Happy Birthday Andy and Ashlyn!

Andy and Ashlyn turned 2 today! We celebrated with a Mickey and Minnie party at the park. Luckily the weather didn't get too crazy and only gave us a little drizzle.

It was pretty cold though (at least to us So. Cal people it was).

Poor Andy wanted to sit on the slide

I slaved for days making this cake....yeah right! We owe it all to Rob at http://customcakery.com/ He did an amazing job and it tasted SO good!And it was gone (or demolished) in 3.2 seconds!Craig was our pinata model.Excited for the pinata!They were definitely more interested in the candy than opening presents...

note to self, pinata should be done at the very end. Cool bikes from Grandma and Grandpa J.

I think if Tyler had let go of these balloons, they would have lifted Ash right off the ground.

Happy Birthday Andy and Ashlyn! We love you so much!

2 years ago today...

I went into labor to have these two.They were SO Tiny! Ashlyn was just over 4 lbs. Sara fed me a great meal which really got the ball rolling (I'm not sure what she put in that stuff) and just after midnight we welcomed Andy into the world followed close behind by Ash. I get emotional looking at these pictures. For me, birthing and being a mother to twins was a total whirlwind, overwhelming experience, a task I did not feel capable of being able to handle and yet here we are 2 years later with everyone accounted for, healthy, happy, and doing great.

Who would have ever thought?!

Woke up to this view...

Last night we stayed at a beach front cottage at Crystal Cove, one of our favorite So Cal places. We played in the sand last night until way after dark, actually enjoyed a break from TV and Internet, and woke up to rain this morning. It was almost perfect...Andy decided he did not want to sleep last night so he didn't, which meant we didn't, which means we are all tired. But you can't complain too much when you can listen to waves crashing all night.

Sea World!

Yesterday we went to Sea World with Tyler's parents and had a great time!

Andy and Ashlyn did really well during all the shows. They were totally entertained by huge jumping fish. One day I will educate them as to the difference between a dolphin and a fish but for right now, it works.

The highlight of our day was "Dining with Shamu." I totally recommend this. It is a little pricey but if you add up what you would spend on hot dogs and hamburgers, it is totally worth it. The food is fancy, good and all you can eat, not to mention you are only a few feet from a Killer Whale...talk about ambiance. Andy and Ashlyn once again surprised me and were so good while we ate. I guess if I want to take them to a restaurant, I just need to make sure a whale is present or at least that they have these gigantic whale cookies covered in chocolate.

Before.... After....

Ash was the only child left standing that close to the fence when the whale came up on the platform...totally freaked out Andy and Taylor.

The trainers are very kind to warn you that you are eating at a 24 hour splash zone and that they can't promise you won't get wet. Well, we did, twice. It got Andy good and he kept saying "Fish. Wet." That's right Andy a HUGE fish got you all wet. It was too funny! The nice thing is the meal is an all you can eat buffet so when our plates got soaked by whale water, we just put them aside and filled up another one.


Sesame Street Bay of Play is super cute and the kids loved it. Andy kept his arms up for the entire ride!

Such a fun day! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa J.

A Taylor Moment.

As I was laying down with Taylor tonight she put her arm and leg over me and said, "When I put my leg on you it means I love you. When I put my other leg next to your leg (which she did), it means I super duper love you."

Doesn't get much better than that!

World Trade Center.

We went to the World Trade Center Memorial Museum. The feelings of that day are still so strong. Even while listening to eye witness accounts, it was still so hard for me to believe that it actually happened. I was in awe of the whole thing. So many names, I couldn't believe it.

It was so incredible to see the pictures of those that lost their lives that day.
It really personalized the event. I couldn't help but look at each picture. Some had birth dates by them and short biographies.
They are working on rebuilding WTC. It was a little disappointing to not see them farther along in the rebuild process. We were told that there has been a lot of political issues that have caused delays. It will be an amazing tribute when it is all finished.

The statue behind us was actually between the twin towers before 9/11. It was once a perfect ball. After the attack, it rolled towards Battery Park and became all mangled. Now it stands in Battery Park with 2 flames forever burning.

Tyler in his element.

Wall St.

New York Stock Exchange.

This is the Federal Building where George Washington was inaugurated as our 1st President. Currently, it is a tribute to all our Presidents and contains historical documents. Tyler has a love and a deep respect for our founding fathers so it was neat to be there.


I love this picture.
I see someone (not the lady in the green sweater) that is humble, someone in awe of the man whose statue stands a few feet away, someone that looks upon the world in which we live as his own personal oyster, and someone that will succeed and remain true to the principles of our founding fathers. Check out his blog if you want to see what I see.

We saw this guy interviewing someone and when he was done Tyler asked if he would pretend to interview him so we could get a picture. They said Yes but they wanted to really interview him. So he is now famous with TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting Services). It's a good thing Tyler knows something about our current economic situation. Otherwise, it could have been embarrassing.

Grabbing the bull by the horns, is there really any other way?!