Kelly's Here!

Yesterday we drove up to Los Angeles to pick up my cousin Kelly who so kindly decided to stop and visit us on her way back from visiting Australia! We thought we would explore LA a little bit, so we went to the Santa Monica Pier... I think I should have researched a bit more. It wasn't really what we had in mind and we had a grumpy two year old and a jetlagged Kelly! So after Charlotte sat on a couple of the kiddy rides we decided to go home.Once the merry go round started going 'round, I had to hold her hand and walk around too!
Today we also had a grumpy two year old. We put her down for a very early nap and then we went to the Zoo. Too bad she was still grumpy! We had fun though!
We started off by taking the skyfari ride across the park! I thought Charlotte would be afraid of being up so high but she loved it!
Then we headed to the Elephants. Clearly Charlotte gets her scrunchy face from me!
By the time we got to the Polar Bears Charlotte was not happy. She made me crawl into the Polar Bear cave with her and once we got inside there was a growl through one of the speaker and she lost it and left the cave VERY quickly!
Daddy made it all better though by running through the Zoo with her!
We hid on Kelly when she went to the bathroom. Charlotte can be very scary!
We stopped in the gift shop on our way out and Charlotte was so excited to pick something out... I told her to stop and smile for me and this is what I got! Silly little girl!
She was SO tired that she fell asleep at 6:30 tonight, we didn't even read a book, she was asleep in about a minute from the time her head hit the pillow!!! Its so fun having Kelly here!

Balboa Park

Last Saturday while Mimi was still here we headed to Balboa Park to ride the little rides they have. For some reason we have never been, and I am not sure why because they are great! We started with the Carousel.

Daddy tried his best to get some picture as we came around. It took a while for Charlotte to warm up to the idea of it! She always had one arm on me the whole time!
They also had little swings that were in the shapes of planes and different bugs. Charlotte tried it out but once it started she was NOT pleased!
We rode the train (pictures later in the post) and then went to the Spanish Art Village to walk around for a bit. Charlotte had lots of fun with the colored squares.

On our way back to the car Charlotte kept asking to ride the train again so I went on with her while Mimi and Chris took pictures. She just loves the Choo Choo. (Or Foo Foo as she likes to say, we are working on the proper sounds!!!)
So much fun!

Nature Walk

Last Friday we set out to Mission Trails to go for a hike. Well, we decided that the swarms of people going up the mountain were't really for us, so we went down into the gorge and went for a little walk. We ended up having lunch beside a little stream! It was so nice!
Charlotte played forever throwing rocks into the stream!
She is big into Cinderella and everything she finds that resembles a wand becomes one...
Of course we couldn't manage to get a nice picture of Mimi and Charlotte... Charlotte had to have food in her mouth!
I am going to make a book called the many places of "foofing"... She has certainly gone in some interesting places... the corner of Barnes and Noble being my favorite :)
Charlotte just LOVES to give kisses... and squeeze your face and slobber on you all at the same time!
Goofball one and goofball two....
Charlotte is such a ham... she has started putting her arms around both of us and hugging us... its so funny!
She started off walking back to the car...
But then got tired and got back in the hiking backpack! I wish someone would carry me around on their back!
Daddy got the luxury of carrying Charlotte... and the bumps and bruises that came along with it. Charlotte was trying to turn Daddy into a pumpkin!

Strawberry Picking!

On Thursday we headed up to Carlsbad to go strawberry picking! Charlotte was very excited when we got there! It took a while for Chris to realize that I put Charlotte in a strawberry dress for the occasion, I am surprised he even questioned it!Charlotte had her own bucket to fill, but after she squished the first strawberry in her hands trying to pick it off, we gave her a bit of help!




The best part of course was eating the strawberries!

We kept having to pick more because she kept eating them all!
Of course she wouldn't stop eating to take a picture!


I think we might have to go back again for some more!

Mimi's Here!

Wednesday morning we went to the airport to pick up Mimi! Charlotte had been asking about her for quite a while, and starting on Monday whenever I asked her who was coming to visit she would say "MIMI!". Once we got Mimi we went to Coronado to wait for Daddy to join us. Charlotte and Mimi played on the beach for a while!

After we had lunch we came home and Mimi pulled out a surprise for Charlotte. My old train set! She was very excited!
She played trains until it was time for a nap, even though she tried to fall asleep in the middle of the tracks!
She was very grouchy when she woke up but snuggled with Mimi and her teddies.

After we went out to dinner and went to Whole Foods, we came home and had a dance party in the kitchen. I really want to put Charlotte in dance but she would be so bored with ballet! She loves all her Daddy's techno music!
It was a fun first day with Mimi!