That was a good boat!

On Monday, we ditched swim lessons and met up with Keith's cousins for a little whale watching near Dana Point.
Here is Keith's sweet cousin Kayla and her youngest daughter, Nora. Kayla called Friday to see if we could join them for some last minute whale watching. How could we say no? A boat full of preschoolers sounds like way too much fun.
I was unable to get any picture of the gray whale we saw because a boat full of pre-schoolers is way too much fun. I did manage to get some pictures of some of the hundreds of dolphins we saw.


It was a feeding frenzy! Dolphins, sea lions and pelicans flying through the air, diving into the water, eating whatever they could catch. I loved it. It was like watching that show Planet Earth but without the amazing camera angles. This is Kayla's niece, Jaycie. Such a sweetie!

Sam and Elise spent most of the boat ride here, at this table, eating. They asked for their lunch the minute we got on the boat at 10:00 am. They ate almost the entire time. Elise was so excited when the boat docked because she wanted off. She wanted a cup of milk and there was no milk to be found on the ship. Sam was so excited, not because of the amazing animals we saw, but because when the trip was over, he knew we were headed to a bakery for a treat. When did food become the center of my kids universe? I was happy that when we were getting off the boat, Elise chirped up and said, "That was a good boat!"Kayla, Maritza and I all drive the same car. Here we are parked at lunch. Did I mention that my kids, after eating their lunch on the boat, finished off a couple happy meals not more than 30 minutes after getting off the boat? That's not all. After lunch, we drove up highway 1 to Newport to check out this bakery.
I placed an order on this bakery's website about a week ago for a gift for my niece in Georgia. The website was so poorly done that I sent them an email complaining about the order difficulties. They responded quickly and offered me a $100.00 gift certificate for more feedback. I took them up on the offer and decided to come to the bakery to see what it was all about in person. The kids were so excited. It is a cross between a toy store, Disney and a super cute, vanilla smelling bakery.
I used my gift card and let the kids all pick out a treat. Elise picked this one, with the heart.
Sam quickly picked out the pirate cupcake and dug in before I could get a picture.
Jaycie and Meredith picked out Ballerina cupcakes with pink frosting.
This blue cupcake was Ellie's.



This picture of Elise reminds me of an old Carls Jr. ad campaign.
"Don't bother me. I'm eating."

I like how Sam is looking at Jaycie in this picture. Later he told me, "Do you know how old Jaycie is? She is 7. She is getting to be a big girl." Sam loves big girls. Especially between the ages of 13-16.
We let the kids burn off the sugar running around this water fountain.



Sunday and Monday were busy days for us. The kids went down so easy for bedtime. I can't believe what we have to do to tire them out!