Another tooth gone!

Babygirl has had four wiggly teeth for at least 8 months. She lost her first two teeth in November 2015 (yes when she was 4, almost 5. Don't worry like we did, both her dentist and doctor said nothing to worry about.) Then she got four more wiggly teeth but they wouldn't fall out. Well two nights ago, boom her 3rd tooth fell out. She was beyond excited and couldn't wait to hang her special tooth fairy pillow above her bed so the tooth fairy could bring her money. In the morning she couldn't believe her eyes at the note and the money that cute little fairy left her. So cute!

Central Coast Escape: 07/15-7/17

This past weekend we took our second mini getaway of the summer in honor of mama's birthday! Mama turned the big 36 and as always, dada and baby made it super special. We started or drive up the coast on Hwy 1 past Malibu and Ventura, Oxnard etc. It's such a gorgeous drive as there is nothing more amazing than a gorgeous view of the coast. Our first stop was in sunny Santa Barbara where we enjoyed a yummy Mexican lunch and stroll around town to stretch our legs. Next we drove over to Pismo Beach and played at the Dino Cave Park which overlooked the ocean. It was surprisingly chilly and a welcome change from the blistery heat back home. Glad we brought pants and sweaters just in case! Then we continued our journey and finally arrived at our beach front home for the night at the Sea Otter Inn on the lovely Moonstone Beach in Cambria. It is really hard to describe the unique beauty of this area. Central Coast is truly breathtaking. Nothing like SoCal and different in its beauty. We dropped our luggage and enjoyed a warm cup of coffee and cookies and headed straight to the wooden boardwalk to walk along the beach. It was very chilly but that didn't stop us from dipping our feet in the sand and water and sitting on a large piece of driftwood as we soaked in the beauty in awe. Then we headed to dinner at a local pub in Cambria before heading back and calling it a night. The next morning our hotel delivered a lovely basket full of breakfast goodies which we took outside to eat as we watched morning waves crash onto the beach. We were cold but it was something that had to be done. After breakfast we checked out and headed to Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery. How amazing was this site! Its always a treat to stop by and see where the seals and sea lions come and live for the season. Ellie got a kick out of that since she has been asking to see them for a while. Next we drove through the gorgeous countryside and headed to Paso Robles for some wine tasting and sun basking. We arrived at Eberle Winery and were treated to a tour of their underground wine caves. Ellie was chosen as the assistant tour guide and took her job very seriously. It was adorable. Then we tasted wine, relaxed in the gorgeous deck overlooking the vineyard while listening to live music. It was a lovely way to spend my birthday :). Next we drove down to Lompoc to relax before exploring Solvang the next day. My parents drove up the next day and had breakfast with us at our hotel. We stopped at a bizarre place called Ostrichland. It was a little odd we had to pay $6 a person plus food to feed these huge ostriches. We were all actually terrified and didn't enjoy it very much but at least we can say we did it. Haha! Then we strolled around Solvang and enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at Succulent. Then we all headed home and wrapped up a lovely weekend getaway. So thankful!

Summer summer summer time!

We have been thoroughly enjoying Ellie's first summer vacation. Our days have been filled with lessons (swim lessons in June, and Karate in July), swim play dates with our friends in their awesome salt water pool (did I mention the pool is salt water!?? so jealous!), library reading challenge, evening jaunts for froyo or Hawaiian shaved ice, first visit to the drive in movies, impromptu beach trips, weekend getaways, Angie's wedding which baby girl was flower girl for and mama was florist for (talk about stress!!), a visit from Abuelita from Puerto Rico, a mini surgery for our pooch Jackson, and much more! Below are some pics of our fun!

1st Adventure of the Summer: Palm Springs!

On June 16th, the Merry Malds decided to take a well deserved weekend getaway to the lovely JW Marriott Palm Desert Springs Resort & Spa. It was baby's first time to Palm Springs and we knew we were in for a hot hot hot weekend. We were celebrating three wonderful things: Ellies first official summer vacation from school, Mare & Will's 7th Wedding anniversary, AND Father's Day. The JW Marriott was JUST the right way to celebrate. It involved lots of pool time, relaxation time, happy hour, a boat ride on the resort property, and some more pool time. We loved this resort and could definitely imagine returning. In fact we saw a few big family reunions here and it turns out its a popular annual family vacation hot spot. We loved it!

First Post!

So life has whizzed by and the merry Malds are as happy as can be living life in beautiful sunny southern california. Baby girl is now a whopping 5 years old and the true light of our lives. Parenthood has been challenging to say the least full of lots of worries but an immeasurable amount of LOVE LOVE LOVE. Words can't describe our feelings toward baby girl so I won't even attempt it. She has just recently finished Transitional Kinder and will be starting Kinder in the fall! Where has time gone. She's absolutely silly, quirky, funny, sentimental, sensitive, has a huge heart, and wears it on her sleeve. She's one big ball of love and loves being around mommy and daddy 24/7. God has blessed us with many things but the one we are most grateful for is Mr. Malds job. Aside from the fact that he landed the job in NYC and it allowed his transfer to LA a year later (which in and of itself is a true miracle as this was LITERALLY our dream come true), he is actually really enjoying all aspects of his job. He is now in a leadership position (union stewart. holler! An homage to Mrs Malds career pre-baby?) Anyways, what we are most thankful for now is the fact he works from home pretty much full time unless he's out in an investigation out "in the field" doing field work. So the Merry Malds pretty much spend almost every free second together and we get to pop in and visit daddy in his office whenever we want. Its a godsend and we thank God daily for this blessing. Mrs. Mald attempted to return to work when we moved to Socal but that was quickly squashed as baby girl did not handle the transition well. She was three and three is a tough year for kiddos especially with our move, spending a month without daddy as he made the transition to the west coast, and mama starting to work? Oh heck no, what did we expect? Fast forward to the age of 5, once she started TK full time, Mrs. Mald was able to dabble into working again this time as a substitute teacher. It has been working out quite well actually and its so nice to be able to earn my own fun money! Soon it is now the first day of summer vacation for baby girl and she also had her first swim lesson of the summer. Last year she took 5 rounds of swim lessons and still didn't learn how to swim but we didn't care because she had a blast. She's a true fishy and water baby and lives for jumping in a pool. Hopefully this summer will be the summer she learns to swim. I have a good feeling! This summer we have a lot of fun things on the agenda. We will be taking a few weekend trips (Palms Springs, San Diego, and Central Coast/Cambria) and in September we will be taking a big trip to Hawaii/Aulani! Another dream come true for us! We'll fill in the gaps with lots of trips to the pool for fun with friends, swim classes, and karate classes (yes baby girl just started karate and LOVES it). Looking forward to a fun relaxing summer before school officially starts mid August!