Hiking at Tecolote Park

Caleb and I used to go hiking at Mission Trails and even Cowles Mountain when we lived in La Mesa. Now that we have moved we needed some new trails to hike so I ventured out to find Tecolote Park. I heard that it was a mini Mission Trails and thought Caleb and I could explore. Unfortunately when we got there the visitor center was closed..but the trails were still open so we started our hike. Caleb was very excited:


The first animal we saw was a little rabbit. He was hiding in the weeds....not sure if you can see him but he is there. Caleb was super excited about seeing him because I had just told him that there weren't any real animals on the trails...but I guess I was wrong.



So we kept hiking until we could find a place to have our breakfast. There was a little bench right underneath a huge tree that seemed to be a resting spot for hikers so we settled there. Caleb ate all of his strawberries and yogurt...yum.




After breakfast we walked some more and came across a little stream. Caleb loved this and right away looked for rocks and anything else he could find to throw in the stream. We spent a good amount of time hanging out here and throwing rocks. I tried to talk to him about life but he wasn't listening. Lol.



Afterwards we decided to head back and play on the little playground they had there. Next time we plan to go back and visit the visitor center to see what cool things they have and hopefully check out some books. Until next time!

Surprise at the Beach

One day Caleb and I were bored....ok...so I was bored...and I asked Caleb where he wanted to go. He told me the beach. I thought...ok...we can go to Mission Beach and walk around and have a romantic stroll. So we get there and we found parking right up front which was a good start. We walked around and looked at the rides and shops and headed towards the boardwalk. Caleb wanted to get near the water before taking a stroll so I agree. As we headed towards the water I happened to notice a lot of people just standing around with cameras and looking out towards the ocean. Caleb was too busy collecting seaweed:



Well I got curious and looked out towards the ocean to see what the fuss was about and what do you know! There were groups of dolphins swimming and jumping in the waves right near the shore! I counted at least 10 or maybe 12 of them just playing about. When I shouted to Caleb to look he totally thought they were whales and shouted "WHALES MOMMA!" I went along with it and said yes baby...look at the whales! I don't know why I didn't just say dolphins...I think I was too excited and busy admiring the surprise that I wasn't paying attention and by then it was too late. You can't really see them in the pictures but they are there! What an unexpected surprise to our romantic little stroll!

New Apartment!

Our lease ended at the Baltimore place and we were forced to move as the rent was a little too high for us to stay. I found a cool place in Linda Vista off of Gennesse West and after meeting with the landlord and taking a look around...we decided it was good to go! We are now living in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on the bottom floor (thank goodness) in Linda Vista near USD and Old Town. We are also an exit away from Fashion Valley and very close to SEAWORLD! It seems pretty central where we are and much closer to my mom who watches Caleb everyday. We love this place and even Caleb seems to enjoy it more since there is a mini park right in the complex. Goodbye La Mesa!

Wild Animal Park

So my mom gave Charlene and Mymy some passes to the Wild Animal Park and Caleb and I are already members so we decided to make it a day! Tita Tabby came along as well but she had to pay. :( Caleb was very excited to be there and have his ticket.



As we entered we went through the aviary and saw all of the different kinds of exotic birds. The only thing I was worried about was poop in my hair but it was all good.



As we exited the kids wanted to take a picture next to the Wild Animal Park sign...not sure why it was after the aviary and not at the entrance.



Next we came across the butterfly garden which was my favorite one. Even though it was very humid and kind of nervracking being in there....the butterflies were so pretty and just fluttered around like crazy. It was nervracking cuz they warned us not to step on any and as we entered I realized what they meant...



Butterflies were just chilling on the floor! So I got nervous and kept yelling at Caleb to pay attention because I didn't want to become a murderer. It was all good and we hurried out of there to where we were checked in the exit for any butterflies trying to latch on to us and escape.



Afterwards Caleb made a new friend.



We headed to the gorillas in which Tita Tabby was apparently fond of...



No...she just wanted to see if she was as big as a gorilla and then Caleb thought it would be fun to copy her. Lol.



But then I'm not so sure why she did this...maybe she really does want to be a gorilla? Who knows but the mask seemed to fit.



After the gorilla fun we weren't sure where to go so we let the kids lead the way. Mymy apparently took charge as always and Caleb happily followed.




They found some cool photo opps which was a plus.




After our silliness we got serious with the lions. Caleb started to get a little grumpy and tired. The Wild Animal Park is pretty and all but definitely a lot of walking has to be done in order to see something.




We finally decided we were done ourselves so we headed for the exit. We let the kids jump on a fake rhino for more photo opps and then called it a day and went to Red Robin to feed our faces!




We all had such a great time and I'm so glad I got to spend another wonderful day with my love.

Full of Hello Kitty!

Sooo...we had two birthday parties to attend this past weekend and both were Hello Kitty themed! The first Hello Kitty themed birthday party was for dear sweet Mariah Howard who was turning 7yrs old. It started at 4pm and lasted til 6pm although we had to leave early to attend the OTHER Hello Kitty party. When we got to Mariah's party it was fully decorated in Hello Kitty decor and had kid's music playing in the background. The snacks were fruit consisting of strawberries, watermelon, and apples along with some veggies with dip and goldfish crackers. The first activity we did was the Hello Kitty bean bag toss which I have to give props to Mariah's mom Kristen for doing such a fabolous job. Caleb seemed to really enjoy this game:






After the bean bag toss we moved over to the next activity which was pin the bow on Hello Kitty. Caleb was a little short for this one but he made Hello Kitty's feet really pretty with the bow. :)





Next came cake time in which Caleb sat very patiently for.



When the cake came out the kids gathered around to celebrate and sing Happy birthday to sweet Mariah.




After Caleb inhaled the cake we had to say goodbye so that we could head over the second Hello Kitty party. We had such a good time with Mariah and her friends and family!



2ND HELLO KITTY PARTY:

Now this Hello Kitty party was for a little girl named Itzel who was turning 4. She is the daughter of my mom's friend from work. The party started at 3:30pm but we didn't get there until 5:45pm. When we got there we could tell it was going to be a little different than what we had just experienced with Mariah. This one had a dj that played fiesta music extremely loud as if we were at a club. It was very hard to hear anyone so we sat as far in the back as we could..AWAY from the loudness. Caleb was not happy with the noise level. Lol. We ate a spicy shredded beef with tortillas, beans, and rice. Caleb ate...DORITOS. Two hours after we ate, they had pinata time for the kids. Caleb was really excited about this!




It was filled with Mexican candy so Caleb didn't really enjoy that. He did find one lollipop he liked and ate that. They had two pinatas so we had to wait a while before this activity was over. About 8pm it was cake time and goodie bags time. Caleb went up to get his goodie bag:



It had M&M's and some spicy cheetos and other Mexican candies in which Caleb only ate the M&M's. He tried the cheetos (we thought they were regular at first) and got upset when his mouth was on fire. Lol. The cake was really beautiful and very yummy. It was a tres leches cake which they served with a fruit salad. We finally left right after and headed home talking about the two Hello Kitty parties we were just at and laughing at how extremely different the two were. Good times!

Awesome weekend!

This weekend was a fun filled weekend for both Caleb and I. On Saturday Caleb spent half of the day with his favorite uncle Morgan while I went to Swan Canyon to help do some cleanup and restoration. It was my first volunteer event having to really work and I have to say it was so much fun. I truly enjoyed gardening. Planting and pulling weeds were actually fun for me. Lol. Caleb had a great time playing with the boys at home and nana. When my event was over I went to pick Caleb up and he said he wanted to go to the zoo. Sure..why not. So we went to the zoo to see the new Polar Bear Plunge and kill some time before dinner. I didn't see much of a difference with the Polar Bears so I wasn't really impressed but it was fun anyways. Caleb seemed to like playing with the kids in the polar caves and pretending with them that there were animals coming to eat them. Lol. Sunday we did church and then went to Mission Trails for a hike. Then we spent the rest of the time playing Kingdom Hearts, eating sour cream, and a bunch of dark chocolate! Lol...now that's what I call an awesome weekend! :)