A Chicago Boys Trip

Back in early February (yes, that means I'm over 2 months behind - sorry family!!) flights were wide open for some standby tickets to Chicago. It was GG's vacation week and since the timing was just right and Kyle didn't have school the following Monday, I sent the 3 boys off for a blitz trip to see Rudy's family. I'm so glad they got this quality time and the chance to touch ice and see some snow. This was a fantastic trip for them and the boys still talk about their experiences and memories. They loved looking at these pictures while I uploaded onto the blog. Thanks to GG, pictures exist! Here's what she sent (of the ones that came thru) ...

Just landed and arriving at GG's house. Wearing jackets, I see?!

Siblings :)

Riding with Uncle Ryan on his motorcycle

GG's juice was a hit, I know! Gavin was very excited about this.

GG, the boys, and cousin Aito.

Aunt Donna

 Donovan is an awesome cousin for letting these guys beat up on him.

A visit to the Nature Center near GG's house.

Visiting Uncle Randy's house

What IS this white stuff?

These CA boys don't need much to be amused. :)

Great Grandma Sally :)

 

Our nephew/cousin Elliot!! Getting so big.

Again, just a patch of ice will do!

:):):)

More ice!

Asleep at GG's! :)

Thank you to all the family for making this trip so memorable and fun!!!

A Date for Kyle and Mommy

Our Kyle thrives on quality time with his loved ones, so we've been making an effort to spend time one on one with him in various ways. Kyle really loves and requests every single Sunday afternoon to go on the Sum Fun fishing boat out of Dana Point. It's become he and Rudy's "thing" they do about two or three times a month. Kyle and my thing has been the train station and most recently, Camelot. Here are some pictures of our latest "date."

Love. Quality Time. Making Memories Together.

Irvine Railroad Park

The boys' current favorite park is a beautiful regional park with a train, zoo, pony rides, wagon rides, water boats, etc... out of all the things one can do, the boys' favorite thing is...you guessed it, the train! On Fridays, because Kyle doesn't have homework, we usually pick him up and head somewhere fun with our lunch. This park is always mentioned and often visited. 

Feel like you've seen this picture before? That's because the caboose is their favorite!

After the ride, which is pretty long, we have to play on and around the tracks or stand by as the train passes by and the "ding dingers" go up and then down.

Grandpa Harold's Visit!!

A few weeks ago, my Grandpa Thune and Auntie Karen came to visit for 5 days to attend the funeral services of my grandpa's younger brother. Though the reason for the visit was sad, we really looked forward to having them with us. Its an extremely rare treat to have my grandpa here in CA. The boys soaked up all the time they could with their Great-Grandpa Harold. :)

This was the moment we'd been waiting for...our first glimpse of the man and his daughter who travels with him. Double bonus for us!!

They came straight to our house for dinner and the boys were beside themselves. Kyle was super excited to show Grandpa Harold his carrier he got for Christmas. It was so fun to capture this moment as Grandpa explained what it was like to fly his F6 Helcat off of the Intrepid during WWII.

The boys were glued to the man. They completely understand by now, that all the family who comes to visit end up leaving way too quickly and they've got to squeeze every minute of their time and attention that they can! :)

Just for fun, we took them to Rudy's work to see where my mom gets her treatment.

Grandpa still golfs (mostly just 9 holes).

Rudy loves this guy and can't believe how well he is doing both physically and mentally at 96 years old.

We are so thankful for every time we get to spend with him, especially for the boys' sake. I'm glad they'll at least have these pictures with this stud of a man. :)

We love you Grandpa Harold! And lots of love to Auntie Karen as well! We missed you before you had even left. :)

Our Miss Rene

On Tuesdays and Thursdays Miss Rene comes over for a little over 3 hours to pick up Kyle from school and watch the boys until I come home. When we all first met her, she reminded us so much of the boys' GG and Rudy thought she was a mix of GG and his Aunt Cindy. It's so true! She's a wonderful gift we are so happy to have found. This is no small thing in our minds. Finding someone you trust with your children can be difficult and I've always been so extremely thankful for the chance my boys had to be with my mom and then Miss Esther. I knew they were not only cared for, but dearly loved. 

I wanted to highlight this new time in the boys' lives as this is our first year where they are spending almost all of the week at home. (Gavin comes up with me on my 3 hour Monday mornings and stays at my mom's house with Miss Zoe, who is Miss Esther's younger sister.) I'm so grateful they can continue to be together and in our home with our same after school routine whether I'm there or not. We're still really enjoying Rudy's flexible schedule and that he is with the kids for more than half of the days I work and gets to drop Kyle off at school or attend events there. Both Rudy and I enjoy walking/biking/scootering to school with the boys. Good memories for sure.

But back to Miss Rene. She was a former preschool teacher who has older kids and wanted to find something that would provide a little income and where she could be around littles. Essentially, we've got a win/win situation. I appreciate her motherly intuition with the boys and how she treats them. She has been great! One of the favorite things the boys enjoy about her is that she comes with a new and different craft idea every time. The boys make, bake, paint, and create thematic crafts that correspond with the holidays/months. For example, in November, the boys made Indian vests out of our paper bags and threaded the pieces of the jacket together with yarn. She taught them a chant they still say at the dinner table. :) In December, they made, rolled, cut, and baked dough ornaments of their handprints, candy canes, trees, etc.) In January, they made puppet snowmen.

Below are some shots of our kitchen wall decorated with January/February themed crafts. I love that Miss Rene lets the boys do all (or for Gavin, mostly all) of the work themselves. I also appreciate the variety of materials. They were painting with heart cookie cutters, cutting snowflakes (Gavin LOVES to cut things!), using chalk to draw snowmen, etc. The boys have recently gotten a kick out of making service vehicles (fire truck, police car, and I hear an ambulance is coming...). It's so fun to come home to the boys eager to show me what they made! This is such a fun memory-in-the-making for them!!

 I loved this picture of Kyle's snowman (and such a cute police car, while we're at it)...

 And then seeing Gavin's "snowman!" :) :)

Kyle taught me how to finger knit after his lesson from Miss Rene, and we went to our local craft store to each buy some yarn so we could knit together. After a lot of physical play outside, this is just the thing to mellow out and relax.

Thanks to Miss Rene, our kitchen wall has never looked more full of such fun! The boys were so excited about their Cat in the Hat's today. Check them out in the first pic with Miss Rene. So darling and full of personality. :) Time to take down February and anticipate what's next with March!