LA County Fair 2012

We absolutely love going to the LA County Fair and have enjoyed it since I was young and used to enter items into the fair.  The first Saturday in September was the opening day and so we jumped at the chance to go, plus they were having a special for $1 admission.  When we got there we knew that we had to head straight for the children's farm-to-store area first because we were anticipating that it would get crowded and didn't want to miss it, or stand in line for forever to go through.  Just like last year, Makenna had such a great time planting,

milking,

picking,

and shopping (Her favorite part!!) at the kids farm-to-store area.

This year she was a pro!  She knew just what to do without us having to give her many directions.

Next, we saw that they had pony rides.  Last year we would have never dreamed of putting her on a pony, but this year she was excited to go.  She hoped right onto the horse without reservation and had fun being trotted around and around.

We then headed over to see the animals.  We looked at all of the chickens and bunnies and then went over to the petting zoo area.  Now last year Makenna would not touch or allow any of the animals to touch her without a shriek of fear.  This year she started off being very timid and scared of the animals, but who can really blame her when the animals are as tall or almost as tall as she is.  But by the end of the time daddy did a good job of helping to show her that they were nice and that they wanted to be pet.  And she got braver and attempted to pet them.  You can see on her face though that she still wasn't sure about them but we were proud of her for trying.

They didn't stay in the petting zoo for long and and so Kyler and I just hung out and waited for daddy and Makenna to get through with the petting zoo.

We stopped and got food at Pink's hot dog stand.  And then we made our way over to another kids area for knights and princesses.  Makenna dressed up in a green Tinkerbell dress that was WAY too big for her and she kept tripping over it:-)  She colored on the chalkboard and colored a castle picture with crayons.

After deciding that the princess costume just wasn't working out, she decided to wear princess heals and sing with the microphone instead.

And what princess is complete without a crown?

After seeing the majority of what we had come to see, and because it was so unbearably hot, we decided to call it a day and head back home.  We had a lot of fun at the fair and look forward to going back again next year when Kyler will be able to participate in more of the activities.

Dance, Dance, Dance Class

So the moment that Makenna has been waiting for had finally arrived.  Or maybe it was the moment that mommy was waiting for:-)  We signed Makenna up for dance classes through our city's community center in September.  And it made it even more special that her friend was taking the class with her.  Of course as I was trying to rush out the door and everything kept going wrong, I forgot my camera and my little point and shoot camera that I conveniently always carry in my purse had a dead battery.  So I apologize for not having too many pictures from the experience.  Luckily, Toby was able to get there towards the end and came to the rescue by bring the camera to capture the last part of dance class.  The first class was an absolute comedy act.  These kids are all 2.5 - 4 years old with most of them being closer to the 2.5-3 year range.  Makenna spent the good portion of the 30 minute dance class looking at herself in the mirror, because at home we don't have a whole wall full of mirrors that she can admire herself in her "pretty dressy".

We don't wonder why the dance class is only scheduled for 30 minutes and possibly think it should be only 15 minutes with their attention spans:-) What was also quite confusing was that there is another Makenna in her class so any time that the teacher would say "Makenna" they would both come running.  By the end of class she finally was paying more attention to the teacher then the cute ballerina in the mirror so she actually did fairly well following along to the dance at the end (She was a little over ambitious with the spinning:-) 

 

She also made sure that she got to do her own dance in front of the mirrors too!  She did wait until dance class was over though to complete her own unique dance masterpiece:-)



They received a sticker, that they were quite proud of for doing a good job during dance class.  Makenna and her friend love to play with each other and took the opportunity after class, and a little during class too, to be silly with each other.

By the end of the last class in September I had Makenna show me some of her dance moves.

 Chasse

Plie

Arabesque

She enjoyed her time in dance class so much that we signed her up for classes in October and November too!



Apple Picking Time

In hopes that Makenna will learn to recognize her alphabet letters, I have been doing some preschool learning at home with her.  We began the first week of September so  naturally we started with letter Aa; and we studied astronauts, ants, and apples.  We decided that since Oak Glen is so close to our house that it would be silly not to travel there for letter Aa week.  We waited until the weekend so that daddy could go with us for the experience too.  We met up with our friends and had a good time apple picking.

It was still early in the season so there were only three types of apples that were available for picking.  The girls had fun picking the apples off the tree and didn't quite understand that we had to look for quality apples and not just picking the first ones that we saw.

The daddies were great at helping the girls find the juicy apples and holding them up to pick them.

We quickly filled up our bags with lots of yummy apples...

And then we went across the street to Los Rios Rancho where they have a wonderful picnic area.

We brought our picnic lunches and cut up some of our freshly picked apples.  Then the daddies and the girls ran around while the mommies and babies hung out at the benches to talk.  Such a fun day!

Cooing Kyler

In the mornings when he first wakes up, especially, Kyler loves to coo at us.  It is extra adorable when Makenna "talks" to him and he "talks" back.  He loves his sister and his sister loves him!