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!

Where is Kyler?

Makenna loves her brother and when asked what any of her baby dolls' names are she says "Kyler".  So it gets pretty confusing around the house as to which Kyler is crying, needs to be changed, or is hungry:-)  So can you spot the real Kyler?

(Kyler thought it was pretty funny being surrounded by dolls)

Dogwood Camping

Determined not to wait as long with Kyler as we did with Makenna, we decided to go camping.  My mom and Jim had reservations to Dogwood Campground up near Arrowhead and with it only being an hour's drive away from our house we decided that this would be a good time to go.  We never would have dreamed of tent camping with Makenna at this age, but Kyler is a lot more mellow and only wakes up once or twice a night to eat, unlike Makenna's every two hour eating schedule at 2-months of age.  First of all, it is crazy how much stuff we have to bring for one night of tent camping with two young kids:-)  I thought for sure we were going to have to strap one of us to the roof to fit everything in, but fortunately for us we didn't have to bring the big ice chest since we were only going for one night.  Next time I think we will have to get more creative with packing the car.

The drive up wasn't too bad except that we had to take a detour for road paving, which luckily wasn't too far out of the way, and Makenna pretty much said the equivalent of "are we there yet?" ("Please can we go camping") the whole ride there.  I would say she was excited!  We stopped over in Arrowhead for food from McDonalds and then finally headed out to the campground to get it set up.  Our camp site was set away from many other neighbors which gave me peace of mind with a baby that was sure to awaken at least once to eat in the middle of the night.

When we got there it was a little trying setting up our behemoth of a tent while trying to watch where Makenna was running to and listening to poor Kyler scream his head off because he was cold and nobody was holding him.  Once we got the tent up and Kyler got fed and warmed up he fell asleep right away and was able to be laid down in the tent for the night.  That boy hardly cries but he HATES being cold!!

Makenna stayed up for a while that night but finally decided to tell us that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep in the tent.  Sure that she wanted to "go to sleep" because she wanted to go in the tent and run around, we made her stay up a little while just so we could be sure that she would actually sleep when she got in the tent and not run around and wake up Kyler.  I know, I know, parents of the year award right here:-)  Both kids slept great through the night.  Kyler only woke up twice to eat and went back to sleep right away.  Makenna woke up once when Kyler did and I am not entirely sure whether she was all there or not because she came over to me and started jabbering on about how she was a big girl.  I gently told her that it was still night time and I went and tucked her back in and she fell asleep instantly.

The next morning we ate our breakfast and played.

Kyler was getting fussy from being held so much so I put him in his travel bed on our picnic table and he was a "happy camper":-)

Makenna and Toby fenced with sticks.

Then my mom showed Makenna how to make a house with rocks.

(Finding the Perfect Rocks)

(Building the house complete with chairs and a doorbell)

(Makenna finding a stick that she could pretend was the lock for her door)

Makenna LOVED her house!!  She could have played in it for days.  Then we went on a walk around the campground to locate some other campsites that we would want to get for the next time that we go up to Dogwood.  And we had to stop off at the amphitheater to let Makenna dance and sing on stage.  At first she was hesitant but then she got into it and asked for music to be turned on to dance to.

It was too cute!  We had several people walking by start clapping for her, it was really sweet.  Makenna felt like a star!

Kyler fell alseep on our little campground walk so I got to just sit and relax when we got back to camp with my sleeping baby.

Then it was time to get our tent torn down and the car packed back up.  It wasn't nearly as difficult taking down the tent because my mom and Jim were there to entertain the kids:-)  We got home and bathed the kids from the layers of dirt that had accumulated on them and put them down for naps.  We were so glad that we did the overnight camping trip and know now in the future that camping is doable with two little ones.

Computer Nerds

Toby is so happy...Makenna and Wyatt (our nephew) are computer nerds:-)  They are having a hack-a-thon.