Cabin Fun

Alyssa had so much fun at the cabin. She crawled all over the place and we were constantly following her up the steps as she giggled.


She fed the chipmunks and got so excited when they came up on the deck. She was fascinated by the hummingbirds, she would point when she spotted one.

We thought that she would be scared of the fourwheelers but to our surprise she handled it like a pro, laughing and singing as we sped through the ATV trails.

4th of July

We spent 4th of July with Grandma and Grandpa. Alyssa was so cute playing with all of her cousins. She and Tally fought over Grandma's lap many times, she kissed and loved her baby cousin Brecken, she got to ride Chase's little four wheeler, and Jaylee played with her like she was Alyssa's Mom. We went to the park to watch the fireworks. It was so much fun! She ate snowcones and the cousins' lollipops, we tried to give her cotton candy but she seemed to be afraid of it.



When it got dark we bought some glow sticks and made jewelry for her. That wasn't enough for her so she crawled over to the other kids and stole theirs from them. The fireworks started with several loud BOOMs. She was a bit nervous at first but when they lit up the sky she was in a trance. Alyssa started clapping and pointing she was so excited that she kept going back and forth between Michael and I to watch them. I spent most of the time watching my daughter enjoy them for the first time. Holidays are so much more fun when you have kids.

While I was in Utah Jessica taught me how to do digital scrapbooking and she help me with the program. Thank you for your help Jess. The rest of the pictures of Utah are being prepared and will be posted soon.

Daddy

I know this is a month too late for Father's Day, I was teaching summer school and when I got home all I wanted to do was play with my family. But I did want to thank my wonderful husband for everything he does for us. Michael is a fantastic father! When I got home from work he was always crawling around on the floor playing with Alyssa.

She was usually dressed in a diaper and her hair was only done if I did it before going to work but she was happy playing with Daddy while I was away. Not only did he keep my baby happy but there was always a snack ready for us when I walked in the door (any of you who have been pregnant can understand how nice that is). Michael would clean it up while I played with my little girl and if that wasn't enough he would cook dinner for us and clean that up too! He also gives me snuggies and tickles almost every night, who could ask for more. He is always patient and loving with us. Alyssa and I are so lucky to have him in our lives. Thank you Michael for all that you do for us. We love you!

Santa Monica Pier

We went to the Santa Monica Pier over the weekend. They had all sorts of things for Alyssa to do. We started out by going on the Merry-Go-Round. She loves rides. She was laughing the whole time.

After the Merry-Go-Round we hit the beach. The water was cold! Alyssa was wary of the water at first but after a little while she loved it. She kept kicking her feet as the waves were splashing her. In fact, she had such a blast in the water that she cried when we left.

After we left the beach we went to the aquarium. We were really lucky; we arrived just as they were feeding the fish. Alyssa got to feed a starfish and touch a sea snail. We saw sea urchins, eels, jellyfish, and all sorts of cool creatures. We also saw sharks and even got splashed by a couple of them (how many people can say that?). The employees were so nice and helpful with all of our questions. They even took a picture of us all together. It was a perfect little aquarium with all the interactive activities, Alyssa definitely got her hands into everything, well everything but the shark tank.

Alyssa had a blast the whole day. She rode on the rides, she swam at the beach, she went to an aquarium, she even tried funnel cake for the first time (she loved it, there was powdered sugar all over her). All in all, it was a great day and Alyssa was exhausted. She had no trouble sleeping that night.

It's a Boy!

We had an early ultrasound and the doctor said with all certainty that it is a girl. So we have been planning on keeping the nursery the same and sharing clothes and I had been thinking what fun it would be to go shopping with my girls later on down the road.

So we went to our 20 week ultrasound appointment on Tuesday and saw without a doubt, that it is a boy! We are so excited about the big news, but it is weird when such big plans get changed so quickly.

Disneyland!

First Disneyland Trip

Nana and Tata took us to Disneyland on Thursday, 6/5. We had so much fun watching Alyssa on the rides. We started on the teacups. Nana, Michael, Alyssa and I all squished into one teacup. Alyssa was a little nervous at first, especially when the ride jump started but when we got going she squeeled and clapped. She loved every second of it. I don't think she blinked the rest of the day; she didn't want to miss anything. I was amazed because she only took a little half hour nap on the way to the park in the morning and she didn't sleep at all in the park. I thought she would be cranky after 10 hours but she did great. The lines for the rides were so short. In fact I think the longest or slowest line was the one for Dumbo but luckily Nina Yvie waited in line for us and she got to take Alyssa on it. Alyssa loved all the rides, Pirates of the Carribean, the Haunted Mansion, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh (one of her favorites). At the end of the day, Nana and Tata bought her the cutest little outfit. It's a little big for her right now but when she grows into it we'll get a picture of it. The tram ride back to the car was funny. We rode in the stroller section of the tram with all the other families. All of their kids were wiped out, sleeping or slumped over, but not Alyssa. She was standing up, screaming at the top of her lungs with excitement. She loves the wind in her face. She loved the tram so much I think next time we should just pay for parking and ride the tram back and forth. Anyway, we would like to thank Nana and Tata again for the trip. We hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Crawling!

Alyssa started crawling last night! She was in the middle of the family room and crawled right up to the couch and stood up like she has been crawling for weeks. Wow I guess the light bulb just goes on huh? Today I'm having a blast following her around. I was trying to clean the kitchen and Alyssa was everywhere. I set her down with toys in the family room and she crawled down the hallway to the front door, the dogs were out front so she was pounding on the door wanting them back inside. She then came to the kitchen and found the dog dishes and played in the water and saw mom putting away dishes so she decided to help unload the dishwasher. She doesn't like her knees on the hard floor so she did a stinkbug crawl over to the dishwasher. She saw me use a rag to clean up the water puddle so now she is mopping the floor with that rag. How cute!

We went to Erik's birthday party at a small indoor water park. There were fountains and sprayers in the pool so it took a little while but Alyssa finally started having fun. She even enjoyed the water slide after going down a few times.

Swimming

Alyssa and I went to Utah for a few days. The pool was still to cold but Pi heated the hot tub a little so we could take a dip. She was scared at first and fussed a bit but then she got in her floater and enjoyed it.

Boy or Girl?

I went to a doctor in L.A. and had a very detailed ultrasound last week. We have it on DVD but I can't get it to upload to the blog so the pictures will have to do for now. Since the baby was not quite 12 weeks it is not for sure but I asked to doctor to take a guess at the gender. He looked very confident when he said a girl! So it looks like Alyssa is going to have a sister and we are going to have our hands full. We are so excited!