Glorious Easter

Easter was soooo much fun this year!! In the morning we headed off to church for a family service, where the kids stay in the "big church" with their parents. There was a short children's message up font that ended up being really funny, which reminded me of the days of going to my Grandma's Lutheran church as a child. After service we went over to the pastor's house, with the rest of the congregation, for brunch and an Easter egg hunt. The food was so yummy, the decorations were adorable, and we had a fun time watching Makenna and all of the other kids hunt for eggs in the yard.

We had been practicing the technique of egg hunting so i am glad that Makenna effectively got the eggs from the ground into her basket...hehe:-)

We then headed home so that Makenna could open her Easter basket items.

Then we headed over to my mom's for lunch and hor'dourves. Makenna got to do another egg hunt over there and did what she usually had done with our egg hunting practice sessions; she would pick up an egg, open it up, eat the contents, and then search for another egg. It was so funny!

Lastly, we headed over to Toby's sister's house for more wonderful food and fun with family. It was a wonderful Easter.

Ren Faire Hilarity

Ren Fair again, YEAH!! We absolutely love going to the Ren Faire. This year we went with four of our friends and of course Makenna went also. This year was a little different because it was swashbuckling weekend (aka Pirates, for all of you non-nerds). At the start of the fair they gave us a map to find the hidden treasure. While trying to find all of the treasure map pieces we got to see three of the shows and the Queen's Joust.  One show that we watch every year, and LOVE, is the "Washing Well Wenches", they are so hilarious.

At the joust our blue knight did well and threw a flower to Kristen.

While looking for the map pieces we found it very handy to have Makenna with us. On one of the locations we were supposed to have to answer a riddle, play a game, or do a funny dance, but we got away with the piece after Makenna very politely said "Please". I suppose next year that won't work so well, but this year when she was so little, and just starting to talk, it was irresistible to not give her what she wants when she asks so nicely:-)

Unfortunately for us we missed one piece of the map (We were lied to). Makenna was getting tired of being there so we didn't get the prize but had a wonderful time anyway. On our way out Makenna was crying and there were a group of people that were dressed up along with a "Priest" and they all bowed to Makenna. She didn't much know what to think but it stopped her crying and it was pretty funny.

We can't wait to go back next year.

Fun in the Sun...and Snow

All I can say is "I LOVE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA"!!! Where else can you play in the snow in the morning and go sailing with sunny weather by afternoon? We had planned a sailing day out of Long Beach for Saturday, April 9th because my mom and Jim know how to sail and had been anxious to take everyone out on the boat. So what a shock we had when we woke up that morning and realized that our yard had snow. We got Makenna ready in warm clothes, mittens, lots of socks, and shoes that we wrapped in plastic baggies so her feet wouldn't get wet (ghetto...I know, but what can you do)and headed out to our front yard for snow play.

This was Makenna's second time in the snow and she didn't like it the first time and she didn't like it this time either.

She really didn't want to walk through it, refused to touch it, and was beside herself when she fell down and got snow on her mittens and knees.

So even though we had been looking forward to our one snow day a year, and had to wait until April to get it, we didn't last outside too long. Once we came inside though my mom suggested that we take some snow inside and see if she would play with it then; and she did!!

She touched it,

                                                   
                                                    studied it,

                                                                                            and tasted it.

After that unexpectedly fun morning we got in the car and headed out to Long Beach to get on the sail boat. My whole family was there so we had a great time. Makenna wore her life vest and it was suggested that we try the life vest out at home sometime too because if you know Makenna, then you know that she is always busy and running around, but with the life vest on she just sat calmly in people's laps.

Toby got to steer the boat.

We saw sea lions swimming and on the buoys. The neatest thing though was when pods of dolphins came and swam right alongside and in front of the boat. It was amazing!! We had a wonderful time, even though both Toby and I got a bit sea sick, and look forward to going again sometime (along with Dramamine next time:-).

So who would have thought that we would have to wait until April to get snow and that we could have snow and sunny sailing weather in the same day. Did I mention...I love Southern California:-)

Playtime with Cousin

We love having cousin Wyatt over during the day to play.  He is 10 months younger than Makenna and  whenever he comes over we pull out the baby toys that Makenna has outgrown.  It is so funny that when we pull out the old toys Makenna thinks that they are the best and most interesting toys in the whole world.  Here are a few pictures of Makenna being a "big" cousin and helping Wyatt to play correctly with the toys:-)

Testing out the play mat for safety.

Giving him a crash course on how to play.

                               Happy with his progress.

Teaching to properly chew play on the exer-saucer.

Shocked by the new way to play.

Pleased with his new talent.

Makenna happily kept the baby swing warm for Wyatt.

Makenna is having a fun time being a big cousin and loves when Wyatt comes over to play learn.

San Bernardino Museum

Seeing as the San Bernardino Museum is just a few exits away from us on the freeway, we decided that we should go and check it out. Toby had seen that there was going to be a special event on bugs there and so we decided that this would be a fun day to go. I am sorry to say though that we were a bit disappointed. If Makenna had been a little older then she could have enjoyed the bug activities that they had there, but it was all geared for pre-school through elementary aged kids. This was sad for Toby too because he was hoping that it would be a bit more academic. Although Makenna couldn't do the craft projects, she had a great time running around on the grass area.

They had an animal petting/touching area at the museum. Makenna liked watching the turtle in the tank and I think it liked her too:-)

Although she liked the turtle, she was terrified, I mean TERRRRRIFIED of the bearded dragon that was in a cage. She actually started crying because she didn't like it. Hmm...I guess that nixes Toby's idea of ever having a bearded dragon.

After seeing the "scary" animals we went into the main part of the museum. If you like to see "stuffed animals", then this is the museum for you. Although this isn't really our thing, we found really hilarious parts of the museum that now I wish I would have taken pictures of. In one of the exhibits it said that there was supposed to be a certain type of mouse, but instead it had one of those sticky mouse traps:-) I guess their other "stuffed" mouse had gotten out and they needed a new one...hehe...sorry, that wasn't nice. I will have to say that I was impressed with Makenna when she saw this exhibit and boldly announced "kitty, meow".

The other really funny part was downstairs where they had basically the evolution of transportation as well as artifacts of the Native Americans of the area. I guess they ran out of space for the transportation, so a 50s style car was parked right in front of a backdrop of tee-pees. I had no idea that those two items went together:-) Makenna could care less about the cars and tee-pees but did enjoy pushing around her stroller.

After seeing those things we just saw a whole floor of "stuffed birds" and their eggs. We didn't have the time that we had expected but oh well...we found some unexpected humor in the museum and got out of the house. I guess that counts for something:-)

Jump Zone

Makenna and I get to attend two wonderful mom's groups during the weekdays. One of the playgroups had scheduled a day at Jump Zone, which is an indoor play area full of those bounce houses. Seeing that Makenna is still a bit young and little to be going in those with other bigger kids, she just played around on the small play things in the toddler area. Believe me, it was difficult keeping her out of the big ones because she really wanted to play like the big kids:-) It will be fun when she is a little older and can enjoy the big bounce houses.

Farm Friends

I was so happy when we had an excuse to head out to Torrance to visit our friends and attend their youngest son's first birthday party. The theme was on the farm. This was one of the best first birthday parties that I have ever been to. They had live animals! Makenna got to go into the petting area where all of the animals were very friendly.

They even had some goats that were just a few days old; they were adorable.

Makenna was not sure that she really wanted to walk on the hay and so any time that I tried to put her down she would just pull her feet up and hang on to me for dear life. I don't know why she has a fear of hay; oh well. She enjoyed petting the sheep the most and wasn't so sure that she liked petting the pig.

After being in the petting zoo for a while, it was Makenna's turn to ride on the pony. This was the first time that she had ever done this so I was a bit nervous as to how she would react. She reacted at first much as I expected; she wanted down and wasn't sure what to make of sitting that high up on an animal.

Toby gave her my little camera bag though and that calmed her down enough to sit patiently and wait for the pony to begin moving. Once the pony started moving she had a great time.

We were so glad that we got to go out to Torrance and see our friends and their two sweet little boys. We had a great time!