Adventures at the Splash Pad

Today was sweltering, but instead of hanging out in the pool, we went to the splash pad at the park. It's great because it's pretty much a contained area and Avery can just run around and go crazy. Here's a few photos of our day (the last one is showing off her pretty toe polish):

Sea World & The San Deigo Zoo

This past weekend we all went down to San Diego to go to Sea World and the Zoo. Auntie Cilla even drove up from LA to meet us, which was really great. On Friday we got up early and headed to Sea World.

The weather was great and the park was really sparse in the morning. Avery loved looking at all the animals and really enjoyed holding the starfish at the tide pool. 

We had reservations for Lunch with Shamu, however Avery wasn't really interested. Even though Shamu was only a few yards away, she was much more excited about the helicopter flying overhead. Go figure. 

The highlight of the day (and maybe the weekend) was meeting Elmo at the Sesame Street Bay of Play. I was afraid she was going to be scared of him, but boy was I wrong. She gave him hugs and kisses and had a fit when we had to give the next kid his turn. 

Avery loved her souvenir from the day, a Shamu stuffy.

On Saturday we decided to lay low and go to breakfast at Seaport Village, which was just behind the hotel.

After Avery's morning nap, we drove across the bridge to Coronado to play on the beach. Avery was a little hesitant about the cold water at first, but she's always braver with daddy. 

After playing on the beach for a while we walked up to the Hotel Del for some ice cream. 

After Avery took her afternoon nap, we headed down to the fire pit and roasted some s'mores. Avery wasn't too interested. 

On Sunday we got up early to head out to the Zoo. 

Avery spent a lot of the day pointing and "ooohhhhing".

We saw all of the different animals and Avery came face to face with a lion. 

He walked back and forth staring at her for a few minutes, probably thinking about what a tasty appetizer she would be. She wasn't scared at all. Another highlight was the petting zoo. She liked one goat in particular and even tried to give it a kiss and feed it sticks from the ground. 

Avery was all tuckered out by late afternoon.

It was a fantastic weekend and thanks to Grammy for making it all possible! Here are some more pictures...

Happy Father's Day!!!

I just wanted to take a minute and say happy father's day to all of the great husbands, dad's and grandpa's out there...especially Nate, Michael, Dean and Paul. Today Nate got to sleep in and then wake up to his little girl giving him the card she finger-painted him (with just a tiny bit of help from me to add the pictures). We had French toast and then headed over to my parent's house to swim, relax and make one of Nate's favorites for dinner, paella. Here are some pictures from the day.

Congrats Elysia & Paul!

Yesterday we had the honor of attending the wedding of our friends Elysia & Paul. Elysia looked beautiful and you could tell that Paul was a very happy man. We wish them all of the happiness in the world. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the actual event, but here are some pictures from just before we left.  

15 Month Well Check

Today Avery went into the doctor for her 15 month well check. We were happy to hear that she's doing great! She now weighs 20 1/2 lbs (15th percentile) and is 30 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile). She had to get one shot, but was a happy camper once she got her lolli (see picture below). Praise God for a happy and healthy baby!

Summertime BBQing

Just a note of clarification - if you follow this blog (and we know there are some of you out there that do), then you are going to be seeing/hearing/reading a lot about BBQ of the course of this summer. Why is that, you ask ... well it's because we Rulises love BBQ. 

However, up until a couple of weeks ago got get good BBQ we had to go find a BBQ restaurant. Well, not anymore! We found ourselves an amazing BBQ cookbook (Serious Barbeque by Adam Perry Lang) and we're working our way through it. Each week we'll be trying out a new recipe and so far so good. Over the course of the last couple of weeks we've had brisket, pork spareribs, barbecued chicken wings and Worcestershire glazed Delmonico steaks. Each and every recipe has been amazing.

If you are serious about learning the art of barbecue/BBQ/barbeque, this is the cookbook for you.

Lazy Saturday

Yesterday we spent the afternoon BBQing and just relaxing. Avery got her first little apron for helping mommy in the kitchen (she's best at stirring and licking the spoon). Also, since for most of the summer it's too hot to play outside, we got Avery a new toy to use inside (see below). Since Avery is obsessed with stickers, we decided to go ahead and get her the first tattoo. What do you think? She picked the design herself. I've also included some pictures of her just being cute, and to answer your question...yes, her eyes really are that blue.