San Diego

We took the RV down to San Diego at the end of July for a little trip. We were only gone about 5 days. It was nice to get away though and the weather was so much cooler down there than up where we live. We took a drive one day over to Coronado. I have lived here now for 12+ years and I have never been over to Coronado. We drove all the way around and ended up at Silver Strand Beach. I believe it's a state park. We paid to get in and then walked on the beach with the kids. There was a ton of seaweed. EWWW! Steve had his bathing suit on so he took the kids in the water. Kyle wasn't so much on it but Brooke of course loved it. Daddy decided to take her out in the big waves and we finally found something she doesn't like about the water. It was an enjoyable day.

The Ball Pit

We got this ball pit as a hand me down from some friends. This thing is going to be the death of me. The kids absolutely love it. There are about 50+ balls in this thing. We had it downstairs but decided to move it upstairs since there was more room. These balls are everywhere! I find them in our bedroom, on the staircase, in the BATH TUB, stinking everywhere. I find myself picking up these darn balls all the time. I am trying to teach the kids to help me put them back in but Kyle just jumps in the pit and throws more out. The never ending battle of the balls. We do however have some really cute pictures with them in it. Steve decided to get funny one night and put 2 balls down Brooke's shirt. The picture will speak for itself! Brooke has figured out that she can push the entire thing over and ALL of the balls come out. She thinks that is super fun. It is a blow up type of deal so they climb all over it. They are definitely our monkeys! That's why it was easy to decide on their Halloween costumes. MONKEYS! Brooke actually has so much upper body strength that she can scale the bathroom counter and hold her own body weight as she tries to get up on the counter. I'm guessing by the time she's 5, she'll be able to kick MY butt!

Kyle is Walking!

Well, at 14 months, Kyle is now really starting to walk. It amazes me how fast they pick it up. Just last week he was only taking about 2-3 steps. Today he has just taken off like something just clicked in his head. He is so different about his walking than Brooke. I don't know why I compare the 2 because they are soooo different. Kyle sort of marches when he walks. Now is when the double trouble starts since they are both walking. Other than that, the kids are great and growing like weeds. Here is a video of Kyle walking.

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Mommy Time Out

Like I mentioned before, my parents came down for a visit so on a day that Steve wasn't working, we headed down to the wine country in Temecula for some fun! We hit 3 wineries and had some lunch. We figured we'd take lunch to dump the good buzz we had going on. By the end of the afternoon, we were all wined out. You get 5 tastes as each winery. It was a fun afternoon and one that I don't get to enjoy much since my parents live in Washington State. It was also a nice break away but I missed the kids the entire time. We showed their pictures to anyone who would look. This one lady asked how old they were and I told her they were both 1. She said, "no wonder you're here drinking." That gave me a good laugh.

It's Summertime

My parents came to town this month and we decided to get out of the house and head up to Victoria Gardens which is an outdoor mall/shopping center. We had called to ask about a playground. We got their and it was pretty skimpy to say the least. It was also in the direct sun so the equipment was pretty hot which made it impossible for the kids to play on. Grandpa decided to take Brooke over to this water fountain. It is this circular thing and on top it has water that comes out and flows over. He took her over and put her right on top of it. For those of your who don't know, Brooke is an absolute NUT for the water. Any chance she gets, she's in it. She was getting all wet so thank god it was warm out. We let Kyle play in it too. We then decided since they were already wet to take them over to the interactive water fountain. It's one of those things that kids can run through and the water shoots up. Brooke of course was in heaven. She was out there with the big kids and didn't care much that one of them knocked her over. She just got back up and kept on going. It also didn't phase her when she tipped forward and the water shot her right in the face. Again, just kept on going. Grandpa took some pictures with his cellphone as I forgot my camera and my cellphone was in the car. Nice!!!! We decided a few days later to take the kids back again so I could get some pictures. It sort of reminds me of the kids who play in the fire hydrants back east. Here are some pictures from our second trip.



Kyle did a lot better the first time with the water. He is a bit more cautious when it comes to stuff. Brooke has NO fear whatsoever and just does it. So Kyle got a little wet with daddy but mostly hung out with him. After Brooke had purple lips we decided it was time to go. How fun it is to be a kid!
OK, so here is a video of Brooke in the fountain. She was not afraid to get in there with the big kids. I have NO clue why dropshots has blurred the video. They have made some updates...urrgh! Don't fix stuff that isn't broken!

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It's Official......AGAIN!

On July 20th, exactly 4 months from our original court date in Russia, we had a court date in San Bernardino County Superior court to re-adopt Brooke and Kyle. It was pretty cool! My parents and Janet (their godmother) were in attendance and it was a pretty informal affair. The entire process took less than a half an hour. The judge came down from the bench to give the kids 2 teddy bears. It was really cute and everyone in the courtroom was very happy for us. The reason we chose to do the re-adopt is so the kids can have birth certificates from the state of California. Here are some pictures from the day:


After it was all said and done, we filled out some paperwork to have their birthcertificates mailed to us and then went back to the house. We had a little dinner celebration and John, their godfather, was able to make it over after work. It was a very nice night with family and friends.

Family Picture

While Steve's parents were in town, they wanted to have a professional picture taken with the kids. We went to Sears. I had some great pictures taken of the kids for Father's Day so we went back there again. I am so glad that we did. They did such a great job! Here are some of those pictures. The single shots of the kids are the ones I had taken for Steve. We had other pictures taken of the grandparents and the kids, all of us and then one of the 3 boys. That was a great idea and Phyllis thought of that one and I'm glad she did.