Sista Surprise!

A few months ago, Paul emailed Laura and I about flying to NYC to surprise Lindsay for her 30th birthday.  When I first read the email I had little hope that it would actually all work out since so many things had to come together to do so, but thankfully it did and we had an AWESOME long weekend together!  

Laura and I took the red eye on Friday night and arrived into JFK early on the 9th, which is Lindsay's birthday.  Paul had arranged with our Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary to spend half of the week at their house on the Jersey shore so Uncle Mike picked Laura and I up at the airport and we headed to the shore.  Paul was making a birthday breakfast for Linz when we casually walked up the stairs and said, "SURPRISE!!"  To say she was surprised is a bit of an understatement!!  She definitely didn't see it coming and I think we all had tears in our eyes-so fun!!  So excited to be there and to meet our newest nephew, baby Finn!!

 After breakfast and hanging out at their beautiful house for a bit we headed to the boardwalk for a few hours to check it out and walk around.   The weather on Saturday was a bit cloudy so was a great day just to roam around.

 Paul tried to win Linz a birthday present but didn't have much luck!

 And Linz tried to win Cole a poop emoji but didn't have much luck there either!

 We did have a good time just checking out the sites and walking around though!  

 And, eating large slices of pizza!!

 Sweet baby Finn!!!  He is such a great baby-just goes with the flow!

 On Saturday night, after a birthday dinner and cake for Linz, we just sat out on the dock and enjoyed the beautiful night with everyone including Mike and Mary.  

 The next morning was gorgeous!!  This is their dock and their view from the house.  

 After breakfast, Uncle Mike took us girls out on a beautiful boat ride! 

 Just relaxing!

That afternoon we left the shore and headed to Brooklyn to Lindsay's place.  It was a beautiful day so we walked around their neighborhood for a bit and then ate outside.  This is their view!!  That tall building is the freedom tower!

 

 On Monday we walked down to the bay (the water is only about ten minutes from their place) and then headed back because Tressa (from Geneseo) and her new baby and husband were coming to meet us for lunch.  It was so crazy because exactly a year ago, I flew with Julia to NY for Tressa's wedding and stayed with Linz and Paul...now a year later they both have babies  who are only 2 weeks apart!  It was great to see Tress and we all had a nice time catching up and laughing over an outdoor lunch close to Lindsay's place.  

 After lunch we headed into the city to do some sightseeing.  We started at the memorial for the World Trade Center which was breathtaking.  

 We then walked over to the NY Stock Exchange 

 and to see the charging bull in the middle of Wall Street.

 Paul was able to get off of work early so we met up with him and decided to walk back to Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge which was super cool!! 

 This is where Paul proposed to Lindsay!!  Love that we made them recreate their proposal with baby Finn in the picture now!!  

 Meanwhile, back in San Diego, everyone was doing well!  Rich said the kids were really great over the three days and Ella got a little weepy at night but other than that were just fine!  He kept them busy with trips to Kid Ventures, Pump it Up, Phils BBQ, Target (which surprised and impressed me!) and to Nani and Poppa's house.  They were definitely so excited to see me on Tuesday morning which was so heartwarming and such a nice welcome home!  

I am so thankful that we had this super fun and special weekend together-something I'll always cherish and am so thankful for my sisters, even more so now as we have gotten older.  I'm already looking forward to Linz's 40th celebration in Bali :)  (Figure if I put it in writing, it has to happen, right?!?) Love these girls and happy birthday, Linz!

Fourth Festivities!

We had a very full and festive 4th of July weekend!  

Joseph and Ella had been talking all week about showing Daddy their jumps off of the big diving boards at the Westwood Club so on Saturday morning we headed over there for a few hours.

Ella started jumping earlier this week after watching Joseph and his friends jump off of it.  She does great!!  She normally stands at the end with her hands out (like in the picture below) and bounces for almost a minute and then will jump.  As she is getting more confident she now will do "crazy" jumps and always comes up smiling!

Rich headed to the Padres vs Yankees game on Saturday night with my dad, Dave and Bri and they had a great time (and great seats!)

On Sunday afternoon we made our way to Coronado and met up with the Ozecks, my parents and Brian and Hollie for the concert in the park.  There were actually two concerts that day for the holiday weekend.  Our original plan was to go to the 4:00 concert and then head back to the Ozecks to grill and eat there but everyone was having such a great time there that we decided to send the guys back to grill before the second concert started and bring the food back and then picnic in the park during the second concert.  It worked out great and was such a fun night!  

Gotta love Coronado living!  Heading to the concert

Listening to the Navy band when we arrived

Took a little break from dancing and played on the most crowded playground that I have ever experienced!!

 Spent some time climbing the trees!

  They had SO much fun dancing in front of the performers!!  The dancing crowd for the Navy Band was minimal but for the second performance the lawn was packed with all sorts of people dancing!

 Joseph had some pretty good break dancing moves!

 Fun with Aunt Hollie!

 Back to the picnic area for dinner time!

 After dinner wrestling with Uncle Bubba

Festive 4th of July cake for dessert

 On Monday, the actual holiday, we swam in our pool in the morning and got ready for our block party that was taking place that afternoon.  The girls helped Daddy fill up water balloons (gotta love the improvements over the years-this was so easy!  100 balloons in 60 seconds!  Genius whoever thought of this idea!!)

 Only picture I got of the three of them and not a good one at all but figured I had to include it.

 Our neighbors organized a block party which was a blast!  We met some new neighbors from the other end of our street and just had such a fun time!  There were a TON of kids and I don't think I saw Joseph the entire time since he was so busy playing!

 One of the families brought out foam from dry ice which Julia absolutely LOVED!!  She put it all over her hair and just kept saying and signing, "more, more!"

 Playing games with one of the older girls

 A semi organized water balloon fight game!

 There were all sorts of fun and games!

 Julia crashed around 7:00 which was nice because then I didn't have to chase her around for the last hour or so and got to really visit and hang out with people!  Everyone started packing up a little after 8:00 as it was getting dark-there was no set plan to watch fireworks but Ella kept asking to go and see "real fireworks" so I took Joseph and Ella to see the fireworks from RB High at the top of the hill where my parents used to live.  They were super excited to use the glow sticks that we had bought and to see the fireworks, although Ella said they were a little scary once they started and sat in my lap for the entire show.  Our viewing location avoided any traffic so we were able to sneak out of there right after it was over and the kids fell right to sleep as soon as we got home.  Long but super fun day!  We had such a great long weekend and it was the perfect combination of family, friends and fun!  Happy 4th!