Family Vacation to San Francisco! (part 2)

I don't think I mentioned in my last post that we went to San Francisco because Jason had a conference. He decided to take Karla and me. So he was busy during the day Mon-Fri and then we stayed Saturday and most of Sunday to sight-see together. We also did a few things in the evenings but Karla was pretty tired by about 4pm because of the time change.

Vacation Days 2-7

We would wake up plenty early enough with the time change so it was kind of nice to be lazy in our hotel room each morning before going anywhere. On Day 2 it was too early for places to be open so Karla and I hung out in the hotel room. First we read a chapter book for about a half an hour. Karla sat in my lap and I really enjoyed that time with her. Then she watched an episode of Caillou while I mapped out our day. She was excited that Caillou was on - even in California!

We headed to the trolley stop. Karla seemed a little sad and said she missed her friends. When I pressed her a little bit I think really she just wanted to swim at the hotel and was using “I miss my friends” as an excuse. I promised her we’d go to the pool later that day but we were going to go out and explore while it was daylight. She definitely perked up after that!

We both had our first cable car ride. It was fun! We walked the rest of the way to Fisherman’s Wharf and went to the Aquarium. She was scared of the sharks – and they didn’t even have “big’ ones. So I think we went through the aquarium faster than we may have otherwise. I let her get a stuffed jellyfish in the gift shop. Of all the sea creatures to pick!? (if you don't know...I've been stung more than once by those horrible creatures)

Then we walked around Pier 39 and ate lunch at Sea Lion Café where we could see the sea lions, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and a view of the city of San Francisco! It was really nice sitting there with Karla for a while. I could tell she was enjoying her day. She even looked around in the shops with me for quite a while. We got some sweet treats and then headed back to the cable car stop. We went to the cable car museum which I actually thought was neat…didn’t think I’d be that interested in it. Learned a lot in a short amount of time there! We then had to ride a bus the remainder of the way back to our hotel because the cable car “turnaround” (wye) was having trouble and they were trying to fix it.

We got back to the hotel and I laid on the bed…she bounced around and talked nonstop for the 30 minutes until Jason got back. She was happy to see him and show him her jellyfish. My feet were sore and I was tired so I don’t know how she kept going. The 3 of us went to Chevy’s for a Mexican dinner and then I “made” Jason take Karla to the pool for a short swim while I laid on the bed and read.

While we were in one of the stores at the pier the older man working there was watching us look at the pretty sweaters. We got a little closer to where he was sitting and he said “You have a beautiful daughter. She looks so happy.” I thanked him. For some reason I felt like that was one of the best compliments I could receive! That she is happy.

The next day the 3 of us hung out in our room together for a while first thing in the morning. Karla and Jason played a little while I read. Then after Jason was off, Karla and I went to the pool for a while. It was cold! She loves it though and I knew that is what she wanted to do more than anything else. Then we showered and were able to meet Jason for lunch. Karla was pretty tired so we decided to make her take a nap after lunch. It took her a little while to fall asleep but then she slept for an hour and a half while I got to read (are you seeing a theme with me here?). Then we headed to the mall. It was a lot bigger than I was expecting and Karla still seemed a bit tired. Once we found the Vera Bradley purse store, Bath and Body Works and especially “The Icing” store she was happy! She loved all the jewelry. When Jason was done for the day we went to dinner in Chinatown. Karla loved the rice and even liked (and ate) the sweet and sour chicken. She tried – and liked – the tea too!

On Wednesday Karla and I went to the Children's Creativity Museum...only a block from our hotel and really fun!

We made our own dance video, edited a photo of ourselves on a computer, performed our own brief 2- person theater show, made clay figures and made an animated video with them. Karla loved making the video and worked at it for an hour.

We went to a super cool playground really close to our hotel and got to say “hi” to Jason between a few of his sessions. The conference center was next to the playground.

Jason went out and got us a pizza for dinner because Karla was just too tired to go out anywhere.

On Thursday Jason was done a little earlier than the previous days so we headed to Fisherman's Wharf and took a bay tour on a ferry. We went under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz.

On Saturday we rented a car and went to Muir Woods to see the big redwoods. We hiked for about 4-5 miles...some of it pretty steep. We were in the woods for about 4 1/2 hours and Karla did better than I did! I think I was ready to call it a day before the other two. She enjoyed being the "leader" and leading us through the woods and "teaching" us about the things she saw.

It was good to get away for a week but it was also good to come back home!




Karla was extremely excited to get back to preschool! Then of course she only had school 1 day this past week rather than 3. When we went you would have thought she'd been gone for ages the way she was saying "hi" to everyone and even hugging her friends. I love seeing her love preschool.

Other BIG news from this past week...I had my first parent-teacher conference (as a parent) with Karla's preschool teacher AND I REGISTERED KARLA FOR KINDERGARTEN! I can't believe it! It doesn't seem real...in fact I don't really think it is. :) It may have just been a dream this week.

Her conference went very well and I am very proud of her. Then the day we went to the elementary school, which neither of us had ever been in before, she was brave, talkative and did her best on the screening. After about 40 minutes I told her it was time to go and she stopped walking in the hallway and said "That is it??" She was hoping to be there all day!

Here she is after kindergarten registration. She didn't take her stickers or nametag off until the end of the day!


For a Valentine's Day present for Jason, Karla and I got our picture taken in matching outfits. I made the skirts and hats. Maybe it was really a gift for myself but I think Jason enjoyed it too. :)

Family Vacation to San Francisco! (part 1)

On Sunday February 26 we woke Karla up at 4:15 am to head to the airport for our trip! She woke up pretty easily and said she was very excited to go on vacation. We left the house a few minutes before 5 am.

The plane ride was thankfully a direct flight. But it was long. Karla did a good job of being patient even though I know she was getting tired of sitting still. I slept for about 45 minutes while Jason read and Karla watched a movie. We tried to get Karla to take a nap but she slept for about 15 minutes and then we hit some turbulence and she was awake. That was the only sleep she had since 4:15 am and it was a 6 hour flight…landing at 12:45 our time. Karla sang a lot on the flight and drew a lot AND talked a lot. I like hearing her sing out loud because I know she is happy.

We took a taxi to our hotel. Karla thought that was fun. She thought it was her “first taxi ride.” She doesn’t remember the ones we took in Guatemala, I guess. She liked sitting in the middle of the back seat without a car seat and between Mommy and Daddy. She again sang a lot of the way to the hotel.

We were able to check in to our hotel and then headed outside to look around. We ate lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. We were there at 11:20 CA time and the restaurant didn’t open until 11:30. To us it was 2:20 pm and we were hungry! We waited and soon enough polished off all of our pizza.

After that we came back to our hotel. Karla had been so good I didn’t want to push our luck. We all laid down to take a nap and slept for about 2 hours. Karla wanted me to nap in the double bed with her so I thought that would be nice so I did. I imagined cuddle time – but the only way I can describe my nap is to say that I felt tenderized!! Her feet were from my ribs to my knees constantly….and pushing hard! I don’t know how she does that while asleep. When I finally “woke” she was perpendicular to me with her feet in my low back.

We went out walking again and went to get Jason registered for his conference. Afterwards we went to Mel’s Drive Thur Diner for dinner and had burgers, fries, and a milkshake. Then we came back to the hotel to do what Karla had been wanting to do all day – SWIM. Just Karla and Jason ended up getting in to the water because I guess the water wasn’t very warm. I watched them from the side. I LOVE watching the two of them together. I love watching her when she is having so much fun. She was riding on Jason’s back as he swam the length of the pool and was pretending he was a "horsie." She had a huge grin on her face the whole time and was laughing and laughing! I love that!

I wonder if I will ever be able to stay in a hotel again without thinking a lot about being in Guatemala. I guess I just associate hotels with Guatemala. At one point when we were walking around the hotel she said "This reminds me of when I was a baby." I asked her what she meant and she said that the smell of the hotel reminded her of Guatemala. I thought that was interesting! Maybe she does remember some of our hotel stay there.

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis on the 22nd floor. Karla loves pushing the buttons for and in the elevators. She also loves jumping up and down while sort of flapping her arms in the elevator because she says it feels like she is flying. It makes everyone that enters the elevator smile, laugh, and/or talk to her.

On Monday Karla and I both experienced our first cable car ride. It was hard to get a good picture since we were moving, she was right next to me, and there wasn't any extra room to move around. We both enjoyed it.

We went to the Aquarium at the Bay. She enjoyed seeing the snake, of coures.

We ate lunch at the end of a pier and could see sea lions, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz from our seats.

We took a ferry ride under the GG Bridge and around Alcatraz.

Oso had fun back at the hotel while we were out and about.

We found a really big playground right by our hotel.

On Saturday, we rented a car and went to Muir Woods to see the redwoods. For more Muir Woods pics click here.

Fisherman's Wharf. Our last day was beautiful! 70 and sunny!

Seeing how pulleys work at the pier.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Still Growing...

January 2012


Januray 2011


January 2010


December 2008


Look at how small she was in the above picture! Can't believe it.

Here is one more from today. Look how much she has grown!!
This year we had to tell her to go get Oso for the picture...and she had to go look for him to find him. No OJ in sight. Hasn't had any to drink in a long time. Her juice of choice now is apple.

Grandpas

Karla had a great weekend! She had tons of Grandpa time! Saturday Jason was away for the day and my mom and I went to the mall. Karla got to stay home with Grandpa. When discussing plans earlier this week, Grandpa had told Karla on the phone that there was only one condition to staying with her for the day...she had to hug him once every hour. I didn't think much of this until Mom and I got home and my timer went off. He had set the timer and they had hugged every hour!!! Dad said he even got an extra hug at one point because Karla said they didn't have to wait until the timer every time. Aww!!

They played Polly Pockets, Barbies, watched TV, had a rest time, and made a gingerbread man cake! They waited to eat the cake until Mom and I got home...that was Karla's idea. Here they are eating the cake.


Mom and I were gone for quite a while and I had a lot of fun! I haven't gone shopping (other than for Christmases) like that in way too long!


Then today I got to go shopping with Kathy and my Mom-in-law for bridesmaids dresses! Jason was under the weather so Pap-pap got the job of "watching over" Karla. She prefers "watching over" to "babysitting" - probably because of the word "baby" in babysitting. Pap-pap got to play Polly Pockets and Barbies and Hi Ho Cherry-O!

I had another great day of shopping! The dresses are narrowed down and I am excited about getting to dress up! Plus it was fun to talk to Kathy and Mom all afternoon about all the exciting things coming up this year!

I didn't take any pics today of Pap-pap with Karla...sorry, don't know what was wrong with me. Maybe I should dig out the one of him getting a manicure from Karla last year.... :)

Catching Up

So much has happened in the past month and I haven't kept up with my blog. A few random things:


Funny things Karla says right now:

*"ridic-lee-us" for ridiculous

*"imaginating" for imagine/imagination

*the other day she said "pep-si-tute" for substitute (teacher)...she knew that was wrong and started laughing and asked me what the correct word was. Now we say pepsitute instead of substitute

*we talk about how much we love each other, for example, we say "I love you to the moon and around the stars and back." After tucking Karla in one night and telling her how much I love her she said "Mommy, I love you to hell and back." I was able to make it out of the room before laughing.

*one day when Karla was particularly anxious to get to go to preschool she said to me, "Mommy, I sure have a lot of you this morning. Is it almost time for school?"

*around Christmas time we encountered the Salvation Army people outside of our grocery store. On the way to the car I was explaining why they were ringing a bell and collecting money. Then she excitedly said "I have a great idea. We should stand outside and ring a bell so we can have more money!"

*When we went to the circus in November Karla's favorite part was the "Egyptian" dancers. She still can NOT understand why we didn't see Moses or Pharoah though. She still asks me about this occasionally. She thought they should have been there since there were Egyptian "princesses" at the circus.

*When we went to the Children's Museum after Christmas Karla said something pretty funny. I did not witness this but heard about it from both of my parents. Karla, Audra, and my parents were walking around looking at some of the animal dioramas. Karla and Audra were talking about each one as they walked. They came to the deer diorama and there was a buck and a doe. Audra asked Karla where the baby one was (probably b/c most dioramas were animal families) and Karla very seriously and matter-of-factly answered "Oh, the parents have filled out a bunch of paperwork and they are going to be adopting a baby soon." And she kept on walking. Audra seemed to accept this answer. My parents had to try very hard not to laugh out loud.


Karla is still loving preschool, playing the violin (plays two songs now!), and dance class. She continues to be the light of my days. :)

Here is a link to pictures from the past month. Today Karla and Jason played out in the snow with our friends Joe, Josiah, and Nate. I got to stay inside and hold baby Abbi and talk to Kim. Enjoy!

Flower Girl

Big news! Karla is going to get to be a flower girl this coming summer! She is very excited! Her Tio Kevin is getting married to Kathy! They have asked her to be in the wedding and gave her two pink roses. We are going to let the petals dry out and then practice with them for the wedding.

Jason and I are also going to be in the wedding party! I am pretty excited too! It will be an exciting year! Did I mention that Kathy and I have been friends since high school...and now we get to be related!? Yep, pretty exciting!