American Girl

Belinda called me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to go with them to the American Girl store for lunch. I thought about it for less than a half a second and then said, "yes!". You see, I LOVE American Girl dolls. I love them. So going to the store and having a daughter to blame it on was a dream come true for me.

Frances with her doll Felicity

Waiting to go in for lunch

I just loved that the fruit was cut in shapes!

They let Madeline and Molly borrow dolls for the lunch.

Me and Molly

Dessert!

It was so much fun to be there. I know Molly is a little too young for all of this, but I couldnt turn down a chance to go.

I realize that I am not a little girl, but I sure felt like one!

Clarification

A few of you have asked what we are doing in California and I realized we never really clarified why we are here. Nathan is doing an intership here in San Diego for the summer and we head back to Indiana in August. We are having a great time.

Sarahs family all got together for a BBQ the other day because Deric and Muria and their kids headed out to New Hampshire for the summer. All the cousins were together so we tried to grab a picture. This is all but Brooke, who was sleeping.

Ben and Rachel are moving to Utah in August so getting everyone together is going to be a lot harder. These kids grew up together and really love eachother.

Beaches, Flour and Family!

Deric and Muria and the kids came down for a visit and we had a great time with them.

You will probably notice Molly's theme of picking one person and never leaving them alone. This time she picked Jessica. It was so sweet to see them together. Jessica was great with her.


Then we played a game with flour. Loser has to get the quarter out with their nose.

No picture of Nathan because he is the only one who didnt have to do it. Deric actually lost trying to set Nathan up to lose.

Monday we went to the beach and Molly proved she is still our little beach baby!

She convinced Deric to go in the water with her. She was so cold after a while, but just couldn't give up. The waves were starting to get so strong that they would pull her legs out from under her.

We all had a great visit. It is fun to have family so close by.

Seals!

We went to this beach the other day and watched the seals. Molly loved it. It was fun to see so many of them so close up.

A street sign in San Diego

Benjamin

Molly really...

really...
really...

loves Benjamin.

Benjie is SO patient with her as she chases him and hugs him non-stop!

Molly's tower

Lately Molly has been stacking the paper towels up in a stack 4 rolls high. A few days ago she decided that 4 was getting boring. I turned around and she was on a chair and so proud of herself for adding that fifth roll!

Memorial Day

We stayed with Ben and Rachel and their boys for memorial day. Molly quickly learned that Rachel would do anything for her. At one point she asked me for something and I said, "No" and she said, "where's Rachel?"

Rachel, Grant, Noah and Molly.

Visiting the old place

Back in the day, my (Nathan's) family lived in southern California. Over Memorial Day weekend we went to visit Sarah's family, and on the way up we stopped at my family's old house for a few minutes. We lived there from when I was 5 until I was 8. Here's a picture of me and my little brother lookin' good during one of those first-day-of-school pictures in front of the main door of our house in SoCal. You can tell by my shorts+socks combo that it was the 80's:

Here's a picture of Molly and me in front of the house now. As you can see, the new owner has changed out the front door.

The owners let us go in the backyard for a little while. On a random note (as if this posting isn't random enough already), when I was little I stepped on a bee in the spot where we're standing in this picture. The house has changed quite a bit since we lived there, but it still has a familiar feeling. It was fun to go back for a few minutes.

Sea World

We got passes to Sea World last week and we have already been 4 times! We all went together the first time and we were only there for about 1/2 an hour. Then Clark, Christie, Hannah, Grace, Peter and Brooke came down and we all went on Friday (Nathan met us after work) and Saturday. We love Sea World, so Molly and Sarah went again today!

Molly loves the rides. The faster the better!

Here we are at Cirque de la mer. Molly thought the acrobats were monkeys and she kept asking if we could go back and see the monkeys!

Molly, Peter, Grace, and Hannah watching the whales.

Nathan and Molly after the Sea Lions show. We were soaked because Hannah, Grace, Nathan and Sarah all went on the return to Atlantis ride and Hannah had us sit in the front where you get the most wet.

We had such a good time every time we went, but we had such a great time with Clark and Christie and the kids.