Our weekend & Arissa's big day!!!

edited: Bella went for a one-way ride w/ Jesse to someplace over by Arissa's school. The girls all hope that she'll end up at my Grandma's since it's near there. My Grandma certainly hopes that WON'T be the case! She doesn't like cats. But Bella will be happier and better off I'm sure. There's a huge field nearby and being the predator that she is, she'll probably be in heaven there.

Our father's day started out nice but kind of hectic, and ended with near tagedy! (Not really, read on...)




Arissa went to a slumber party saturday night, it was her first official one at someone else's house. She had a blast, but came home very very tired Sunday morning. We picked her up at 9am, the girls gave Jesse their father's day presents, then we got the girls all ready and hit the road. All 3 girls were to perform at the Del Mar Fair at 2:30. We got to the fair around 11:30, because we were told if we left any later than we did, we'd hit traffic and miss the showtime. So we were there early, which was fine, but we couldn't go on rides, we couldn't eat, because the girls were in full costume and hair & makeup. so we walked around, looked at the exhibits, the animals, etc. Poor Arissa was tired, and it showed. That girl hardly ever whines and complains, but at the fair there was just no pleasing her. On top of that, Mallory & Mariah can only be pushed in the stroller for so long before they get antsy. But finally they performed, and they did wonderful...of course. Arissa got 2nd place in the drill down. Here's some of the pictures:


I love this one because if you notice...the other girls are looking in different directions, but Mallory & Mariah are looking at eachother and smiling. :o)

This is why the girls don't ride on Jesse's shoulders very often....because this is how they hold on:

The girls were asleep before we got on the freeway to go home. By the time we did get home, Jesse and I were exhausted too....not that we'd done that much, but just being out in the sun for 4 hours zapped our energy. So we turned on the A/C when we got home, and all took a nap in the living room. We all slept from 5pm-7pm. It felt so good! Then we had dinner and then went out to get icecream....and that's when the near tragedy occured.

No one apparently noticed that Bella was in the house when we left.

We came home and I saw something move towards the door, then Bella came towards the door, put something in her mouth and walked away. Usually I tend to scream in situations like this, but I sensed that something very bad had happened so I calmly asked Jesse to come here, and he went in to see what had happened. He went to the girls' room where the mice/hamster are kept. I heard him say "oh God..." then he went into the kitchen, where I heard him say "OH GOD!!!". My immediate thought: there's bloody mouse/hamster carcus all over the place. Then there was a lot of thrashing and crashing while we wrestled the mouse out of Bella's mouth. The mouse, unbelievably, was fine.

Then we went into the girls' room to check on the other mouse and hamster. The cages were completely overturned, the bedding was absolutely everywhere. It was a big mess. We saw the other mouse run into the closet, and breathed a sigh of relief that he was ok.

I took this picture of everyone loving Bella and saying goodbye before Jesse took her for her little one-way trip:

Then, 2 days later was Arissa's birthday!!! When I had asked what she wanted, she had told me "a day". A day alone w/ me and Jesse. So that's what she got (among other things). We dropped the girls off at preschool, then headed to SeaWorld to check out the new Bay of Play & rides. It was so much fun. Jesse nearly made us all sick on the "teacup" ride (although at SeaWorld they aren't teacups of course):

This is Arissa looking in one of the fun-house mirrors:After SeaWorld, we stopped by Girl Scout Headquarters to pick up the handbook so that Arissa can earn lots of badges over the summer. And we got her some fun badges, that you don't have to earn, to add to her little vest. From there we went to the Ceramicafe where she chose a piece and painted it, then we had lunch at Casa de Pico, then we stopped at the library, then we went home and played video games until it was time to pick up the girls. Once we picked them up, we did gifts. Her sisters gave Arissa a Hannah Montana singing doll, and Jesse & I got her a Hannah Montana backstage closet. She loved them:We had such a fun day. Arissa is so funny and sweet. She deserved her "day". :o) And I'm hoping her upcoming party will be just as fun for her. And I'm praying it won't be too hot!!