Almond Blossoms

In our part of California, the blooming of the almond trees is an annual marker of the turn of seasons. Spring is here! The weather may still be cold and damp, but the days are starting to get longer and many variety of trees are in bloom. A few years ago, I noticed a huge increase on social media of pictures of kids in the beautiful almond orchards. I've always admired them and have patiently waited for my turn to plop my kids in the middle of a field and attempt to get them to smile. 

After a few seconds, I realized Adaline was not going to sit and smile for me...and it made the photos so much better to have her true personality shine through.

Spencer, on the other hand, was content to sit and watch Adaline run (we were fighting off yet another cold). He did find a fun stick to entertain himself with~

Oh, and it should be mentioned that Adaline picked out her own outfit. I figured the orchards were a perfect place for her dancing skirt.

Adaline's 3rd Birthday

Of course Adaline chose to have a princess birthday and so a very princess birthday we had. 

We started off the day with a princess outfit and a fun trip to our corner Starbucks.

 We had the family over for an early dinner and cake (Adaline helped decorate it!)

I took a lot of pictures of Adaline opening her gifts, but this was my favorite because of Laura's photo bomb :)

I took these the next day. Spencer was just as excited about the workbench from Grandpa and Grandpa Walsh as Adaline was.

 Travis picked out this mini apron to match the apron he gave me for my birthday and Adaline really does love it. She runs and gets it all by herself every time we cook together. She glared at me for this picture because I had the gall to ask her to stop playing for the two seconds it took for her to stand up for the picture (that stinker!)

I know every mother says this, but I can't believe how fast time is passing. How is Adaline three years old already??? She has such an amazingly sweet personality. I love how polite and caring she is towards others- one of my favorite parts of the day is dinner, when she sits with us at the table and asks us how our day was. Makes me smile every single time. Within the last month, I have had three different mothers at pre-school stop me and tell me that their child comes home talking about their friend Adaline. Who could ask for more...she is a healthy, happy, friendly child. Happy Birthday, Big Girl!

Thirty-three

My birthday is in the end of the January and we're usually so worn out from the holidays that we don't do anything big to celebrate (thank goodness!) This time around I asked for a weekend of sleep for my birthday, so we headed out of town in pursuit of a stretch of sleep longer than four hours at a time.
We started off indulging in sushi and then headed out to a fantastic dive bar.

The next day, we had planned to do our own things in the morning, meet back up for a couples massage, have lunch, then head out for a leisurely afternoon of wine tasting. 

But, that didn't happen exactly. Either the sushi or the two drinks I had after the sushi sat wrong with me, so I spent the morning trying to settle my stomach by sleeping. It was funny, I've had food poisoning before and I've had a hangover (or two) before and this didn't match up with either of them. My only other guess is that my body let down because I was relaxed and knew the kids weren't depending on me (just like my first getaway after Spencer). So, I didn't get my long beachfront run in that day, but Travis did get a surf session in with a great friend. 

I pulled it together long enough to fully enjoy my massage, but I could only eat a few bites of lunch so I abstained from the wine tasting. Poor Travis was forced to drink all the wine and give me notes. I still thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sun and just taking time to visit with friends and strangers. I ended up going to bed at 7 and sleeping hard all night. I woke up feeling much better and took my beachfront run (a little slower than anticipated, but still completed it!)

We also had a really nice birthday dinner with my family and lunch with Travis' parents. It is always nice celebrating with family, but it was also really nice taking time for myself (next time, I'll stay away from the sushi!!!)