Our sweet little Sidekick is 4! His special day falls in the middle of what happens to be a really busy time of year for us, and it seems to always be kind of a last-minute celebration. This year, we decided to change that and celebrate by giving him the best kids’ birthday party ever! Truth be told, I’m having a hard time understanding how my children keep getting older, I seem to be perpetually stuck at age 29. Weird.
It’s my fourth baby’s turn to learn to swim! I’ve always lived near the ocean, so swimming has been a huge part of my life. For our family, it’s important to start water play with the kids at a young age so that they’re comfortable and happy during all of the time we spend poolside (and lakeside, oceanside, riverside, you name it!).
Nate and I have lived in San Diego for 8 years, and our kids have lived here all their lives. We’ve been to SeaWorld dozens of times, and have met numerous SeaWorld employees outside of the park. To say that it’s a cornerstone of our community is an understatement. It’s one of the first spots to come to mind when people think of San Diego, and readers email in questions about it on a weekly basis. There’s actually a trapeze studio in our neighborhood where our family has trained with a few of the park’s acrobatic performers. True story! In all that time, though, we’d never seen behind the scenes and really grasped the purpose of SeaWorld. Last week, we got an incredible glimpse at the rescue program behind the entertainment.
We just got back from an awesome little trip hosted by Disney! We got to visit the parks here in California and witness firsthand how all of our favorite superheroes are taking over California Adventure for the Summer of Heroes. There are tons of awesome limited-time thrills, but it’s not all just a temporary attraction! A bunch of our favorite sights are said to be sticking around indefinitely.
With baby number four, I didn’t feel the need to buy a bunch of new stuff. I had my first son six years ago, then my second two years later, number three two years later and the littlest dude two years after that. I’m nothing if not predictable. I honestly bought well the first few times and felt like I really honed in on most of the necessary baby gear LONG before this dude arrived.
But I learned some lessons along the way, and it seems that manufacturers did as well.
I kinda just dropped that on ya, didn’t I? Yup. Happy Friday, we’re talking about pee! Seriously, though, this is a question that a LOT of readers have emailed me about. We travel so often with such little kids, and this is the burning issue on everyone’s minds when they’ve finished the potty-training phase and they’re staring down the barrel of a vacation. What if my kid pees on someone else’s expensive, fancy, fluffy white sheets?
One of Nate’s cousins works as a pool boy in the summer at that hotel we stayed at last week. It was so cute to watch the boys oooh and aaah over his pool boy skills, following his lead all around the splash area.
Some of our good friends went to Orlando awhile ago and came back raving endlessly about the hotel. “Our room was as big as a house!” they exclaimed. I’ll admit I cocked my head to the side a bit and laughed. Of ALL the things to do in Orlando, it seemed strange that these guys were writing home about a resort. I love a good mattress and hot tub, sure, but can that really top thrill rides and fireworks?
So far we’ve talked about how to shell and what to do with kids in Fort Myers. I’ve gotten a few emails from parents asking where they should stay when they head to this Southwest Florida gateway. Don’t worry, we’ve got ya covered there too!
We have no shortage of options when it comes to theme parks here in Southern California (and I’m a big fan of ALL of them), but Knott’s Berry Farm holds a special place in my heart.