Week in a Nuttshell!

We had an amazing week in Southern California! It was such an awesome blessing to have a relaxing, fun filled week as a family after our turmoil filled summer. I wanted to give everyone a little re-cap of the trip. After our first day spent on the beach we decided to see what southern CA was all about....

We headed out on a whale watching excursion on the open Pacific ocean. It was a three hour tour! Jeff found out in a hurry that he gets very sea sick. The girls and I however had a great time checking out all the marine life. We saw Harbor seals, Sea Lions and hundreds of dolphins jumping at the bow of the boat, but no Whales, maybe next time!

Our next day we drove all the way down the Pacific Coast highway to Newport Beach. It is a fun high class town on the coast. We went to Fashion Island which was a fun outdoor southern CA mall. The girls loved the Koi pond and we got some fun photos of them playing with the fish.
We stayed for a week at the Hampton Inn in Seal Beach CA and Margot became quite the expert at working all the buttons in the elevator. Even the one that looks like a bell and makes a loud alarm noise! I am sure that they were sad to see us leave.

Disneyland was on the schedule for the next day. It was all decked out for Halloween which was fun. The kids loved all the rides. Molly's favorite was the Storybook boat ride where you get to see all the characters homes in miniature. It was one of the original rides and they do not have it in Orlando. Marogt however, she liked the teacups. She is a fast ride kind of girl. Above are Mommy and Margot ready to take on the the teacups, Margot fared better than mommy I have to admit!
Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach was great! Molly and mommy pet the sharks and the sting rays. Daddy was not willing to put his hand in the water. We also checked out all the cool fish in the tanks and got our picture taken when we found Nemo! Molly also fed the Lorikeets. They were colorful little birds that drank nectar right our of your hand and they landed on my head and Jeff was too scared to help me get it off. We ran out of there pretty quickly!
We did the California version of Tanner's orchard. It was a temporary pumpkin patch set up in a parking lot with lots of fun rides and a petting zoo. It was perfect for our kids and they loved it. This was a fun ride kind of like the flying Dumbos at Disney!
San Diego Zoo was out next stop. We went on a fun double decker bus tour of the whole zoo and got to see the pandas hanging out on the trees. Then Molly had a highlight of the trip getting to feed the giraffes! It really is an amazing place and so beautiful!
Molly and Margot also became very fond of riding on the luggage cart at the hotel. One morning Margot was even pushing Jeff down the sidewalk on the luggage cart. They were quite a sight and Molly got the bell hop to give her a ride one morning!

What is a trip to southern CA without a little Hollywood. We checked out Hollywood Blvd and the walk of the stars, the Kodak theater where the Oscars take place (which is a mall on its off day, who knew) and Growman's Oriental Theater where many movies have premiered. Margot loved putting her little hand in all the stars hand prints at Growmans.
Why did we go to southern California you may be asking yourself?? You are looking at it! Tyler Reback and his mommy Amy! My cousin Amy lives in Belmont Shore outside LA and we wanted to meet little Tyler before he was all grown-up. Amy was a great tour guide. Her office was just across our hotel parking lot so we met her most mornings for coffee and then we would meet for dinner each night! It was fun to have Amy, Dan and Tyler all to ourselves cause when they visit the Midwest we have to share them with the rest of the family. We will miss seeing them everyday. Margot is still talking about going to Amy's work!

Our final stop was the Santa Monica pier and famous southern CA destination. It was a beautiful place and the girls had a great time on the beach and playing in the surf.
Our plane ride home was long. It is amazing that it can take 15 hours of traveling to come home but the girls were troopers and my mom, Nanu, was a huge help. Nanu and Margot enjoyed watching the direct TV on the flight. I think at this point they were watching Maury, anything to pass the time.

All and all I have to say we had a great time. We were sad to leave but at the same time glad to be home sleeping in our own beds and cribs!

Beach Nutts!

The Nutts are on vacation. We flew to sunny California on Sunday and have been having a great time. Our trip through LAX was a little crazy with two over tired kids but we made it. Poor Molly got the stomach flu so she and Daddy spent the whole first day of the trip cooped up at the Hampton Inn. Tuesday she woke up and was flleing better so we headed to the beach. Sunset beach is a beautiful beach and we were the only ones enjoying it!

Daddy and the girls got right to work building a sand castle. Molly found lots of seashells to add an extra special touch! Margot loved process as well.
They also loved the water. Molly went right in even though the water was freezing. Marogt was a little hesitant of the waves. It was hilarious to watch her face as the waves came in. She could not figure out what was going on!
We took a moment for a family photo op. Not bad considering that I snapped the photo myself!
A fun shot of Molly watching the waves. It really is a blessing to watch the world through the eyes of our children.

The Nutts family toes on the Pacific coast!

This video is hilarious. You have to watch all the way to the end....

I am sure that we will have many more adventures to come!

Ralph, Ralph, Ralph!!!!!

Today we headed out in the rain to see one of our favorite performers who had come all the way to Peoria, RALPH, from Ralph's world on the Disney channel. It was supposed to be a cool outdoor music festival but thanks to all the rain we moved inside and had our own personal rock concert. The rain kept lots of folks away, but as a result we had front row seats!

Margot danced through the whole show with a blue sucker in her mouth loving every minute! Molly and Daddy headed up on stage with Ralph during the show and right under the guitar is our little red headed buddy, Bobby!
Molly was a big girl and told daddy she wanted to dance on the stage with Ralph all by herself. She did a great job playing the air guitar.
Daddy and Molly danced to the POLKA!
This little guy was great. He had a blue guitar, signed by Ralph and he rocked out through the entire show, hopefully his parents got lots of video, he stole the show!
Ralph put on an amazing show! Thanks for making the trip to P-town.
Molly, Margot and I got to the show early and were able to see Ralph warming up and doing a sound check.
Margot dancing with blue sucker in hand.
Molly was showing off all her cool moves!

Bobby, isn't he adorable! We got his cute shirt signed by Ralph.

A little taste of the concert just for you! Can you swim, swim swim with Ralph, too!

Fall fun Nights...

We have been loving the Midwest weather lately, besides the torrential rain, we have had beautiful fall weather. The girls and I have been out enjoying it as much as possible. We have taken walks, spent time at the park, the apple orchard and riden our bikes.

Last night Molly was out showing off her skills on her big girl bike. She has gotten very brave and will ride on the sidewalk down about 5 houses before turning toward home. It is fun to see her experimenting with her new found freedom. It is her first set of wheels!
We have even broken out the fall clothes. Aren't they cute in their matching orange!
Molly's latest favorite movie is a circus VHS tape that I was given when I was 10 years old. She loves watching the clown and the couple that does tricks on the high wire. This is her very own rendition of the high wire on Daddy's legs. Hopefully she won't run off with the circus.
Molly and Margot both helped me make chocolate chip cookies. They took turns dumping in the ingredients and tried their hand at using the electric mixer. This was the first time that I really was able to share my love of cooking with them. They had a great time and Mommy did too! Daddy also loved the end result.
Our Belle! She is one of our new additions. She is a sweet little kitty that has taken a liking to sleeping in the napkin basket in the middle of the kitchen table.

Firsts for the Nutts

The McNutts have tried some new activities this weekend. Molly and Margot love ice cream just like every kid, right? So mommy and daddy decided to introduce them to the wonder of Magic Shell. It was a real hit. They sat and their little table and savored every bite. Margot's favorite part was blowing on the chocolate to make it harden. She even blew on the ice cream after she had eaten all the Magic Shell, I don't know but I think she thought it might make more chocolate appear!









Another first was Margot buttering her own roll with the butter knife. She was so proud of herself. She is getting to be such a big girl. It was fun watching her even though she managed to mutilate an entire stick of butter in the process.

A week in review...

We had a fun start time last week with our first trip to Tanner's Apple Orchard. It is our family's favorite fall playplace. We took our friends the Anderson's for their first visit. The girls love all the play equipment especially the train and Noah's Ark. Marogt also tried out her role as a true Peorian riding on a CAT tractor. She looks pretty good up there!
Later in the week we headed up north to visit Nanu and Papa and we took a side trip to the DuPage children's museum. It was a great visit because it was not crowded. Molly and Margot got to make crazy hats in the art room and they did a great job modeling them.
Our friends Ashley and Logan met us there along with their mommy. They are friends from Peoria who are living in the Chicago suburbs for a few months with CAT. It was great to get to spend a little time with them at the museum and of course we had a fun lunch in downtown Naperville.

Then on Tuesday my baby, Molly started preschool. She was so proud to go to school with her princess backpack in tow. I can not believe that she has gotten big so quickly. It seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and now we are sending her off to school. How time flies! We love you our little school goer... Molly did great on her first day she ran right in to Mrs. Wilson's class and never looked back. She was so proud to tell me that she was chosen to put the 2 on the calendar. We are looking forward to many more highlights this year!

"Doe Doe Bell Nutt"

What??? Doe Doe Bell Nutt is Margot's best attempt at saying her own name. Not bad when your name is Margot Isabell McNutt! Margot is such a joy and brings so many smiles to our faces. She is a busy toddler. We still refer to her as the baby but she is a toddler through and through racing toward the terrific twos! We wanted to share a few of Margot's latest antics....

Margot had a great morning on Friday unrolling an entire roll of tin foil. It makes a great noise when you run through the house with it trailing behind you, who knew...
An action shot, our red garbage can tipping over. Margot filled the garbage can with full cans of Diet Coke which Mommy had left next to the fridge. The can couldn't take the weight, became top heavy and tipped over..... tragedy avoided as mommy grabbed Margot out of the way!
"Holt chew" Again the translation would be Margot wanting to be held by telling us, Hold You!

A smile that you have to love. Margot is such a playful and happy little thing that the craziness is easily over looked. She loves going down the slide at the Farm Park and convinced Daddy that he should try it too. He is a sucker for his little girls!