The Aquarium of the Pacific

I use to have a membership to the Aquarium when Ashlyn was little and we only lived about 20 or so minutes away from it. But since Leah turned one and we moved up out of the city I haven't kept my membership, or even gone more than once or twice since. It made it extra fun though because the kids didn't really remember ever going, so I think they really had a good time. It was pretty darn crowded, but I guess anywhere in LA area that is even half way decently priced is going to be crowded. I even ended up getting a membership because after buying 2 adult and 3 kid tickets, it only cost me $30.00 more for an entire years membership. So we will definitely be going back a few more times. 

Brandon pretty much milked the fact that his Daddy was 

with us and he wanted to be held all the time.

My sister, Desiree, with Kylan and Leah.

Ty and Heather with Khloe.

Kylan didn't much care for Carter messing with her bow. He couldn't help 

himself though. It's so big and colorful. He had to pull on it. Sorry little cousin. I'm sure when she gets  a bit older she'll start bugging him too.

I know this picture came out a bit blurry, but I thought this starfish was so cool.

The girls were mesmorized by all the sea life.

This is Carter's cheesy grin. I can't believe how fast he is growing up.

Dad and Beth

Oh Brandon....he was pretty much a stinker most of the day. It's a 

good thing him mommy and daddy love him. I think I might

 start counting down the time till he turns four though. I would like my sweet, obedient little Brandon back please!

The girls were having a hard time reaching their arms deep enough into the tank to pet the sharks, so this nice worker picked one up for them so they could touch it.

Milk break! Yum.

Not sure what Leah is doing here, but she sure was having fun doing it!

Hard to believe these two are only 5 months apart. 

Can you see the little otter laying on his back in the water, playing with a ball? It was pretty cute.

I think this was pretty much the highlight of my Dad's day. He loves these Leaf Dragons. They are pretty cool. It's amazing how much they really do look like leaves.

Me and my sister decided this seahorse had to be pregnant. His poor belly is dragging on the bottom of the tank. And yes, I meant to say HIS. Did you know male seahorses are the ones to carry the babies? Now why, oh why aren't we made that way?

After the Aquarium we went on a nice little boat tour of the Harbor. I would like to say I really saw a bunch of stuff, but mostly I just followed Carter around. Then we ended the day at Outback Steak house.  It was a fun day! 

Ringling Brother's Circus

I LOVE the circus! We went a few years ago when Brandon was just a baby and this is the first summer we have been able to go again. It is just so much fun! There is such an excitement in the air at the circus. There are acrobats and dancers and clowns and performers and gymnasts. There is so much to look at and enjoy. It really is "The Greatest Show on Earth"!

A split. She is seriously doing a split on a tight rope. Incredible.

This was Paul's favorite part. There were two guys going in and out and around these rotating circles self propelled by the performers. They literally did flips and jumped rope while continuing to move around. And of course, they made it look so easy. 

More fun performers. 

The tiger show.

The acrobats are always my favorite. It is amazing how they can spin around and pull themselves up and down on a rope. I love it!

That ball of fire is a person! I'm not even joking. They put him on a catapult. Lit him on fire and then flung him across the arena. And then doused him in fire extinguishers! It was CRAZY!

I loved the elephants! They were so cute. It was fun to see them try and catch up with each other to lock their trunk around the tail of the elephant in front of them.

I just hope they aren't as mean to them as they are in the movie "Water For Elephants". Surely there are stricter regulations on those types of things now a days right?

And look who happened to be sitting RIGHT behind us! Okay, so I knew they were coming to the circus. I'm the one that told her we were going and she said she wanted to bring her family too. I told her what section we were in, in hopes that they would be able to get kind of close to us. She got tickets and they were randomly placed RIGHT behind us. It was so fun. Then I ran into another friend in the bathrooms at the end of the show. 

If you are wondering where Carter is, he stayed home with a sitter. I knew there was just no way he would have been able to last the 2 hour and 15 minute long show without wanting to try and crawl around and get squirmy and fussy. So at the last minute (okay the night before, but that's last minute for me), I called up a girl that Paul use to teach Seminary to (5 years ago) who happen to be home from college for the summer. She was available and agreed to come watch Carter. It was his first babysitting experience and while she said he had a bit of a hard time for a little while, that he did pretty well over all!  So hopefully this is a good sign that I can start leaving him with the other kids a bit more when I have a sitter. 

On a Quest

Not sure I was going to blog about this. But I'm sure people always wonder and never want to ask and risk being rude or intrusive. So I will just tell you. We are on a quest. A quest to figure out why my poor little Ashlyn's hair is so thin. I know it kind of seems like a silly thing, but I know people wonder (although if you comment please don't tell me you always did.) I know it's unusual to have hair as thin as hers. It's been a hard thing for me to start looking into and doing something about. Not because I don't want to bother with it, or because I think there is something wrong with her. I don't. It's more because I haven't wanted to draw anymore attention to it and make HER feel like something is wrong with her. And I knew once I started taking her to doctor's and such that I would have to put it all out there and talk about it right in front of her. But I realize it's a pretty cruel world out there. And school is one of the cruelest places. Pretty soon people are going to start asking her about it, or making fun of her. So before that happens, I hope to be able to help her.

This "quest" actually started years ago when she was just barely three. At the time it wasn't necessarily her hair but her skin I was trying to help. It was always bumpy and red. So we went to pediatricians. We went to an allergist (Where they poked the poor girls back 50 times with tiny little needles. I'm still traumatized by it. I think she might be too. She claims she remembers it.),  and we went to a dermatologist. Long story short, we came up empty handed. Blood work was normal, no allergies, no known disease to attribute it to. So some dermatologist told me it was Keratosis, gave me a cream and a shampoo to use and sent me on my way. Oh....and he told me she would most likely grow out of it. So I used the cream, I used the shampoo and waited. Nothing happened. I was tired of Doctor's and so was she, so we gave up, thinking she would, like the Dermatologist said, grow out of it. 

Well fast forward 5 years and while her skin isn't as red or bumpy, her hair is still pretty darn thin. I think we'd kind of gotten use to it to a certain degree. But when people started to slowly ask me about it, I knew I needed to start looking into it again. So we started a few weeks ago at her pediatricians office. Her doctor was really nice about it, but was pretty quick to think it was an autoimmune disease called "ectodermal dysplasia". So of course we went home and googled it. Some of the symptoms seemed to match up. Some didn't. We thought if this is really what it is, than she has a pretty mild case of it. Some kids who have it have no teeth (or if they do they are tiny and sharp), no hair (or very sparse), no sweat glands, missing fingers/toes, etc.  From what we read it has no cure. Only treatments to help with the cosmetic problems. I thought, well all things considering, it could be a lot worse. So I was gearing up to start some kind of treatments. I made an appt with a dermatologist and went to see him today. I admit, I was pretty nervous. Not really sure what he was going to do or say. It was a pretty interesting visit. The nurse first talked to us, took down some info and then left.  A few minutes later the Doctor came him. He asked me some questions, looked at her and then stood there. He seemed confused (either that or about to give me really bad news. I wasn't totally sure at the time). Then he said he would be back in a few minutes. Okay??? That was weird. So we waited. Sure enough a few minutes later he came back. Basically, the guy didn't have an answer for me. So the confused look I was reading from him was accurate. He thinks it's genetic (even though no one in me or Paul's recent past has anything like this), but he doesn't think it's this ectodermal dysplasia that her pediatrician thought it might be. He got me a number for another dermatologist and sent me on my way. 

So now we are back to square one. I made an appointment with this other dermatologist as soon as I got home. I couldn't get in for over a month from now, but I guess since we've waited this long, one more month isn't going to matter. The funny thing is that every doctor I've seen so far keeps telling me that whatever it is that it doesn't affect her brain or her ability to function normally. DUH! I know that. She's a smart, sweet, fun little girl. That was never in question. I just want to know why her hair never grew. Ok, so I guess they have to rule out everything. 

That's all we know for now. Hopefully we will have some more answers in another month or so.

Carter Crashed

My sister and my Dad are in town! I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures of them on my blog soon, but for now here is one of Carter. He couldn't take all the excitement yesterday. I put him in his cousins activity center while we ate dinner. He seemed pretty quiet, so I went down to check on him. He was fast asleep. Poor little boy. He slept like this for a good hour. He must have really needed it because he's not one to fall asleep where ever he is. I couldn't help but take a picture of him.

Me and my little Ashlyn

(...and Carter too). Have I mentioned how much I love this girl? I do. She's like the greatest kid a mom could ask for. She's good and sweet and helpful and adorable. And the older she gets, the more fun she is to just hang out with. This summer, while Brandon and Leah have been having a blast at summer camp on Tuesday and Thursday, me and Ashlyn have been having some good quality mommy/daughter (plus Carter) time. We go to lunch just about every time. Sometimes we run errands or go to the park, sometimes we hit the mall for some shopping, and sometimes we do super fun stuff like go to Chuck E. Cheese, which is what we did today. It's cheaper to buy more tokens at a time, so I got 90, thinking I'd save some for next month when I plan to take all four kids. But Ashlyn was pretty much loving not having to share, so she used them all. Haha! We got there pretty early. No one else was there at first. It was pretty awesome. She went from game to game just raking in the tickets. I followed her around some, followed Carter around some, and then we had some lunch (chuck e cheese style). It was really fun! I'm going to miss our days together. They are going to end in a couple of weeks and then school will be starting and I'll go back to feeling like I hardly ever see this cutie! 

Carter got to ride a few rides too! He wasn't quite sure how he felt about it.

This was her jackpot of the day! One token and she got 50 tickets.

Riding the "rollercoaster" together.

Most of the time Carter crawled around and played with all the blinking lights.

Ashlyn pretty much hates me taking pictures of her all the time. She knows I'll put them on my blog. I just keep telling her that someday she will be so glad I have them.

You can tell she's just humoring me in this shot. She's thinking, really mom? Do you really have to take a picture of me while I'm eating too? Yes, as a matter of fact I do, so get over it! Haha.

Carter is at that "lovely" stage where it's fun to drop toys and watch other people pick them up. We did this over and over and over! Oh well...it kept him entertained while we ate.

Ok so I know some people are totally grossed out by Chuck E Cheese. Feel like it's a germ fest and all. But honestly, I have to give props to the one in our Valley. It's pretty darn clean. They have hand sanitizer all around and an employee was even walking around cleaning games and equipment when we first got there. With a ladder even to reach the McDonald's type play structure. I was impressed! And they upgraded the pizza since I've last been there. It was good.

And as a random side note: Today was the last day of swim lessons for the summer. Hooray for my wonderful husband who took them each morning. I'm really digging the 8 am class (not sure if he is, but he never complained cuz he's awesome like that). The girls did FANTASTIC! Leah passed level 2 and will start level 3 next summer which means a pool upgrade. She is VERY excited! This past session Ashlyn was in her first round of level 4. And she almost passed it. Her teacher was so impressed that it was the first time she had been in level 4. I'm betting she'll be in level 5 before the end of next summer! I'm so proud of my girls.