Beach Time
First of all beach visits all year long?! Yes please! Thanks so cal weather (Except this weekend when it's cold and hopefully rainy) Sun and 75 degrees in January was the start of a beautiful relationship between us and the beach. I thought that with us living on the sand we would go every day or every other day but it ended up being like once a week. Still with about 45 visits to the beach under our belt in just under a year it was an awesome time killer
Long Beach Grand Prix
It was both mine and Logan's first time going to the LB Grand Prix and he was so amazed by the racing, meeting the drivers and crews and seeing the cars I got caught up in the moment just living and didn't take hardly any pictures. I was able to get this one though even though we aren't in it.
Swim Lessons
During the summer, based on how much Logan loved going to the pool and how much he hated wearing his floaties, we decided it was a necessity to get swim lessons. Honestly the real reason is that I can only swim enough to get me from point A to point B under water like a wounded fish so if he can't swim and I can't swim the pool time isn't looking that great for us. Isaac was home on midtour for the first week of lessons and thankfully that made it easier for both Logan and I. We took them at Belmont Plaza pool and they don't teach them wearing life jackets because they believe it hinders them so I was terrified. I had nothing to be worried about because he LOVED it! By the last lesson he was jumping into the water when I wasn't looking and swimming to the wall. It was awesome! Plus we met Beth and Ary there!!!! Hi guys! we miss you!!
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Ummm apparently this was my year because I requested and received tickets to Ellen all within a month of deciding it was a good time to try haha I must say I had no idea people waited years to get tickets and many people were not happy with me. I brought my neighbor and wardrobe stylist extraordinaire J.R. along and we had a blast. We sat in the front row, we were on TV about 10 times, the guest for the entire hour was Julia Roberts and J.R. was featured dancing on the show and got to talk to Ellen! So fun and I would go back every year if I could get tickets.
Medieval Times
This place wasn't new to me at all but how much fun is it when you can go somewhere you love and take your husband and son who have never been before?! It kind of makes you the "resident expert" right? Well I felt like it did and I took advantage of it (lots of me saying "oh yeah you guys have never been here before. Well just stick with me") Our knight lost but we had a blast. Logan loved the food and was so into the show that he cried when it was over. (and yes we couldn't help but buy the overpriced picture with the king to mark our first visit as a family)
Soccer
This was really important to Isaac. He has imagined Logan playing soccer since we found out we were pregnant. Luckily this kid loves soccer as much as his dad does. Since he was 2 at the time we put him in an introductory park 2-3 year old league to get him used to the idea of organized team sports and he had a blast. Can't wait to get settled and get him playing again
San Diego Chargers game
My dad has been a Chargers season ticket holder for many years but 1. I am not a chargers fan (Titans fan by marriage #Titanup) and 2. I have never lived close enough to drive to San Diego just for a Sunday game. This year I was able to go with my dad and take Logan to his first NFL game which was both exciting and sad becuase I always thought Isaac would be there too. I was nervous becuase this guy didn't like anything but the Charger girls at first but got really into with his new friends (my dads seat neighbor) by the end. I also think it helped that he has really awesome seats. Going to games is one of my favorite things to do so I am so glad that Logan came around and got into it.
The Zoo x 2
I am obsessed with the zoo. If it was up to me I would find and visit the zoo in every single city we visit but that isn't realistic (or is it? *insert evil laugh here*). This year we made it to visit both the L.A and the Santa Ana Zoo with friends of ours. The L.A Zoo is really cool but since it was so hot the animals were kind of hiding out. The Santa Ana one was much smaller than I would've liked but perfect for a day out with toddlers. They also have a really awesome monkey population. I think they had 50 monkeys of all sizes and we spent a great deal of time watching them. Logan is now very fond of monkeys, anteaters and giraffe.
Aquarium of the Pacific
I am a tiny bit less obsessed with aquariums than I am with zoo's but still obsessed and lucky for me Logan is too. We spent a lot of time at the aquarium this year, so much time that I actually stopped taking pictures during our visits and if you know me you know that's a HUGE deal. We became members, went to events and I was manipulated by a certain someone into spending a ton of money in the gift shop. Luckily it was only 4 minutes away from our house. Every kid should get to go to the aquarium at least once in their life. This one is one of my favorites because they have the Lorikeet forest! Pretty cool
The Long Beach Museum of Art & LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
I grew up in the Long Beach area and had never once heard of the Long Beach Museum of Art. It was another one of those things that was a couple of minutes from our house so we grabbed a friend and walked over one day. It's free on Friday so it was the perfect time to see how Logan would do in a place that is normally quiet and possibly boring for him. It's 3 stories but as far as museums go pretty small. Logan was actually pretty into it and did great. They also have a really good restaurant that overlooks the water called Claire's. LACMA was something that I have always wanted to go to but just never had the time and since I don't live in L.A it was kind of out of the way but it was so worth it. So many exhibits and different types of art. our favorites were the Urban light display out front, the Metropolis exhibit, the sculpture garden and the Penetrable exhibit or as Logan calls it "The Spaghetti" LACMA has a really cool program called NEXGEN which provides children a free membership until they are 18 (even if they're a newborn) and one free guest per visit. Its free for every kid in your house even if you have 10 so that's 10 free kids and 10 free adults. It's a great program helping to keep kids interested in art. Kids can also paint and do arts and crafts there in the BOONE children's gallery.
3rd birthday party
Logan turned 3 this year and I have never thrown him a party because well at 1 and 2 you don't really care about parties. We just did cakes and a gift for 1 and 2 but this year was the big 3 and he could understand birthday parties, had been to about 15 this year and daddy was away. What better reason than to make this one extra special? We celebrated the way we always do at first, with just us, a cupcake and a gift. We went to Frosted Cupcakery and ended up with a pumpkin cupcake and he devoured it. At Logan's request we had a police themed party, complete with a homemade jail that our amazing friends (Dan and Lisa) built from scratch. Super fun party and I'm glad I got to throw his first party here at home.
Halloween 2014
Our last major holiday that we went all our for was Halloween. I LOVE Halloween now that I'm a mom. We normally do a family costume but this year it was just the kiddo and I. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was huge this year and even though I didn't take him to see the movie (This mama doesn't do PG-13 with a toddler) he got really into the cartoons.....but naturally every kid needs 4 costumes right? We started off with a Raphael TMNT costume. He wore it to our buildings harvest festival and decided he didn't want to wear it again because it hurt him. Then we got a police costume as a birthday gift (Thanks Lauren!) and he had to wear that too. Next we got a firefighter costume and then lastly he wanted to ultimately be a ninja turtle at Halloween so we got a Donatello costume for the big day and since we already had the swords I went as Raphael.We spent it at the Queen Mary's kid version of the Dark Harbor event with friends and had a great time.
Even though Isaac was away Logan and I made the best out of our short time in Long Beach. We went as many places as we could, reconnected with old friends and made some new ones that we will never forget. The year without dad wasn't so terrible after all. Thanks for the memories friends, family and California.We never say goodbye so I will say see ya'll later
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