Hello 2012!

It doesn't quite feel like New Years Day without the Rose Parade or the Rose Bowl, but here it is none the less. Still feeling down and out with this cold we stayed home today. You and I went for a long walk today up the block. Along the way we:
- Ran into a flock of pink (plastic) flamingos
- Tested out two Genevieve sized candy canes for sturdiness
- Came across a fountain (sprinkler) and played in the water
- Visited with neighbors
- Explored our inner geologists by picking up lots of rocks

We took about 45 minutes to get up the corner and about 3 minutes to get back. Mommy was tired after letting you explore! I did catch a cute video of you on my cell phone of you playing in the water!

Goodbye 2011...

New Years Eve 2011. We stopped by the Hardyman's house for dinner and headed home about 8pm. We still are not feeling that good and didn't want to spend to much time over there infecting them with the mutant cold virus we have. We all turned it in early tonight, no midnight celebrations for any of us, just some much needed rest!

Coming Home!

Nothing like coming home from a trip! We left Santa Maria this morning and since we were all feeling a little under the weather we headed straight home. As soon as we walked in the door you saw your little red car and said "car" and got very upset with me when I insisted we change your diaper before playing in your car. Later on in the evening you decided to watch TV by sitting on Daddy's chest. He let you do it as long as he could stand but eventually you had to move. We had a great vacation but glad to be home as well!

Santa Maria, Day 4

In case there was any question, you still hate the beach. Today we went up to Pismo Beach to the Butterfly Grove. There seems to be a lot less butterflies then the last time we went, but that could be my imagination. You were having a good time walking down the path to the beach, until you realized you were walking down a path to a beach. You saw the sand, heard the waves and you were very unhappy. We walked around the beach for a bit but you refused to be set down on the sand so we took off. We headed down the street to the main pier area, you had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. For dinner that night we went to Santa Maria BBQland and had some yummy Santa Maria style BBQ Tri Tip.

Santa Maria, Day 3

Another busy travel day! We started off the day at a Luffa Farm, yes you read that right, a luffa farm. The only luffa farm in the US that is open for tours. Surprisingly luffa's are most closely related to a cucumber and grow on a vine. We had such a good time, Huell Howser needs to do a show on this place! Uncle Rick, Celina and the kids joined us for our luffa adventure. From there they left to go back home and we headed up to San Luis Obispo. We stopped at the "other" Cal Poly and had lunch and looked around for a bit. Next we headed to downtown to shop and look around. What a fun downtown area! Lot's of cute shops, restaurants and sights to see. On the way back to the house we stopped by the Madonna Inn to look around. We had never been in side and wow, it is hard to describe. Gaudy but beautiful is as close as I can get. Next time we will stop for lunch, there cakes looked divine!

Santa Maria, Day 2

Today we eased into our vacation and started our day at the Santa Maria Discovery Museum. It was a nice medium sized kids museum. They had lots of fun things to see and do. A lot of it was for older kids but you found plenty to do while we were there. Celina and Madison met us there, although Madison is older so she found other things to do that you were not interested in. Next time we go to Santa Maria we will for sure be back! After the museum we took you to Waller Park. A HUGE duck pond and lots of playground equipment. You went down a fun twisty slide by yourself, it was scarier for Mommy then it was for you.

Santa Maria, Day 1

Before we could head up to Santa Maria we first had Mommy's friend Nicole and her new (so exciting!) fiance over. You may remember Nicole from your birth story. She is the one that had lunch with Mommy the day before you were born. The last meal I ate until you made it here! She just got engaged to Stephen who is from Ireland. They met in San Fransisco where they both now live. I am sure a trip to San Fransisco for there wedding is in order when they finally settle in on the details.

After we waved them goodbye, we packed our things and got in the car and headed up to Aunt Maryann's house in Santa Maria. You slept for 3 of the 4 hours it took us to get there, what a easy traveler you were this time. As soon as we got there Celina's kids, Madison and Ethan came over. You had such a good time playing with Madison and pointing to Ethan and saying "Baby". We had a yummy dinner and settled in for the night.