Amazing Deal for Amazing Jake's

May 30th

While we were at Sam's Club a little while back we got stuck talking to one of the people trying to sell things. (Sidenote: is it just us or has the number of people trying sell things inside Sam's Club gotten a little out of control?) Although we wanted to tell him thanks, but no thanks, as is our policy with all sales people, he actually showed us one of the things he was selling which appeared to be a smoking deal on Amazing Jake's tickets and coupons. We had heard a lot of good things about Amazing Jake's but had never been ourselves, so we ended up buying the little deal they had there and going a while later.

It worked out really well because Jayna had a lot of her extended family in town for her sister Jayden's wedding and most of them came with us. A lot of the coupons were 2 for 1 which made the buffet and rides a lot cheaper for everyone. The food was actually pretty good and one of the cool parts about it was that since we were there for several hours after eating riding the rides there was plenty of time to go back to the buffet and snack throughout the afternoon. They have a lot of fun rides/games that Shaylin really enjoyed. In fact we were so busy running around and having fun on the rides and playing the games that we didn't get very many pictures. Here's most of the ones we did get.

Shaylin really liked the little rides that move up and down while you sit on them...


Shaylin loved going on the go karts with Matt, except for the fact that she decided that she had to go to the bathroom as soon as they were first sitting down in the car to get started. Luckily she was able to hold it just fine and had fun racing around the track. It was hard to get a good picture through the plexiglass around the track but Jayna got a couple as they were heading back in when their time was up...



Shaylin was really excited to go on the train. While we were in line waiting grandma Jaylene came over to watch and Shaylin quickly decided that she'd rather ride with her grandma then with either of us.


Shaylin went straight from the train to the carousel. Can you tell she likes carousels?


Jayna showing Shaylin how the little basketball shot games work...


and then helping Shaylin play the one they had for kids.

California Part Deux

May 16th

We are very fortunate to both have grandparents whom we love to visit while we're in California. So after we left Jayna's Grandma Nilsa and Grandpa Roy's house we headed over to visit Matt's Grandma Olsen in Orange. We always have fun visiting her and we especially enjoy getting to play board games with her. Matt's cousin Hilary is staying with his grandma this summer as well, so it was a lot of fun to get to catch up with her as well. Shaylin and Emmalyn warmed up to her really quick and couldn't get enough of her. Every time Hilary wasn't in plain site, Shaylin would ask where she was. Emmalyn would go straight to Hilary almost every morning we were there. They loved her!

Here's grandma Olsen playing with Emmalyn and Shaylin shortly after we got there...


There's a nice big park a few miles down the road from grandma Olsen's house called Eisenhower Park. They have a big lake there with tons of ducks that Shaylin always enjoys feeding while we are there.


We forgot to explain to Emmalyn that the bread was supposed to be for the ducks...



Here's Emmalyn after devouring an Oreo...


Shaylin decided to put these Lego's on her fingers all by herself and then she was excitedly showing us all.


Hilary reading to the girls...


May 18th

We took a few pictures at grandma's house before we left to Sea World-

Emmalyn running around the driveway...


Emmalyn and Shaylin in front of the house...


Us with grandma Olsen in front of her house...


We got a really good deal on 2009 season passes last year when we were at Sea World, so we were excited to go again this year. We decided to save Sea World until the last day we were in California. Our plan was to get there as early as possible and then come straight home from there, and it actually worked out pretty well. We love going to California, but for some reason each time we go there we're surprised at how much traffic there is regardless of what time of day you're on the freeway. Our pessimistic attitudes towards the traffic started to rub off on Shaylin because the whole way to Sea World she kept saying 'Are we stuck in traffic?"

Emmalyn being cute in the stroller...


We couldn't get Shaylin to take her eyes off of Shamu for long enough to get a picture...


A few of Shamu's tricks...


Another one of Shaylin's favorite things at Sea World is the Penguin exhibit. Here's Jayna and Shaylin on the conveyor belt that takes you through it...


To no ones surprise Emmalyn sucked her thumb and played with her ear through most of the penguin experience...


We tried to go see a few more exhibits this time around and saw a few less shows. This was Shaylin's first time seeing the Wild Arctic exhibit with polar bears, beluga whales, and a few other animals. She watched the beluga whales for a while when we got to the part where you can see them under water.


Emmalyn was so excited when we let her out of the stroller to walk around...


This was later in the day when we were going back through the penguin exhibit again...


Emmalyn and Shaylin on the way home. Shaylin was getting a little delirious and putting the stickers she got from In-N-Out all over the place, including right between her eyes.

California Take One

Cali Part One:

A couple of weeks ago we were able to drive over to California for a 5 day vacation to visit Jayna's grandma and grandpa Brugman, Matt's grandma Olsen, and to spend a day at Sea World. We love going over there and getting to see family, especially since it's so close. Plus, the last time we went to Sea World we were able to get annual passes for very cheap, so we wanted to try to make it over there at least once this year.

Our first stop was Glendale, CA, where Jayna's grandparents live. They are putting their house on the market and planning on moving to AZ sometime within the next year, so it was a little sad for us to think that it may be one of our last times visiting their house there.

May 14th

Shaylin loves playing with this doll that Jayna's Aunt Tracey played with about 40 years ago. Her name has always been Connie but Shaylin kept insisting that her name was Tracey.


One of the fun things we got to do while we were there was go with Jayna's grandparents to Santa Monica to visit Jayna's uncle Chris and his girlfriend Katie. They have a nice apartment that is literally only about three blocks from the beach, so we brought our swimsuits so that we could go play in the sand and water.

This was Emmalyn's first time ever being on a beach (and Shaylin's second). She loved playing in the sand with her big sister!


The whole family playing in the sand...


Shaylin would get close enough to get her feet in the water when the waves came up, but then she'd run away as fast as she could...


Cute Emmalyn in her swimsuit...


At one point Shaylin decided she wanted to crawl in the sand for a while...


Katie playing with Shaylin...


Emmalyn eating sand in the middle of the sand castle/hole that Jayna made...


We took a picture like this of Shaylin and Matt while we were in Rocky Point before Emmalyn was born, so we decided to try to get a similar one with Emmalyn...


Chris was nice enough to bring some ocean water to Shaylin to wash off her sandy hands since she was too scared to get far enough into the ocean to rinse them off.


Family picture in front of the water...


Shaylin hanging out in the castle/hole...


Shaylin and Chris...


Katie and Shaylin...


Grandma Nilsa catching some rays...


Some guy was sitting on top of his Winnebago and blasting some sort of reggae music or something. Shaylin stopped and started dancing. She's actually dancing in this picture, it's just a little hard to tell in a still picture. We also got some video which we may try to upload later.


May 15th

Another fun thing we got to do while at Jayna's grandparents was go to Griffith Park. It is a park that Jayna's parents grew up going to with their families, and Jayna's family went to when they were little. They have pony rides, a train, and a bunch of other stuff to do. Shaylin loved riding the horses and the train.

At the pony rides the workers basically just took the kids set them on a horse and then pointed the horse in the right direction and walked away. When Shaylin was first put on the horse, she was a little scared and started crying, but we had her stay on and about 30 seconds later she got over her fear and started loving it. The ride consisted of going around a pretty big loop two times. She loved it so much that after we rode the train, she wanted to ride the horses again so we let her. We really like riding horses, so we were glad to see that she liked it.


Here we are sitting at the train station waiting to ride the train. (Grandpa Roy, Grandma Nilsa, Shaylin, Emmalyn, and Jayna)...


Shaylin was so excited to ride the train as you can tell. It was crazy to think that Jayna also rode this train when she was a little girl. They had a little bridge, a little Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs statue exhibit, and a few other things to see along the train ride that goes through the park. Shaylin had a big smile on her face the whole time (she loves trains). We got a lot more pictures on this one train ride, but this post was already long enough.


After our fun time at Griffith Park, we went back to Jayna's grandparents to relax before going out to Los Gringos Locos for dinner. It's one of our favorite places to eat at when we visit them. They make delicious Mexican food and make home made delicious guacamole right in front of you to order.


Poor Emmalyn started teething while were on vacation, running a fever and not feeling good. All four of her one year molars and one front bottom tooth were all breaking through! Those molars are honkin' teeth! You can tell from the pictures that she isn't feeling great, but she still did good and had fun.


She loved dipping her chips in salsa and would cry if she couldn't reach it. Eventually the little salsa bowl ended up spilling on the table from her dipping her chips. She fits right in our family because we love salsa.


Shaylin had fun playing around with Grandpa Roy trying to kill time while waiting for our food.


Jayna loves this picture of Shaylin and Matt at dinner. Shaylin did a great job smiling this whole trip. We never know when she is going to cooperate and give us a real smile. :0)


Of course we had to take some pictures of the girls taking a bath in Grandma's bathtub. Jayna has pictures when she was little in this same bathtub. It was funny because the girls couldn't see the bubbles on their heads and later when we were home looking through the pictures, Shaylin thought it was so funny that they had all those bubbles on their heads.


We are really hoping this isn't the last time we see the house and we are hoping to make it out to California again later this year, but just in case, Matt went around taking pictures of the house and of the girls at the house. Jayna has so many memories here, including birthday parties and tons of family vacations/gatherings.

Shaylin and Emmalyn were so cute sitting on their porch bench together.


It was hard to get a cute picture of them standing together, because Emmalyn isn't too crazy about Shaylin or any kids putting their arm around her. She doesn't like to be restricted in any way. We loved the petunias that are planted up grandma and grandpa's front walk way in the background of this picture.


Our family in front of their front porch...


Yes, we ended up getting a little carried away with the picture taking before we left! We love this picture of Shaylin sitting next to grandma's flowers. Their house looks beautiful this time of year with everything blooming, so it probably won't take long to sell their beautiful house.


Shaylin was doing such a great job posing/smiling for pictures...


We tried to get one of Grandma Nilsa with both the girls, but Emmalyn didn't want to cooperate.


We had so much fun staying with Jayna's grandparents and really appreciated all the fun things we got to do with them. Thank you so much for the great food (we always are spoiled with delicious homemade meals by Grandma) and for letting us come spend time with you guys! We loved it and hope to come back soon!

Front of house...


Back porch... (they also have a guest house and a huge grass area- We love their house)