Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Jordan turned 29 yesterday! 

I think he had a pretty good day. Ollie and I brought him lunch {since work is keeping him more than busy lately}. Later, I made Jordan's favorite lasagna {just like his mom makes it}. Then I sent him on a scavenger hunt for his presents! {Why not?! He's only in his "twenties" for one more year.}

He only needed to play the "Cold/Warm" game once to find one of the presents when he couldn't figure out the riddle. I'm so proud of you babe! ;)

AND the grand finale led him to the freezer...

for the Ice Cream Cake of the Century {per request by the birthday boy}!

We followed up eating a piece of that cake by taking a nice long stroll in the neighborhood.

I hope you enjoyed your special day, Love. Happy Birthday!

THE DAY AFTER...

Ollie LOVES all the balloons! 

Pictures that didn't make the cut: I am mad they are so dark {I lightened them up as much as I could} cause Ollie's face is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.

{Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Rogers for all the balloons!}

Killing Me Smalls

This

little dude is killing me lately. I guess I need to STOP telling him he is a BIG boy because my BABY thinks he is too big for naps. {Insert Mommy mental exhaustion}

FIVE days in a row with NO NAPS is not gonna cut it, buddy!

 I'm glad we agree on something.

In other news...here's what we have been doing lately:

♦Watching Frozen {Admittedly, I watch this more than Oliver. It's a FUNNY movie.}

♦Spending every other waking moment playing outside...

This "baby" toy is Ollie's favorite outside toy. I think he has watched me vacuum 5,000 too many times and "vacuums" the lawn...at high speeds.

♦Growing new teeth...

Ollie's twelfth tooth has finally emerged. {I don't EVER want to hear anyone's teething complaints. NO ONES comes in as slowly as Olivers. NO ONES!} - Sorry, that's the no naps speaking...but for reals peeps, I think his two-year molars will come when he's twelve.

♦Being Superman{ly} in mom's shoes...

♦Playing with our neighbor, Rio!

Who ROCKS!

They share pretty well. Even snacks...

Just maybe not, this chair...

Definitely, not the chair.

Dinner time was pretty entertaining...

Thanks for playing with us Rio!

♦Grocery shopping trips that take an hour just to check out {Gotta love Tulsa}...

♦And who could forget about Cadbury...

Not I.

 Don't let me complain too much about the no naps thing...the kid does sleep from 7:30 at night 'til 9 in the morning. I am just used to a good three hour nap in there as well. :)

Spoiled, I know.

Daydreaming

I have been going through the Rogers Family Library {AKA: The Old Blog} and ran upon this post originally archived on October 3, 2010:
Shillipepper Shenanigans:

After spending a whole week relaxing on the beach in Oceanside, California, I have devised a way to resolve all of the world's problems:

When I am President of the U.S. of A. I am giving each & every person a beach front house.

Don't  you want to vote for me already?!

Everyone could start off the day by putting on a swim suit [mandatory] & go for a therapeutic swim.

If only there was enough shoreline to make my dreams come true...YOU would be listening to the waves as you read...

Alas, you will simply have to use your imagination to hear soothing ocean sounds...maybe this will help.

I believe this is one photo that necessitates further inspection.

Day One of our vacation was spent at Sea World. 

If I told you it was the time of my life - you might believe me.

If I told my siblings, {who were present} it was the time of my life - they would not believe me.

You do the math: 

Theme Park + 7 kids under the age of 7 = Slightly Disastrous

However, considering there were 7 kids under the age of 7, what do you expect:

~ a few meltdowns

~ some tears

~ potty breaks

~ momentarily misplacing a child or two

&

~ lots of happy little faces

because they got to see some pretty cool animals

My pick for highlight of the day: 

 Tim + Teapots

Passersby comments went something like this:

"Oh, My!"

"Look at that little girl!"

"Poor little girl."

"I don't think she's gonna make it!"

Tim is an absolute maniac on these things.  You will never see a teapot spin so quickly!  Somehow he talked his pregnant wife into riding with him after Lydia lived to tell about it.  Actually his whole family rode it.  It wasn't as intense as his first go around due to Tommy's (cutest little 1 year old you will ever feast your eyes on) head literally spinning in circles.  Unfortunately, no picture was taken, but it was one of the funniest things I think I will ever witness.

I mentioned momentarily misplacing a child or two...THIS is why...

Whoa Baby! 

No worries, all were located fairly quickly.

Another highlight of the day =

Snuggling with some really cute, but tired three year olds!

The next 5 days were spent on the BEACH!

Doing some of this...

& some of that.

Occasionally we had to eat out of necessity, of course, no pleasure involved. ; )

Then back to the beach for lots of boogie boarding!

To answer your question...YES, that is a wall of water coming for Adam without his knowledge.  I kindly pointed it out to him just after snapping this shot.  I think I saved his life.

Does it look like we've invaded the shores of California?

We probably could have taken over California with our massive army of Shilly-Peppers, if it weren't for the Water Monsters guarding their territory.

Oh, wait...that's just Tim.
The waves were quite scary due to their LARGE size, but if you braved it, it made for an adventurous ride involving several drops as your wave joined other waves.  I've not experienced anything like it before.  I made the ride even better with my Double Decker Boogie Board.

{It helped that Jordan would help me blast off.}

The water was a tad bit chilly, to work up a little sweat so it would feel more refreshing we kicked a blue ball around. 

Well, I kicked while Jordan laughed at me.

With good reason.  Flying Crane?

Tim loves to dig around a lot in the sand.

This is a giant hole he dug & then not knowing what to do with it built little caverns

for these guys who loved to eat our food.

We saw many friendly creatures including:  dolphins [at least once a day if not twice],1 sea lion, 1 sting ray [caught by a fisherman on the shore where we played], lots of sand crabs, & even 1 jellyfish.

Tim is holding a jellyfish!

The 'littles' liked to play too.

You can see, we had a swell time. We really missed those who couldn't be there.  Thanks Mom & Dad for making it all possible! 

We are so blessed!

In parting, after much picture overload, I would like to share one final picture.

CHEESE!

I didn't realize it at the time {whoever does realize the importance of these things at the time}, but THAT was an amazing vacation! I hope one day we can have another vacation like it. We're in - anyone else in?