Beer, Beer, and Parenting

My favorite summer time drink is without a doubt, the margarita.  The ice, the salt, the sweet lime flavor.  But also in the summer I tend to stray away from the wine in favor of a nice, cool beer.  Yeah, I drink a lot of beer in the summer.

And lately, we've been finding ways to incorporate Thatbaby while exploring new and different brews.  Like when we ventured to Plan 9 Alehouse, which has 26 beers on tap, 37 in bottles, and a play area for kids.

 

And thanks to SD Mom I also discovered that Stone Brewery has a farm! Which is so perfect for family outings. 

There's a tasting room, naturally, and picnic tables to sit and drink and eat.  We brought our own lunches, but there's also a pizza oven if you get there early.

And while the parents sit and drink, there's so much to keep the little ones entertained. 

The HorseWhispers met us there this weekend, and Thatbaby was happy to show Little HW the ropes.

 

After the two of them swung their hearts out on the playground, he took her to see the peacocks and the goats.

Dear parents, if you really want to keep your kid entertained while you drink, there's nothing better than letting them bring a friend along.  Especially if their friend has super cool parents you're friends with.

Because there's nothing better than being able to indulge in your favorite pasttime with some of your favorite people.

 

Choo-choo-choosing friends

Now that Thatbaby is at a new preschool, we don't get to see some of his old friends as often.  Which is sad, because I adored his old friends and their parents.  Luckily they've been really great about trying to plan times to get our kids together.  Mrs. Parrot contacted me to see if we'd be up for another outing to the train park with Little Parrot and BA.  Well of course we would!

Thatbaby was a little shy with Little Parrot.  Which makes sense, since it's been longer since he's hung out with him.  When he spotted BA however, he was overjoyed.  So excited.  And that excitement wrapped up Little Parrot in it as Thatbaby wanted to make sure both his friends were with him at all times.

The boys loved riding the train together, looking out the window and choo-chooing along.  It was a great ice breaker to remind them of how much fun they have together.  As soon as we got them off the train, they took off - running in circles and chasing each other through the park.

 

Eventually we got them to sit down and have a little snack, and then it was back to the racing around.

 We crossed over to a playground to let them have a free space to run where we didn't have to worry about them getting hit by a train or a car.  Then they spent the morning climbing, sliding, running, going through tunnels and just generally enjoying being together.  Thatbaby told me it was his favorite part of the weekend.  And who can blame him?  Everyone needs some good friends.

A Pirate Looks At 40

I know, I was just telling you about Mrs. Pirate's surprise birthday party.  I laughed when Mr. Pirate texted me asking for help with the party, because Mrs. Pirate had already clued us all in that she was throwing him a surprise party for his 40th birthday.

On Saturday we all gathered at Mission Bay to celebrate the momentous occasion. 

 After everyone was there, Mr. Pirate showed up, blindfolded.

He told us after that he had no idea where he was going or what was going on.  Mrs. Pirate totally threw him. 

She had hired caterers who stood and grilled tacos for all of us.  And of course, where there are tacos, you can find margaritas!

Mrs. Pirate had advised us to bring some fun inflatables.  And since Thatbaby had such a blast with the blow up whale while in Palm Desert, we got him a blow-up on his very own.

Oh how he loves that dolphin!

About a year ago, Mr. Pirate got very into paddleboarding.  He is always trying to get Thatboy out with him.  He's been pretty unsuccessful with that.  I think Thatboy went out once and decided it wasn't for him.  But Mr. Pirate got a lot of his other friends interested, so there were no shortage of boards on the bay.  So Thatbaby had his first paddle board lesson.  Which pretty much meant Mrs. Pirate gave him a ride, then Thatboy took him for a paddle as the sun set.

When it started getting darker and colder, we lit a fire and roasted marshmallows.

We always love getting together with the Pirates, and celebrating a birthday makes the occasion even more fun.

Fourth at Home

The Fourth of July is always really hectic for us.  Usually it involves getting up at the crack of dawn so I can run a race and/or we can snag a good spot on the beach where we camp out all day waiting for fireworks.  Usually we end up tired and cranky from dealing with the crowds.


So we were really excited when we realized that we would probably be able to see fireworks from our new house, without having to pack a cooler for the day.  Some neighborhood reconnaissance confirmed that fireworks, while maybe not visible from our backyard, were certainly so from across the street, or at the top of the street.  Which meant, for the first time in years, we got to enjoy the holiday in a relaxed manor, in the comfort of our own home.

I started the day off by preparing a special Independence Day breakfast for the boys and myself.  Red, White, and Blue-berry pancakes!

Then, because I didn't sign up for a race this year, and because Thatbaby has been asking to run with me all week, the two of us went for a run.  We ran all the way to Target and picked up some flags to decorate with before running back home.  Thatbaby really got into the whole flag waving aspect of the holiday.

 

We spent the rest of the morning unpacking Thatbaby's room.  Because we've been here a month and it's still in boxes.  Poor kid.  

In the afternoon, we started preparing for festivities.  Which means Thatboy got his very first grill experience with our new barbecue.

And I pulled the watermelon out of the freezer. 

That ice cold watermelon didn't stand a chance.  Even before it hit the table the boys were digging in.  We blew up Thatbaby's new pool and filled it up so everyone could stay cool.

Even Thatdog got to enjoy some holiday watermelon.  But not the pool.  Thatdog hates water. He was content hanging out on the grass and keeping an eye on us.

The Ks were in town, so later in the evening, they stopped by to join us.  We threw both boys in the pool to cool down.

When it started getting dark, our neighbor came over to check in on us and bring by some drinks.  I popped open some of the glow treats I got for the boys.

Shortly before the fireworks began, the whole crew of us headed across the street to my neighbor's lawn.  They had a great view of the fireworks and had invited us to check it out.  As we sat on blankets and lawn chairs, drinking and enjoying the show, our neighbors remarked that it was so nice to have a neighborhood group to do this with.  Our own little block party, and the first of its kind in the 10 years they've lived there.  The lights filled up the sky and the young ones watched in awe.  And when it was all over, we didn't have to weave our way through crowded parking lots or busy streets.  Instead we sat talking, then crossed over to our own waiting beds.  I'm looking forward to continuing this tradition for years to come!

A Day for Thatboy

For Father's Day, I let Thatboy decide what he wanted to do for his ideal day.  When he woke up in the morning, we greeted him with presents.  Thatbaby made him a shirt using DecoArt Ink Effects.  I love this stuff.  It's paint that you use on just regular paper, and it creates an iron on transfer.   I like it because the ink goes right into the fabric, so it doesn't have that "sticker quality" that most iron-ons have.  It's more like screen printing.

For this particular shirt, Thatbaby wanted to do handprints, so he used the paint to make handprints on paper, which I then ironed on to the shirt to create a kind of abstract art piece.  I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but Thatboy is wearing it below.

We went to Thatboy's favorite breakfast place, The Original Pancake House.  Thatbaby is a pretty big fan of pancakes too.

Afterwards we headed to the beach.

My present to Thatboy was a quadrocopter.  He had so much fun flying it around the beach (and back at the house during Thatbaby's naptime).

Thatboy surfed while Thatbaby and I jumped in the waves, built sand castles, and dug a really big hole in the sand.  When Thatboy was done surfing, he joined us and brought Thatbaby back into the water with him for a little surf lesson.

It didn't go so well.  Thatbaby was much happier splashing in the water on his two feet.

And showing Thatboy the big hole we dug.  After the beach we grabbed some sandwiches for lunch and headed home for naptime.  I crashed with Thatbaby while Thatboy flew his new toy in the backyard.  It was a late nap, and pretty soon it was time for dinner.

We met up with the Ks for dinner.  K3 is getting so very big.  Thatbaby had so much fun playing with him, and the two boys tortured K2 with joint tickle attacks.  I think he may choose a different seat next time we eat together.

By the end of the night, Thatbaby was ready for bed, whether he agreed or not.  He was sad to say goodby to his friend, and was having such a good time during the day.  As for the star of the day, Thatboy had a pretty good day too!  But he deserves it.  I mean, Father's Day only comes once a year.

Fair Enough

One of the best things about summers in San Diego is the fair.  Thatboy and I enjoyed it before Thatbaby was born, but it gets more fun every year as he can take in and enjoy more of it.

Sometime this winter, Thatbaby's favorite book of choice was a Thomas Seek and Find.  On one of the pages, Thomas visits the fair.  That's Thatbaby's favorite page.  He loves looking at the people on the rides, the ice cream, and he was especially enthralled with the candy apple.  He thought it was the coolest thing ever, and Thatboy promised him that one day he would get one.  As soon as we started talking about the fair, he asked if we were going to get him an "apple candy."  So our first stop when we arrived, was a stop for the candy apple.

I am NOT looking forward to this kid's first dentist appointment!  On the plus side, like many sweets he gets, Thatbaby wasn't interested in finishing the sweet treat.  Thatboy helped him out with that.

Our next stop was the rides.  I'm a little wary of fair rides (hey, anything that can be put up in a jiffy might come down in a jiffy too) but I figured the ones meant for little kids wouldn't cause too much damage even if they did spin off the tracks.

Thatbaby is tall enough where he can actually ride quite a few rides.  But that also means he's a little too tall for us to ride with him.  He was a little hesitant at first when we strapped him in on his first ride, wanting one of us to ride with him, instead of watching him from the sidelines.  But he got the hang of it pretty quickly.

We each rode one ride with him too, I would have guessed this plane one with Thatboy was his favorite.  He spent the whole time waving at everyone.

But when we asked him which he liked best, he was adamant his favorite was the whale.

 

After the rides, we went to check out the animals.  As soon as we walked into the barn holding the cows, Thatbaby wanted to pet each and every one.  When I told him these animals weren't for petting, he wanted to find the ones that were.  So we headed over to the petting barn where he got to feed and love some goats, sheep, and a cow.  By this time we were getting a little hungry.  Especially those of us who didn't have a candy apple.  So we headed over to the food stalls for dinner.

Nothing quite says "County Fair" like an oversized hot dog covered in toppings!  I actually beamed with pride when Thatbaby said he wanted his hot dog with just mustard, no ketchup - since I had been telling Thatboy for years that ketchup was for burgers and not hot dogs.  Thatboy and I got the "Martha Stewart" which was loaded with sauerkraut, bacon, chopped onions and tomatoes and a drizzle of sour cream.

After dinner we went to check out the art exhibits, which Thatboy loves, then headed over to the gems and minerals to look at shiny stones and fossils.  We then made our way to the exit, but not before stopping at the photo booth to continue with our family tradition.  3 years and counting!  It's kind of funny to see the difference in Thatbaby over the years.  There seems to be such a big bump between year 1 and 2, and less of a difference between 2 and 3.  Except this year he actually had an idea of what was going on and could focus on the camera.

 

Bye bye fair!  See you next year!