Mammoth

Last week we went to Mammoth to enjoy what snow they had before it was gone. So we packed our bags took off for the mountains with Tata (Grandma) and Sido (Grandpa) in tow.

Here's Maya rolling around with her suitcase.

Here's the Mammoth at the ski/snowboard resort.

We stayed at The Village which is in a great location and after we moved rooms, we had this great view of the snow peaked mountains.

Here's Maya walking around while daddy is getting his Starbucks just outside our hotel.

You can't really tell but I took this picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger sitting in a snowcat waiting to go up the mountain. I took this picture while standing in the lift line.


Here's me and my hubby after a day of snowboarding. As you can see there is still snow on the mountains and because there were hardly anyone there, we got to enjoy it to ourselves and never waiting in lift lines. Perfect !

While we were snowboarding Tata and Sido were watching the monkey twins . We came in the door to this scene. They were naked and swinging from the chandelier.



On the recommendation from the girl who was working at our favorite bakery in town, we went to a nearby playground. The sun was out so it was warm while the girls played with a beautiful backdrop of the mountains.

Near the park was a natural stream.

It was very nice exploring and walking along side it.


Here's another picture of daddy with his Starbucks. We found some bears while walking through the Village and we could not resist the photo opportunity.

Sahara found some snow to play in.

We took a drive on the Old Mammoth Lakes road and found ourselves driving through beautiful wooded snowfields. So we had to stop and let the girls play in the untouched snow. There was no one around for miles. Very peaceful and beautiful.


On another recommendation from the girl at the bakery, we visited Mono Lake.


Mono Lake is only around 30 minutes north of Mammoth Lake. We didn't know what to expect and what we discovered with so beautiful. We were the only people there and it felt surreal. Those rock formations are called Tufas and they are mineral deposits from natural gas leaks from the ground. These formations were once totally under water. The water in this lake is 25 times the salinity of the ocean.

Here's Sido and the girls.

Here are the grandparents, Linda and Paul.

Here's daddy and Maya.

The pictures never capture the feeling or the experience, but it was majestic to see this place.

More photos of Tufas.


Here we are walking back to the car.

All in all we have a very good trip. Everything went smoothly other than the fact that the girls had a cold. Here's a picture of Maya asleep on the ride home.

Disneyland

The other day we took the girls to Disneyland for the first time. To be totally honest, I've never been a big fan of Disneyland but I didn't want that to stand in the way of the girls experiencing it for themselves. It was a beautiful sunny day and we met up with a few of our friends who also have kids and frequently visit Disneyland. So we basically had our own personal tour guides.

It was pretty cool seeing this steam engine boat cruising around Tom Sawyer Island.

Don't' you love taking pictures into the sun. I'm not sure if we are smiling or squinting.

We took a raft to Tom Sawyer Island.

Nader got a kick seeing this tree house on Tom Sawyer Island. Especially because he did the engineering on it when they built it. Nice work Nader !

We visited the petting zoo. The girls got to see a cow up close and personal.

Maya enjoyed the goats. They got to see a goat go poo poo, which was very exciting. Speaking of poo poo, the girl are still potty training and getting better at it each day. They do not have it totally dialed yet, so we still have accidents but they are loving the fact that they don't need to wear diapers all the time.

Here's Sahara going in for a little petting.

At the end of the day we watched the main street parade. It was the coolest thing to see. I think this was the highlight of the day for the girls.

Here's a group shot with our friends, the Anderson's. They are moving to South Carolina this week and we are already missing them. Lots of love and aloha to them !!!

And here's last shot of the day before we left. Bye Mickey !

Sad news to report, the girls sunflowers that they nurtured from a seedling were all eaten by something. Nader suspects grasshoppers. So we are going to start again. I'm sure the girls don't mind as long as it means more time in the dirt playing with water.

The weather has been hot and cold lately, literally. Each time it is sunny, we make out way outdoors to enjoy what the sun has to offer. Here are some of our days out of the house.

Once again the Early Learning Center was a big hit. Apparently they have art day every Friday, and this time the theme was farm animals. Anything that has to do with animals is on the top of Sahara and Maya's list.

Sahara took off with a few farm animals and headed to the sand box.

Here's Maya and Sahara pretending to be cooking. All of a sudden they are pretending to do things. It's pretty cute to watch.

And here's Maya going down the slide, but then noticing how hot it is. She exclaims, "Hot....Feet !"

After naps that same day we met a few friends at Cassidy Beach in Oceanside. As I mentioned, the weather has been a little unpredictable. It was blazing hot in the morning and a little overcast and chilly in the afternoon. That didn't stop us from hanging out with friends and BBQing on the beach. Here's Olivia playing with a bucket.

Here's the whole gang. Nader had just gotten off of work and Sido and Tata came along to enjoy the scenery.

Our good friend Cynthia and her son Aaron came along to hang out. She also brought other newborn son Levi. You can't see him but he is hanging out in the sling.

Cynthia didn't hang out for very long. Aaron seemed to run into the cold ocean waves every few minutes. She was exhausted from chasing him by the end.

Here's little Maya playing with the sand toys.

On Saturday my cousin Merna and her family came over to visit and hang out at the pool. Unfortunately it was freezing cold that day so we all got into the jacuzzi instead. It was a nice day, Nader made curry seabass which was amazing. In case you didn't know, Nader's the cook in the family. Merna's husband Scott and two sons Nicolas and Jad had fun playing with the girls. Baby Jad is only 4 months old. We seems to be surrounded by little ones. I guess that's how it is when you have kids yourself.

Maya and Sahara are finally over their virus. Thank goodness. Here's what we have been doing this past week.

More duck feeding at the Temecula Pond. The girls can't seem to get enough of this.

Here's Maya unloading all her duck food.

Here's Maya and Sahara feeding the orange and pink goslings.

A close up of the colorful two.

The girls got a haircut today. To get the girls comfortable the barber pretended to cut the girls toy frog's hair. It was cute and it definitely broke the ice.

Here's Sahara eating a cookie while getting her hair done.

Here's Maya getting her hair done.

The girls and I made play doh the other day. A little flour, water and food coloring made for an hour of creative fun.

We finally got some really hot weather and we took advantage by spending a few hours at Oceanside Beach.

Here's the ocean view.

And finally, here's the completed fireplace. A nice improvement to our home.

And The Oscar goes to....

MAYA, for her superb impersonation of a monkey trying to open a banana, but can't.

Aside from all the giggles and fun both girls were sick this past week. A doctors visit on Monday confirmed that they had caught a virus. So we have been dealing with feverish and sick babies this whole week. And as if that wasn't enough, Sahara's virus turned out to be Croup. So on Friday we rushed her back to the doctor's office where she was immediately put on oxygen and given a steroid shot to help bring down the swelling in her throat to allow her to breath. All in all it was pretty scary but Sahara and Maya are both on the mend and are up to their usual antics.

Busy as a Bee

In short we have been crazy busy lately. Here's a few photos to bring you up to speed....

The Orchids and Butterfly exhibit is going on at the Wild Animal Park. This is by far our favorite exhibit and it only lasts for about a month. Picture walking into a greenhouse filled with every type of butterfly imaginable. It's like a scene in a fairy tale.

Monkey flower power.

It was Olivia's 2nd birthday the other day. She is one of the girls good friends.

Sahara and Maya got to eat cupcakes that day. This is actually a big deal because mommy doesn't give them any sweets.



Nader's brother Brian and his wife Christine gave birth to their 4th child, a girl. Her name is Giana.

Look at those long toes !!

Here's a proud uncle kissing his new niece.

Sahara pointing out her binky addiction.

Remember those sunflowers the girls planted. Well they planted 20 sunflowers and got 3 that sprouted. So they replanted those survivors in the ground.

Here are the lucky sprouts.

The girls are taking turns watering them.


The girls love feeding ducks and mommy finally got smart and bought duck food from the feed store.

They girls throw so much food at the ducks that most of it goes to waste.

There was a pink and orange duck at the pond. How did they get that color?


And finally, we have a home improvement project in progress. We are adding some stone work to our fire place. What was quoted to take a day has now taken 2 weeks. Needless to say the house is a mess, but it is coming along nicely.

A super fun day !

Yesterday was a magnificent day. We started our day at Quail Gardens in Encinitas. They have art day every Wednesday. Maya and Sahara got to paint for the first time and used cookie cutters to make shapes out of play doh and afterwards decorated them with beans. But the fun didn't stop there. We each got a free plant and after naps we planted them in the garden. The girls are getting good at planting. Later in the afternoon Maya and Sahara made cookies for the first time. We made Farmland Flax Cookies, yummy ! Here are some photos of them hard at work.

The girls loved measuring the ingredients and Maya couldn't get enough of the mixer.

At times it was hard keeping the cookie dough in the mixing bowl.

Here they are putting the cookies on the baking sheet.

As you can see, they were having a lot of fun.

And here's Maya with a mouth full of cookie. They were so good.