Baseball Game with Grandpa

Baseball: the family tradition with my Dad.  Here we are at the Padres game, Axel and Honus are goofing off while Dad carefully writes down the lineup for scientific tracking purposes

the family photo - while Dad has one eye on the game

 Axel thought it was hilarious to use his baseball glove (inherited from Honus actually) as a hat

Me and my dad and my son at the ball game, it doesnt get any better than this

I'll keep this picture just in case he becomes a big baseball star later . . . doh! the glove is on the wrong hand!

Guys are so cute at sporting events . . .

Petco park has a great hill behind the field where all the kids can go to get a break from the game.  Axel was already there by the bottom of the first inning.  

Honus showed Axel the classic "roll down the hill" game.  Repeat, repeat, repeat . . .

Velodrome

Tuesday nights in the summer there are fixed gear bicycle races at the San Diego Velodrome.   Whenever we can find someone nerdy enough to be interested in such an obscure sport (hello Dad and Honus!), we invite them to come out and watch the races with us for a nice little evening picnic.  

Half the time we dont even know what the races mean

 Luna and Axel just like hanging around in the dirt

Honus and Axel in the stands

such handsome future hipsters . . .

Later, when the races got a little boring, Honus and Axel played in the dirt together

Legolove

Legolove

 Too short to reach the water hose game?  No problem!  That's what Grandpas are for . . .

 Those LegoLions are pretty fierce

 We always ALWAYS gotta ride the train

 Honus visits San Francisco

Axel prefers New York

They settle on Paris - Las Vegas

The nerds went crazy for the lego Star Wars exhibit

 Vader is not so menacing in mini lego form

Up High Like Wyley

Today at the dog park Axel asked to climb the fig tree.  

He refused my help because as usual, he wants to do it himself.

When he got to the "top" of the tree trunk, he pointed to the upper branches and said "up high like Wyley".  He is clearly drawing inspiration from his 9 year old cousin Wyley who is a SUPER climber! 

Fun in the Pool with Ellis

Ellis babysat Axel for me today while I was at practice and Karsten was in Chicago for a conference.  The heat wave in San Diego continues, so they busted out the kiddie pool and set it up on our deck

Luna watches while Barbapapa (the European toy figurine) jumps off the fire truck

Ellis showed Axel how Barbamama wears the pants in the family

Axel absolutely LOVED it, he couldnt stop talking about Ellis and the pool all night. Thanks Ellis!!

Toddler Mosh Pits

This is what concerts would be like if two-year-olds ruled the world:

Axel gets his groove on with best friends Hazel and Mason at the Hullabaloo summer concert series in Mission Hills.  I can totally picture them 15 years from now as teenagers doing the same thing. 

Legoland with my BFF

Last Saturday Axel went to Legoland with his best buddy Mason.  The impending excitement during the car ride over there was ridiculous: oh boy oh boy, you mean I get to see BOTH Mason AND Legolang?!?!  Its just too much!!

First they played at Duploland:




Then they rode the train together: 

then they went on the boat ride:

Then they tried the airplane ride, which Mason loves, but Axel got scared.  

We couldn't get off until it was over, so it was a little traumatic, poor little guy!

Then they climbed the rope ladder onto the castle fort and got all sweaty running around:

Since we're in a "heat wave", we decided to cool off at the water park

When baby Hunter joined, things got a little crazy

Overall, a totally fun day! 

New Preschool

Last week Axel started at a new preschool.  We were really excited because the facility is awesome, it is near our house, he can be there for the next three years, and the staff seem experienced, friendly, and pretty relaxed. But we were also a little worried about the transition because Axel is such a shy kid and he also really liked his old day care.

Well, needless to say, it turned out to NOT be a problem.
When I came to pick Axel up on the first day, I spotted him running around and laughing with the other kids.  When he finally saw me, he ran up to me smiling, gave me a big hug, and then ran back to the playground saying "One more minute".  I let him go, but then he wouldn't come back, so eventually had to drag him to the car crying "more school, more school!"  Good thing he is going to be there every day!

Axel's new preschool classroom:

Axel shows off his playground, one of four huge shaded outdoor play areas

 Axel's new teacher is Miss Debbie

Grandma Ruth

We love you Grandma, it was so fun to have you here visiting with all of your children and grandchildren. 

Family Reunion: the Beach

Nothing says California quite like the beach.  So of course we took our family to see the ocean

More exciting than the water was the sand itself, an endless source of amusement for the kids

Best if you hurl yourself to the ground and roll around in it 

 Only problem with that is you get sand in your face, eyes, ears, mouth, nostrils, hair, pants, diaper. . .

Tillie collected seashells

Axel taught Annabelle the proper technique for catching a wave

The poor girl from Seattle never sees the sun . . .

Django and Axel take pouring sand very seriously, no time for talk

Family Reunion: Sightseeing

We did lots of sightseeing with my family while they were in town visiting. 

Axel and I rode the train with Django at Legoland

Tillie and Scott took the fairy tale boat ride at Legoland

The cousins played on the canon in Old Town

Tah-Dah!!  

Uncle Scott gave the kids a group hug/ wrestle session in Old Town

As you see, they hated it 

Maddy June rode the Skyfari at the San Diego Zoo

Annabelle pointed out the animals you could see from being up so high

Wyley climbed up high herself on the polar bear exhibit

And finally, we hosted an awesome BBQ for the "big family reunion", with four generations of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmothers.  We are so happy everyone could come and be all together. :)