#AyalaAdventures | Part 2

If you missed our beach post, you can check it out here.

We really tried to pack as much into our 5 day trip as we could... and one of the places on our must-do list was the San Diego Zoo. I took several dozen photos - too many to share here. The last time we went to the Zoo, we only had one kid and I don't think we made it around the place. This time, 15 years later, we decided to take the bus tour. Well worth it. We got to see just about everything... and any exhibit/animal we wanted to see up close, we just made our way over there by foot.

I think our most favorite were the Pandas...(he looks just like our new pup, Oso!) and the Polar Bears.

The weather was perfect and we ended up spending nearly 5 hours wandering and meandering. Nic loved seeing all of the animals and different birds and trees. I loved that he ran around so much, he fell asleep the moment we got back to the hotel for the evening! :) Score!

#AyalaAdventures | Part 1

Yes... I gave us a hashtag for our recent San Diego vacation. Lame, huh? :D I know I posted pics and updates on Facebook and Intagram along the way, but I wanted to be sure I also document our trip here on the good ol' blog. I will break it up - I am too tired to sit here and edit a gazillion pictures. 

The first day in San Diego, we went straight for Coronado Island... and the beach.

Someone before us was kind enough to give us some opening remarks material. Thank you kind, sirs.

The weather was unseasonably warm... near 90 degrees; we loved it. We didn't actually plan to enjoy the golden sand (no, seriously, we think there was GOLD in the sand!) and cool water, so we weren't prepared. That didn't stop Nico though. Nope, not one bit. We scavenged for sea creatures, shells and seaweed. And we found them all.

I think we spent nearly two hours just allowing Nic to run up and down the beach, in and out of the water. He hadn't been to the beach in nearly 4 years and his reaction this time around was much different. He LOVED it. 

This last picture here pretty much sums up Nic on this trip... (and in life in general, now that I am thinking about it). 

The birds will never be the same on Coronado Island. But... who cares? My guy had a BLAST.

And the boys are back to school, too.

Last week was my first week where I didn't have kiddos hanging on me while I worked. Because the boys are back in school!

And with that, things are moving right along! The craziness has started. I am barely coping. But that's a whole nuther story.

Manners are over-rated

Nic has been BEGGING for a Scream/Ghost face costume for days now. Ever since Halloween, really. Well, I had to run errands today to get Isa and Nic shoes. While at Target, I found a Ghost face costume 70% off. So I got it for him. It doesn't matter that there are almost 11 months until Halloween. He loves costumes and dressing up.

Lately it's been Darth Vader or Dracula.

Anyway, after some fun scores at Target, I come home, demand 'thank you's' for the shoes from Isa (she's been bugging) and Nic runs off to try on his costume.

Five minutes later, he returns. He looks amazing. Scary, even.

Alex, the great & considerate one, prompts Nic with...

Alex: Nic, what do you say?

Silence.

Alex: Nic... Come on. What do you say?

Nic (in an eery voice): Hellooo, Sydneyyy!

(Evidently people aren't getting the Sydney reference. My mom and dad sure didn't. Did nobody watch horrible horror movies from the 90s and early 2000s?!?! Just in case; here is the video. Which is where I am sure Nic got this from. Bad mom alert. Letting my 5 year old on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ht0uR5jWz0)


And then later... the home phone was ringing off the hook. Political calls, marketing calls, and everything in between. It got to a point that we just stopped answering it.

After about the 4th call, Nic finally walked over to answer it. You could hear the loud voice on the other end. I thought it was a recording. Nic listened intently.

A few moments passed and then I heard Nic say, "No, thank you." and he hung up the phone.

Alex and I just looked at him, perplexed.

I asked him what the person asked him.

He said that the man asked if he wanted to donate his sister.

It took a minute but then I realized that it was Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Valley asking if we had a donations.

And here Nic said "no." He must be loving Isabel today.

The kid KILLS me. =D

Nic this morning...

There will be a few posts today... 
First and foremost... Halloween pics from this morning.
Nic was allowed to dress up, but he had to be a character from a book. We took his black cape from Darth Vader and turned him into Dracula.

He even sparkled a little. :)

More to come.  Especially because today is Alex's 17th birthday!

An Announcement of the Dental Variety

That sucker has been loose for a while... I was so afraid he was going to lose it while Marcos and I were gone on vacation (and he was home with his grandma). Instead, he lost it while I was at Hobby Lobby this morning. Alex called to tell me.

#fail

Nic needs a haircut. Bad.

#doublefail

He Completes Us

If you've been here before, you know that my third child is a masterpiece. That does not mean the older two are less special, they are just as perfect, but Nic is different. I think we've all helped shaped him, but God seriously had the most impact. Silly God and his crazy sense of humor.

Nic has a memory like no other. I pray for his future wife and kids. lol... Seriously, he can remember things that happened nearly three years ago, when he was three, that hold no real significance to the rest of us. They must have hit a chord with him.

For example. Well over three years ago, I was driving with the kids in our van and there was a huge piece of metal on the road. The car in front of us hit it and it flew under our van as we drove on the freeway. It made a huge BUMP and ultimately, we had to get the undercarriage examined and fixed. Nic STILL talks about the bump in the road. He reminds me to drive carefully on freeways. The dude is FIVE. That was three years ago!

That's not all. He says he remembers being a baby, in jail. Obviously, I am not that gangsta of a momma. He wasn't born in a jail cell while I was awaiting trial due to my mad graffiti skills. However, he was born 3 full months premature and did spend several weeks in an incubator and then a crib with bars(ish). Things that make you go hmmmmm.

There is more stuff where that came from, but that's for a different time.  The reason I mention his memory is because we were on the way to dinner on Friday night, just Marcos, Nic and me, and he was talking about things he remembered. As always, I complimented him on remembering all that stuff. To which he replied, "You know how I do it, mom? I have memory ships in my heart."

Memory ships. In his heart.
Of course he means 'chips.'

He once told me that he sees his memories as pictures in his head. And that the pictures have a white boarder around them.  Oh, to be a blood vessel in his brain....

Besides he love for remembering things and coming up with the cutest sayings, Nic loves to collect things.

He found these rocks at the park. Evidently, we were all out of Ziploc bags, so he used the next best thing. Tin foil. You know... so they stay fresh.

Nic LOVES to put on a costume.

And he loves Legos, small toys... and taking pictures of everything.

This kid cracks us all up. He's the perfect third (and last) child. He completes us.
No really. He does. As in, I see minor surgery in my very near future. As in... no more kiddos for us!

See, literally, he does complete us.

You Twisted my Arm {More Halloween Printables]

I have another Halloween printable to add to the collection. This one is a favorite of mine. I love the poem! It really takes me back to all of the great Halloween books I read as a kid.

Little lesser-known fact, my husband('s family) does not celebrate Holidays. Whereas, my family does. I've always loved Halloween, but put it on the back-burner so not as to cause issues (big girl under-roos, compromise, whatever you want to call it).

Alex understood the rule. We celebrated Christmas, his birthday and 4th of July. He was a Halloween baby, but he knew we didn't really dress-up or go Trick or Treating.

Isabel semi-understood it, but she still wanted to dress-up in costumes (usually a princess and once Madonna). She pushed the limits a little.

Nic? Forgettaboutit. His FAVORITE store is the Spirit store. He doesn't understand that it's only in existence for 2 months out of each year. I am not even remotely stretching the truth when I say that we have to go look at the store, anytime we are in the area, EVEN WHILE IT'S AN EMPTY SHELL from December - August. Nic even made me take this pic to show his dad as if when we told him, he wouldn't believe us:

So, now with Nic totally into all things Grim Reaper, I am having a blast putting Halloween into our family routines and memories. We all know that my hot boyfriend has a hard time saying "no" to his third child. Que sera, sera. It also helps that we are now homeowners, it's FUN to decorate your own home. Here is my Halloween post from 2010 and from 2011.

But back to the free print...[the fun stuff!]

You can download a 5x7 below:

Nic's Morning in Pictures

Good Tuesday morning! The sun is bright and beautiful and that's how I like it.

I took my camera out today; it's been hidden in my desk drawer for a while. It felt good to take some pictures of Nic and his morning.

It starts out though, last night. Isabel gave Nic his bath and when Isa turned her back for just a moment, Nic became Mr. Mischievous. Isabel made mention of the situation last night, but I didn't get a full story until this morning when Nic ran into my room, upset that his band-aid didn't fall off in the middle of the night as his sister had promised. Nic hates band-aids.

The milk mustache is priceless. But even cuter (and maybe slightly painful?) the razor marks on his chin. Nic blames me. I left *my* razor in *my*bathtub. Oh the horror.

He has his own bathroom where he can take his baths. I feel no pity.

Nic was excited to go back to school today, now that the "Labor holiday" is over. The kid actually thought he was supposed to get presents yesterday.

After three days, I was ready to send the kids back. Even though they are kinda cute.

Look at this morning sun... It gave me a huge dose of the energy I needed today.

Here's Nic's bus, with him safely inside.

I've been meaning to take some pictures around the neighborhood. You wouldn't recognize the place. We've had a ton of new houses go up. The existing elementary school expanded over the summer. And we have a new LDS chapel going in. I love the steeple. The pure white of it against a blue sky. You can even see the moon in the shot below.

I will try and capture more photos.  But where the church is standing now, cows used to roam freely.

Sept. 2010

Not sure I miss the cows a whole lot. =)

Adventures in Kindergarten

My baby boy is starting his third week of Kindergarten today. Mornings have gotten a tad bit easier. Maybe because we bribe him with frozen yogurt and Legos?! This morning, before he climbed on the bus, he waved at me two times. And then ran over and grabbed me in a hug. I was so scared he was going to breakdown, but he didn't.

Last week, on the way to our frozen yogurt treat, Nic told me that he had to make a sign at school. The kids were asked what is one thing they SHOULDN'T do in school. The teacher went child-by-child and wrote down their answer on a yellow sticky that the kids were to copy.

Nic decided that the ONE thing you shouldn't do in school is shooting. The sign actually says "No Shooting," I couldn't grab the "no" in the pic. But look at the gun. First thought?! AK-47? High powered automatic?

Nope.

via

It's a British gun called a Famas. I guess it's a common gun in a video game Alex plays. And we all know what kind of memory Nic has. I cannot believe he even remembered to put the magazine at the back of the gun.

I am not a fan of guns, but since I was raised by a military dad and two card-carrying enthusiasts, I accept them (when handled correctly). I will tell you, after being laid up in bed (due to my bad back) all weekend - and watching back-to-back episodes of 48 Hours | Hard Evidence on the ID channel, I was leery to even Google the Famas gun to provide you a picture. I am soooo paranoid now. lol...

Nic was upset that he "forgot" to leave the sign at school to hang up with the other kids' pictures. I am sure that it was sent home on purpose. I do want to point out that before the picture was even drawn, the teacher did write down "no shooting" on a sticky for him to copy (based on what he wanted). In this day in age, I think it's a GREAT sign to have.

NO SHOOTING in the classroom (or at movie theaters or football stadiums!).

Makes sense to me.

I am hoping that Nic continues to do well in school and that his tiny meltdowns before getting on the bus fully subside. His Legos collection has expanded significantly; he may have to move out of his room soon! =)

Isa's First Day

This morning, Isabel starts 8th grade! The Queen of the Campus! We went to her school last night for 'Meet the Teacher' - she only has two new teachers, four of the others she had last year. The school built a new Junior High wing over the summer, so there is plenty of room of them to spread out and do their thing. Although, I thought it was quite ingenious of the school to put the sinks and mirrors in the HALLWAY instead of in the bathrooms!! The bathrooms just have 5 or 6 stalls, and the communal sink is HUGE and right outside the boys and girls rooms. I love it! No more primping and posing or messing around! They do their business and get out! Smart!

Anyway - here is a picture of Isa from this morning (that sun light was killing me!)

And here are all of their first day pics, again!

Two things to note about today... 1) I am going to be KID free for the first time in FOREVER! and 2) I can't forget to pick Nic up from the bus stop early today - it's early release.

Will someone call to remind me?! ;)

Back 2 School: First Day of School Snapshots

Well, the day is here. Back to school for my boys. I got up early to to grab a snap shot of Alex. He wasn't too happy, but finally obliged. Man, this is starting to feel like Groundhogs day...

Here are some pictures from Nic's morning... He was very excited and a little anxious (even though he claimed he wasn't).

 He was ready for me to put the camera away and "go already!" Marcos and I just laughed him off, and stayed. I wasn't going to miss this, his first morning!

For the fun of it - here are a few before and now pics of the boys:

Isabel doesn't start school until Wednesday, so I will be taking her pics then!