Disneyland

Last Monday (Valentine's Day) we took Rachel to Disneyland for the first time. It was so great to take our daughter somewhere and just watch how truly happy she was!

We saw all of the Mickey Mouse characters right at the entrance. You can see how happy she was to see Mickey (as well as the Donald, Minnie, Daisy, and Goofy). We stayed about 10 feet away because the line was so long, but she could have stayed there and stared at him forever.

The first ride we went on was It's a Small World.

I haven't been on it for 20 years or so, but we knew Rachel would like it. She had a great time.

We went over to Toon Town and went into Mickey's house and got to meet him! She was so happy and even gave him a high five when we left.

So, how do you keep an under 2 year old happy in long lines? We brought tic-tacs...

...and books. They both made it much easier to stand in line.

She really liked most of the rides we went on. She was just so curious and wanted to take it all in.

By far, her two favorite rides were the teacups and the carousel. I hated the teacups. Tim was spinning us around and around and I was so dizzy, but you can see how much Rachel loved it.

We have been on carousels before, but for some reason, this time, she absolutely had a blast.

She did not want to get off. When the ride finished and we had to get her off, she started crying. As she was crying, she was saying "Please, please" (well actually "peas, peas") over and over again. She thought if she asked please, we would let her stay on. She really doesn't understand the whole waiting in line thing. I felt so bad that I couldn't give her what she wanted. I wanted to see this face forever!

She LOVES ducks. She wanted to go in the water and see them.

We had such a fabulous time. It was a great way to spend our Valentine's Day. I can't wait to take her back again!

Last Weekend

Rachel just loves to be outside and so since the weather has been pretty good, we have spent a lot of time outside recently.

She has been trying to get the hang of riding her tricycle, but her legs aren't quite long enough so they fall off a lot.

I think she would prefer to push it anyway.

She absolutely loves slides and goes down them as much as possible.

She spent a lot of time playing in the wood chips too.

She is starting to become a bit of a daredevil.

I think she enjoyed bouncing on the bridge the most.

We went to Bates Nut Farm on Sunday. She has been making this crinkly nose face a lot recently.

She was scared of the sheep when they would bleat. She was holding on to my leg for dear life.

She spent about an hour collecting corn and handing it to me for me to feed the animals. I had a very full pocket by the end.

We ate our In-and-Out in the car after we finished feeding the animals.

She was very happy to come home and eat her Valentines cookies.

Gymnastics

Rachel and I went to our first Mommy and Me Gymnastics class on Wednesday at the YMCA. Marie and Emma signed up and invited us to join. I thought it would be something fun to do together.

Here is the class. Well...most of the class. So you may be asking, "Which one is Rachel?"

She is the one over here. She didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. She wanted to run around the gym, climb on everything, touch everything, and take it all with her. She wasn't really a fan of being in a class.

Here she is trying to take one of the obstacles. This is one of many that I had to put back so the rest of the class could enjoy them as obstacles.

She is finally doing the obstacle course and walking the balance beam. She loves to walk on lines when we are just walking around, but only wants to do it on her own time and not be made to do it.

The only reason I could get her to walk the balance beam is because she found out there was a slide at the end. She wanted to do it over and over even after everybody else had moved on to the next activity.

I finally got her to move on...but she is going the wrong way and only made it to the first obstacle.

Here is Rachel and Emma playing in the foam pit. They are having a good time. Emma was quite the model student and Rachel needs to take some lessons from her.

The teacher knew she would love the foam pit and the long trampoline. She was right. Rachel didn't want to get out. After everybody else walked away, I had to climb in and get Rachel out and almost didn't make it back out myself :)

By this point, you might be thinking that it doesn't look so bad. Well, I only posted the pictures where Rachel was happy. She spent a lot of the night like this. Emma looks a little concerned for Rachel. Rachel and I both had a rough night. She hasn't been her happiest at this time of night for the past few weeks and this night was no exception. At one point, the teacher said that maybe Rachel would enjoy "open gym" more than class, but it is in the middle of the day on Thursdays so it won't work out.

She is crying while admiring her stamp that she got at the end of class. We will try it again next week. Wish me luck!

Early Work Day

Today I went and visited other schools and we got finished early so I took full advantage of it. I went to the YMCA and signed Rachel and I up for Mommy and Me Gymnastics which starts tomorrow. We will be taking the class with Marie and Emma. It should be fun!

Then we went to the Escondido Children's Museum. As soon as we got there, Rachel ran outside to the bubbles. She went there last week with Heather and remembered exactly where it was.

We spent most of our time at the bubbles. She collected all of the bubble wands and walked around with all of them most of the time.

She also liked playing in the water with the blocks.

She really likes playing with kitchens. If we had more space, I would definitely get her one.

She kept bringing things to Heather and I. By the end, we had a whole collection of things that she wanted us to have.

She was not happy when we had to leave. But when she saw the train, she ran for it.

She stopped everything and listened when she heard the ambulance sirens.

After the Children's Museum, we went to the Farmer's Market and got some yummy kettle corn. I wish I could get off work early every day!

Super Bowl

We went to Tim's parents house to watch the Super Bowl.

The day started off with some beer pong.

Rachel wanted to play too!

Tim was hoping his Chargers jacket would bring him some skills.

Packers score!

Rachel was a cheesehead. She just wasn't exactly sure how it was supposed to be worn.

Cheese!

Here is some of the group.

There were about 15 people there, probably our largest group ever.