The Jones Girls

This morning I baked brownies for the La Habra Moms Club garage sale fundraiser to benefit our newest member, Erin and the other 1/2 proceeds will go to purchasing a Santa Suit for our Children’s Christmas party.   

The brownies were a hit and we sold out. We made about $135.   We will plan on having another one later in the year.

On a side note, I am doing something fun for our members of the La Habra Moms club.  I bought a bunch of plastic flamingos that you put in your yard and I also bought a bunch of pretty necklaces with beads and flamingos…really pretty.    Each month I will pick a member who has put a lot of effort into the club and at night I will put the flamingos in the yard with a little sign saying that they are very special to the club.   The flamingo will be draped around one of the flamingo’s necks.  So this month I chose Valentina since she was having the garage sale at our yard, to thank her for her hospitality.

A couple of days ago at 10pm I snuck out and put the flamingos in her front yard and took a picture.  I then emailed the picture to our newspaper editor and she will put it in the August newsletter for the La Habra Moms Club.

Valentina was so suprised and it made her feel very special.

Today we met up with Vanessa and her daughters, Tiffany and Stacey for bowling at Whittier Bowl.    My friend Victoria joined us a little late in our bowling game and she brought her daughters, Sophia and Juliana.

Stacey is an excellent bowler!   Both Stacey and Tiffany had fun helping my girls bowling and I took a bunch of pictures.  It was so much fun!

Then we went to Red Robin and had a nice lunch.

Then at 1:30 we headed to Dr. Fierson, the eye opthamologist, to do a follow up for Amanda and Miranda.    Their appt went well. Amanda’s lazy eye is improving and she doesn’t need to wear glasses anymore.  Miranda’s lazy eye and crossed eye is getting better so we continue patching 2 hours a day and she wears glasses.  We got back in a few months for another follow up appt.

Today was my first meeting presiding as the club President of the La Habra Moms Club.

I had my friend, Amber Carpenter, who is a photographer at JCPenney’s and also a private professional photographer, but a guest speaker at our meeting today.    She brought her proof books of amazing photo sessions that she has done.  What amazing samples of her work!

Then she took professional pictures with her background and lighting of all of our kiddos.   She will be putting them on CD’s for all of us!

It was a really great meeting and I served a fancy breakfast for everyone.  I had bought a maple leaf shaped cookie cutter in Vermont and made Maple cookies with the maple leaf cookie cutter. Then I spread maple spread on top of the cookies.  I also made homemade maple crunch with life cereal and it was so yummy!   I bought a neat coffee pot container, similar to the one you see at the grocery store that you push down and coffee comes out.    I served coffee and Chai Tea.  I also had an agenda that I passed out to everyone.  Feli was our babysitter.  There was a ton of kids that day…poor Feli!

This morning the girls and I were sleeping in because we got back in so late.    At about 7:30am we were awakened by a piercing loud ringing sound.  The lights were blinking everywhere.  It was the fire alarms.     A voice came on the speaker saying we had to evacuate the premises..there was a fire!

So I had to get the girls up and I grabbed my purse and my laptop and the girls grabbed their lovey blankets and we had to WALK down 8 flights of stairs! UGH!!  Not a nice way to wake up.

We and all of the other guests were waiting outside.  The firetrucks came. We were out there for about 1/2 an hour.  Then we were told we could go back to our room.   I was told that one of the guests was cooking and it set off the fire alarm because they were cooking at such a high temperature that it was burning.  WTF!!  People just amaze me!

So my plans for taking the girls to visit my friend, Ali, who has triplets the same age as Savannah changed. We were supposed to drive to her house, go swimming and have lunch.  She lives in Westford, which is a good hour from Woburn.    We are flying back today and I need to be at the airport at 3:30pm to check in for our flight at 6:45pm.  I want to have plenty of time and not be rushed for unforseen things that might occur.

I packed up our stuff in boxes and mailed them out at the local post office.  There was no way I was dealing with checking in boxes at the airport while being by myself with my 4 girls…not happening!   We checked out at 11:30amd and I was all done at the post office a little bit after noon.

So Ali and I decided to meet up at Chuck E Cheese in Burlington, where I had met up with Melissa and Tracey.     It was so cool to meet Ali!!   She is so beautiful and the sweetest person.   Her gorgeous trio are so sweet.    We took some great pictures of our kids with Chuck E. The  kids had a blast playing games together and we had pizza lunch.   We spent a couple of hours together.

I drove directly to the Boston Airport and dropped off the minvan at the car rental agency.   Can I say what a God send the GPS was for me!!  It got me all over and was very accurate to get me where I needed to go in unfamiliar territory.   I felt very empowered, independent and competent with my GPS.  It was just me and my girls on a fabulous adventure!  

A really nice guy that worked at the rental agency took the car seats that I had uninstalled and loaded them on the airport bus.  I got all of us loaded into the bus and headed to the Boston Airport..United Terminal.

I grabbed a cart and we checked in our car seats. Then we headed to security.  Everything went smooth and like clock work.  I had given myself plenty of time so I was not stressed and not frazzled.   It was a good check in at the security…whew!!  Laptop, iPad and all…

We got on our plane to find out there were weather delays in the midwest.  It was backing up all of the fights.   Our 6:45pm flight was grounded for 2 hours.   Thank God this momma is an experienced traveler and I packed all of the girls back packs with snacks, treats, drinks and toys.    Can you believe the airline didn’t give us ONE drink while we were waiting the 2 horus on the ground!!

After about an hour, the girls crashed out.  I crashed out too.   We got into L.A. at about midnight.   Cliff was happy to see us at the baggage claim. I quickly and efficiently installed the 4 car seats and we headed home.

What an incredible and memorable visit to Boston.  I am so proud that I was able to use my resources and with the help of my dear friends, we had the most wonderful vacation in Boston.

Today we picked up Lee and he went with us to the train Station to go to Downtown Boston.     It was another scorcher..whew!

We were going to the Aquarium today and then taking the Duck Tour.    We went to the concierge at The Marriott located next to the Aquarium and I was able to score discount tickets for the Aquarium and the Duck tour.  Since I am a guest at the Woburn Marriott I was able to receive these fabulous guest services.  Gotta love the Marriott!

So we headed to The Aquarium.     When we first walked in we were greeting by a huge area of penguins.   It was so amazing!     Savannah pointed to a couple of penguins that she said were playing together.  Ummm, well, they were certainly playing together…playing momma and pappa penguin..LOL!  Those frisky little penguins were getting it on!!  LOL!

Then there was an impressive spiraling 3 story winding fish tank.  It was HUGE.   There was a ramp that wrapped around the 3 story aquarium so we could view the different sea life and there were also divers feeding the fish also!

There were endless sea life exhibits.   There was so much to see!

We had a nice lunch and then headed to the gift shop where the girls thoughtfully chose their beloved sea creature animals.    I got some cool stuff too!   A really neat gigantic coffee mug for me and a cool key chain that had the degrees and compass for Cliff for those moments when he needed it the most.

Then we headed for our 5:30pm Duck Tour.   We had about 1/2 hour so Lee took us to the most amazing food and shopping court that I have ever seen.  There were blocks of restaurants that served so many different kids of foods…it was mind boggling.  There was every shopping store you could imagine and dream too.  We stopped off and got some sushi and the girls wanted ice cream.   I couldn’t believe I paid $17 for 3 ice creams…no way!   Oh well…

We scooted back to wait in line for our duck tour.   I picked up cute duck beacs that quaked!  The girls were quacking like good little ducklings!!  LOL!  Oh what a wonderful tour that was.  Our driver has a wonderful sense of humor and he was from the L.A. area of CA!!   He drove us in a WWII amphibious land and water vehicle.   We got a historical and visual tour of Boston and then he drove us into the Charles River and we glided: along the water as he continued his tour!   Can I just say WOW!!    If you ever go to Boston, you HAVE to do the Duck tour!! I loved it.  The girls fell asleep during the tour, they were so relaxed.

After our tour we then got back to the train station.  Lee is a wonderful tour guide and showed us some really neat places along the train route.    We dropped him off at home then we drove over to my friend, Tracey’s house in Burlington  for dinner and to spend some time.  We got to her house at about  9pm.

We had the most wonderful pasta dinner!    All of the girls had fun playing together.    Tracey has the most adorable dog, a retriever and poodle and I LOVED her dog!   Tracey’s husband, Jared, had injured his nose during his tennis match and he was icing it.   All indicators showed it looked like it was broker…ouchie!!    Jared is the nicest guy!  Tracey had done a huge renovation and her house is beautiful.

We enjoyed our time at their house and we left at about 11:30pm.   I had a hard time going home because many of the streets that the GPS was taking me to guide me back to the Woburn Marriott were closed.    So I found a main drag street and finally got on a good route to get back.  We got back at about midnight.  No parking was available but one of the wonderful employees gave us there spot so I could get the girls in bed.  I love this place!

Today we went to the Boston Children’s Museum.   We picked up Cheryl and headed to the Wellington Station.  We took the train into Downtown Boston and headed to the Boston Children’s Museum.

It is an impressive 3 story monster of a building packed with fun and educational things for kids.    There was a 3 story maze with all sorts of crazy steps and it was challenging for the kids to get from the top to the bottom or vice versa.    Savannah got a little lost and panicked.    Amazingly, Amanda came to save Savannah!! LOL!

We spent a lot of time in the bubble room.  Bubble mania everywhere!

So many amazing and cool things for the kids to do.  We had lunch and then went for more.

We spent the whole day there and closed the place down.

Of course we stopped off at the gift shop and each girls picked out a toy.

Then we headed back to the train and took the train back to our minivan.  I drove Cheryl back home in Malvern.

Then I met up with Melissa and her girls at Chuck E Cheese in Burlington.    When we got there and met up with Melissa, Melissa had a surprise for us!    She had arranged for my friend, Tracey, and her 2 daughter to be there!    So we got to spend time with Tracey and her daughter, Annabel, who is the same age as Savannah, and Charlotte, who is the same age as the triplets.    We ate pizza and dinner together and then had fun watching the kids play together.    I got some great group pictures as well as some mommy pictures of us too.  What a wonderful surprise!!   It was a lot of fun.

On the drive back, there was thunder and lightening.  It was so cool!!   We got back to Woburn Marriott at about 10pm.

We drove down to Cheryl & Lee’s and we followed them to the Wellington train in Wel Station.   This was the beginning of our first amazing day in the city of downtown Boston.  How exciting!

We parked our cars and then headed into the train station. This was the girls’ first time taking a big train.  They were so excited.  We waited on a bench and I had them all against the wall for fear of them getting anywhere near the tracks.  I was so scared of that!

We all got on the train.   Lilly and Ana were so good in their stroller.  We took the train to The Common in Boston.    What a beautiful and amazing park.    There is an amazing pond, called Frog Pond.    It is the most amazing and beatufiul place.    There is a nice lawn all around the pond.  The pond is about 8 inches deep, perfect for my girls!   It was the most wonderful sight to see hundreds of children playing in the huge pond.  The pond had a concrete floor and in the middle of the pond there is a huge 10 foot waterfall.  So fun!   The pond was about a block long and about 200 feet wide.  HUGE.   The girls spent the afternoon swimming and getting wet.  I strolled in the water enjoying cooling off.     We had a nice lunch on our blanket on the lawn.  Then everyone got wet again.      It was so fun to see Lee walking his girls in the stroller.   What a proud daddy he is!   Cheryl looked so relaxed laying on the blanket.  It was a perfect day.

We headed to the carousel and the girls had fun riding the carousel.  Then we went to the Boston Common Gardens.  So beautiful.  Full of roses, statues and impeccable manicured gardens everywhere.

Then we ventured over to the Swan Boats on Swan Lake.    It took my breath away.     It is such a magical and beautiful lake.    We took a lovely Swan boat tour of the lake and learned about the history of the Boston Common, Swan Lake and the Famous Ducklings Statue in the park…Ducklings?   That is what I call my girls…my little ducklings.  I had to check out those statues!!    We stopped and the girls picked out their little swan keepsake stuffed animals.

Then we had a nice walk in the park.    It was such a breathtaking place.   We went to the Ducklings statues.    The girls LOVED the statues and they giggled saying that those statues were mommy’s ducklings.  So I took a bunch of pictures of them on the statues.  They just filled my heart with so much love and happpiness!!

Then we went to downtown shopping district on the way back to the train station and took the train back to the Wellington Station.   

We got into our minivan and then we drove to visit my friend Melissa in Wilmington.  She has a daughter, Kaitlyn, the same age as Savannah and her birthday is 3 days after Savannah’s!  Melissa also has twins that are a few months older than the triplets – all girls!  So we all had a blast. They have a lovely home and we enjoyed watching the girls play together in the backyard.

Then we had a nice BBQ and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  It was such a wonderful visit!   We left at about 9:30pm. 

A truly amazing day in Boston!!