Balloon aftermath

So the next morning after my birthday Emma woke up and realized the balloons were losing their air and now were falling down to where she could reach them to play with them. She must have played with them for almost an hour. It was so cute. Picking them up, throwing them in the air, "hiding" behind them....Playing peek-a-boo with them.Gathering them one by one and putting them into a line of sorts...Sitting in the middle of them, putting them on her head, tossing them up in the air. I sat and watched her as she played and played.
Sat there thinking about how ridiculously cute she is and how much fun and silliness she brings to our family.Seriously Em glad you enjoyed them, just wait, I believe you might have a birthday coming this way....

Turning 30....

So I have to state for the record that I have never been weird about aging thus far. I really have loved every age and getting older has always seemed really normal to me and didn't really feel that different. So it sort of took me off guard the last couple of months as my birthday came near and I realized that I would soon be leaving my 20's behind. Most surprising to me was 1) how much the thought of never being in my twenties again bummed me out and 2) how for the first time in my life I felt like my parents. Let me explain, I guess it is because when I was growing up or when I think of being a child I always think of my parent being around 33 or 34, in their thirties. That is weird to me to think of being like my parents in that way. I have loved my twenties, they have been the best ten years. Not easy years at times, but very full of life, fun, blessings, excitement etc. etc. I have LOVED my twenties. It is weird to let a decade of your life go by and enter a completely new one. Deke of course like always made my birthday nothing short of wonderful for me. I woke up and had a pretty normal day with Miss E and then had to tutor from 4-6. When I pulled into the driveway I opened the garage and saw a sign taped to the garage door with two balloons, it said..."Knock before intering" instantly I was grinning wondering what they had been up to. As I knocked I could hear voices, "she's here! she's here!!!" then tons of excited giggling. "Shhhhh, settle down guys, shhhhhh" I could hear Deke saying. More laughing trying to be stiffled by Avery but not being successful. Sounds of my babies laughter, best sound ever. The door opened a crack, "close your eyes" Deke said as I closed them and he led me into the room. "Okay, now open" he said as the kids yelled, "surprise!!!!" and I opened my eyes to see this..... 30 glowing balloons hanging from the ceiling, this picture does not do justice I promise. It was really hard to get a picture of them in the complete darkness and with me not really knowing everything still about my camera. I wish the pictures could acurately show how neat looking it was. It was beautiful. Deke had taken a glow stick and put it in the balloon and then blew it up. They were awesome. On the table was an assortment of fun cards and presents. We turned the lights on and I opened my cards and gifts first thing, the kids were too excited to wait.... Cards from the kids.....LOVING the card that Avery made me that she told me was "You and Kimbre holding hands." "What happened to us?" I asked her trying pointing to our smiles. "Those are your lost teeth" she told me smiling. "Oh, wow... yeah I don't really loose teeth anymore now" I told her hugging her. Hunter did his own reinactment of me at the shooting range.....Deke got me a new robe, the first Harry Potter book, my favorite perfume Heavenly, some flip flops I have been wanting and a certificate to get my hair and nails done. Not to mention he is goint to watch the kids for me so I can fly to San Francisco for four days and be with my sisters for a birthday/sister get away. After all the present opening Deke had put a blanket in the living room under the glowing balloons and had made delicious crossant sandwiches. Decked with turkey, swiss cheese (my fave) avacadoes etc. etc. and some yummy sides. Then the whole family sat in the dark with only the colored lights of the balloons above us. It was just what I would want for my birthday dinner. All of us huddled on the blanket together. I tried to get a picture of it but again it was really hard. Seriously though glow stick in a balloon, really fun...try it. Pictures of some of the balloons the next day, not quite as fun when they are not glowing....Deke had also hung the glowing balloons all over the ceiling in our bedroom which was pretty cool. After dinner and dessert the kids sang to me and headed to bed. It was neat to sit and just look at the balloons in the dark, the house quiet and think about this turning thirty thing. I feel so grateful for my husband and not just the big things and the romantic displays that he has always given me but for the day in and day out with him and the way he treats me. I am so blessed. I have been richly, richly, blessed these first thirty years of my life. It has been a great birthday, I'll definitely remember this dinner in the dark of our living room. So, thirty, all right bring it on. I am ready, it is going to be awesome, try to make my thirties even better than my twenties. Off to San Francisco for more birthday fun.....

Gonna party like its your birthday...

Deke turned 32 this year and knew exactly what he wanted to do for his birthday weekend. Deke told me he wanted to go shooting at this indoor range not far from our house for his birthday. Friday night we left the kids with a sitter and headed to the range. When we got there we were told that since it was "ladies night" and ladies got everything free it was so busy the wait would be close to two hours which would not leave us much time to shoot. The guy was really nice though and told us that if we would come back another day he would still honor the "ladies free" price, which was nice since shooting is expensive. It was going to be about ninety dollars. Deke was really bummed so instead we decided to go shopping to get him some shirts and shorts. So nice to not have to push a stroller or entertain kids while trying to shop. We could slowly walk through the store and then I could sit and watch him try stuff on and we could hold hands and just talk while we shopped. It was so nice. Determined to fulfill his birthday wish the next day we again got a babysitter and headed for the range. The same guy was working the counter and as the couple in front of us stepped up he told them the wait would be about an hour and a half. I realized that we probably weren't going to get to shoot again until we approached the counter. "Hey you guys" he said, "I can't let you walk away twice, I just can't do that to you. Give me fifteen to twenty minutes and I'll get you in" he said smiling. I thanked him and told him how much we appreciated it since it was Deke's birthday. Within ten minutes we were wearing protective glass and listening to the rules of the range being explained to us. Then handed some gear to protect our ears and a mini suitcase with a 9mm inside. When we got inside the range I couldn't believe how loud it was. The range master got us all set up and showed me how to load, chamber a round, aim and take a shot. He told me to aim at the orange rectangle in the center....so I did and what do you know for having never shot before I got all five shots in the orange. Deke was thrilled. The first time I shot it my heart jumped in my chest. I knew that it was going to be loud but it still startled me. Within a few minutes I got the idea and I LOVED it, so much fun, except when one of the shells kicked back and bounced off of my glasses and about gave me a heart attack. Deke was so proud of me, he kept hugging me and telling me how good I was doing. He told me that I had shot better than he had. My shooting paper is the guy on the right: After two hours of shooting we went to return our stuff and pay and Ben the guy who had been helping us told us we owed him $25 and then wished Deke a Happy Birthday. We couldn't believe us, he had given us an amazing deal, we had practically paid nothing to go shooting. It was so kind and nice to know that people still do those sort of things. After that we headed back to get the kids who had made some awesome cards for daddy. Front of Hunter's card:Inside of his card including a Larry Fitzgerald football and cake with 32 on top....Next page of the inside cracked us up, everyone's names on the left side. On the right side a globe, WWI and WWII and something about Amelia Earhart??????? What?? Love him.
Front of Ave's card......Inside of Avery's card......Then we headed to Scottsdale to meet Dad and Lisa for dinner at the Blue Burrito grill. It was yummy, I really liked their pico de gallo I seriously kept going back for more chips and just kept eating it. After that we headed to AJ's bakery to get something yummy instead of a cake. Their bakery is seriously so fun, all the different selections and everything not only tastes good but they make it look so pretty. We pulled up at 9:05 and it looked closed, we hurried and got the kids out and headed for the front door where someone was there locking it up. He looked at us and then opened the door a crack. "Are you guys just coming to get a treat?" he asked the kids. "Yeah its my dad's birthday today" Hunter said, and then smiling the guy opened the doors and told us to come on in. Again loving all the love given to Deke by random strangers on Deke's birthday. We headed to the counter and Deke picked out a few different desserts and we headed home. This yummy rasperry mousse in a chocolate tulip cup... Some cannoli, a cheesecake brownie, an individual lemon cheesecake.....and a small tiramisu cake in which we put some candles for him and sang to him. then the kids happily assisted in helping him blow them out.....it was such a relaxing weekend and so fun for Deke and I to get two days full of date time together. Happy Birthday babe, thirty two is going to be awesome, we love you.

"Baby Nemo's," Manta rays and "See through bubble things"

We have been wanting to go and check out the new aquarium over in Tempe. We finally took the kids a couple of weekends ago. It definitely was nothing compared to the aquariums that we have been to in San Diego with my mom but it was still a nice aquarium that was fun for the kids on a Saturday afternoon.

We got there just in time to watch them feed the sharks in the large tank. It was really dark and I was having a hard time getting my camera to focus so the pictures are sort of blurry. They fed the sharks with a pole and fish and talked about their feeding/hunting patterns. They let the kids go up and sit right by the glass which they loved. Every few minutes one of the sharks would glide right up against the glass past their faces and they would all jump back and start laughing. Even though the sharks were not large sharks it was still really neat to have them get that close up to you.

They had a small tide pool area where the kids could touch a star fish, crabs and a sea cucumber. I was surprised that Emma was really excited and actually touched the starfish when Deke lifted her up to see it. She kept wanting to "pet" it. It reminded me of the first time Hunter went to Sea World and touched his first starfish. He was almost exactly Emma's age and he held it in his hand and was touching it and talking about it and showing us. He was doing such a good job of being gentle with it. Then we told him it was time to go see something else and to put the starfish back down in the water. Before I even realized what he was doing he had wound his arm back and pitched the starfish towards the tidepool and well he's got a good arm. The poor thing hit one of the rocks, bounced off and splashed down into the water. "Hunter, no!!!" I said horrified at what had just happened and panicked that he had probably killed the poor little thing. The Sea World employee who had been watching and seen everything started laughing. "Its okay, it actually happens all the time. They are actually really durable so it'll be alright." It made me laugh as I watched Emma handling the starfish as the words, "they are actually really durable" ran through my head. Difference between boys and girls however Em did not want to put the starfish back and kept pointing at it and saying, "hug...hug" yeah no starfish may not survive that one.

A stop by to see some sea horses.....

A walk through the shark tunnel which is just like the one at Sea World except it doesn't have sharks as big as Sea World. Still really cool though and it had glass on the bottom so you could see the sharks, fish and manta rays swimming right below your feet. Hunter and Avery were glued to this and Avery practically threw herself on the ground shading her eyes watching the different creatures swimming around beneath us. Hunter couldn't stop talking about the model of the "prehistoric" fossil that was inside the tank and if it was ever really a real animal and if so what was it called and what did it eat etc. etc. etc.

Emma had been loving everything up to this point but she was totally frieked out by the floor. If we were holding her she was okay, a little unsure but okay and would still point at things and talk about them. However if we tried to put her down on the ground she flipped out and would pull up her legs crying. It scared her so much, we kept trying to show her that it was the ground and that it wasn't really water but she never warmed up to it. It really scared her. As we walked around the aquarium it was neat because they had these little bubbles that you could stick your head up into and view the tanks from a different angle. This was by far Ave's favorite thing. Once she would see once she would run over and put her head in it and start waving at us or pretending that she was swimming with her lips tight and cheeks puffed out. Goof ball :) :) When we asked her on the way home what her favorite part was she said "those see through bubble things."

Emma's favorite thing I think was probably the tiny clownfish. As soon as we saw them in the tank she started squealing "baby Nemo's! baby Nemo's!!" and waving at them. I took her up inside the tanks little viewing bubble and she kept pointing at them one by one. "Nemo, nemo, nemo" she would say as she pointed at each one swimming by. She also loved the viewing bubbles and kept wanted to go back in again and again and not only check out the fish but wave to Daddy on the other side. cute kid.

Hunter's favorite part was the manta rays. We spent a lot of time hanging around their tank and watching them. It reminded me of our last trip to Sea World when we got to feed some which was really cool. They were Hunter's favorite thing there as well.

Had to take a picture of this shark hanging out on the top of the tank. It was neat for the kids to be able to really look at the gills and watch it breathing. Deke lifted them up so they could "touch it"

Dad and Hunter....

After we had spent all afternoon there and checked out all the tanks once, twice or three times for their favorites. We stopped by the aquariums indoor playground and let the kids play for awhile. Emma decided to sit and color pictures with daddy.

Then we watched the kids play and sat and watched Emma move the little chairs one by one from one table to the next. Arranging and organizing them, spacing them evenly apart.

Definitely seeing some of her daddy coming out in her. Well it definitely is no Sea World but it was still pretty fun, glad we went and checked it out.