Catalina

Clinton and I really wanted to take Aidan camping this summer. However, our camping gear is SOMEWHERE in storage and we didn't want to buy new gear. We decided on a day trip to Catalina instead. Aidan and I went up on Sunday and spent the day with Suzanne and Jacob ( pics from that day in the next post). Clinton met us Sunday evening and we spent the night at Newport Beach - oh how I miss that place! It felt like being "home" when we were there. We got up early yesterday morning and caught the ferry to Catalina from Newport. There were 2 lifetime members of Frontier Trainings on board. What a small world! One from the UK and one from Northern California. The two are now a couple and met at one of Clintons trainings. They were very nice and Aidan had a fun time playing with them on board the ferry.

We had a really fun day. There is something about being on an island that just makes you slow down and relax. We took a tour of Avalon, let aidan play at the playground and beach, and took a submersion tour. I was worried how Aidan would do on the tour since you are basically in a submarine. We signed up for the glass bottom boat tour but the Captain called in sick so they upgraded us. Aidan did terrific and it was really cool to see all the beautiful fish and Seaweed forests. I had no idea that they could grow to be 300 feet tall! It was literally a mountain of Seaweed! Another interesting fact we learned yesterday... Just about everyone who lives on the island drives a golfcart. The wait is 18 years to bring a car over from the mainland!

It was a fun day and we had a chance to spend some great family time together!

standing in front of the ferry- The Catalina Flyer. It was chilly when we first got there!

We stopped on the way into town to let Aidan play at the playground. This is the view from the playground. Notice all the golf carts!

playing at the playground

view of the Casino building -which is not actually a casino at all.

taking a break walking back from the Casino

Go herd! There are actually a herd of about 15o bison on the island. They were brought there in the 50's or 60's for the filming of a movie and were just left there. Their herd has grown over the years. They stay in the interior and never venture into town.

Tour of Avalon. Overlooking Avalon and the bay...

Mr. Independent sitting by himself on the tour.

Finally warm enough to hit the beach!

Submersion tour

on top of the submarine...

2 tired boys on the boat ride home....

Swim lessons and Java Mama

We finished Aidan's 4 weeks of swim lessons yesterday. It was quite the experience. He really enjoyed it the first day but after that cried just about every lesson. However, he was always proud of himself after the lesson and talked about how he kicked his feet and moved his arms. Ms. Natalie was really great with him. She asked if I was more concerned with his emotional well being or him gaining the skills. Of course I said his emotional well being. She could have pushed him more but I wanted him to have some happy memories of swimming. He did great yesterday! He got in without a tear and did really well. I am so proud of him! He always did his very best! He is now able to float, kick his legs, and pull his arms with assistance. Maybe next year he will start full fledged swimming. Each lesson he had the opportunity to earn a star stamp for something he did really well and a "happy swimmer" stamp. He earned his star stamp every time and started earning his happy swimmer stamp about a week and a half ago. We had a celebration at Chuck E. Cheese the first time he earned his happy swimmer stamp. He really had to work to earn that one!

We found a really cool cafe near swim lessons called Java Mama. We both LOVE it there. For a small fee you can leave your child in the supervised play area. Mama is able to drink coffee, read, catch up with friends, etc... while your child is happily playing. They have seats all around the perimeter of the play area so you can also keep an eye on your child f you wish. As I mentioned Aidan loves it there. We were driving there one time and he kept saying "Im looking for E3". I had no idea what he was talking about until we arrived. Sure enough there was an E-3 above the door. The child is so smart and doesn't miss a thing.

Dear Anonymous- Thanks for your comment. However, I think I know my child better then you do. He was most definitely NOT bored at the show. Of course I knew he didnt really need to go to the potty. Also, we will be better prepared next time for the water area. It was the first time the water was running for the season. Also, Aidan hasnt really shown much interest in the water area in the past so now we know. Next time please sign your name. Thanks.

There are a couple of videos at the bottom of Aidans lesson yesterday. You may have to scroll down to see them.


Ms. Natalie put flippers on Aidan for a couple of lessons. At first he didnt like them but ended up enjoying them in the end. They really helped him to kick. Aidan literally had no movement under the water with his legs until he started using the flippers.

learning to float. This was an earlier lesson. You can see his legs arent out straight and he is holding on to Ms. Natalie. Yesterday he did some perfect floating!

can you see the E-3? He is one of the most observant children I have ever seen.

Playing at Java Mama. We LOVE Java Mama!

You may have to scroll down to see the videos....

I decided to take Aidan to Seaworld yesterday afternoon so Clinton would have a chance to sleep in after his grueling work schedule the past two weeks. We have only been to Seaworld a couple of times this summer so I thought it was time for a visit. I was really excited because I knew their new show Blue Horizons had just opened. It is their new dolphin show except it is not just dolphins, they have acrobats, divers, dancers, various birds, and pilot whales. Think of Cirque plus mammals and birds.

When we first arrived there I noticed that the show started in 30 minutes. Perfect! I knew it would fill up fast so Aidan and I headed to the show. We got some great seats in the middle of the arena about half way up. We were in the "soak zone" but I wasn't really worried since they were only dolphins and not Shamu size whales. Aidan did a great job waiting for the show to start. They then announced that if you are in the soak zone you would probably get wet. This is NOT what Aidan Kai wanted to hear. I explained to him that we would probably only get a little wet and it wouldnt be a big deal. The show then started and it was spectacular! I love those type of shows and Aidan was really enjoying himself also. So far so good..... THEN the first pilot whale came out and splashed the audience. We got just a little sprinkle. Aidan got his shoe a little wet and immediately started taking in off and saying "I don't want to get wet" " I need to go to the potty". I told him it would be ok. He was not happy and continued to say "I need to go to the potty" and acted like he was frightened. I decided at that point that we would leave. I was really hesitant to do it because the show was so good but did not want a scared little boy. Sigh.... We left and I took him to the potty. Not surpisingly he did not really need to go. So I saw about half of the Blue Horizons show because the little boy genius did not want to get wet. hmmm.... hmmm..

We then headed over to Sesame Place so Aidan could play. The first thing he came to was the water play area. He headed straight there. I had him take his shoes and socks off . I thought he would only put his toes in because he was being so "anti getting wet". WRONG! The boy played and played and played. He was soaked to the bone by the time he was done. little stinker. lol! I only brought him a change of pants and underwear in case he had an accident but I didnt want to stop him because he was having such a good time. When he was done we had to head to the gift shop to buy him a towel and a tshirt. I had to spend a little extra money then I had planned but it was well worth it. It was a great day at Seaworld!

Here are some pics. There are 3 videos at the bottom. You might have to scroll down to the bottom to see them. For some reason they are really spaced out and I am having a difficult time fixing them.


Stopping to smell the flowers when we first arrived.
yay! I finally get to see the Blue Horizons show!

Self Portrait while we were waiting for the show to start. Notice we are in the "soak zone"

Dolphin... I just adore these creatures.

You cant really tell in this pic but it is of an acrobat.

Playing at Sesame Place.... Let me just put my foot in this water....

Aidan having fun and getting soaked!

Post play time in his new change of clothes. We stopped to have a little snack.

Aidan looovves pickles ( as do I) so I bought him one of these HUGE ones!

Scroll down to see the videos.... the last one is of him dancing to the steel drums.

Father's Day

Aidan and I have been going to Orange County on Sundays so we can go to Saddleback for church. I have been reaalllly enjoying our time in Orange County. I miss it so much! This Sunday we stayed in San Diego so we could visit Clinton at work for Father's Day. He has been running events for the past two and half weeks and has been working 18 - 2o hour days. I appreciate how hard he works for us but needless to say Aidan and I haven't seen much of him. We do visit him occasionally but we really dont get to spend any time with him because he is working. I wanted to make sure that Aidan got to see his dad on fathers day so I bought a cake for 60, purchased a balloon and some cards and headed on down to surprise him. Aidan did get to spend about 10 minutes playing with him outside. The cake was a hit and was totally devoured in 10 minutes! Today is the last day of his event so bring on the family time!!!!

We love going to where Clinton runs his events. Marina Village is so beautiful! Most of the time the complex is totally empty and we have the whole place to ourselves. It is a popular place for weddings and wedding receptions so Fridays and Saturdays are pretty entertaining there. I cant tell you the number of weddings aidan and I have experienced there while visiting Clinto! Last Friday night was really fun! There were about 5 receptions going on at the same time. There was one Polynesian reception right beside our event. They had male and female hula dancers. There were a ton of kids there and Aidan got to run around and play tag and red light green light with them. Poor aidan- he seeks out kids wherever we go so he can play with them. I do my best to take him places where he can play with other kids because he is so outgoing and enjoys socializing so much.

I bought this outfit at Janie and Jack- one of my favorite stores! They are having a GREAT sale right now!

playing with dad for a few minutes on Fathers Day.

The cake for 60 that was gone in a flash- I have honestly never seen EVERYONE want some. I'm glad they enjoyed it!

Fun at the fair!

The San Diego County fair started last week so I decided to take Aidan this evening. I prepared him this morning that after he woke up from his nap we were going to the fair. Of course he asked "what's a fair?" - he is really into "why is the sky blue ?"type questions these days -so I explained it to him. For some reason he was REALLY excited about going. As soon as he woke up from his nap at 5:00 he said " I get to go to the fair now!". We packed up and headed out. I packed some carrots and grapes for him to eat in the car before we got to the fair where I knew we would be eating dinner and there was a bunch of junk- more on that in a second....

We had a great time. It was pretty crowded because KC and the Sunshine band ( I think they have been playing fairgrounds since I was 2 years old - lol!) were playing there tonight. We had to park far away but luckily they had a tram we could ride to the entrance. Aidan said "this is like Disneyland" and yes it was. Once at the entrance they made us go through a metal detector. They had bins there to put all your loose change, cameras, keys, etc... I turned around and Aidan had taken off his shoes like we were at the airport. lol! It WAS very similar to going through security at the airport but we did not have to remove our shoes. You can tell the little boy knows the drill and has flown a time or two. lol!

Once inside we first came to the animal section with sheep, cows, goats, etc... Aidan could care less. We kept walking and BINGO! there was a car dealership there with some cars! Aidans idea of heaven!! He LOVED looking at normal boring regular cars. He kept running from car to car examining it and attempting to get inside. Boys will be boys I guess. My dad would be soooo proud! I attempted to bribe him with a PONY RIDE but it was a no go- he could care less about the horses and was REALLY into the cars.

Finally after he had his fill of the cars we grabbed a hot dog for dinner. While we were eating he decided that he DID want to go on the pony ride. After we ate I purchased a ticket so he could ride. It came his turn to get on the horse and he FREAKED out! There was NO WAY he was getting on that horse. Luckily I was able to get my money back.

We then moved on to the kiddie rides. I bought $20.00 worth of tickets because he did so well at Disney last time riding all the rides and thought he would really enjoy it. WRONG! He rode some little boats that he loved. We then moved on to the cars. We got the number 43 Richard Petty car! Woo hoo! He went once around the little track and started FREAKING out again. They stopped the ride so he could get off. At least I got a picture of him in the car. lol! For the rest of the night he would only ride the little boats and the carousel- which was fine by me, I justed wanted him to use up all the tickets so we could get out of there. They had elephants there you could ride and I REALLY wanted him to do it because selfishly I wanted to ride myself. There was NO WAY I was going to get him on that HUGE elephant!

It has been a long time since I have been to a fair and MY OH MY I couldn't believe the food selections! I know fairs have a lot of junk food but THIS was a little over the top. They had one place that served chocolate covered bacon and deep fried butter! Talk about a HEART ATTACK! They also had deep fried frog legs, avocado, poptarts, twinkies, yuck! Aidan and I stuck with plain old chocolate ice cream~

All in all the fair was fun. Aidans favorite part was the cars. I could have saved a lot of money by simply taking him to a car lot and letting him look around. lol! We didnt get to see nearly half of what they had there because we got there so late and we spent so much time in the kiddie ride area using those %*#($# tickets. Maybe we will go back one day next week with Clinton after his events are finished and I can get my elephant ride.

Okay- just one last funny story ... Aidan and I were riding in the car this morning. I was talking to him about how blessed we are and should be thankful. He looked really confused and turned to me and said, "mom, we're not tissues!" funny boy. I had to explain what it meant to "be blessed" in terms a nearly three year old could understand and that it didnt mean the same thing as when you say "bless you" when you sneeze.

Riding on the tram to the entrance... " This is like Disneyland!" Animals that I had to MAKE him stand in front of to take his picture. Not Interested.

hmmmm...... I didn't like the animals but let me check out this cool foot massager thing...

Papa would be proud!! A yellow corvette!

The pony rides across from the cars. I attempted to bribe him but he was not interested...

The boats that he rode over, and over, and over...

The car that he rode for about 10 seconds before he started screaming his head off....

He LOVED playing the duckie game! We lost the prize though before we even left the fair.

Happy to ride the carousel!

Once again riding the boats. He decided that he wanted to ride with this little girl instead of riding by himself. They had a BALL together~

I HAD to take a picture.... Chocolate covered bacon and deep fried butter. YUMMO! Not!

if that wasnt enough- deep fried poptarts and twinkies!