Mi Familia

Zachary's representation of "mi familia."

Valentines

Tonight the kids finished up their Valentine cards. Zachary made little goodie bags and Kailani made maze cards. Kailani also signed 57 additional cards for the kids at the YMCA. Kailani's party is on Thursday and Zachary's is on Friday.

Mini Mermaid and Fairytale Fondue

Today was such a busy day! We started off with the Mermaid 5K at 7am. Kailani and I ran/walked the 5K with Zachary in the stroller. After we finished, we hung around and watched all of the people who ran the half marathon cross the finish line. It is such an emotional experience for a lot of people! There was one girl whose legs would just not work anymore. She couldn't get up to finish the race so two bystanders carried her across the finish line. It is such an amazing accomplishment and I hope that I can have that experience one day. After the half marathon, they started the Mini Mermaid, which was a 1.5 mile race for girls ages 6-12. Kailani ran the mini mermaid:) All three of us got a finisher's medal for the 5K, which was a necklace that says "Run Beautiful." It was different to receive a necklace instead of a medal, but really nice. Kailani got a different necklace for finishing the girls' race. Hers says "Mermaid Athlete." Our next race will be on March 1.

I surprised the kids with lunch at The Melting Pot. I had only been there once before and the kids had never been there before. They were having a special event, Fairytale Fondue, where the kids got to have a princess/prince event for Valentine's Day. When we arrived, they gave Kailani a tiara and Zachary a crown and sword. Each of the kids got boxes of chocolate covered strawberries too. While we were waiting for our table, the kids got to go back into the kitchen and see what goes on back there. We had a three-course meal: cheese fondue appetizer; chicken, steak, and shrimp for the main course; and white chocolate fondue for dessert. Cinderella walked around visiting with the families and she signed pictures for the kids. She taught the kids a dance. It was such a nice event and the kids enjoyed it. They will be doing another event like this for Easter. 

After lunch, we stopped by a friend's house for a "we bought a house" celebration. The kids enjoyed playing with each other and I enjoyed time with other adults.
On the way home we stopped to pick up Kailani's glasses. She has been having headaches for a while now and the outcome of a recent ER visit was a referral to an optometrist. She is a bit far-sighted, but doesn't need glasses all the time. The doctor prescribed Kailani reading glasses. We will see if those make a difference. She picked out a cool blue frame!

First Booth Sale

Today was the first day for Girl Scout cookie booth sales. It has been tough finding a day/time that Kailani can do a booth sale because of my work schedule and the fact that Zachary cannot be there. This basically rules out any evenings and weekends, which are when the booth sales are. We usually count on booth sales to boost Kailani's cookie sales, so her overall total may suffer this year:( So far she's sold about 50 boxes on her own and then she sold about 60 at the booth sale today. Her goal is 200! Zachary was such a kind brother...he skipped karate today so Kailani and I could do the booth sale:)

After we picked Zachary up at school, we headed to Liberty Station for Friday Night Liberty. Salina Yoon shared her new book and the kids made Valentines.

Missing Daddy:(

Kailani is missing Daddy today:(

Lucky we live in San Diego

Every day I am thankful we live in San Diego. It's times like this (when the East Coast is getting pounded with snow) that I am even more thankful. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place! We just got some great news too...Jason received a new set of orders to San Diego. If everything works out, we'll be able to retire here:)
We haven't been able to receive messages from the ship in a few days, so we've all been wondering what they've been up to. Today several pictures were posted online and I was able to pick Jason out in one. It looks like the sailors are taking the Chief exam. The funny thing is...someone else made a comment on the picture that the head in the bottom right belongs to her husband. I beg to differ:)

Cookie Sales

Today is the official start of Girl Scout cookie season in San Diego. Our leader always says if you don't go door-to-door right at 9am, you'll be too late. This morning we went around our neighborhood at 9am...only 3 people answered the door. Of those 3 people, 2 people bought. She sold a grand total of 3 boxes! Kailani is too shy to ask people to buy. The booth sales are so much easier because the cookies sell themselves. I hope we can take advantage of those.