July 4, 2015

Photo by Bob Cho

Photo by Bob Cho

Photo by Bob Cho

Photo by Bob Cho

Looks like we've begun an annual tradition of heading to my parents' house for a 4th of July get together. Last year, Ava was so tiny and wanted me to hold her the whole time. This year, she was right in the mix with the older kids. Leah just finished taking swimming lessons the day before, and it was so amazing to see her swimming independently in the water. I was so proud of her! We had a great time celebrating our nation's independence with food, fun, and great friends.

Happy 4th of July!!

Hot Hot Hot!

Grand Park DTLA {Photo by Bob Cho}

Grand Park DTLA {Photo by Bob Cho}

Jumping in the pool! {Photo by Bob Cho}

Water table fun!

Waterslide Birthday Parties!

Learning to dive into the pool!

It's been toasty this summer in LA, and we've been trying to do as much as possible to stay cool. We've spent time at Grand Park in Downtown LA, took swimming lessons, and have now been swimming twice a week! When we want to stay at home, we've been busting out the kiddie pool and water table. While I'm looking forward to some cooler weather, I'm a little nervous what El Nino will bring. Hope everyone is able to beat the heat!

Swim Lessons!

Blowing bubbles!

If you've been following the blog, you know Leah is a total water baby! We enrolled her in her first swim class session, and last Saturday was her first class. She loved it! We told her the night before she was going to be taking a swim class, and she woke up the next morning saying "baby pool? baby pool?" Her memory never ceases to astonish me. With Matt's guidance, she did pretty well following the instructions of the class. I look forward to seeing how she develops as we continue! 

Santa Barbara

Matt has a bunch of mini-business trips this month, but luckily Leah and I get to tag along!  This past weekend we went to Santa Barbara and got to stay at this super cute boutique hotel, Canary Hotel.  The hotel gave us a suite which was awesome with a baby.  We were able to have her nap in the bedroom and close the door so that we didn't have to tip toe around.  The hotel was right next to State Street which has plenty of shops and restaurants to stroll around.  

We took her to the pool again, and she squealed when she saw the pool.  This time we sat her on the ledge to let her kick her feet a little bit.  After a minute, she closed her eyes, stuck her stomach out, and belly flopped into the pool!  It freaked me out at first, but when she came up laughing we thought it was the cutest thing.  We wanted to see if she was doing that on purpose or if it was an accident, so we sat her on the ledge a couple more times and she kept diving back into the pool!  Matt and I were totally amazed.  Of course, the next day when I tried to take a video, she refused to do it. 

Leah was on the couch playing with my iPhone.  This is her self-photograph.  

Hope you're having a good week! 

Labor Day Weekend

We made another trip to San Diego for Labor Day weekend with my family.  Leah had a blast.  She's so much more interactive with her cousins now,  and they love to play with her. We drove down Friday and met up with the family for dinner at a sushi restaurant. The older cousins couldn't get enough of feeding Leah puffs. {After not being able to eat sushi for 9 months during pregnancy, I feel like I still need to catch up on what I was missing.} 

Saturday morning, the boys went to play golf at Torrey Pines, and the girls went to the Birch Aquarium with the kids.  The Aquarium isn't large, so it's a good place to take small children for a couple hours to spend some energy.  Leah was pointing to the different fishes she saw and happily yelled at every kid that ran past her.  In the evening we had a BBQ and the kids went swimming.  Leah has become such a water baby.  We dunked her whole head in the water for the first time, and she eventually caught on to close her eyes and mouth before she went in. 

Sunday, we went to Matt's brother's house for his mom's birthday.  Julia's, who's 10, has her own iPad, and downloaded baby apps on her iPad so that she could show Leah.  Of course, Leah couldn't take her eyes off it.  I hope she doesn't get too used to it!

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!