Discovery Gateway

Last week my Dad just got back from three weeks in Cameroon, so he took the week off work to hang out with us. We went to the Discovery Gateway with him. We mostly stayed in the downstairs play area because Julia was having so much fun, but later in the evening just before we were going to leave we ventured upstairs and then she didn't want to leave because she was having too much fun looking at everything upstairs.

Micah had fun exploring as well.

Safe Kids Fair

Robert has been working on two engagements at work with deadlines in mid-March, so he had started to get pretty busy as the deadlines approached. So I decided the kids and I would caravan up to Utah with my cousins when they went back. I was thinking of visiting my family sometime in the spring anyway when Robert was busy and this way I would have some help getting there. My cousin Jenny drove in the car with us most of the way and we added another kid, Kirsten, to our car so she and Julia could keep each other entertained.

The Saturday after we got to Utah my Mom took us to the Safe Kids Fair in Sandy.

This car was actually a little creepy. It would move and talk to you.

Julia got to sit in many different emergency vehicles- Police car

Police..Rover?

School Bus

Ambulance

Firetruck

Not anything related to safety, but fun nonetheless, the bounce house. Micah got a kick out of watching Julia bounce around. Julia's and my favorite part of the fair was watching the police dog demonstration and watching those smart police dogs take down the bad guy.

Disneyland Part 2

The week after we went the first time we went back to Disneyland one last time before our visitors headed home (and we decided to join them and travel to Utah too, but more on that later.)

We started the day back at California Adventure to get in some rides that we had missed the first time. We thought about doing the main Cars ride, but even getting there at opening the line was 1 1/2 hr long and some people in our group had already ridden it anyways. So the kids rode the Mater ride and we headed over to the Ferris Wheel because Julia had really wanted to ride it.

We decided to get onto a swinging car and since we packed everyone into one car it was really a swinging ride! As we first started to move there was no swinging and the kids were just enjoying the relaxing view. The suddenly we got to an angle when the car could start swinging and woosh we went. The kids freaked out! It was pretty hilarious. Julia was actually scared during the first swing because it surprised her, then she thought it was fun. But the other kids were pretty scared the whole time we swung, even Micah wrapped his little arms around my neck and wouldn't let go.

One last ride on the Merry Go Round.

Waiting in line for Dumbo

Meeting Princess Jasmine. This was the only princess Julia saw because we just ran into her and didn't have to wait in line. At first Julia stood back a little and was like, "Is this really a princess?" Then I guess she decided the princess was legit and started to talking her ear off about what she liked about Disneyland.

Waiting for the Tiki Room. Micah loved it.

I love that Micah is staring at the characters in all our pictures. What is THAT?

Minnie's House

Micah looks awestruck.

Park Day

One day while Steve and his family were in town my cousin Jenny and I gave Steve and Amber the day off by watching their kids while they went to Knotts Berry Farm. We had a picnic at the park with the kids and then spent the afternoon wearing down the kids by having them race each other and then playing at the playground.

Once upon a time I wanted to have five kids, but that desire has since waned since I now actually have kids and know how much stress they are. As we were walking home I counted the kids and realized, hey five kids, like I used to want. No thanks!

We also had banana splits the night before.

Disneyland Part 1

Last week we met my cousin Steven and his family at Disney's California Adventure for the day. I decided to get the cheap annual passes for Julia and I, so if anyone is reading this who wants to go to Disneyland during the week during the off season let us know and we'd probably join you!

We started the day off on a sad note after we stood in line for The Little Mermaid ride, only to make it to the front of the line and find out they were temporarily shutting down the ride, and then realizing it was because there was a little baby not breathing and they were doing CPR on him by the entrance to the ride. It was soo sad to glimpse as we passed by and we have no idea what happened, before or afterward. Luckily our kids didn't notice, but there were other older kids who realized what was going on and started crying.

So after that we tried not to think about it too much and headed over to Bug's Land.

Then over to Car's Land for lunch at Flo's Cafe where they serve the kids meals in souvenir Lightning McQueen cars (reflected in the price of course). Julia actually ate all her food! She is so picky and I feel like she hardly eats.

We met Mater. Besides the main cars ride everything else wasn't too busy, but it was the busiest area of the park.

Micah and I waited while everyone else went on Luigi's Tires. Micah was happy to crawl around while we waited for them.

Then we ended the day over at Pacific Pier.

Hiking in Claremont

On Saturday we went on a little hike in the Claremont Wilderness Park with Steven and his family. I was super impressed with how well his kids did. James and Kirsten both walked the whole way without complaint and Logan walked a lot for a two year old. The rest of the time he was on his dad's shoulders.

Meanwhile Julia spent almost the entire hike in the hiking backpack that we brought for Logan. We made her get out and walk right before the turning around point so she could get some exercise, and she cried the entire time she had to walk. She was pretty grumpy today too though, so maybe she really is sick. We'll be taking her into the doctors tommorrow.

Afterwards we grilled some chicken and lots of yummy veggies and pineapple.

Because We Haven't Had Much to Blog About

We've had a very uneventful month so far because we've still been getting over RSV. We finally had some visitors today, two groups of visitors! Kevin and Ellen stopped by for a few hours on their way to moving to San Jose, and my cousin Steven, his family, and another cousin Jennifer are here for the weekend before they head down to Orange County for vacation. It's so nice to actually interact with people.

So here was Julia and I on Valentines killing some time and boredom by taking pictures together. The frowning one she said, "I don't want to smile anymore." So I told her, "okay, let's frown then."

Baby Pictures

Because I found Robert's 2 mo. baby picture today and I got to thinking who looked like who, so here is all of us.