More San Diego Pictures

I never finished posting the pictures from our San Diego trip. There were just too many pictures to post all at once, so I will post them in groups, as I am patient enough to wait for 20-somethin' pictures to load.

These pictures are from our wonderful day at the beach - Coronado Island. The Coronado Bridge gave me butterflies in my stomach! I was so nervous, but it was amazing. As Sam drove, I begged him not to even think of looking anywhere but straight ahead. The beach was absolutely beautiful. The weather was great, the water was freezing, the sand was so soft, AND and we saw dolphins (didn't get a picture of them, though). The sound of the crashing waves, plus the ocean breeze put Elijah right to sleep. Hey, maybe that's what we need at home...an "ocean breeze" machine. We've already got a sound machine that we turn on while Elijah's sleeping. Maybe if we had the "breeze" to go with it, Elijah would sleep through the night!!?? Or would that be like having a fan...nevermind, already have that. No such luck.

Sea World pictures still to come...

Proud Mama!

It's always nice to receive compliments about your children, particularly when it's about your child's behavior. And it's even nicer when it comes from a complete stranger. We are very lucky to have a really well behaved (for the most part) little guy, and we received such a nice compliment about it as we were leaving Cracker Barrel after dinner tonight. We were outside the restaurant, enjoying the lovely wooden rocking chairs, while saying goodbye to Deyga (Grandma) and G-Pop (Grandpa)...all you O'Brien's know how long our "good-bye's" can take, when a very nice older gentleman walked up and complimented Jaden's behavior. He said he had been watching Jaden in the restaurant and thought it was so nice and refreshing to see such a little guy behave so well. He said it reminded him of his own kids when they were young. I thought it was so sweet of him to share that with us. Too often, children's good behavior goes unnoticed, while their bad behavior is more apparrent. Jaden felt so proud, and it definitely made us feel proud of our little guy! Good job Jaden!

Elijah's 4 Months Old!

What I love about you:

• Your eyelashes - they are getting so long.


• The way you are trying so hard to roll over from your back to your tummy. You've only made it about half way so far.


• Your wonderful smile! You are such a happy baby.

• The way you tell stories - you just talk and talk whenever others talk to you.


• The way your little hand clings to my shirt whenever you fall asleep in my arms.


• The loud, high-pitched scream you have discovered. You don't do it because you are mad, you do it just because.


• When you fall asleep all by yourself.

• The way your hair curls on top of your head.


• Your laughter. We can tickle you under your arms or on your tummy and you just giggle!


• Your drooly, bubbly lip.


• The way you are so mesmerized when watching your big brother. Your eyes just light up whenever you see him.

• That you were such a wonderful little traveler on our first road trip with you.


• Seeing you sit up in your BebePod and play.

First Vacation as a Family of Four

We recently took our first road trip as a family of four! What an adventure! We left late Thursday afternoon and drove to Tucson, AZ. Oddly, the boys are not good night time travelers. I thought they'd just sleep, but nope. Not these boys. When Jaden falls asleep in the car at night time and wakes up to realize that he is not in bed, he is not a happy camper! And when it's after 7pm and Elijah is not in his bed, he is not a happy camper! So on the way to Tucson, my poor mom was sitting in the backseat with two unhappy campers! Her comment was, "Why didn't we fly??" But after that first evening, the rest of our travels were during the day, for the most part, and the boys became very good little travelers! We drove all the way to Oceanside/San Diego, CA. Jaden did great in the car, thanks to a little invention called the portable DVD player (and Barney). And Elijah did great as long as he could see me sitting next to him at all times. After all that driving, we spent a short 3 1/2 days in California visiting with our cousins, Becky and Beto. Then we drove to Phoenix and spent a day with some of our friends and their little boy there. It wasn't long enough at all, but we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it! I took about a million pictures, so here are just a few!

My two sweet little travelers.


My mom, myself, Elijah, Sam, Jaden, Becky and Beto at Joe's Crab Shack on the Oceanside Harbor.

Legoland California

Washington DC made out of Legos in "Minitown" at Legoland.

Las Vegas made out of Legos in "Minitown" at Legoland.