Fun Weekend

We had a lot of fun this weekend. Our niece, Megan, is a freshman at UCLA. She called us last week and asked if she could come down and spend the weekend with us. So Friday night she took the train down and we picked her up and went out to dinner.


Saturday morning Grace started her gymnastics class at the YMCA. Last spring we did gymnastics at My Little Gym and it was great. I was wondering how gymnastics at the YMCA would compare. We decided to try the YMCA because it is a lot closer to our house and it is cheaper. With that in mind I didn't think it could possibly be as good as My Little Gym, I was very wrong. Gymnastics at the YMCA was TERIFFIC!!!! First of all, the class only had 5 kids in it, compared to 20 in the class at My Little Gym. Second, the class was more structured so the kids had very specific things they were supposed to do on each apparatus. At the end of class they were allowed to play on whatever they wanted. Grace did so great on everything. She especially suprised me when she jumped into the foam pit with nobody catching her. All of the other parents had to get in and have their child jump to them or hold their hands while they jumped. Not my Gracie, she jumped right in ... again and again. I was such a proud mamma.



On Sunday we went to brunch down at the beach. After eating we took off our shoes and rolled up our pants and went galavanting in the sand ... and a little bit of water. It was fun to be out on the beach in the middle of winter. I love San Diego!!

Sooter Girl

Here are a few pictures of Grace on her scooter that she got for Christmas. It has been pretty nice outside in the afternoons so she has been riding it every chance she gets. She looks so cute in her princess helmet.

2008

I can't believe it is 2008 already!

Tim and I both had to work till noon on New Year's eve and we didn't have daycare so Grace came to work with me! I came armed with a huge bag of toys and snacks. She was pretty good. Everytime she would hear the fax machine ring she would run over and wait for it to print then she would give all of the faxes to my co-worker, it was so funny. The guy in the office across from me is a Grandpa and he was a life saver! He played with her for a long time. It's funny, I went in there to check on them and she had put post-it's all over his office :) I am so lucky to work in such a laid back office!

Later in the evening we went over to our friends Jen, Troy and baby Jack's house for dinner and to hang out. There were a couple of other kids there and Grace played and played. We were getting ready to go home around 9:00 PM and for some reason Troy brought out some boxing gloves and put them on Grace ... this might have been a very bad idea, we'll see. I took some pictures, they were really funny.

Anyway we were home and in bed by 10:00 pm ... we have a toddler that wakes up very early!

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San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco at around 11:00 am. The 7 hour drive was not bad at all. Grace was seriously an angel in the car. She slept for a couple of hours in the beginning then we turned on a movie on the portable DVD player. Then it was time to stop for some breakfast and she ate like a pig. Back on the road we sang songs, played with some toys, took turns hiding under a blanket (for some reason this is hilarious to her), we looked for different things out the window (there was a strech of the drive with lots of farm animals to spot), we colored, and we ate snacks. Upon arriving at Gramma's house Grace was so ready to get out of the car and Gramma was very excited to see us. We spent the afternoon relaxing and we opened a few presents from friends and family who had dropped them off at Gramma's for us.




The next morning we headed out to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. It was pretty chilly from what we are used to in Southern California, it didn't get out of the 40's during the day. We rode the carousel and looked at the seals then got a traditiona; San Francisco lunch of Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread bowl and crabcakes, YUM!

The rest of the week was spent visiting friends and family and spending lots of time with Gramma. It was a nice trip. We left at 4:00 am on Sunday morning and we were home in San Diego by 2:30 pm. We made a stop at my mom's in Corona to rest, eat and pick up all of the Christmas stuff we had left there. It was nice to be home.























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Christmas Day

Grace woke us up at a very dark 4:15 am!!!! AUGH!!! So we brought her into our bed for a little while. She had a cup of milk and watched her Pooh Christmas movie while mommy and daddy tried to get a little more sleep. Finally at 5:00 am we got out of bed and headed into the living room to see if Santa had come. Grace was so excited to see the pile of gifts under the tree. We got her started on her stocking. She was so excited every time she pulled something new out of it. It was so fun to watch her excitement! After opening her stocking I popped some cinnamon rolls in the oven and gave Grace the go ahead to bust into opening her gifts. She got a scooter, a helmet for riding the scooter, a puzzle, a play laptop, playdoh caddy, a game, some building blocks, and a play baking set. After all of the excitement Daddy and Grace settled into playing the game she got while mommy got a shower and packed the car to leave. We were on the road headed for Corona by 9:00 am.

Once at my Mom and Dad's house in Corona we had some brunch and relaxed until Kelly, Chris, Tristan and Hailey came over about 3:00 pm. Once we got all of the kids to sit down the gift frenzy began ... The kids got so much great stuff. Grace had 3 favorite gifts, a fuzzy backpack that has a pink poodle attached and it is a roller bag. She was rolling that thing all over the place. One of her other favorite gifts was a play Dirt Devil vacuum. It runs by batteries and it actually has a little bit of suction. She went around vacuuming everything. Last was the big gift from my parents ... a TRAMPOLINE! It is a little triangle shaped one and it has handles to hold onto while you jump. After getting it put together Grace climbed on it and went BONKERS! She was a maniac. Needless to say, she loved it.

After a nice dinner and yummy desserts we got Grace down to bed, rearranged the car, and turned in early hoping to get some good sleep before getting on the road early the next morning.

Next ... Our trip to San Francisco!

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Christmas Eve

Christmas eve started off a bit somber with the news of my uncle passing. We spent the day doing stuff around the house and packing for our upcoming trip to San Francisco. At 4:30 we got dressed up and went to Christmas service at our church. It was the first time Grace got to go into the big church with us. They had a family service where they encouraged all of the children to attend. Grace loved the music and the skits that they did. At one point our friends Liz and Kiel and their daughter Sara were stitting toward the front of our section and Kiel got up to take Sara out for a bit and Grace spotted them walking up the aisle and she yelled "SARA - mommy I see SARA!!" It was really loud, but cute. I had to smile. She was really good, I couldn't have asked for any better. After church we went out to dinner. When we got home we let Grace open the gifts that a couple of friends had given her. She really got into opening the gifts, Christmas morning was going to be a lot of fun.


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Sea World

The Sunday before Christmas we didn't have any plans so we decided to go to Sea World for a little while It was a BEAUTIFUL day. We visited the Wild Artic exhibit, where the Beluga Whales, Polar Bears and Walrus' were in full force. They were all super playful and a lot of fun to watch. We spent a lot of time in there. At one point we were watching the Walrus swim around and he came right up to the glass where Grace was standing and he put his flipper right on the glass by her head, it scared her half to death! It was hilarious! After the Wild Artic we went to the dolphin show. Grace loved when the dolphins jumped really high out of the water. She stood there watching with an amazed look on her face. We had a nice lunch and explored the park a little more then headed home. We had a great time.

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Happy New Year!

We just want to wish everybody a wonderful New Year! We hope 2008 brings you much joy, happiness, and good health!

Our holidays turned out to be very nice. Grace was spoiled by so much love it was incrediable. Thank you to all of our friends and family for EVERYTHING!

I will write a more detailed post about the holidays, including pictures, very soon!