Sea World!

My niece and goddaughter, Maddie, wanted to go to Sea World for her 11th birthday and we were more than excited to take Jack there for the first time.  He had a blast!  We watched all the shows: Dolphin Adventure, Shamu, Pets Rule, and my favorite, Clyde and Seamore.  He sat, totally enthralled during each show and at the end, he would sign "more".  It was so cute.  We also took him on the teacups, which he loved, and he got to splash around Journey to Atlantis.  He was such a good boy and we all had so much fun!  I can't wait to take him again!

This is how he was during every show!

Pets Rule show...we stuck around after so he could pet all the animals.

 The Clyde and Seamore Show

Cruising around the park with his cousins:

I LOVE this place!!

They always pose the same...

Waiting in line for the teacups

 Where ever there is sand, Jack must play...

He was a rock star all day!  He even managed to stay awake so we could all go to dinner afterwards!

Chillin' with his Aunt Alyssa

I love making memories with my family!

Jack's Baptism

Jack finally had his official baptism ceremony on Saturday, August 20.  It was such a nice ceremony.  His Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Will are his godparents.  He is such a lucky boy to have such loving and wonderful godparents! 

I was a bit worried about how he would do with the water on his head.  He didn't seem to mind, but that could be because he kept dunking his hands in the baptismal fountain and splashing around!  Luckily this made the Deacon laugh (good thing he's cute!).  He was also fascinated with the flame of the baptismal candle that his Uncle Will lit (fire, fire!).  The Deacon had the church members sing "Happy Birthday" for their spiritual birthday and he LOVED that!  He was clapping and laughing.  Overall it was a good day.

Chillin' with Daddy before the ceremony

Can you see my halo?

When do we get to light this thing?

A picture before he lunged his hands in!

Now that I'm baptized, can I do whatever I want in Church?

Waiting for the anointing oil...

Uncle Will with the baptismal candle

I have the BEST godparents ever!

Picture with Deacon Fred

The Family

I look forward to guiding my son in becoming a spiritual and faithful human being.  I am so fortunate to have had 13 years of Catholic School and parents who raised me with morals and values.  I truly hope Surya and I are able to give our son the same.

Retro Surf Party - Part 2

As promised, here are the remainder of the photos from Jack's first birthday party:

The Cake

My sister made a little homemade cake for him. 

And this is what he did with it...

Demolished it!

That is a look of pure joy!

Mmmmmm!!!!

The Cupcakes

Shark and sand cupcakes

 The Pinata

Jack's First Birthday is over...now on to toddler hood!

The End!!

Jack's "Nude" Skill

I heard some commotion on the video monitor the other day...here is what I saw when I pushed the button to check in on my little man:

Yes, you are seeing correctly; that is a nudey booty you are looking at!  He has figured out how to take his diaper off; a dangerous thing for a toddler who poops 2-4 times a day!  Apparently he just didn't want it on because once it was off, he fell right back asleep!  I might have to start duct taping that sucker shut!  ;)

The 5-Year Mark

Yesterday Surya and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.  My wonderful parents came over to babysit Mr. Jack and our Dixie girl, of course, while we went out to enjoy Temecula's nightlife, a new thing for us.  We saw the movie, "Crazy, Stupid, Love" which I highly recommend for any Michael Scott fans out there.  After the movie, we headed to Old Town to have dinner at a great spot called The Public House.  While we waited an hour for our table, we went across the street to a wine tasting bar...I love living in wine country!  Everywhere we turned, there was live music and giant crowds of people!  It was fabuloso!

It meant a lot to Surya and I to be able to go out this year to celebrate.   This time last year, Jack was all of a week and a half old and Surya and I were so sleep deprived from being new parents and moving that we didn't even remember that it was our anniversary!  Five years of marriage and a decade together have passed in a flash, but we are so grateful for wonderful memories and great times.

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. 

~Sam Keen 

August 5, 2006
Pismo Beach, California

August 5, 2011
Temecula, California 

Cheers to a wonderful 5 years of marriage and a decade together!

Retro Surf Party - Part 1

Jack and his friends had so much fun at his first birthday party.  This is going to be a two-part post because my sister took most of the photos of the day, and I am waiting for her to send those photos to me, so stay tuned.

My friend Mandi came across this post as a theme for Jack's party, and once I saw it, I knew I had to attempt to plan a party like this for my Jack.  Almost everything was handmade.  We had about 30 adults and 10 kids come to my sister's house for a pool party.  Unfortunately, we had a pretty good size summer storm the morning of his party, but rain is supposed to be good luck, right?

 My sister took this amazing photo of Jack at the river and then turned into a cool poster to use at his party.

I love this kid!

Party favors for the adults

Believe it or not, I made the cookies, frosting, and icing from scratch and Surya and I decorated them!  And I made the packaging myself!

Party favors for the kiddos

I made the gift tags and attached them to the bags with ribbon

I made the labels on my computer and made the boxes myself from cardstock.

The "surf wax" inside the box was bubble tape, I just made a new sticker to cover up the original one.

I made blue jello with a gummy shark in each cup for the kiddies.  This was a big hit!

"The Sunset Bar" included all sorts of theme-related drinks.

Another thematic table for the "Grub Lounge".

Hopefully my sister has a better picture of this one.  I made a banner for the window that said "Jack" and the sign on the table says, "Grub Lounge".  Surya made some awesome fruit kabobs and my mom (pictured out the window in the background) made some killer salsa.

Games

Of course, as an elementary school teacher, I had to have games!  I only have one picture of one of the games now, hopefully more will turn up later.  The game pictured below was just a fun way for Jack's guests to be involved in the photos of his first 12 months.  They had to try to match the picture to the month it was taken.  Only one person got them all right!  Go Nana Belisa!  There was also a Guesstimation station and a "Jack" sticker on the bottom of 2 plates for easy prizes.  I gave out wines from two local Temecula wineries and two loaves of bread from a local bakery.  I hope think people had fun playing the games! 

Guess Jack's age game

Here is a preview of some things you will see in Part 2's post:

Can you guess what this is and what happened to it?

Up next...shark and sand cupcakes, Jack demolishes the cake, the pinata, and more pictures of the birthday boy!