It is appropriate to start the post with a picture of Ashlyn, the newest member of the Perrone family. She arrived in November and although it took us over four months to meet her, it was well worth the wait. She takes after her sister - she is really cute and refuses to sleep through the night. For example, the first night of our trip Lauren got up at 1am, 3am, and 5am to deal with one of her darling bundles of cuteness.Most mornings we enjoyed a walk to downtown Manhattan Beach to grab some bagels and coffee. This is certainly a routine I could get used to. One morning Auntie D joined us not only for the morning snacks but also for the morning activity, which consisted of Callie and Kate playing in the fountain. They had no worries about wet clothes, that's for sure.
It was awesome to watch Denise enjoy her time with the girls. She also embraced spoiling them when she later presented them both with fairy costumes.
These fairy costumes were quite elaborate - wings, skirts, headdresses, and fairy wands. Needless to say, the girls loved them. They spent over an hour running through the house and posing for pictures. Callie has actually worn the fairy skirt to bed on several occasions since she has been back in Lexington.To insure that the spoiling continued, Auntie Pi popped over with her bag full of goodies for the little ones. Her gifts included tiaras, feathery Easter purses, and all the fixings for dyeing eggs.
It was pretty entertaining to watch Denise and Alicia leading the egg dyeing and managing the energy and attitude of two crazy two-year-olds. Kate and Callie had a blast, but both ended up with colored hands for the rest of the day.
On Easter Sunday, we headed over to the Bazela-Schwartz residence for brunch and a traditional Easter egg hunt. The actual hunt occurred three to four times because it took a while for Kate and Callie to catch on. Josh was kind enough to show them how it all works. This went on innocently for quite some time. Until....
They discovered that these plastic eggs held candy goodness and the hunt took on a whole new meaning. Callie and Kate each probably ate more candy in that one morning than they have their entire lives up to that point. It was impressive to watch. 
Now an Easter brunch is not an Easter brunch without hula hoops. And since we were in the presence of a master hula hooper, we had to watch him in action and learn his moves. Callie thought Josh was a riot, but I don't believe she picked up any of the skills. That may have to wait until the next trip.
We end our Easter morning extravaganza with a picture of the Perrone family all decked out for the occasion. JP and Lauren look dashing in their bunny ears and seem remarkably alert for two people who have endured another night of multiple wakings. It is still hard to believe that it was only four years ago that Sarah and the rest of the girls were dancing on the stage with the band at their wedding. I guess time flies when you are having fun.What's a trip to California without a trip to the beach? Callie and Sarah joined Josh and Gretchen for a drive up to their favorite tidepool beach in Malibu.
We only spent an hour or so but got a good long walk in and staged a couple more Easter egg hunts in the sand. Callie and Josh couldn't get enough of the whole hide and seek aspect of it all.
Auntie Gret certainly wanted to spend some one on one time with Callie and make sure that she knows the proper names for the West Coast sea life. We need to make sure that Callie spends quality time with Gretchen every year to continue to expand her knowledge of science in general and marine life in particular.
Some of the highlights of the trip really were the various times that Sarah got to just hang out with any one of her close friends while Callie played with Kate. Or at the very least Callie and Kate played next to each other. By the fourth day we were there they both would ask for each other when they woke up and seemed to interact more comfortably.
The park was definitely their favorite destination and they spent a lot of time going down the slides and riding on froggies. I guess it should come as no surprise that a couple of two-year-olds loved the playground, especially this one that is designed specifically for toddlers.The main reason for the timing of this particular trip to California was to celebrate Gretchen's 40th birthday. Although there was a lot of family time on this visit, the main event was for adults only at a cool wine bar in Hollywood. The evening included a fair amount of wine, appetizers, cupcakes, and adorable m&m's that had messages wishing Gret a happy birthday. A good time was had by all.
Our California trips are always way too short, but it was great to see everyone and catch up. Hopefully we'll get back to LA again soon.
