Kyler's Huntington Library Introduction

As you all are probably aware of now, we LOVE going to the gardens.  And the Huntington Library is one of our absolute favorites.  So naturally we wanted to take Kyler to experience the joy with us.  Makenna had been several times before and of course she went with us too!

Our first stop was to the Japanese Garden area.  The last time we had gone it was not yet open, so we were anxious to see it.  Makenna and Kyler both enjoyed the waterfall.

Then Makenna showed off her ninja skills with daddy's help.

 And her diva dance skills:-)

We posed for a quick picture before heading off to the children's garden area.  (Yes, yes...mommy needs to do a better job at looking in the background of photos before she takes them...they were draining the lake/pond)

Kyler took a little snooze in the stroller so Makenna and daddy went off playing at the Children's Garden.  Makenna's favorite part was finding all of her "houses".  Here are a few them:

She had the blue house that was cleverly named for the blue doorway (which, by the way, was her favorite house!).  She also had fun going into this huge fog area where it produces so much fog that you can hardly see.  She got scared the first time that daddy walked in there and she couldn't see where he went.  The second time she was prepared though and had fun in there and came out laughing and soaked.

Daddy and Makenna ran around on the grass area and looked for pretend cats while I fed Kyler and then we hopped in the car and went home.  Such a fun day!

Halloween 2012

I was so excited to get to dress up my TWO kids this year for Halloween!  Knowing that it will probably be one of the last years that I will have any say over Makenna's costume, I made the most of it and went with a theme for the four of us: Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Makenna was of course Goldilocks, Kyler was Baby Bear, Toby was Papa Bear, and I was Mama Bear.

But before I get ahead of myself...We began with our yearly pumpkin carving the day before Halloween (Maybe next year we will actually get pumpkins carved earlier...I won't hold my breath about that though).  I had planted pumpkins in our home garden this year and I planted them a bit late, so we had to buy a pumpkin after all.  But, the small green one that Wyatt carved was from our garden:-)

Makenna still didn't much care for the mess of scooping out the pumpkin guts.

Wyatt was there to carve pumpkins with us this year and, unlike Makenna, he had SOOO much fun scooping out the pumpkin guts.

Daddy helped to finish the scooping and do the carving of the pumpkins.

 And here is our finished jack-o-lantern behind bars:-)

Then on Halloween day we got all dressed and first went to daddy's work to show off the kids.  Next year we will know to go earlier because they actually had trick-or-treating at his work, which was such a wonderful idea.  Then we met our friends in downtown Redlands for trick-or-treating at the businesses there.  We had done this last year and had really enjoyed it.  Last year Makenna had to be held the whole time and gladly allowed her friend to say trick-or-treat while she reaped the benefits without saying anything.  This year however she was prepared and knew exactly what to do.  She boldly went up to the people with the candy, held up her bucket, and said "trick-or-treat"!  She and her friend enjoyed having each other there.

And who can forget the two little ones.  They watched sisters go up and get candy and schemed with each other about how they will totally be able to get more candy then their sisters next Halloween.

After downtown Redlands we headed back home for a quick bite to eat before heading out one more time to Wyatt's house for...well...of course...more trick-or treating!!  We went around Wyatt's neighborhood because the houses on our street don't even bother handing out candy because there isn't enough kids that come by to bother.

They got sooo much candy by the end of the night.  And it was Makenna's first experience with trick-or-treating around houses.  It was a little difficult to get across the concept of only going up to the doors that had their lights on.  She proudly said trick-or-treat for her and for Wyatt when they went up to the doors.  It was so funny because Wyatt wouldn't say trick-or-treat but would hold up his basket and say "put in here":-)    We were so glad that they invited us to trick-or-treat with them!  Since it was late, we stopped by my mom and Jim's house to show off our costumes and then headed on home to get the kiddos in bed.

And one would think that is enough Halloween for anyone, but of course the next weekend we had a Halloween party.  I mean, we really get use out of our costumes:-)

Goldilocks the bear and owl wrangler

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Yes, that is all of the Halloween adventures for this year:-)

Our Very Own Swing Set

We are so blessed that Jim is so very good at building things!  He decided that for a gift for Makenna he was going to maker her a swing set.  Toby and he set about building it from scratch.  Makenna was so excited when they brought the swing set over to the house on the back of their friend's truck.

She was even more excited when it was set up in the backyard and she could swing on it.

And Kyler had his very first experience on the swing and he liked it too!

Thanks Papa for the wonderful swing set!!

Campland On The Bay

Both Toby and my family camped a lot growing up and we have many fond memories.  We definitely wanted to introduce camping to our kids too!  With Makenna, we didn't take her on her first camping trip until she was two years old, but were determined to take Kyler at a much younger age.  We took him for the first time up to Dogwood campground in our local mountains.  We again got the opportunity to go on another camping trip to one of my favorite campgrounds from my childhood weekend trips: Campland On The Bay.  This campground is so much fun and is located in San Diego.  It has all kinds of special activities to do, has wonderful parks, used to have a frisbee golf course (I was saddened to see it was no longer there), and is located right on the bay.

Since Toby and I are brave enough to go camping for one night, we still weren't ready to go camping for two nights with the baby and since Jim wasn't able to go with my mom, we decided to send Makenna with my mom for Friday night and then would join them Saturday morning.  It was the first time that Makenna had ever really been away from us, so I have to be honest with you, I was a little nervous, although I knew she would have so much fun with grandma.  Plus, shipping off one child and all of her stuff with my mom was a pretty good car packing solution for us:-)  We found we had plenty of room...and for some reason it was a VERY quiet evening and car-ride the next morning...hehe (Yes, Makenna can talk, and talk, and talk...she takes after me).

Makenna did great with grandma on Friday night, although it was quite chilly so my mom gave us the heads up to bring some warmer clothes for sleeping.  Who knew that San Diego could actually get frigidly cold at night?  Makenna got her first Happy Meal on the way down to the campground with my mom and now will ask me when we go to McDonalds if she gets a toy.  I tell her that it is only for when she goes with grandma. (Hmm...I wonder how long I will be able to get away with her thinking that?)  And she slept well in the tent with my mom.

When we got down there the next morning Makenna wasn't ecstatic to see us like I had hoped expected, but instead was more interested in getting ready to jump in the swimming pool with great grandpa.  Makenna had such a great time splashing around the pool with great grandpa while Toby and I constructed our tent.  We then had to go over to the AMAZING playground.  It was way nicer then when I was younger.  Makenna had fun climbing on the play structure, but she stuck to the smaller slides.  And of course she loved the swings.

We had lunch, attempted to put the kids down for a nap (tents aren't too nap friendly), and then we went down to the water.  Much to my surprise, Makenna loved the ocean water and was even alright with the sand this time.  We hadn't bothered to put her in her swimsuit because we were certain that there was no way that she would go into that water as soon as she felt how cold it was, and honestly none of the adults wanted to go into that freezing water with her.  So we were so shocked when she went right into the water and kept going deeper and deeper.  We ended up having to tuck her dress up so it didn't get too wet.  Next time we will be prepared with a swim suit:-)

My mom and Toby attempted to help Makenna build a sand castle but she wasn't too interested.

Kyler had fun laying on the blanket while great grandma played with him and shaded him from the sun.

We tried letting Kyler feel the water too, but he really didn't like how cold it was...poor baby.

One of my other favorite parts about the campground is that they have an ice cream shop.  So, of course Makenna had to get some ice cream with great grandpa and daddy.

We had a yummy steak dinner and s'mores for dessert.  Makenna was excited to do s'mores until we actually did them and then she decided that she would rather just eat a piece of chocolate and go to bed.  She was exhausted from the day.  We made some new friends with the campers next to us and they came and joined us for s'mores also.  Then it was off to bed.

That night let's just say that none of us slept well.  It was REALLY cold so the baby was up every hour even though we had him wrapped up really warm (He hates being cold).  Makenna slept alright, but we had to keep tucking her back under the blankets because she likes to kick them off all night.  Toby and I were cold and kept waking up every hour when Kyler did.  So, our sleeping experience while camping didn't go as well as the first time, but we survived.  We had fun camping, now the long haul through the fall and winter months without camping because tent camping isn't fun in the cold and rain.

Fire Station Visit

I have been wanting to take Makenna to the fire station for a long time and I finally found an excuse: Letter F Week!!  We were studying the letter F this week and were learning what firefighters do, so I called up our local fire station and they were so accommodating.  Our friends were able to come with us too which made it even more special!  The firefighters first gave the kids a special fire hat and badge which the girls were thrilled about.  Although, Makenna kept insisting that she was wearing the hat backwards...hehe.  They asked the kids if they wanted to go sit in the fire engine, but it was a little too intimidating for Makenna and she opted not to; but Makenna's little friend wasn't afraid. (By the way, after we got home Makenna informed me that when we go back she wants to sit in the fire truck next time).

Then we took a group shot with the fire engine.

The firefighters were so sweet and took us on a tour of their fire house.  They took us into their living room and told the girls that it was where they watched movies and that they liked to watch "Little Mermaid" every other day.  Up until that point both of the girls, that never stop talking usually, had been very quiet and shy, but the mention of "Little Mermaid" brought them a little more out of their shells.  Then they showed us their kitchen and finally the spot that Makenna had been begging me to see: their bedrooms.  When we had read the firefighter books at home she was very interested in the fact that they had beds when they were working and kept telling me that she wanted to see where they slept.  And when asked if she had any questions for the firefighters she said that she wanted to know if they had any dolls to play with?...hehe.

All of the firefighters were so extremely wonderful with the girls.  I really want to go back again next year when the girls are a little older and the two little boys can get in on the action.  They said that when the kids get a little older that they will let them help shoot water with the hose.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We have a few wonderful pumpkin patches located just a few minutes drive from us and Toby's sister asked us to join her family at one of the pumpkin patches this year.  Last year we had gone with them too and the kids had a blast, so we definitely looked forward to going again this year.

The kids started off driving the little tractors.  I am so glad that they won't be driving any time soon because  it was too complex for them to push the petal, steer, and watch where they were going.  Toby was constantly picking up the car to redirect it from running into someone or something.  They had so much fun though!!  They took turns driving the tractor.

We had to get a few pictures of our family with the pumpkins and the kiddos.  Unfortunately, it is really hard to get a good picture of one kid, so it was nearly impossible to get a picture of two or three.  So, here are the best ones:-)

Then we let the kids go on a few more of the jumpy, bouncy, fun areas before it started to get dark.

Kyler and I hung out and watched the two kids run around and have fun!!  It won't be very long before he is joining in the fun with the others.

As the sun was going down, we went over to the petting zoo to use up the remainder of our tickets.  Makenna is usually totally scared of the animals, but I think she was extra brave since Wyatt and Auntie Beth went in there with her and not Toby and I:-)  She had such a wonderful time feeding the bunnies... 

 and the goats had a fun time chewing on her dress and hair...hehe.  Auntie Beth saved her so she doesn't have any lasting traumatizing fear of goats:-)

Then with tired kids we headed on home.  Fun times and we didn't even officially make it to the pumpkin patch area because we had so much fun playing everywhere else.  It was okay though because we had pumpkins growing in our own home garden this year!

Phoenix Vacation

We definitely needed a vacation and so I went online to look for some places that we could go that were close enough, not too expensive, and would be fun for all of us.  Having already been down to San Diego and up the California coast with Makenna, we decided to look east.  The place that I found was Phoenix, Arizona.  Toby and I had been to Sedona a few years back before having kids and we decided that the 4.5 - 5 hour drive in the car was doable with the two kids.  We also found an awesome deal for a one bedroom hotel in Scottsdale that had a full kitchen and laundry in the unit!  The funny thing is that this place was almost as big as our first condo:-)

On our way there we decided to travel at nighttime hoping that the two kids would sleep.  Well, at least one of the kids slept: Kyler.  Makenna decided to stay awake the whole time, so she was pretty exhausted when we arrived at midnight to the hotel.  And honestly, when we were in the car we had to enforce a quiet time rule after about 10 pm when we just needed a break from Makenna's constant talking; she was so excited to go on vacation!

*Day 1* - The Children's Museum of Phoenix

This was such a fun museum for Makenna.  She could not stop running from one place to the other just to check out what was fun in each location.  It was difficult getting her to stay in one location long enough to enjoy that play area.

Makenna and daddy climbed the huge play structure.

And peered down at mommy and Kyler below.

Then Makenna put handkerchiefs into these suction tubes and caught (tried to catch) them as they blew back out.  There was lots of giggling involved. 

Although I couldn't get her to do any of the other fun crafts, she did enjoyed painting the huge rocket ship.

Everyone needs a Marilyn Monroe moment in their life and she had it when she went over the air vent in the 2 and under play area. She thought it was so funny.

She drove a tricycle through the car wash.

Kyler had just discovered the mirror and how fun the"baby in the mirror" is to look at.  And while Kyler was looking in the mirror, what is not pictured is this huge area of hanging pool noodles where you could run all around inside them.  Makenna could not get enough of this area.  That was definitely Makenna's favorite part of the whole museum.

Let's not forget about shopping!  Makenna LOVES to pretend shop.We are going to be in so much trouble later:-)

And then there was cooking.  She served us lots of delicious meals at the little kitchen.

*Day 2* - Arizona Museum for Youth...

Makenna enjoyed cooking again.

Then she built a tower.

And even Kyler enjoyed the puppet show that daddy put on for him.  Makenna did a whole song and dance routine with the puppets too!

And the Natural History Museum

This was a fun museum with a lot more interactive areas than I would have expected in a museum like this.

Makenna rode the rocking pterodactyl (We so need one of these for our house...hehe)!

Of course Makenna jumped at the chance to do a 3-D scorpion puzzle.  She has been obsessed with scorpions since the first time that we went camping and her and Grandma went scorpion hunting.  And we all know she LOVES puzzles!  This was just one of the three puzzles that she found to do at the museum.  She also did a huge 3-D dinosaur puzzle and a pterodactyl wing puzzle.

Makenna and daddy got to be on TV.  If you look carefully at the TV screen, you can see them there and on the green screen behind.

Makenna and daddy went panning for gold for about 2 seconds before she decided that it was just too much work for such little payoff.

Probably one of her favorite things to do was brush away the dirt (aka wood chips) to discover hidden dinosaur  fossils. Although, I think she was more enthralled with the brushing away dirt part and could care less about the finding something hidden.   She couldn't believe that so many other kids were just as excited about cleaning as she was:-)

*Day 3* - Sea Life Aquarium

This aquarium definitely didn't rival any of the hugely wonderful aquariums that we have in California, but never-the-less we were still impressed by the way in which they laid this aquarium out and how interactive everything was.

Makenna and daddy posing for a picture in the jaws of a shark.

Throughout the aquarium they had small bubbles that the kids could climb into and  feel  like they were under water.  Makenna enjoyed going in all of them to get a closer look at the fish.

Daddy and Makenna got to touch the starfish.  Makenna actually did a good job and didn't freak out.  Although, she only really wanted to touch it once and then she was done.

Kyler loved watching all of the sea animals too!

At the end of the aquarium there was a fun play structure that Makenna got to run around in and then we were finished.  It was time for lunch so it was convenient that the aquarium was located at the mall and so we just headed right on over to the food court and this is what Makenna saw that delayed lunch:

A Courousel!!  We gave in and let her go on the carousel before lunch so that we didn't have the constant asking throughout lunch.  This mall is seriously smart putting the carousel right at the food court.  I mean who wouldn't put their kid on the carousel knowing that they would have to suffer the wrath of a whining child for the entire meal otherwise.

*Day 4* - Desert Botanical Gardens

So after checking the weather and seeing that it wasn't going to be as hot as it had been the previous days we decided to go to the botanical gardens.  We LOVE gardens and we were really looking forward to going.  Unfortunately, it was still so unbearably hot that we didn't stay very long before we had to head off to the car for some cool air.  Who would have thought that the beginning of October could still reach high 90s?

Kyler and Daddy posing for a picture in  one of the shady spots that we found to rest.

Beautiful butterflies in the butterfly garden.

Makenna searching for butterflies in the butterfly garden.

If you ever plan to go to these gardens make sure it is a cool day because with the dirt and cement walkways it just radiates heat and there is a limited amount of shade.  We really tried to stay longer but the kids were falling asleep because it was so hot and we were all just miserable.  We promptly went back to the hotel and went swimming.

*Day 5* - Japanese Friendship Gardens...

With our failed attempt the day before at going to the botanical gardens we decided to try one other smaller garden since we really do love gardens so much.  This was a lot better experience.  There was lots of shade, a limited amount of cement, and lots of grass to help lessen the heat.

We took the opportunity to get some cute sibling pictures of our two adorable kids.

And we fed the Koi Fish.  What did we feed them you ask...why cheerios, what else (and yes we did purchase these at the check in desk).  The fish were crazy for them too.  They were swimming on top of each other to get to the cheerios.

 We had a great time at these gardens and wished that they were bigger so we could have spent more time.  And their bathrooms were BEAUTIFUL!  I know you all wanted to know that.  We see the inside of lots of bathrooms now that Makenna is potty trained and this was by far the best public restroom I had ever seen.  Toby said that they had actually won an award for it...hehe...I am not sure what the award was called or who on earth would bother rating public bathrooms, but apparently they do.

And the Arizona Science Center

Well, we knew that this was going to be our kind of hands-on museum when you first walk into the ginormous museum and you find a huge telescope that displays the image of your eye on the big screen.

They had a huge outdoor corridor that had all things water.  Although, I would say that you should make sure that you have good traction on your shoes in this area because we saw a few kids eat it on the slippery floor.  Makenna had fun moving around all of the contraptions and experimenting with the water.

Then Toby and I tested out our communication skills by playing this game.   One person  makes a design with the shapes and then describes to the other how to recreate it.  Well, it worked when Toby told me how to recreate his design but when I told him how to recreate the design that Makenna made, it didn't work so well...note the picture.  The funny thing is that when we took our pre-marital classes through our church we had the same issue then too.  So I am sure that our pre-marital mentors would be happy to see that even after 8 years of marriage that we still don't communicate effectively...hehe:-)

After our failed communication we decided that we would add bad parenting to our list for the day and we let Makenna  lie down on the bed of nails.  Yes, they were actually nails that slowly came up when you pressed the button.  The poor child that was in front of us sat up during it and got pricked by the nails.  But we had warned Makenna not to sit up and so she did a great job of lying still.  And we were at the ready to lift her off immediately if she had freaked out and tried to sit up.

Then we went into another area of the museum that had a severe weather conditions area that rained water,  blew wind, produced heat, and shook the ground for all of the different types of natural disasters.  I thought it was pretty cool but Makenna did not.  She didn't want to go back when daddy asked her to go with him the next time around.

This museum is 4 levels tall so we made our way through all of the amazing exhibits and ended by relaxing on the fourth floor deck area and letting Kyler roll around and Makenna play on the fake grass.  I think that Makenna needed to be a little older to enjoy this museum more, but I tell you, Toby and I had a blast!

*Day 6* - Pump It Up

Running out of places that weren't too far away, and the need to let Makenna exert some energy so she could take a good nap, we went to a bounce house place that was just around the corner from our hotel.

Daddy and Makenna boxing.

Makenna played in this area for a long time just throwing balls into the holes and then retrieving them again.

Makenna was exhausted after so much bouncing and so was Toby:-)  Kyler and I just hung out and watched because he was asleep most of the time that we were there.  We attained our goal of a good nap and then when Makenna woke up we headed out again.

And the McCormick Stillman Railroad...

Ahh...finally, a day that was only in the high 80s.  We took that opportunity to head to the McCormick Stillman Railroad park.

We went twice on the small railroad ride that went around the park.  Makenna  was excited to go on  a train until we went through the dark tunnel and everyone was making loud, scary noises.  It took some convincing to get to her to back on it the second time, but she enjoyed it more because she knew what to expect and nobody made loud noises the second time through.

And of course, who could pass up the carousel...again!

Sorry...I had to add this cut picture of our handsome little guy waiting so patiently for the train to come.

And Dinner with Grandpa and Jean

We hadn't seen Toby's grandpa since before Makenna was born and we were excited that we got a chance to meet Jean and to see grandpa again.  We had the most wonderful dinner and time to talk with the two of them.  We wish that we could have stayed and talked longer but the kids needed to be put in bed.  Hopefully we will be able to see the two of them again soon.  The dinner and dessert was AMAZING!!  I think that I ate way too much but it was worth it because it was so good.

*Day 7* - Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium

We got checked out of our wonderful hotel room and of course had to make the most of our last day, so I planned for us to go to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium since it was on our way back home and we had to do something to exhaust the kids enough to take a 5 hour nap on the drive home (I know...wishful thinking).

This zoo was a lot larger than I had anticipated after reading lots of reviews on the place.  We got to get really close up to a lot of the animals, which was really nice and made it worth going.  We started off on the aquarium side.

Makenna loved watching the otters running around.

After we saw the aquarium section we realized how big the zoo part was.  The kids were starting to fade fast so unfortunately we had to head through this section pretty quickly.  We made it to a few things before we were carrying both kids while they were sleeping.  It is amazing how heavy they are when they are asleep.

At most aquariums and zoos it is hard to spot the animals.  We didn't have trouble spotting this sleeping alligator.  We were shocked when Makenna went right up to it, without any prompting and wanted to hold its hand.  Hmm...she is scared of bearded dragons but gladly would go and hold an alligators hand.  Now we know:-)

But the main event was feeding the giraffes   Do notice that I allowed Toby the opportunity while I gladly took pictures:-)  I had to show the photos in progression for this one.  For 50 cents you get a small handful of food and then you stick out your hand and the giraffes know what to do!

The giraffe checking Toby's hand to make sure that he indeed did have food.

The giraffe sticking his tongue out and wrapping it entirely around Toby's hand to get every last bit of food.

Toby left with a grossed out look because of his giraffe slobber hand.

For some reason Makenna didn't want to feed the giraffe herself.  And Toby was so glad that we had wipes available to tide him over until he found a bathroom to thoroughly wash his hand.  But seriously, what an traumatizing awesome experience for 50 cents!!

Since the kids were already asleep we headed back to the car and on the long 5 hour trip home.  Poor Kyler had a difficult time over the whole trip because he isn't used to being cooped up in the car and held so much, but Makenna and the rest of us had a lot of fun.  The car ride back was difficult too because they both slept for a good 3 hours but then for an hour Kyler screamed until we finally got to a place to get out and stretch our legs and he calmed down enough to get back in the car and make it home before another meltdown.

Although the traveling by car was a little difficult with the two kiddos, we had a wonderful time and look forward to our next year's vacation.