The Family

 

I love this picture.  The boys are trying to get Eli to smile

spring training

 Colorado Rockies vs. the Texas Rangers.

You certainly couldn't have had better seats.  We all had a good time eating carmel corn and watching our favorite team beat the Rangers.   Oh yea, Owen said his favorite part was the cotton candy (imagine that).

The Pool

Our favorite activity in Phoenix was going to the pool!  Gabe, Owen, Jackson, and Eli had the best time doing what boys do best in a pool.

Owen couldn't take anymore fun.  He found a lounge chair, crawled in it, and took a nap.

The beach

After the morning at the pier and with Tyler and Austin we grabbed a quick lunch in the car and wanted to find a beach to take the boys to before we headed back to Phoenix. 

Here we are enjoying the sand, sun, and water.

Completely exhausted, covered with sand, and ready for a nap!  Here are the boys ready to head back to Phoenix.

San Diego

With Sea World out of the way it was time to explore San Diego.  I have never been to San Diego and was excited to go to the beach and be a tourist for the day.  First stop was the pier.  We walked up and down the boardwalk and looked at the boats.  The boys were most impressed with the USS Midway which was a aircraft carrier used for more than 45 years from WWII to Desert Storm.

After walking on the pier we met up with Tyler and Austin and went to a small town beach on Coronado island.  The boys had the best time digging and playing in the sand.  Gabe even found a very interesting sea slug.

The Dahl boys on the beach

Daddy showing Eli the ocean

The bridge from San Diego to Coronado island

Owen digging in the sand

Eli loved the sand!

The sea slug that Gabe found

my roller coaster moment

The bible teaches that we need to live in the moment without worrying about the future or regretting the past.  Jesus said "Do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What what we should drink?' or 'What should we wear?'   Look first for his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you".

As a mother, this is one of my daily struggles.  I am always worried!  I worry about my children constantly.  I worry about every aspect of their lives from their safety to what they are eating and how much TV they watch.  I am always planning ahead for the next activity and fretting about how to get it all done.  When I'm playing with my children, I'm constantly thinking about what needs to be done around the house.  When I'm cleaning the house, I'm thinking about what to make for dinner and when I'm making dinner, I'm thinking about all the laundry that needs to get done.  With three little people to take care of the tasks and planning for them are nonstop.  Living in the moment seems IMPOSSIBLE.  Yet I know that I need to take a deep breath and enjoy every moment.  To hold, love, and play with my babies and think of nothing else.  Knowing this, I've been trying to change but, I haven't been able to just breath and enjoy things.  My mind doesn't work that way.  I needed to find another way to calm my mind.  So, yesterday, here is what I did.

The boys and I were walking around the lake and I was trying to get them to hurry so we could get home and get ready to go to the gym.  Hurry, hurry, hurry.  We had other places to go.  Then, I closed my eyes and imagined myself on top of the roller coaster in Sea World. A roller coaster that I loved riding.  In fact, I loved it so much that I rode it three times in a row. I imagined what it felt like to be in the roller coaster car just about ready to go over the first big hill.  My heart racing, my stomach in knots and the only thing that I'm thinking about is the excitement that I feel as the car races down that hill.  All my senses were totally focused on that precise moment.  I wasn't worrying about my children or myself.  I was totally physically and emotionally engrossed in the moment.  Doing this gave me an immense feeling of liberty.  A freedom that was unexplainable because I never let my mind go like that.   I felt like a little child.  Full of excitement and laughter.

The roller coaster at Sea World

Then, it hit me.  We didn't need to go to the gym.  I needed to stop and enjoy what we were doing at this moment.  I took a deep breath, listened to the wind howl, the geese in the lake, and my children's  feet as they were running toward the park.  I knew at that moment that we needed to stay where we were and enjoy the lake.  And, we did.  We stayed at the lake for three hours.  We threw rocks, played at the park, and stomped through the cat tails.  We came home tired, muddy, and extremely hungry.

I looked back at my day and am so glad that I didn't hurry up the kids so we could get into the car and drive to the gym.  I'm so glad we just played and enjoyed each other instead of hurrying here and there and not really accomplishing much.  I'm so glad that I remembered my roller coaster moment and we didn't go to the gym.  I just closed my eyes and became totally engrossed in the moment, giving up my worries and regrets and living my life to the fullest!

A bird's eye view of my roller coaster

Sea World

Ahhhh, vacation.  The most wonderful thing about spring break vacation in a warm place is the beautiful weather.  You step off the airplane to perfect temperatures, warm sunshine, and palm trees.  It's such a welcome sight after 6 months of snow, wind, and cold.  The first thing we all do is shed our jeans and long shirts and replace them with shorts, tee shirts, and sandals.  And, we certainly were ready!  Ready for adventures in the sunshine.

First adventure on the agenda.....San Diego.   We had so much to do and see so we didn't waste any time.  We drove to San Diego from Phoenix with Grammy and Gramps, Uncle Brett, Aunt Cindy, and Jackson.  Uncle Jim, Aunt Shanna, Tyler, and Austin were already there and waiting for us.  We couldn't wait to explore the city and spend some time together as a family (a very big family)!

 First stop, SEA WORLD.

To much to do and not enough time!  Here is Owen checking out the map so we could plan our day.

There were lots of animals to see at Sea World!

My favorite animals were the seals

Owen liked the otters.

And, Gabe loved Shamu

 Eli couldn't tell me what his favorite animal was but he loved the view from up here.

As we walked into the Shamu stadium, I followed slowly behind my husband.  We kept walking down toward the front of the show.  Soon I realized that we were walking right toward the "soak zone".  This is the seats that get all wet when Shamu splashes his tail.  Oh, great.  Who picked these seats?  Front and center and right in the action.  I wasn't to excited about it.  But, if you only see Shamu once, you might as well sit up close. And, we did.  The show started and the kids were mesmerized by the big whale while I kept waiting to get soaked.  And guess what?  We didn't even get wet.  We got lucky every time Shamu swam by us we somehow missed the wave.  We walked away, dry as a bone.  Much to the dismay of Tyler.  Here we all are, waiting for the big show to start.

Arizona bound

Pool where we will be staying

I am in the middle of packing for our trip to Arizona.  I have been looking forward to this trip for many months. As I'm gathering up all the shorts, tee shirts, and swim suits, I can hardly wait.  I can hardly wait to enjoy the warmth and sunshine.  I can hardly wait to spend some time with my husband and watch the kids swimming in the pool.  I can hardly wait to see Mary Ann, Von, Brett, Cindy, and Jackson.  I will be surrounded by family and in a beautiful warm place.  God has truly blessed me!  I can hardly contain my excitment.

Gabe and Owen are just as excited.  They are excited about the plane ride, seeing their cousins, and they are especially excited about going to Sea World in San Diego.  Gabe has been counting down the days for weeks and Owen asks me everyday "mom is today, Friday?"  They have also been packing their essentials for the past few days.  You know books and dvd players for the plane.  Actually the things that kids pack are really funny.  If I would leave it up to them they would take the whole house.  I am trying to keep these items at a minimum and have had to put my foot down on a few items!

Of course I have to post a picture of the golfing!  I know Bryan will be looking forward to that.

Golf course at Sun City Grand

So, I better get back to my packing and quit thinking about all the fun we are going to have.  First, I need to get to work!

The Flea

We ventured out to the flea market this morning.  I love going to the flea market.  Walking around looking at all the wares and watching the people.  I feel very lucky because now my whole family loves to go there.  Going there reminds me of Mexico.  I love the deals, the bartering, and the delicious food.

My dad's friend, Bob Haberman, taught us all about the flea market.  He goes there every week and when my parents are in town we would meet him there.  The first couple of times we went to the flea market, the boys weren't sure what to expect.  Now they love going!  They get to play with the toys laying around and we usually come home with a few things.  Gabe even knows exactly what stores he wants to find.  He remembers exactly where the video game stores are located.  Owen's favorite purchase this morning was a gun that had real bullets and a knife on the end of it.  Grandma will be very impressed with this one.  We also bought sandles for the boys in preparation for our big trip to Arizona next week.

My new find at the flea market is the fruits and vegetables.  We bought a basket of sweet blueberries for 1.00.  Next time I will have to buy two because the boys ate them all up.  Eli loves blueberries.  Bryan got the best deal.  A reel for 10.00.  He looked it up on his blackberry while we were there and it retails for 150.00.  Great little tool at the flea market, a blackberry!

We had a wonderful morning and two of the boys are asleep in the car.  Gabe is playing his new Star Wars game and Daddy is getting caught up on some basketball.  Perfect end to a wonderful Sunday.

He just couldn't stay awake any longer

 

Owen my 4 year old.  My sweet little boy.  Owen is quiet and loving.  He is such a special little boy with a big heart.  He just wins people over with his sweet smile.  He is a wonderful best friend to his little friend Jake.  He brings him a different toy every morning when we meet him at Gabe's school.

Owen also adores his big brother, Gabriel, and wants to do everything that Gabriel is doing.  When Gabe loved Spiderman, Owen was the black Spiderman.  During the Harry Potter stage, Owen was Malfloy, and now it's Star Wars.  Sometimes, Owen is Darth Vader but, these days he is speaking up for himself and telling Gabe that he wants to be a good guy, a Jedi.  So now, my two little jedi's are fighting the dark side together.

Owen also loves to read books.  His favorite books are Mercer Mayer books.  He will sit on the couch for a really long time turning the pages of a Mercer Mayer book.  Owen is also really good at sports.  He swings his golf club like a pro and watch out if he has a polo stick and ball.  He never misses.

Yesterday, I took Owen to look at a preschool for next year.  We went into the classroom and he stood behind me watching all the other kids.  You could see the excitement in his eyes.  He wanted to sit in the circle and join the others.  Next year when he starts preschool he will love it!   I'm so excited to watch him grow and learn new things.

Here I am world

I have to write another post about Eli.  He is growing and changing so fast, I can't keep up with him.  I just love this age.  He is so excited to be walking.  You see pure joy on his face when he is able to follow his brothers around.  Today we went to McDonalds for lunch and he was so excited.  He follows the kids around screaming because he is so excited.  He just can't contain all his excitement.  He doesn't have to sit in the high chair with mommy anymore.  He can run around with all the other kids and he loves it.

My little man is also talking.  His favorite words are:  mom, wahwad (water), gee (geese, he loves to stand up in his high chair when he hears the geese and point to them out the window), teet (he says teeth when he wants his tooth brush), ah don (all done), apple (every kind of food is an apple, if he's hungry he says apple) and his favorite word is out (he uses this for get me out of this high chair or stroller and also uses this word when he wants me to pick him up).  Quite the little talker, my Eli.

 He is just so excited with this world right now.  I want to take all his joy, excitement, and happiness and bottle it up.  I want to bottle it up and share it with the world.  Well, the world will have to settle for some really cute pictures of my little guy.  Here he is.  16 months old and as cute as can be.