Disneyland x2

Tim and I decided to go to Disneyland the one day in October that it decided to rain. We planned it in advance since I have to make sub plans when I am absent from work. As the day got closer and we checked out the weather, we saw that it was going to rain. We decided to go anyways. Well...it rained the entire time we were there.

We definitely dressed Rachel better than us. (She actually looked like Minnie Mouse in her raincoat.) The only part of her that got wet was part of her legs. I brought her extra pants and changed them at one point, but she still got wet. Tim and I were pretty much wet from head to toe.

The first ride we went on was the Jungle Cruise. She really liked it and it kept us pretty dry.

After being there for a couple of hours, we decided that Captain EO would be a great idea. It was nice and dry! She wore the 3D glasses a bit during the movie, but wouldn't keep them on the whole time.

She REALLY wanted to go on the rocketships. She saw them when we got there and it was pouring rain. I told her later. When we got off of Nemo, it was barely sprinkling and we decided to make a go of it. As we waited in line (there actually wasn't a line, we just had to wait for them to come back to Earth), the sprinkling turned to rain, but Rachel and I went on it anyway. Tim was laughing at us the entire time.

She loved the castle!

We left at around 3. We changed in the car and she was passed out before we left the parking garage. We had a great time even though it was wet.

Since we didn't get to go on a lot of the rides since it was pouring, Rachel and I decided to go back on a Sunday a few weeks later. Tim did not join us this time (it was a Sunday during football season, need I say more???). You can tell by how we were dressed, it was a much nicer day this time.

We met up with a coworker and her kids this time. While we waited for them to get there, we went on the carousel. From all of my posts in the past, you should all know that she loves the carousel. She kept sticking her tongue out this time.

She showed me that she can do taco tongue though!

A nice man in front of us offered to take our picture...and again, she has her tongue out!

She went on the Casey Jr. train ride for the first time and loved it, but has some silly eyes in this picture.

We didn't bring the stroller in either time. The first time it was fine since Tim was with me and we took turns holding her when needed. She did pretty good walking around on her own too. The second time was much harder since it was only me. On the way back to the car (which is a much longer walk than I realized since I was carrying a 2 year old after many hours of walking around), I put her on my shoulders since my arms were getting tired. She rested her chin on the top of my head and I could feel it bobbing up and down with every step I took. I eventually got her down and carried her in my arms. She was asleep before we even got on the tram to go back to our car. She was one tired little girl, and I was one tired Mommy (which is what she now calls me as of this past week instead of Mama). We both really love Disneyland.

Chuck-E-Cheese

Rachel went to Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time at the end of September and LOVED it. We were going to go for her 2nd birthday, but ended up not going. We went for her friend Jabob's 4th birthday and she enjoyed every minute of it.

Of course she loved to drive the car.

We spent nearly half her tokens riding the horse.

The other half of the tokens were spent on these two riding the "roller coaster".

She wasn't too sure about seeing Chuck-E-Cheese himself.

The birthday boy, Jacob, enjoyed every minute of it.

The little girls really loved to dance and watch themselves on the monitor.

But they sure got tired out and needed a rest from all of that dancing.

VC

Becky and I both had a free Saturday morning a couple of months ago and decided to head up to Valley Center for a couple of hours.

First we went to Bates Nut Farm and let the kids "climb" around. Actually Grant was climbing and Rachel kept telling him to get down. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree in either case!

After Bates, we headed over to Adams Park, only to find out they no longer had any play equipment...so we headed down to the school and played down there. The kids really enjoyed climbing on the bell that Becky and I spent many hours climbing on ourselves.

The playground has been completely redone. They now have old tire rubber on the ground, which makes for a soft landing, but a lot of black getting all over everything. We had a great morning letting the kids enjoy our old stomping grounds.

September 9

This was a "bonus" day for me. It was the day after the blackout and so school was cancelled. I got to spend the entire day with my cute little girl.

We started of the morning going to swimming lessons. She did such a good job and is going farther and farther across. This video doesn't show how far she can go, but it does show how good of a swimmer she is becoming.

We went to Mulberry Park for the first time in San Marcos after swimming. One of her favorite things to do at any park is drive the steering wheel.

She was having such a good time. We were pretty much the only people there. When we arrived, there were a couple of boys there (probably 10 years old) who had thrown wet paper wads all over the park and when they hit stuff, they exploded. The place was pretty gross because of it, but we managed to try to stay away from all of it in these pictures. When they saw we weren't leaving, they finally left.

She was just so happy to be playing at the park.

When it was time to leave, she saw this circular path and ran around it for probably 3 minutes. I got a video of some of it. She kept saying, "Faster, faster."

She was in a very musical mood and was singing all afternoon/evening. In this one, she starts with Itsy Bitsy Spider, changes to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and then goes back to Itsy Bitsy Spider.

In this one, she kind of sings her ABC's. At this point, she was kind of in a silly mood as you will see at the end.

Labor Day

We have never been to the beach on Labor Day because it is always soooo crowded. We decided to go this year (and I was definitely afraid that there were going to be so many people there that we wouldn't find a parking spot), but because of the cold, cloudy, and rainy weather, we had no troubles.

Rachel and I went with my brothers and their families. Well actually Jeff didn't go because he was sick, but the rest of his family was there. Tyler was such a good uncle and took Rachel in the water. It was way too cold for me, but not for them.

They had a great time, despite the fact that it was raining.

Boys will be boys! They had to see if they could move the bug infested seaweed.

We went on a walk down to the jetty.

There was a squirrel that held everyones attention for quite some time. He was not afraid of us at all and quite enjoyed the sunflower seeds and beef jerky that everyone was feeding him.

All of the kids (including Tyler) enjoyed playing and digging in the sand.

Rachel even enjoyed being buried.

She was so exhausted when we got home I carried her in and sat her on the couch. I walked away to put stuff away and came back to find her passed out on the couch.

WAP (Yet Again)

Rachel and I go to the Wild Animal Park a lot. It is so close and there is so much to do and we both love it. Since I have a pass, I don't have to pay anything, so it is a cheap afternoon for both of us. This is from September 3rd...yes, I am that far behind on my blogs. We went on a Saturday afternoon while Tim was at work and spent a couple of fun-filled hours there.

First, we went to pet the deer. As you can see though, this is not a deer, it is a goat. The petting zoo has had deer in it as long as I can remember but now they have switched it over to goats. It took Rachel quite awhile to warm up to them, but when she did, she loved it. She was brushing this guy for quite some time.

I think she really liked that she really didn't have to touch him. Since there were brushes there, she could just brush him and not actually touch his fur.

She liked touching the ball, which is also new.

We don't usually stop and pose for pictures (mostly because she won't really pose most of the time), but on this occasion, she was all about posing for pictures.

She was a butterfly and a deer and went in a cave.

The biggest reason we went on this day was to see the new cheetah run, which was soooo packed since it was Labor Day weekend, so we bailed on it. Instead, we went up to the carousel and she wanted to ride the cheetah there.

As you can see, she had a blast.

Instead of spending money on ice cream at the WAP, we came home and she got one there, which was just as good, a lot less expensive, and a lot less messy.

Target and Sleeping

There is something about Target that does this little girl in.

She has fallen asleep in the shopping cart 3 times in the past couple of months.

I laid her down on my purse because her head was bobbing all over the place and she seemed a lot more comfortable.

Pump It Up (Do Over)

Becky and I took the kids to Pump It Up a couple of times this summer. The first time we went, Rachel hurt her knee and couldn't really walk on it for days. We decided to give it another try at the end of the summer and the kids had a blast (and no injuries this time)!

My little fighter all ready to go...she could barely stand up with those gloves on.

Grant loves to play chase and is looking at Rachel like. "Come and get me."

She got so good at the climbing part of it.

The kids had a blast and I can't wait to take them again next summer.