The Beachkins take San Diego: Part 1

Sooo...we just came back from our vacation in San Diego....about a month ago.... I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW!! Slacker! I am sorry! I am especially sorry and I'd like to personally apologize to my friends the Hoffners who have been waiting for me to post these pictures ever since I promised them at least 2 blogs ago. :)

So here it is. We took the babies to Mission Beach in San Diego for the very first time! Talk about life come full circle! All I can say is what a kick in the freakin pants it was to watch the joy my own kids got from something that brought me so much joy my whole childhood!

It was no surprise that three very different babies had three very different reactions and opinions about the salty, cold ocean water and the sand that surrounded them.

Hunter is a California Girl at heart. She would've slept in the sand if we had let her. And not only that, she had absolutely no fear or even one ounce of hesitation about trotting right into the ocean. She definitely did NOT get that from me. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't do the ocean. I absolutely LOVE sharks and frankly one of my favorite weeks of the year is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. I love to learn about and even watch Shark Attacks, and so... this is also why I don't go in the water. :) Me, I'm more of a Mai Tai and sunbathing kind of gal....so Hunter lovin' the water might be the only reason I might ponder the notion that perhaps an embryo got switched....Fortunately she looks exactly like me so she's definitely mine all right. And oh, how I love that little spit-fire.

Colton and Ethan share very similar opinions. I think they enjoyed the cool, windy air much like their dad does. But neither boy wanted anything to do with the water or the sand for the first few minutes. Given a bucket and shovel however and they warmed up to the idea a little bit. They certainly did not get the daredevil gene like their spunky sister. They tolerated the beach but were equally happy at the end of each day to sit in the tub and wash it all away!

So here is part one of our pictures. I figured I'd better post them in chunks so that at least SOMEthing gets posted...I'm now in fear of losing some friends if I don't get my blogging butt back in gear!! The next post will be our Sea World photos. But like I always say, please do not feel that you have to look at each and every photo....I post them for our memories but I know how boring it can sometimes be to look at other people's vacation photos...(However, you can thank me for condensing the 1132 pictures we took in a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH smaller number!)

So enjoy....

McDonald's...on the way

And Applebee's in Yuma!

Hunter is showing us what she'd like to have for dessert

Our first few moments on the beach....

Ethan Bear

Colton admiring the ocean

Colton telling dad that he HATES the beach!

"I mean it, Dad! I really don't like it here!!"

And then there's little miss Sassafrass. She likes the beach all right!

Aunt Mary and the Bunchkins

Sharing a room with 3 sleeping babies means 3 babies who want to get in my bed in the morning! Oh what fun!

Hunter wants to know if the beach is still there...

Like Father, Like Son :)

Colton was content to watch the beach from the wall of our condo..far, far, away. (Ok, just a boardwalk away but when you're that little I'm sure it seems like a safe distance!)

Looking out the window...they did a lot of this.

Aunt Mary, Me and the babies

I admire Colton's observance...apparently we all use our cellphones so regularly that he in fact knows exactly how to use the phone himself!

Watching the carousel go round and round...

My mom and sister went parasailing and Brian went along on the boat to take photos and videos!

Be still my heart....these are my babies...

"Uncle Nathan" and Ethan

Seriously. Is there no cuter picture than this? Just checking to see if the beach is still there...

Aunt Mary and Hunter

One thing they were all very good at is napping on the beach! Here's Hunter and Aunt Mary

The Boys

Takin a walk with Grammy

A Few of Colton's moments...

My own little Gilligan

My best friend from college, Jen and her 4 week old baby girl Ava.

Yes, this is my best friend. The one I used to get into trouble with in college, sneak into bars with, party at frat houses with, you name it. This is us with kids. Strange how our lives have changed! The good news is that we both have daughters whom we can forever entice into becoming Kappa Alpha Thetas someday...who knows...Ava and Hunter might be best friends like their mommies.

My youngest boy and me

Hunter and Brian

My kids and me...

My little family...and yes, this is in fact the ONLY day I did not shower before going out to the beach so yes, my hair is greasy and gross. There I said it.

That's my girl!

And those are my boys!

Those are my triplets.

Yep. It still sound strange even after this long.

This is the jellyfish that washed up inches from Colton. I fought for its survival and won the battle about whether to get rid of it or throw it back in the ocean. So if this little jellyfish should wash up beside YOUR feet in the ocean....yeah. You can blame it on me.

Lunch on the beach!

PBJs, Raspberries, Strawberries and some sand.

Hunter and me.

Stay tuned for Sea World.....

In 10...

Because I seem to have writer's block these days (and by Writer's Block, I actually mean Baby Block) I thought I'd take my friend Nicole's idea and write about where I'll be 10 years from now...

1. Brian and I will be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary! (I will admit that I actually just had to do the most elementary addition (on my fingers, no less) because it just didn't seem possible that in 10 years from now I will have been married for 16 years.) How's that for a story problem? 6 +10 = 16...

2. My babies will be 11 years old...5th grade. Oh my gosh, that makes my heart hurt.

3. I hope that both of my parents will have found new loves and new life's happiness, and everyone will be able to coexist peacefully :)

4. I hope that my beautiful sister-in-law will have found the man of her dreams and will be happily married.

5. I hope that my children will have at least 2 or 3 cousins to grow up with.

6. I will be 43 years old...DEAR GOD...and hopefully looking better than ever, damn it!

7. I will know how to play football. Perhaps my sons will teach me.

8. Working? Mmmm...I'm gonna say no. (My blog, my wishful thinking.) And that's not because I don't love my job, because there aren't many better than what I do. But I want to be the PTSA President and the Team Mom....yeah...

9. Which means then that in 10 years, Brian will have maybe retired from DPS and will maybe be working his 2nd career, (which, let's be honest, will be law enforcement related. It's in his blood.) But whatever it is, he will LOVE it.

10. We will live in a great home, on at least one acre.

11. We will own a travel trailer because so help me God, if we don't, then I will have had to hear about "someday owning a travel trailer" for the past 10...

12. Oh! Back to the working thing! In 10 years I WILL have published at least 1 or 2 books for children or otherwise!

13. I hope that my children are still friends with our triplet and twin friends because how cool would that be to grow up with so many multiples friends?

14. I hope that we will have traveled to some new places. Don't really care where...just somewhere that great memories are made!

15. And in 10 years I hope I still remember how grateful I feel today for all the blessings in my life....my miracle triplets, family, friends, good health, a great job, and a wonderful husband.

There! Now on Wednesday look for the first round of San Diego pictures!

Lucky Me :)

If you follow this blog regularly, then you know this blog is usually about the babies, their adventures, their antics, etc. And even I can't keep up with blogging about every event we do, every place we go, every person or group we meet. I would do nothing but sit at the computer all day! I know that I have left people out along the way, and if you are one of those people, I am truly sorry! It's not because I don't love you, it's because life is happening faster than I can even attempt to keep up with. The babies are growing faster than I would like, and all I can do is give it my best try to continue sharing our daily lives with all of you!

So like I said, I know it's usually about the babies, but bear with me a few moments as we take a little detour....

It may be someone different to everyone, but everyone's got one. You know, THAT person.

The one in your life you go to for the most important favors as often as you do for the most insignificant favors. For me, this person is my mom. Though she goes by a new name these days. Even I don't call her "mom" anymore, she's "Grammy" now.

And darn it, she earned that title. She waited for it. She waited patiently for it. She probably wanted to be a Gramma as much as I wanted to be a mom, but NEVER once through all my years of infertility did she ever allow me to feel even one ounce of guilt that I had not given her a grandchild yet. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She was one of my biggest cheerleaders even offering to give me shots though I know she was deathly afraid to. (If you've been reading since the beginning, you may remember her fruit bowl becoming her "practice shot targets". Poor oranges...they never saw it coming.)

I often think about how my life came to be the way it is, and I smile about my three miracles. It's as if God knew how big the hole in my heart was for all those years and so he blessed me with not one, but three beautiful babies. Well, I think it was the same for my mom. She had a lot of gramma love to give...one grandchild probably wouldn't have been enough for her. :)

I am only 5' 2" tall, and when I got pregnant with triplets I weighed 99 pounds. It was highly likely that I was going to deliver very premature babies and it was even more likely that I would spend a considerable amount of time on bedrest. But you know, I made it. I made it 33 weeks (a typical triplet gestation) without one hiccup, one problem, one scare. And NOT ONE day on bedrest. I did that with help from friends and family. Specifically, my mom, who would come over and wash laundry, sort, fold and hang HUNDREDS of pieces of baby clothes so that I would not have to exert as much energy. She was literally about ready to build me a laundry chute so I would not have to carry loads of clothing up and down the stairs HUGELY pregnant and probably would've, had Brian not cared about having a gaping hole in the floor! My point is that her brain never stops working...never stops thinking about ways to help.

My mom has had a hard year. After 39 years of marriage, she and my dad are going separate ways. By no means would I assert that it's been easy for my dad, but I can say firsthand, because I spend more time day to day with my mom, that it has definitely not been easy for her. It has been hard to watch her struggle while trying desperately not to fall apart. But the thing is, despite all of the heartache, she never once missed a beat with her grandchildren or her own children. She has often said that these grand babies kept her whole at a time when she was falling to pieces. But she may not even realize how much she does for them. For me.

It's a phone call. Almost daily. And it goes like this.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mom. Whatcha doin?"

"Oh I'm just cleaning out the refrigerator, building a shelf, tiling the floor, etc."

"Hey, I need to run to the _____ (store, doctor, post office, mall, school, etc.) Can you _____ watch the babies for a little bit, come with me, meet me at my house, etc.)

Whatever the request, the answer is always yes. I'm not kidding. I don't know if she's ever turned me down.

She knows that while I love being a mother of triplets, sometimes I need a little help. {gasp! I admit it!}

She has helped me with the most mundane things and she has helped me with the most important things...

Every so often she keeps the babies overnight, just so we can have a night off...and sleep in. She always finds laundry to do when she comes over to play with the babies. She lets me bring her the healthy child to stay the night when the others are sick. She comes with me to Pediatrician appointments so that there are two of us to cuddle 3 three babies who've been pricked with needles.

On two separate occasions, she took care of Ethan and Hunter while I spent a week in the hospital with Colton. The only thing worse than having a child in the hospital is having to worry that your other children are being taken care of and loved. I know she wanted to be able to visit Colton more freely, but I thank God that she was there for my other babies. Plenty of people offered to watch them, and I know they would've been well cared for with anyone, but with my mom, I didn't even have to give her a single instruction. She just knows them.

She knows how to make them laugh when they're cranky, she's a master at Peek-a-boo, she knows how I like her to cut the mandarin oranges. She knows how to tackle bathtime with more than one baby, she knows the right temperature for their bottles, she knows that sometimes Ethan whimpers briefly at naptime but that he's not really ready to wake up. She knows how I like to fold their clothes, and she knows what their favorite toys are. She knows when Ethan doesn't feel well and she understands why I need them to be on a schedule. She knows what times they eat and when they sleep. You would think having grand-triplets was a piece of cake. She just handles it.

My mom watches the babies, often all by herself, so that I could go back to work. 2 1/2 days a week, she gives up her freedom to make my life easier. I know she enjoys her time with them, but still, she doesn't have to do it, and she does.



For me, the best part of my mom as a gramma is the joy she gets when she is with them. I know she loves them but she's never seen the way she lights up when she sees them. I have. I have always been lucky to have her as my mom, but I am blessed to have her as my babies' grammy.

The pictures from this post are all from our trip to San Diego. My babies' first trip to San Diego. Our first trip without my dad. Do I think it was easy for her? Not a chance... (Frankly, it wasn't easy for any of us, my dad included.) It was extremely hard for me not to have my dad on a trip we've been taking as a family for YEARS, and I know it must've been even harder for her to be making new memories in a place where so many great ones already exist.

But that did not stop her from making it the most enjoyable trip ever for the babies. That's the beauty of my mom. She would do anything for us.


Mom, you inspire me with your creativity, your knowledge and your energy. I often smile when I think that someday I'll teach Hunter how to hang a picture frame using a level and a stud finder and I'll smile knowing that I learned that from my mom and she's learning it from hers. :)



So thank you Mom...for all the big and all the little things you do for me and the babies. You have made raising triplets a joy.

So cheers to life! Cheers to being a mom, a grammy, a friend, and a smokin' hot newly single lady who can still pull off skinny jeans!

I love you, Mom. :)

The "Beach"kins

I have to admit. I actually had to put forth a tiny bit of conscious thought to remember my login password. Yes, it's been that long, I KNOW!!! Let me put it this way, my days of leisurely blogging (during awake hours anyway) are gone. I am no longer just a mom of triplets. Oh no, I am now a referee as well. Yep. "Referee" to the one who bites and must be scolded, "mom" to the one with fresh teeth marks in his/her arm and tears down the cheeks. And trust me, they keep me busy. Frankly I could devote an entire entry to the topic, and I just may do that, so for now, I will not elaborate.

My point for this entry was really just to let you know I have not abandoned my blog. I have not traded it for Facebook. I have been on vacation and otherwise, as I said, gainfully employed by the three 15 month olds I now work for. :)

But that's right, I went on vacation!! (We went on vacation.) And I have pictures! (Oh, I have LOTS of pictures). We took the babies to their very first beach! Mission Beach, San Diego baby! I will also write about it when I do my real vacation blog. Tonight I just want to leave you with a few of my favorites...

Colton...aka Gilligan

Ethan..building a sandcastle one pinch at a time.

Hunter...girl loves her some sand!

Stay tuned for more....