June 2015

We hit summer hard in June. So hard in fact that we had to take a break from excitement in July. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, we'll save July for next month. I think I'll title it "July". As I was saying, "June" was a month crammed full of summer fun. We spent an epic day at Disney before our passes are blocked for the summer, I took a girls trip to LA, we went camping with the Thompsons and of course we went to the Del Mar Fair. See, I told you June was too hot to handle.

Disney

Now that we've been going to Disney on a regular basis, we totally have our routine down. We know which rides to hit up first, we know the best treats and where to get them and we know where to get the best seats for the parade. Does it sound like I'm bragging? Because I am. After hours of research, I call us experts. Here are our top picks for Disney, just so I never forget.

•Star Tours- this is a MUST for James. Fast pass required. 

•Little Mermaid- shortest lines and longest ride. We like this combo.

•The Disney Express-yep, you heard right. The train is the perfect break from walking around the park and the boys love it. We take it all around the park. It's kind of our new favorite.

•Wilderness Explorer Challenge Trail- a nice break from waiting in lines and gives the boys a chance to run around. 

•Favorite treats- Pooh's Corner. Cake pops are a must and so are the marshmallow pops.

•Mini Micky lollipops. Where Foster goes lollipops must follow. These are small and actually tasty so mom can have a lick!

•Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor- waffle cone with sprinkles, enough said. 

And it just so happens that snagging an outdoor table near the Gibson Girl is the best place to watch the afternoon parade. 

See, I told you we're experts! 

Girls Trip to LA

I went with Ani, Haley, Tess and Joe. Okay, so technically Joe is not a girl but he was invited because he's nice to have around and he was an excellent chauffeur. The occasion was Sonia's launch party for Losing the Plot in LA. A great book and a great gal. We spent most of the day at El Cayote which was the venue for the party. Lots of chips and salsa and diet coke! 

After a couple of hours, we needed to stretch our legs. So we took a walk and by divine intervention, we ran into heaven. For reals. I didn't know heaven was called MILK but it is and it is delicious. Macaroon ice cream sandwiches, homemade ice cream pops, cakes, custards...you get the idea. I can't wait to take Scott and the boys sometime. Because lucky for me, they are as obsessed with treats and I am. 

We finished the night at The Grove, meeting some friends for dinner after some much needed candy shopping. I swear I do more than eat sugar. I eat fat too.

On Sunday, we attended the Self Realization Center in Pacific Palisades before heading home. 

And in true Nielsen fashion, we talked about ice cream the entire way home while listening to the sound track of Harry  Potter. It was perfect.

Camping with the Thompsons

This was a BLAST. We seriously can't wait to do this again. It might have to be an annual thing. It felt so good to spend some quality time with friends around the campfire. And the kids loved it too. 

We camped at Dos Picos and although we only stayed one night we made the most of every minute. We grilled carne asada, ate s'mores by the fire, the kids watched a movie in the tent with stove popped popcorn and then we finished the night with some major raccoon watching. Meredith discovered, to her surprise, a raccoon was stealing their food. We got some flashlights and watched this guy down an entire sleeve of Ritz Crackers. The true wilderness experience. 

The next morning we made pancakes and went on a walk. The kids played at the park and then we packed up and went home. The only thing wrong with this camping trip was it was much too short! 

Del Mar Fair

So Us Olsons are huge Del Mar Fair fans. We go multiple times every year and look forward to it all summer. This year the fair did not deliver on our expectations. For some reason the food we ALWAYS get was gross. The animals we ALWAYS see weren't there and the crowds that are ALWAYS there ...were there. But the one thing that did not disappoint were our children's reactions to the kiddie rides. They had so much fun, especially James. By the end of the night, he was going on all the rides himself without a second thought! So despite some fair disappointments, we still left with big smiles and no money! 

Honorable mentions:

• We took the boys to see Inside Out and discovered that we can actually take our boys to see movies now! They both loved the movie and Foster is now obsessed with Bing Bong. 

 •This next piece of news is a dishonorable mention. Scott after taking all of the antibiotics to get rid of the parasites is feeling much worse. We're hoping he will start feeling some relief soon but so far 👎.

•Another dishonorable mention, my dad got shingles. He hasn't quite recovered yet and is in quite a lot of pain. Another 👎.

• But to end on a positive note, despite all the ailments we are all happy which is the most important thing of all. Except Foster, who is 2 and taking it out on all of us. 👎😜. I like emojis.

May 2015

As I look back at our pictures from May, I realize that we got a whole lot done in 31 days! A Disneyland trip, Foster celebrated his 2nd Birthday, a vacation in Vegas and New York, Joy School graduation and James the Brave ended up on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. So many good things happened in May. But us Olsons believe very strongly in balance so we also experienced three cases of pink eye, 2 viruses and 1 flu. May was a perfectly balanced month.

May the 4th Be With You

We decided to celebrate Star Wars Day at Disneyland amongst all the Storm Troopers and comicon enthusiasts. It was packed. Star Wars fanatics came in throngs and we were happy to get in on the action. James and Foster were in heaven and just when we thought it couldn't get any better, James had a real life encounter with a Storm Trooper. He was so nervous/excited that the best he could do was stick out his tongue for the camera. We talked about it for weeks and I'm pretty sure it's something he'll never forget. But just in case, here's the picture.

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Showing off their Star Wars paraphernalia

Foster Turns 2!

Our little Foster is 2 and I make him promise everyday they he will stay my little baby forever. I can't stand the fact that he is growing up so fast! We had grandma and grandpa over for a very humble birthday party but Foster does not require much, all he needs is a set of gloves and a hat and he's a happy boy. And it just so happens, that's exactly what he got. We have since had to hide the gloves so that he will not throw a fit at bedtime when we have to take them off. We're the best kind of parents, we give presents and then make sure the kids never find them again. Evil. 

He also got Goin' Fishin' but shortly after stuck gum in the holes and now it not work so good.

Making a Wish

Olson Vegas Vacation

We spent 5 days in Vegas with the Olson clan celebrating the blessing of our new nephew Elliot. It was great to see everyone and get some much needed cousin time. Elliot is perfect and Paul and Christine are mighty proud parents. 

The first day in Vegas, we were on our own and spent the night at the Luxor. The boys were beyond excited to stay in a pyramid hotel. We ended up spending most of our time (and money 😢) at the Excalibur arcade. We really did have so much fun and here are the pics to prove it!

We really struggled to get a decent picture at the M&M Store.  This was our best.

Family Photo at the New York New York

Game Time

Mandalay Bay Aquarium

Bellagio Gardens

Star Wars and Salvador Dali meet at last.

The Sprinkles cupcake/ice cream shop was one of the highlights of the day.  Nevermind that we were sitting outside in the rain while we were eating our treats.  We didn't even care.  

A Sunday stroll on the strip.  Because that's what you do on Sundays...right?

The Hardy and Olson families after the blessing of baby Elliot.  

Scott goes to NYC

It was good fortune that Scott's doctors appointment with a parasite specialists happened to be the same weekend his mom and dad were in New York. Not only did he get to spend some time with Peter, eating their way through the city, he also got to go to Connecticut for Ellie's baby blessing. He had a wonderful time touring the city for the first time, with his family. He even got to see a Broadway show, I was so jealous! And the doctor he saw found parasites that he has had since he served his mission in Nicaragua, 13 years ago! He is on three separate antibiotics now to get rid of them. We're hoping that once he is free from the parasites he will begin to feel much better. 

In typical boy fashion, there are no people in any of the photos he took while in New York. But I can't complain, he took photos of the food which was his only assignment.

This bakery, Dough, was featured on Unique Sweets so I made Scott get a donut there.  I want to lick this picture.  I may have.

James Graduates from Joy School

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful joy school was for James. I watched him become a completely different boy over the course of a year. He has grown socially by leaps and bounds. And his three best friends Berkeley, Hudson and Annalise, mean the world to him. Here are some photos of our most memorable joy school moments. 

Courtney taught them all about how lungs work and they made these amazing crafts.  They basically made artificial lungs. They're doctors now.  Thank you Courtney!!!

Sugar cookie making, always a favorite!

Sizzor skills.  Berkeley may have cut off about three inches of her hair but look at how much she has....no one even noticed!

James' first dance with one of his best girls, Annalise.

The crew plus Leah.  They are the cutest bunch.

Making Oobleck, this was one of our science days and it was so much fun.

They just finished their binoculars for lady bug hunting.  This was my favorite day of joy school.

James the Brave at Barnes and Noble

It was such a shock when my friend Courtney called me to tell me they just saw my book in the featured picture book section of Barnes and Noble. After recovering from shock and getting over two weeks of illness, I finally made it over to the store to check it out. They were almost sold out of their copies so they ordered 10 more which I came in to sign. It was such a magnificent surprise, even my publisher was surprised! 

I know this is the longest blog post of my life but May was so wonderful that I have to add a few more "honorable mentions".

• We actually got rain more than once in May! You know what they say, "May showers bring"...wait, I don't think that's what they say. But we're in a drought so we will take rain any month we can get it! 

Poor James, he had to wear my raincoat.  He probably didn't mind since it vaguely resembled a Storm Trooper costume.

•We had a lot of dr.s appointments in May. While waiting with James in the examination room, James turned to me and said "how long before this human gets here." I reminded him that he too was human and that we always have to wait for doctors. Two very important lessons if I do say so myself. He'll probably skip a grade now. 

• And last but certainly not least, Scott and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on May 24th. I had the flu so instead of going out like we had planned, we stayed home with these two helmet heads. It was real life perfect.