Birch Aquarium

Kevin and I got to go on a date.  We stopped at a donut shop for breakfast.  Mmmm.  Love those apple fritters.    We stopped at the dollar store to get some supplies for something that has been stewing in my head for Jason's room (made with a drawer organizer, colored paper, superglue and cars).  This is how it turned out:

We didn't want to head home yet, as we still had a couple hours left of respite, so we decided to head to La Jolla and visit Birch Aquarium.  It was fun to be with my honey.

 I had never checked out the submarine up close, and had always assumed it was just a fun thing.  Turns out, it was a real submarine.  Leave it to Kevin to figure that out.

 Of course, we got our standard pose by the whale fountain.

 This is my naughty pic that I just had to take.  Makes me laugh every time cause I have the sense of humor of a little boy.

 Cute Kevin by the sardines.

 We didn't get any pics in the actual aquarium because I was using my iPad camera and for some reason, they didn't put a flash in there.  (Grrr...)

 That's okay though, we got some great pics outside.  I love the view from the aquarium.

 They have a fun little area for the kids to "find" different sea creatures.  I found an octopus and a shell.

 I think this is Kevin's "stop taking pics of me Christine!" face.

 I told Kevin to take a pic of me petting the sea cucumber.  Guess my head wasn't that important.  j/k.  :)

 Kevin finally was convinced to pet a star fish.  Save this pic for posterity cause it'll probably never happen again.

 Now, play some "Jaws" theme music in your head.... na na na na nananananananana.

Next to the scary Jaws photo booth were real sharks.  That was the part that Kevin liked the best.  There were also sting rays in there.  So then Kevin felt like he had visited a real aquarium.  :)

Garrett's 8 Years Old!

Garrett turned 8 today.  I had thought this would be a hard birthday for me because that is when kids normally get baptized, but he was so sweet and cute and I realized that it really didn't matter.  We had a great time.  We ate his birthday cake (Betty Crocker GF Brownies) for breakfast.  Then we had a swimming party with our little family and with Garrett's friends/tutors.  Garrett, Caiti and Jason were in heaven.  That is their favorite thing to do.  :)  It made me happy to be with them and see them so happy...even if the neighborhood pool is no longer heated.  Brrr....  I just love my Garrett so much.  He has blessed my life every day of his 8 years in our family.

Wednesday fun!

Wednesdays are my Jason days cause that's the only day he doesn't have preschool.   My friend Megan is in the same boat with her little guy who goes to the same school.  We always plan on having a play date with our kids, but it's crazy because both Jason and her son have therapies during the day at different times.  Coincidentally, Michelle is Megan's son's ABA tutor, so we decided they could all meet at my house and Jason and his friend could do play therapy with Aunt Michelle and work on play skills, and then Megan and I could hang out and have some fun.

Today was the first day we did this, and I think we'll continue.  We decided to make these days "Craft Wednesdays."  Today we got some wreathe frames, ribbons, and shamrock garland from the Dollar Store and made some St. Patty's Day Wreathes.  It was so much fun.  I'm excited, and I thought they turned out cute, especially considered we used Dollar Store supplies.  :)