The Asay Family: May 2013

For Memorial Day, we got together with my sister, Holly, and her family and had a lot of fun. We went to BounceU, where they have big inflatable bounce houses and slides for kids to play and jump on, and Elise had the time of her life. Seriously, it's like that place was designed for kids with her energy level and thrill-seeking tendencies. This slide was so fast, and she couldn't get enough. I had a lot of fun roughhousing with her in a cushy environment. Charlotte enjoyed playing some too on the Rody horses (with help) and in this one car thing, but most of the time she napped in Matt's arms.

our thrill junkie

climbing up all by herself

Charlotte enjoying herself in the car thing

At one point, Elise was scaling the outside of this thing (which is definitely not allowed, haha). I think my heart actually stopped for a second when I saw her.
[photo from BounceU Facebook page]

And then I didn't really take any more pictures that day, whoops. We went back to Holly's house (for the last time, they're moving to a nearby house) and ate and played there. My brother-in-law, Jonathan, is the Master of the Grill, and Matt was his trusty assistant. Jonathan grilled (amazing) pork chops, hamburgers, hot dogs, and bratwurst, and we also had chips, potato salad, and awesome watermelon. According to Jonathan, the best method for choosing the perfect watermelon is to grab one at random. You do whatever works, right?

The kids swam in the kiddie pool after we ate, and they had a ton of fun splashing around, then bailing the water. Elise's favorite thing was to dump buckets of water over herself repeatedly. Hudson, Holly's youngest, wasn't interested in getting in the water. Maybe that had something to do with the four other rambunctious, bigger kids already in there? Charlotte napped through this too (she woke up for the eating part earlier, she's a big eater/grower lately).

Such a fun day together. Holidays at Holly's are my favorite. I don't know what we're going to do when they're out of town for Independence Day this year!

We had a fantastic vacation to California to visit Matt's side of the family. Matt's brother Mike and Mike's wife Amber were visiting from Florida, and Matt's sister Natalie was visiting from Utah, so the whole Asay clan was there at Matt's parents' house. We were grateful to get to visit with Matt's Aunt Ann and to see his Uncle George and Aunt Rachel and their boys. Family reunion!

First we did some visiting.

Elise enjoyed dressing up Grandpa and Daddy. Here she is coming to give me a lei too.

Grandpa having too much fun

Ann read and read and read to Elise. Thanks for all the new books, Ann!

Elise loved this little princess cot that she got to sleep on.

Mike playing with the cat, Toby, by getting him to chase a stream of water

Amber and Patti chatting

New, matching bathing suits from Grandma! The girls loved this pool so much, Grandma and Grandpa sent it home with us.

Mike, Natalie, and Matt

Craig, Mike, Natalie, Patti, and

Mike and Amber

our little family

Elise adores Ann.

Charlotte and Natalie

On Friday, we went to California Adventure and Disneyland! It was the girls' first trip and my second. So much fun!

Grandma and Elise when we first got there

The new Cars Land was so well done.

Luigi's Flying Tires ride

Elise got to ride once with them and once with us, right in a row, since Charlotte couldn't wait in line and we had a baby swap pass.

Then we rode the Little Mermaid ride.

Elise really wanted to go on Mickey's Fun Wheel, so some of us went on that while the rest rode California Screamin'.

Charlotte kept sticking out her tongue to taste the wind when we were at the top.

My little daredevil loves heights.

After lunch, Elise fell asleep as we were heading over to Disneyland.

And then we saw two princesses. While Elise was sleeping. I almost took her picture with her in the stroller asleep next to Snow White, but I decided against it.

Snow White
(who had the most obnoxious voice ever, even though it was supposed to be in character)

Belle

the castle

Then my camera died. So that was all the pictures that I got of Disneyland. We met up with Matt's Aunt Rachel. We ran off while the girls were sleeping and rode Indiana Jones, which I hadn't ridden before since it was out of service when I went last. Then I came back and went through Tarzan's Treehouse with Elise. Then we all went on the Jungle Cruise. (Charlotte didn't like the boat much. I think she may have issues with motion sickness.) We split up after that, and Elise, Charlotte, Patti, Ann, and I all went to Fantasyland while the rest of the group did the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. The Fantasyland group rode the carousel first. Then Patti and Elise rode the Casey Junior Circus Train while Ann and Charlotte hung out and I waited in line for the Dumbo ride. If Elise says she rode on the pumpkin, she means the Dumbo ride. I went to take care of Charlotte (I love the Baby Care Center at Disneyland, great for nursing moms), and the rest of the group got together and saw the parade. Then we all had dinner, complete with glow sticks thanks to Ann, and Elise, Charlotte, Matt, Ann, and I all headed home. Mike, Amber, Natalie, Patti, and Craig stayed a little longer.

Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was great. Elise is really into pandas right now, so that was perfect.

Mike and Amber consulting the map

cute Natalie

lots of turtles

my little monkey, hanging with the monkeys

swinging with Grandma and Grandpa

10-month-old panda cub

panda mother

enthralled

me and Charlotte with the flamingos

checking out the pelicans

egret

zebra ends

polar bears

They don't have these at the Phoenix Zoo. Wonder why.

koala sleeping

After the zoo, we went to Coronado Island. This was Charlotte's first time seeing the ocean and Elise's second time. Elise was a couple months older than Charlotte when she saw the ocean last.

loved the sand

tried to eat the sand

Aunt Natalie took the girls out to wade in the waves.

Craig and Patti staked out a bench for me to nurse on, and Patti helped make it possible for me to stay modest.

Sunday we took it easy and visited together. Mike and Amber parted ways with us after Coronado on Saturday, and Natalie had to leave in the middle of church on Sunday to catch her flight.