laughed so hard. It was nice having another family there especially the last night when we hung out and just chatted and drank with our friends.

Crazy hat day at school. The kiddos looked so cute:

Also Nikki’s art work was on display at the Civic Center for the young master’s art show. She was so proud of herself. It was really cute. I think she felt pretty famous!

Dad was gone all last week in New Jersey for work. We stayed busy. Family dinner night out for school, play dates, grandma came over, etc. Nikki was really sad that dad was away. I let the kids take turns sleeping in my bed. Nikki in the middle of the night decided to go back to her bed but Justin was just a snuggle bug! He even did a little snoring so it felt like dad was there, ha!