Mammoth/36+37 weeks

My birthday has rolled around this year and as usual we took a birthday trip to my beloved home Mammoth. It was nothing short of amazing and uplifting. We decided to get a hotel instead of camping because it wouldn't be very relaxing trying to fall asleep with a rambunctious Daniel in the same tent. He gets distracted during bed time if he has people in the same room as him. We wanted to get a cabin in June Lake but we ended up getting a room at Juniper Springs, which is one of the sister hotels of the one I used to work at but a lot nicer. We LOVED staying there! It had a balcony with a gorgeous mountain view, a humongous bathtub, and a POOL! Woo hoo!

Blissfully happy at 36 weeks

The afternoon that we arrived we drove around to a few of the lakes, walked around, hugged some trees and skipped rocks on the lakes.

We went to Giovanni's for my birthday dinner and Schat's Bakery for dessert. We finished the night off with some swimming at the hotel pool. Perfect day! The next morning we got a late check out so we got in a little more swimming at the pool. After check out we went to the Village and we picked up my apple from Rocky Mountain chocolate factory. On the way, the kids ran into a couple bears and made them crap their pants, well if they were wearing pants.

Brandon has been learning to play chess with Papa so he was super excited to find this giant set at the Village.

When we came into town I cried the happiest tears when I saw this. John Muir is my favorite naturalist and this is one of favorite quotes from him. Absolutely perfect to see this coming into town.

We ended our trip with our much loved June Lake. It was overcast that day so it was a little colder than usual but we still swam as much as we could. 

And here I am at 37 weeks. Full term! Yeah boi!!!

34 weeks

I don't know how it's possible, but we're getting more and more excited for our new baby girl to be here. The kids are totally cute with the anticipation and the questions they ask. Brandon and Kai are at the ages where they know what's going on and they are very interested. I think Brandon asks everyday how many weeks the baby is and when she will be here. And Lily talks to her and rubs my belly constantly. There is already such a strong bond between them. Danny doesn't do it as often but he loves to rub my belly and say "Hi baby." And they all like to take a stuffed animal or doll and stick it under their shirts and pretend they are carrying their babies. Kickboxer and I are already looking around for our fourth kid when we are rounding the kids up. At least we're starting to feel a little bit more prepared for a family of six.

Kai Kai happenings and Mama at 32 weeks

This is Oceanbaby at 32 weeks. 

I've been feeling alright. Kickboxer started training at his new job last week, so he is now gone all during the week and comes home on Fridays for the weekend. This last week was doable but when I think about the next 4 months being like this, I admit it's hard on me. Especially my heart. And especially as I get closer and closer to our baby's due date it feels more real that even after the baby arrives Kickboxer will still have two months of training. He will only be able to be home with us for about a week. Makes us sad just thinking about it.  But we'll take it a week at a time and everything will work out. This is a really good thing for our family and we're very blessed to have this opportunity. 

On to happier events. Lilybuggie went to the dentist for the first time and she did amazing! I was so proud of her! This is a big thing for me because I'm terrified of the dentist and I'm probably the worst patient to deal with. Lily was so excited to go and had so much fun with it. And no sugar buggies(that's cavities in our language)!!! 

Kai started her swim classes this Saturday and we already know she's a mermaid like mama so she loved it! It was really hard to get good pictures because for some lame reason they have the parents wait outside the pool room on the other side of the glass. This is the best one I could get. Bubba will start in a couple weeks. Kai doesn't start hula until September but she super pumped about that coming up too. Oh, I wish summer would never end.

 Blowing out the candles on her actual birthday.

Showing off her muscles and her birthday mermaid dress.

Mimi and Papa celebrating Lily's 4th birthday with us.

Opening gifts.

Papa putting her birthday necklace on. So cute.

Mermaid birthday cake!

Wow, our baby girl is 4 years old. I know we say this all the time but gosh does time go fast. I'm starting a tradition for my little ones. Each time they have a birthday I write a letter to them. I started with Lily's birthday this year. When they get old enough and move out of the house I'll give them all of their letters.We feel so blessed to have Kai Lily as our daughter. I couldn't imagine any other baby girl being more perfect than her. She makes me feel so loved and I couldn't think of a better gift than that.

The beginning of Summer

It's starting to feel a lot like Summer around here with the temps getting around 105 so we've been taking advantage of our hot weather with some water time. Our little Danny is a little water baby just like our others. He could not stop laughing or smiling while he was in the water.

Lily working on her floating.

Brandon got new goggles and spent his whole time in the pool trying them out.

We took a drive to Wrightwood last Saturday to do some family hiking. It was such a beautiful day. Driving through town I almost felt like I was in Mammoth for a second. Nothing is better than getting outdoors and taking in that fresh mountain air. 

If you look closely at the right rim of Bubba's hat you can see a butterfly.

Lily giving her sissy some love. We can count this as my 30 week photo too.

We saw some pretty cool wildlife out there. Lots of lizards, butterflys and a beautiful deer.

My little outdoors girl. The whole hike she kept saying "I love this place." And when we left she cried and said she wanted to go back to the mountains. Just like mama.

Mud fights and worms

One of the ways that we pass the time 'round here is to get down and dirty with the good ol' outdoors, right in our backyard. We've been having some good mud fights lately. Unfortunatley, I didn't get good pictures because I was too preoccupied with the art of fighting with the mud.

This was the start of the mud fight.

Here they are trying to peg me with mud as I'm taking photos.

Getting rinsed off and playing with water.

Our kids haven't had a lot of opportunties to find worms but one morning we came home from the gym to find a couple of worms hanging out in the front yard. What's funny is Bubba and Lily had no interest holding them and acted kinda of intimidated by them. So I said " I bet Danny will hold one." And sure enough he did.  I love that boy. Anyway, that gave them more than enough motivation. 

Daddy putting together the swing set with Bubbs.

                                                    The babies enjoying their new swing set.

Look at my lil island boy playing outside barefoot. I love it!

On Mother's Day with my gifts from heaven. This is what I live for...my sweet babies.