Happy 4th of July 2009!!

This year to celebrate the 4th of July we headed up to Manhattan Beach to house-sit for Mimi and Popi while they were in Genoa.




We had fun walking to get our coffee in the morning and going to the beach for a little bit each day to play in the sand.




We also had a BLAST at Auntie Monica's house for her big party!!


















Here are the girls walking up to the party at Monica's in their festive new outfits (from Nana for their birthdays)





























Here is Sally getting toasty in Monica's turtle neck sweater before we head to the roof top patio at her home for a 360 view of the beautiful fireworks along coastal LA County!!


















The girls were both seeing fireworks for the first time ~ ever!! Normally they have been too young and asleep by the time it is dark... but not this year! Miss Mary being 4 years old wanted to stay up for the fun!

Happy 4th Birthday to Mary!

July 1st 2005 our baby girl Mary was born in San Diego at Sharp Grossmont Hospital at approximately 8:50pm. All went well and there were no complications during the pregnancy, labor or delivery. Clifford was a little jealous at first - and he never got over it.

This week she is attending "Garden Camp" through the La Jolla YMCA - a program for 3-5 year old children. She thought that she was going to Kindergarten ("kinder-garden!") and was really excited, but I had to break it to her that she has another year. Little Miss Independent would be the type of kid that would never want to be part of any homeschool program.... especially since she has informed me several times that she is going to be a "bride when she is 18 and have a baby in her tummy that wants to be born... [and that she] is going to marry Pablo".

Over this past weekend on Saturday (after her day of Kayaking) we went to the Corvette Diner with my Mom to celebrate her 4th a little early. It moved from Hillcrest to one of the first buildings at the former Naval Training Center in Pt. Loma. Click here if you want to read a little press release about the restaurant - it is awesome and we had a blast!

Mary goes Kayaking for the first time!

Mary and her Dad went out on the Mission Bay in San Diego for her first time on a kayak! She was really excited to be out in the middle of the bay and picked some kelp out of the water. The weather was perfect that day and even little Sally had a good time getting her toes wet.

Mary and Sally celebrate the Graduation Season!

Miss Addie Rowe (our second cousin once removed) graduated from Chadwick High School on June 14th and we drove up to Palos Verdes for her party and to celebrate her accomplishment of attending USC this Fall! Go Trojans!

Addie, Me, Sally and Molly
(Molly took great care of Mary in Genoa when she went up with
her Popi and Mimi later on that same week for about 5 days)

Me and my Dad

Sandy (Mimi), Me and Dad (Popi)

Me with Great Aunt Barbara and her first born (of 9) Alice

Mary met her match! This is her 3rd cousin twice removed (?) Abby.
They are both the same age and met for the first time at the party.

The girls had a blast playing the drums! I believe they are
musically inclined thanks to the Thomas side of the family.

Sally meets the Umana boys and baby Jack!

While Mary was in Genoa with her Mimi and Popi, Sally and I drove up to Orange County to visit with some of my friends and their children. My friend Jen has a little baby boy Jack that is 6 months old! My friend Stephanie from high school has 4 boys! I only wish that I lived in Orange County to be closer to these great Moms/Women, but we are very happy in San Diego.
Sally and I stayed at her Nana's house (my Mom) for the night.

Thank you Nana for letting us stay the night!

Nana keeps a box of my (yes Julie's!!) old toys for the
girls to play with. Or - to play in...

Me holding Jack and Jen holding Sally.
The kids were a little jealous.

Jack drinking water, but not about to miss a photo opportunity!

This is Sally with Stephanie's youngest boy Ruben.
They were a little unsure of each other.

Paolo with Sally

Paolo (8), Ruben (2), Luca (6) and Marco (7)
(AKA - future Husbands for my girls)
They really are as sweet and polite as they look in this photo!!

Stephanie and her sisters (the Umana ladies) opened
The Umana Academy of Fine Arts in 2004!
We got a tour of the school that currently enrolls Tiny Tots - 7th grade

Stephanie Umana Russell - Tiny Tots and Pre K Director and Founder
Check out the school!

Busy little Thomas Girls in the month of June!

We have been keeping busy in June spending lots of time enjoying the many fun things to do around San Diego County!

Mary is out of school for two weeks so in the meantime we have taken the girls to:

• Sea World (we have a membership pass so we can go and enjoy it for a couple hours during the day before or after nap time)
• The New Children's Museum in Downtown San Diego has been lots of fun!
  
• Quail Botanical Gardens - our personal favorite and the children's garden is getting a make over - CHECK IT OUT!
• Victorias Gardens is where we went to pick strawberries, feed llamas, pigs, chickens and emus - and to ride on a pony!! The photo above is the basket of strawberries that Mary and her Daddy picked while Mommy and Sally fed apples and berries to some horses. They have different size baskets that you can buy and fill up.
  
• The El Cerrito Annual Chili Cook-off - this in in our old neighborhood and we have been going nearly every year - our first family photo was taken last year and our new family photo is this one :

We got Mary to smile by telling her to say "cake". Sally was just not going to smile.
It was Saturday and she only smiles on Sundays.

Here is Jason accepting the 2nd place award for
"Best Vegetarian" Chili.
He made an Indian style chili and we called it
Slumdog Millionaire.

The rest of June will consist of Mary going with her Mimi and Popi Maier to their 2nd home in Genoa, Nevada (this is a link worth checking on since you have probably never heard of this town). They are going to drive from Manhattan Beach next week (about 8-9 hours) and then I am going to fly up on Friday and spend a few days and then fly back with Mary. Jason will be home with Sally.

After Genoa Mary will start her Hopscotch Tues/Thursday Art, Music and Movement class and the last week of June is "Garden Camp" at the La Jolla YMCA!! This will run 9-noon Monday-Friday.

There's Something about Sally

This is her favorite game - Caraboo (from Cranium)

Yep! She is sporting a pony!

Little Miss Sally is getting bigger!!
(well - her attitude is getting bigger, but her little body is still skinny).

She went for her well-baby check up today and got a shot. Her stats are:

Weight 21lbs 3 oz (5th %)
Height 32.5" (50th%)

I swear she eats and has been drinking LOTS of milk lately!!

Happy Memorial Day

We had a great time this weekend with the girls going to BBQ's with friends and spending time with Uncle Nathan. ;)

All is well and the girls are happy and healthy. Sally is starting to talk more and more and we were thrilled when she said "Hi Dad" on Sunday.

We hosted a successful BBQ here at the house and it was so great! I am still shocked that the clean up was so easy and my house does not even look like there were 15 adults and a bunch of little kids running around. :)

I will post photos soon!