Knotts Berry Farm

On day 7 of our trip we took the girls to Knotts Berry Farm, and Aunt Amy met us there!

The place was empty as can be so there were no lines......and practically no riders for most of them too! We were only there 3 hours, just to do Camp Snoopy, which was just right for a 3 year old!

 Maddy could only ride a few, and was a very patient stroller rider!

 Driving a race car with Grandma Donna

 Pumping her way around the track!

 Abby LOVED riding with her Aunt Amy

 Riding in the big trucks with Grandma Donna

 First Snoopy encounter! No tears, she was excited!!!

 Sisters!

 Flying High! This was the one non-adult ride, so she rode with another boy, and didn't mind a bit!

 Face painting is awesome!

 This is what Maddy did most of the day!! Worked great for us!!

Skirball Museum- Noah's Arc

Another fun trip was to the LA Skirball Museum's "Noah's Arc" exhibit! Its for kids only, and is 100% hands-on!

Everything moved, made noise, or was creatively built for kids to manipulate! The kids had a blast!

 Abby "building" the arc!

 Sending the animals 2x2 up the conveyor belt up into the arc!

 Pumping water into the flood zone....then watching the arc rise and fall!

 Climbing in the arc

Cabrillo Aquarium/Museum- San Pedro

One of the days we took a trip down to the Cabrillo Aquarium. The touch tank was fun, where Abby could freely touch the starfish, and others right at her level.

 The "GIANT" Lobster! Almost her size!!

 Cutest shark I've ever seen!

Fujimoto Time!

We were lucky enough to see the whole Fujimoto family while we were in town, since Craig had a day off!

So we spent some time at the house with them. Abby LOVED spending time with Sheila, and picking oranges/lemons off the trees was her favorite thing that day. Of course just being outside was a treat, and I got some cute shots of them enjoying themselves.

 Maddy's funny face....so serious!

 Walking with Aunt Brenda

 These photos out front brought back a LOT of memories for me of my time spent with my sisters at Grandma Frans house! Nothing has changed, except for Grandma not being there. But I thought of her the whole time.

California Trip with the Girls!

Well, I made a BIG BRAVE mommy move and flew solo with the girls last week to California for a week's stay to visit family and basically, just spend some time in the WARM weather! It was near 80 degrees the entire time we were there, and we loved every outdoor moment! Here are some posts of our fun while we were there.

The girls did GREAT on the day of flights both ways, surpassing my expectations of pure chaos! Phew!!!

The first day there, we had a fun BBQ at Aunt Arlene's house outside in the beautiful sunshine!

 Maddy does this silly handstand thing these days and looks between her legs. Abby was tapping her butt with a spoon....Oh the fun sisters have!

More Walking!

Maddy is getting better and better with her walking every day! Here are 2 cute clips from last night!

Maddy Stacking!

Maddy is really fine-tuning her fine motor skills! It was fun watching her stack over and over the other night. She really got into it! Normally she loves for us to build it up and she LOVES to knock it over! 

New Years Eve 2010

 WOW....New Years Eve these days with kids is waaaayyyyy overrated!! But I guess that is to be expected. So these days we try to bring the fun to our house.....although last year on New Years Eve after putting Abby to bed, we were greeted with projectile vomiting and a high fever at 9:30pm and had to send our guests home......This year was a success in comparison. No one was sick, and our guests got to stay past midnight!!

We had our good Navy friends Will & Tracey over for the evening, and it was a casual night with some snacks, drinks and playing a little Wii!

  The champagne kicked in a little....plus it was after midnight so I was a bit delirious!

Happy New Years Eve!!! Abby had NO clue, and when she woke up and saw the New Years hat, she thought it was a magic hat and said "mom, is this an abra cadabra hat"! Too cute!

Maddy starting to walk

Maddy is so funny. We know she has the ability to walk.....she just crawls! This was a funny clip of her attempting to push her new lawn mower she got for the holidays. But instead she is picking it up with one hand and trying to walk.....too funny.

Final 2010 Misc Pics!

 Abby LOVES to draw. And in the last few months, she has perfected her "happy face" drawings. She did this ALL by herself, and loves to show her masterpieces off!

 Maddy loves the phone, and pretty much imitating ANYTHING we do these days. You can't leave a remote control or phone anywhere near her......she is a path of destruction, so we call her!

Here she is with the phone up to her ear! "Ayyyy" is her version of hi!

SNOW...SNOW.....oh, and more SNOW!!!

 So....it SNOWED again!!!!! Last night we got a few inches before midnight, and then woke up to 6+ on the ground!

 Mike went out and cleared a path for the dog off the back steps since you couldn't even tell we had steps it was so thick! It is very powdery, and we went out once with the girls for a bit.

 Abby wasn't too impressed this time. I think she likes the snow better when its done snowing. While we were outside it was blowing the snow sideways in her face, just not as enjoyable!

 Maddy was a trooper as usual! She like it until her face was covered in snowflakes!

 Daddy and our little snow bunny!

And Roxy off in the distance galloping thru the snow! She loved it!

 I think we will end up with 12-18 inches total for this storm! Most EVER for us in our time here!!