Sam's love/hate relationship with the beach

A collection of fun things we've done in the past few months:

Sam's first time at the beach.  He hated the sand, the water, the sun...pretty much everything

Enjoyed a day at the LACMA seeing the James Turrell exhibit

Sammy and me at music class.  Watch out, budding drummer coming through

Grandma, Sam and I went out to the San Gabriel Mission (been around since 1771!)

As we were walking around the grounds, Sam found an old Asian man doing strange calisthenic exercises.  It was hilarious because Sam couldn't stop staring at him, no matter how hard we tried to distract him. 

Second time at the beach...Sam actually smiled!  Success!

Celebrated my dearest mom's birthday.  My sis and I compiled and wrapped a gift for each year...let's just say it took a little while for my mom to open all of them and model and display each gift. 

This last weekend, we took Sam on his first ever camping trip up in Malibu Creek.  Apparently the TV show MASH was filmed there and you can hike to a spot with old trucks from the set.  We set out on our hike...only to realize half way into it that it was 5 miles roundtrip in the hot sun.  With some encouragement from Sam and jello treats from a Hispanic family we met along the way, we endured to the end.

Thanks Aaron and Rachel for the cute hat!

It was worth it.  I think.

Enamored by the campfire

Sam thoroughly enjoyed his camping experience...until it was time for bed.  He slept for about 2 hours and then woke up in a panic and couldn't go back to sleep.  To spare our neighbors the whole campground, I slept in the car with Sam and woke up a zombie the next morning.  But we ended our trip with a bang by going to Point Dume beach (where Sam finally touched sand without freaking out...Huzzah!) and eating at our favorite Malibu joint Neptune's Net.  Best ceviche on the planet.  Period.

Carolina Beach Getaway

About a month ago we had an amazing family reunion in South Carolina.  Kael's family is really spread out so having everybody in one place takes a little a LOT of planning.  We settled on Myrtle Beach and stayed in a beautiful beach house complete with pool and widow's walk (another way of saying roof deck I learned). 

Kael, being the wonderful photographer and videographer, put together this awesome video with all the highlights.

The adults also played Ticket to Ride three nights in a row.  Kael now has a personal vendetta against the dreaded purple tunnel he was never able to get. He's still a little bitter about it... haha

Since we were so close to Brit, my best friend from high school/college, we drove up to North Carolina to see her and her adorable kiddos.  Of course it wouldn't be complete without our other bestie Melissa so she decided to stop by too.  The three amigas...united once again. :)

For some reason North Carolina is full of these creepy deserted cabins.  We must've passed 5 of them on our way to Brit's.

And now some cute pictures of Sam on the trip for your viewing pleasure:

Surprise Utah Trip

Just as I was running out of things to do around the house, a friend had the brillant idea to go to Utah for the week.  I wasn't too thrilled about being in a car for 10 hours with a 2-month-old so I splurged and used all of our credit card points!  Being on the plane with Sam wasn't too bad...I sat by a Mexican cholo that turned out to be the sweetest teddy bear and couldn't stop talking about his family.  I also sat by a fancy-schancy hipster gay guy that definitely did NOT like Sam.  First thing he did when he sat down--put down the arm rest and took a fake nap.  Haha whatever.

We visited a whole bunch of friends and Sam may have been slightly overstimulated/cranky from all the different sounds and people but he eventually got used to it.  It was so fun seeing my sis-in-law Evelyn and her family.  Her kiddos are so cute and they couldn't wait to meet Sam.  When Evelyn first told them about Sam's dwarfism, Natalie asked if he was gonna be bigger than a stick of butter!  Maybe she thought he was gonna be fairy-sized? Haha I love it.  Evelyn says Kai prays for Sam at night asking that he won't get bullied.  Awh...I can tell they love him so much already.  We're so blessed to have such wonderful family members!  

Speaking of family, my dad and stepmom could not get enough of Sam.  They were trying to put Sam to bed one night and it became a joint effort with my dad holding and patting him and my stepmom holding his pacifier and stroking his head (picture below).  It was too cute.  It made me happy seeing them so happy.  They both got teary-eyed saying bye to Sam when we had to leave.  It made me stop and realize how important our family relationships are and how essential it is to nourish those relationships.  It's so easy for me to get wrapped up in school, work, friends, whatever but when I remember to spend time with those that know me best, I always feel centered again.