the broyds: part I

I took the boys with me to San Diego last week and we had a great time. I took a ton of pictures so rather than overload one post with a bunch of photos, I'm going to split them up. Anyway, I had an ultimate mom fail on the way into town when I decided to drive by our old house. I told William we were going to where we used to live and as soon as we pulled on our street, he wanted to get out. He excitedly said, "My house! My airplane game!" When I told him we couldn't go inside and that someone else lives there now, he lost it. I mean, hysterically sobbing. And then I started crying and we were a hot mess just sitting in the car, crying our eyes out. The sad thing is, his tears stem from total confusion. I think he really believes that someone else is living in his house, playing with his airplane game that's still sitting in his closet. Poor guy. We had a talk and I think he's OK now.

After that traumatic event, we arrived at Lela's house. The Boyds are some of my favorite humans in the universe and it was so wonderful to spend good, quality time at their house. Lela and Sean are such great parents and they have wonderful boys who are helpful, good and funny. You can totally feel the love in their house and it felt good to be there. I lub them. Plus they live in a cute house that's so comfortable and lived in. I love the way Sean describes Lela as "fancy but never formal". That's her to a tee! We immediately pulled out the lawn chairs, the bikes and some jump ropes and let the kids roam around their cul-de-sac while the babies napped. It was funny to watch William get so excited about jumping over the rope snake and waves. That was one of my favorite things to do in gym class when I was a kid.

That evening we went to Meg's baby shower and we all got to covet the adorable baby girl clothes she received. I seriously need a girl someday. I also got to love on baby Leo, which was a dream. I have forgotten just how amazing newborn's neck skin smells. It's straight-up delicious.

The next morning we went to the beach with nine kids (including one newborn and three one-year-olds). It was chaos trekking all our stuff through the sand while dragging babies and herding sheep . . . I mean, kids, along too.

William thought pretending to surf was pretty cool but he mostly really enjoyed this large sand pit someone dug. I mean, who wouldn't?

And Fritz was usually doing what he does best: eating whatever food he can get his hands on. He loved going in the water though and was baby body surfing for a while and laughing at the fun of it all. When he wasn't doing that, here's the cycle of Fritz's whole day at the beach: face plant into the sand > cry cause he was covered in sand > wash him off in the ocean > set him down in a safe spot again by our chairs > face plant into the sand again > repeat. Toddlers are fun and cute.

with his buddies, Indy (left) and Ollie (right).

The next day we went to the zoo while the big boys were at school. David kept texting me and asking me to send him pictures and videos of the boys cause he missed them. So, I told William to smile for a picture for daddy (the only way he'll do it) and he made this face. I can't get enough of it. He kills me.

Zane is quite the dramatic poser. Everything he does is at maximum intensity. I imagine Fritz will be like him when he's five. :)

We wore the babies out (or rather, they wore us out) walking around the zoo. The San Diego zoo is one of my favorite places but it's quite a work out when you're pushing a double stroller up one of those mammoth hills!
William and Zane loved playing together and had lots of fun . . . except for a few times in the car . . . Will is kind of known for needing alone time and Zane is known for his lovable ignorance of personal space (and darling affection for babies). Zane sat between Will and Fritz in the car and he kept kissing Fritz and saying, "He's so cute!". Unfortunately, William was in a bad mood and started saying, "No he's not!" which made Zane say, "Yes he is!" and - well, you know what happened next. They fought back and forth until William hit Zane and I got after him for it. I told him that Zane is allowed to love Fritz and think he's cute. His big, brown eyes got big and his lip quivered and he said, through deep breaths, "But he's my favorite baby!" I really tried to keep my cool and not laugh but it was so cute!