California

We went to L.A. to visit James' family for Labor Day weekend.  Jeff and Polly were in town doing not one, but two Disney races. John ran them as well.  They all did great.  It was so fun to see them again and to let the cousins play together.  We wish we lived closer to them!

Beach time- Corona Del Mar 

 We went on the Sat. afternoon before Labor Day and it was packed. Vicki worked her magic though, and got some people to lend us their fire pit for an hour so we could cook our dinner.

Eden loved the sand

                                                                

Benson was terrified of the waves and refused to get near the water.  Not only did he not want himself near the water though, he didn't want Eden by it either.  He almost had a meltdown when Eden started crawling toward the shore.  Without thinking, he courageously ran after her to save her, then saw he waves and quickly came back. :)  He really loves her and is such a good brother to her (when he wants to be). 

You cannot tell from the picture, but before we went to the beach this day, Benson fell off a chair and broke his collar bone. We didn't realize anything was wrong at first, but he wouldn't stop crying. So James examined it, and it didn't quite match the other side. We decided to take him in to the hospital, and gave him some children's ibuprofen on the way there. Suddenly, he was as happy as a lark. At the ER, no one believed the bone was broken because he was so calm. James even had to point out the break on the x ray to the doctors.  The recommend treatment...?  A child's size sling (they didn't have one his size), which we never bothered to get.  Maybe we should have though, because now he has a crooked collar bone on one side.     

Back to the beach though, here is Jeff and Polly and family, after their 10k run and the day before their half marathon.

My good looking guy roasting his dinner like a true outdoors-man:)

The party animals

The kids enjoying their dinner in spite of the fact that it was dusted over with sand

Eden loves her grandpa!

I had planned to only stay in L.A. until Labor Day, then head back with James.  Plans changed when I found out that John and Vicki had a condo available all week, which would be sitting vacant.  I invited some of my friends to come use it, and use it we did!  It was a miracle that Collin, Annie, and Meredith were all able to come hang out for the week with less than a day's notice.

Four adults and eight kids (with not enough places to sleep) doing Disney Land, Corona Del Mar, Downtown Disney, swimming, etc. It was a ton of work! We had such a blast, but by the end of the week, we were all ready to go into a sleep induced coma.

Here are the 4 crazy moms that willingly took this on.Sure do love these girls!

I loved Corona Del Mar so much that I talked the girls into going while they were in town.  It was the perfect time to go, and the most beautiful day! I felt like I was in paradise!

Party at the beach!

 Cutest bum ever!

Vicki and John came and met up with us at the beach.  Vicki was so nice to babysit the kids while John and I went boogie boarding. John gave me some tips and I finally got the hang of it.  I have never gotten thrashed that much by beach waves, though!  

Collin's sister in law lives in this area and met up with us. She invited a friend and brought these great umbrellas. This was the whole beach group.

Disney Land-  Vicki, of course, got us a killer deal that we couldn't pass up.

The anticipation of riding bumper cars was building!

The Haunted Mansion!!!

Taking a much needed break

World of Color Show

This is how all of us felt after the 12+ hour day

The kids finally in bed- now things got really crazy!

Benson found my mascara

Look at all these babies- we are even missing one!

Right before driving home, so sad to leave!

Eden's 1st birthday

Although she doesn't look it, she really did turn 1 (Way back on August 3rd! I'm so behind, but I've got lots of great excuses for it, the biggest one is, the kids broke our computer.  Now that its fixed, I can no longer blame them :). Back to Eden though, here she is opening her presents and sporting her cute birthday hat and shirt from Grandma Vicki.   

Benson loved her presents, and loved her birthday, he definitely had more fun than her!

                              

We celebrated by inviting some of her friends over to the pool.  It was a great turn out.  She is a pretty popular girl:)

                                         Here she is showing her excitement for the party!

                                         Blowing out the candle- and eating the cake!

You may think its an ice cream cone, but its not, it really is cake.  I put an ice cream cone on top of a cupcake in the oven and decorated it... Betty Crocker taught me that one.  James and I were both  happy- she got her own little cake to destroy and get messy from, and I didn't have to waste a whole cake on her to destroy.

                                      
                                          A few of the guests 

And a quick family picture to make sure our camera was working...it was.