Our walk to the beach . . . from Escondido :)

So a couple of days ago my sister and I came up with this crazy plan to walk to the beach . . . not even sure how the idea got started, I think it was Shawna (she tends to be the "strange" one). . . but anyhooo, I agreed to the idea and the rest is history!

On Friday, I received a little doubt from those at work, but if you know me . . . tell me I cant do something and I will go out of my way to prove you wrong (guess I am a tiny bit stubborn like that)! So when we woke up at 6am to super gray, cloudy skies, wet sidewalks, and a morning of showers in the weather forecast, we put on our running shoes (and sweatshirts) and headed out as planned!

We mapped out our route a few days prior and found a course complete with sidewalks and safe neighborhoods :) -Country Club to Woodland to Mission to San Marcos Blvd to Palomar Airport Drive, leading straight to the coast! We ran the first leg, we believe about 5 miles and made our first stop at 711 for drinks (and a donut for Shawn - so much for the healthy aspect of the day)! Besides four sore legs, two swollen hands (haha), a few blisters on Shawna's feet, and a couple of rain scares, we had a worry free adventure! We walked and talked, laughed about our endeavour, posed like tourists, and overall had a lot of fun! We kind of expected it to be a day long adventure, but surprisingly reached Carlsbad beach (or the cliffs of) at 11:15am (yep, still in the morning hours)! We somehow manage to find a path and tumble down the mountain to the rocky shore where we touched the water as planned, and then returned back to the outlet mall where our lovely ride home awaited!

Below are the pictures mapping out our 18 mile journey!

Whether they like it or not, my kiddos are going to be RUNNERS!! haha, they LOVE hearing that!

Determined to having my children follow in my foot tracks (quite literally) I signed them up to run in the Jr. Carlsbad. The race took place this past Saturday and I am happy to report they did very well! I didnt have super high expectations. . . I didnt have much success getting them to practice running the last couple of weeks (and when I did, it usually ended in thrown water bottles and tears -gotta love my Aubrey's preteen attitude)! And on race day, they were less than thrilled to wake up at 6am on their first day of Spring break! So I was very, very surprised when they both ended their individual race with smiles on their faces and a great attitude about competing in the future!

Auntie Shawna happened to be in town visiting for the day, and Aubrey's friend Jamie was a good sport and woke up early to go cheer them on (I think next year I will have her trained too)! We got there in plenty of time to check in, browse the Health Expo, and collect their race gear and fun samples!




The races were by age level - Aubrey competed in the mile with the 9 year olds and to my surprise ran almost the entire way! So proud!! Cayden competed in the half mile with the 6 year olds and also did a stellar job (although, I think he was hoping to win)! But honestly, I think there favorite part was the Jamba Juice (and other treats) at the finish line!
Cant wait to run a marathon with my kiddos in the future!!

Another week of SMILES and fun!

On Friday, Aubrey received the Super Bronco award at school, and the same day report cards came home . . . surprise surprise. . . Aubrey is a stunning student! She does so so very well in school and is the student any teacher would be happy to have a class full of! She makes school look so easy! She makes me proud, and I am pretty dang lucky she is mine!

This last week Cayden got in a fight with a teatherball at school and received the most adorable injury ever. . . that 2nd tooth fell out, making momma quite happy. Yeah yeah, I am his mom and maybe a wee bit bias, but that toothless smile melts my heart!

Then I messed up. . . On the way home from school, I was cleaning out the car at the gas station, and accidently threw the ziplock baggie with the tooth away. We had a difficult evening trying to figure out how to "prove" to the toothfairy that Cayden truely lost another tooth that day. I finally convinced him to write her a letter and I would sign it! We then had to take a picture of the toothless kid! The camera and note then went under the pillow (making for a bumpy sleeping night) and I somehow convinced him that the toothfairy senses the hole in the mouth and not just the tooth under the pillow! Luckily, she made her appearance and left him $5 bucks! Thanks toothfairy for not getting poor mom busted!!

Last night we went to Art Night at the kids school and had lots and lots of fun learning new crafts! Everyone know, Bonnie and crafts equal smiles!! haha! The night also featured an auction of art items created by each class. This year Cayden's class created a tie die quilt and Aubrey's class created a decorative stained glass piece. Cayden was addament we win the quilt. He babysat the silent auction sheet all night and upped the bid everytime we were outbid! Luckliy, there were not tons of kids from his class present, and we were able to pull off the win. He is so so proud of this quilt and is currently asleep and wrapped up in it! Good job teachers for the great projects!


This week Cayden also attended his first "non-family friend girls birthday party!" He was stoked it was the type of party where I dropped him off and picked him up at the end! I had many many funny laughs for the week preceeding the party. I learned all about "little Nataly" through Cayden's "boy" eyes. He couldnt believe she was having a "girl" party (pink, fairy invitations) when she is "barely a girl. . . you know mom - one of those girls who is like a boy!" I had to convince him to buy her a present from Justice (the store for girls) where he found the only, no sparkle, no pink shirt that the store had. It was so funny how perfect his gift had to be. He also INSISTED getting her and him matching friendship braclets - too cute! So I was totally blown away when I showed up to Nataly's party and met this little girl in the most adorable pink party dress, ruffle socks, satin white shoes, and cute little hair bows! She was adorable!! Just goes to prove . . . boys are too funny and clueless from the start!!