The Beach, the Mountains, and Everything In-Between

June began with our annual trip to Pacific Beach in San Diego.  The girls look forward to their trip to the beach all year long.  We spent most of our time on the beach enjoying the sand, sun, and waves.

Lillian loves boogie boarding with her dad.  They go out so far they look like little specks bobbing around. We got Freya to spend more time in the water this year than she ever has before but she still preferred playing in the sand.

We took the occasional stroll under the pier so the girls could look for creatures.

We walked, cycled, scootered, and skateboarded up and down the boardwalk people watching and burning off excess energy.

One day we took the girls down to Belmont Park. I think they had the most fun watching their dad win them stuffed animals!

Another day we went to La Jolla Cove to see the seals. That was my favorite day. We saw tons and tons of seals and sea lions and their pups. They were adorable!

Last but not least, we took a trip to Hodad's so Josh could eat a burger and a shake.  His burger was so huge I got sick just looking at it!

Every year we stay in the same cottage and we have the same neighbors. We enjoy spending time with them and getting to know them. This year one of them turned 50 years old and Grandma Jean couldn't let that momentous occasion pass without a cake. She threw something together last minute and it was beautiful as usual.

There are lots of snails around the cottage where we stay. Freya was obsessed with hunting for them which makes me laugh because she used to be deathly afraid of them!  She was sick for a few days in the middle of the trip and we joked with her that she had snail fever.

I loved this vacation when I was a kid and it makes my heart happy to know my kids love it too.

Shortly after we returned from the beach we headed into the White Mountains for what we like to call The Padilla Family Forest Fun Fest.  The girls and their cousins started collecting logs to make a fort and a raft as soon as we arrived.

In the mornings each girl would take their pick from the many dogs and head out to collect more logs for their project.

In the afternoons we fished or looked for crawdads in the river.  Lillian flipped her lid when she found out she had been swimming around in water that had strange creatures with pinchers in it.  She eventually got over it but she refused to hold one.

In the evenings we sang karoke with Tata, played games, and ate smores.

The trip was a nice break from the heat and we had a good time hanging out with family.  

In between all of our trips we spent time with friends and family having summer fun.  After all, what is summer without ice cream, sparklers, and swimmings?

Lillian took swimming lessons again this year through the YMCA.  She looked forward to it each afternoon and she always had good stories to tell Freya and me when she was finished.

When my aunt and I were little my mom would put tea parties together for us.  This summer we decided it was time to revive the tradition and have a tea party for our kids. We chose a Tea by the Sea theme and it was a big hit!  Our little mermaids ate oysters and sea sponges and made little sea turtles out of egg cartons.

We enjoy all the traveling we do in the summer but we miss our pets a lot.  In between adventures, we try to spend as much time with them as possible.

 Lillian tried taking Una for a walk one day. Needless to say, she wasn't too thrilled.

 Who would have thought working out with a chicken would be so hard! Alice wants to be in the middle of everything!

Our herd grew by one which delighted the girls. Meet Daisy Gwendolyn a three-month-old Nigerian Dwarf goat.  She has no idea she is a goat. In fact, she thinks she is a little girl and so she follows Lillian and Freya everywhere!

Poor Gigi could hardly contain her jealousy. Any time Daisy was out hogging all the attention from the girls Gigi would bang on her gate and stretch her neck out as far as she could begging for pets and treats.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Freya's fourth birthday.  When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said, "All the Wonder Woman stuff!"

Since it was her birthday she got to the choose our adventures for the day. We started with a ride in the Canam to Dunkin Donuts. Then we went to the bouncy house place and we finished off the night with Incredibles 2 and Dairy Queen.

For the past year Freya has been planning her birthday party.  When she decided she wanted to have a witch party I was a little taken aback. What does one do at a witch party in June?  Well, we came up with plenty of fun activities for everyone!

First, we made flying witches.

Then we made slime.

Next, we mixed some potions and watched them boil and bubble.

No witch is complete without her spellbook so we made one of those as well.

Freya insisted we have broom races so we finished off the night with a quick flight on our broomsticks.

Before all the witches and warlocks went home we sang Happy Birthday and ate a delicious cake made by the one and only Grandma Jean.

Freya, also known as The Grand High Witch, got a little shy during our singing but she was able to blow out most of her candles.

The last candle was a little tricky so Lillian helped her out.

It was a great party with great friends.

Just a few days after Freya's birthday we headed to Northern Utah for a month.  Leaving Dad behind is always sad but we always love our adventures in Utah