Beach Living

We have been hitting up the beach a lot this summer since the weather has been so wonderful.  We even spent 4th of July riding bikes and hanging with some friends by the ocean.

Since Teresa was so kind to take our kids for a week (during the 4th), I was in charge of entertaining all the kids that weren't mine.  Mila and I had a great time with snapchat.

Never ask Jason to take a picture of you and your friend because you may just get a selfie of him...

He did get a nice one of me and Melissa

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends...and it doesn't hurt that they have a house right by the beach so we walked there to continue the celebration.

See what I mean about Jason and pictures? :)  This is actually one of my favorite pictures from the day.

All the ladies...

Kelly looking all cute and me and Courtney looking all tough.

This was the sunset on yet another one of our many bike rides while the kids were with Grandma.

Another random day...another time to catch some waves.

 Introducing Trevin....the coldest kid on the planet.  Maybe he needs a little meat on da bones

One of my all time favorite things we have done this summer is evening beach time.  We organized a get together with a few other families and the kids had a blast and we got to watch the sunset.

And of course....we took many selfies...

Jason arrived late after work but still managed to get Trev in the water...on his shoulders.  My favorite.

 Another evening, we brought Grandma with us.  There was a fire earlier in the day, so the sun was a bright red which made for an excellent sunset and even awesome-er pictures.

Stand there and look cool.

 Now run towards me, Baywatch style.

 Always the goofball

 I mean...look at that sky!!!

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

 Jason is not too happy with this picture but the pure joy on everyones face...I just had to post.  Sorry!

 And a karate kick to end the night.

  

Camping out back

Jason is really big into camping and since we haven't had the chance to take the boys "real" camping, we decided to do another test run in the backyard.  This always reminds me of setting up a make-shift tent made out of sheets in my Grandma and Grandpa's backyard and making it until about 11pm before we headed inside.  This time, Jason put Ryden to work putting up the tent.

He actually did quite well helping to pound in the stakes.

Trevin, on the other hand, just continually walked on the tent...

All finished!

We told the boys to grab their sleeping bags and set up their beds.  I come in the tent a few minutes later and find this:

 And Ryden was doing this...

Bed all set up and ready to tell some ghost stories.

 We pulled up a few scary stories on Jason's phone and let the boys listen.  Then it was lights out.  At around 2am we were so pleasantly awaked by a helicopter shining a light in our tent and police sirens everywhere.  That was the end of our camping in the backyard and we hightailed it inside.  The next morning, we found out they were looking for a suspect who was running from the police.  Excellent.  At least we had fun.

Universal Studios

Since we have been to Disneyland so many times and the boys are tired of it, we decided to try Universal Studios and see if they would like it.

We headed for the Minion area and hopped on one of the rides.  It was early so it wasn't crowded at all.  Of course, this ride was one that just spun around so I had to sit this one out.

 While I was waiting for the boys, I saw that poor Tom was just chilling' waiting for someone to come take a picture with him.  Well...I LOVE the minions and it may be one of the only kid movies I can watch over and over.  So like an obsessed fan, I ran over to take a pic with him.  He even made kissing noises at me...life complete.

Moving on to the actual minion ride.  It was a 3D ride so we got to wear cool glasses...not sure what was wrong with me that day, but I could not handle this ride either!  Right when the ride started I got so dizzy and had to spend the rest of the ride with my glasses off, looking at a stationary position.  The boys enjoyed it though.  Next time...dramamine for me.  

Moving on to Simpson's land...

The Simpson's ride was another 3D one so I had to be a loser and sit that one out also for fear of hurling.  Jason said it was the coolest ride!  Next time...

 When I went to Universal Studios back in the day, all I remember is the tram ride with Jaws.  So I really wanted to go on that (and it's pretty much the only ride dizzy magoo could handle).  So we headed in that direction but stopped off for some photos along the way.

 Love that Trev thinks that dog is real.

 Trevin has been super in to taxis (like his cousin was) so he was more than happy to pose for this pic.

When Jason found out I got my pic with Tom, he was a little upset.  So we hunted them down and got a family photo :)

Finally, tram time!!

I didn't take many pictures because I was enjoying the ride so much.  Lots of old school things I remember from back in the day....but a TON of new things as well.  The Jurassic park part was amazing!  It was 3D but I managed to enjoy myself for once.  

Here is a picture of the Flintstone car just because

 The set for War of the Worlds was sooo detailed!  This picture does not do it justice 

 And can't go on the tour without seeing the Bates Motel!

 After the tram ride, Trevin was ready for a snack.  So who wouldn't want the largest doughnut in the world...d'oh!

I mean...is that the face of the happiest kid around???

 Don't worry...we didn't let him eat the whole thing!  But you should've seen the way he was shoveling that thing in his mouth.  I had to tell him to slow down on several occasions.  

 Ryden took his time and enjoyed his doughnut

 Time to head to the Jurassic Park ride.  By this time, it was SUPER HOT and super crowded!  So seeing the people get soaked on this ride was rather welcoming.

Some nice lady that we passed handed us a 'front of the line' pass for the ride.  We were so grateful because what took about a 5 minute wait would've been about a 45 minute wait without this pass.

 The boys pulled a 'Patti Ridenour'.  That is when they complained about not wanting to ride the ride and then said it was their favorite ride ever and wanted to go on it again.  I must admit, it was a pretty cool ride.  Yes, Jason wore a pancho to protect his new tattoo.

A quick trip to the dino playground.

 We decided to call it quits because it was just too dang hot and crowded.  So back up the 4 escalators it took to get to the ride.

 The boys did one more minion ride...

 Walking back to our car and Trevin was passed out.  We had to take a picture by the candy store because on the way to Universal Studios he mentioned this...

"Mama!  That lady has a candy sandwich!"

 ET phone home...

 Done and DONE!  Thank goodness we upgraded our tickets to a season pass for free.