Here Comes Santa Claus!

Yesterday had to have been one of Audrey's best days. We started our morning at the Hard Rock Cafe to have breakfast with Santa. We enjoyed music by Hullabaloo, one of Audrey's favorite bands, and got a chance to sit with Santa. It was awesome! She has never wanted to see Santa up close, but she did great! She also got a butterfly painted on her face. We all had a blast! Later that night we went to the hot cocoa stand on Garrison Street, enjoyed the amazing holiday lights and saw a few friends. A special guest arrived to say "hi" to all of the kids...yep, it was Santa! Two Santa sightings in one day, it was so much fun! We look forward to having breakfast with Santa again next year! Audrey loved visiting with Santa and she asked him for 3 special toys, a dollhouse, a fire truck and a puzzle. Looks like Santa has some shopping to do.

Vacation time!

We just got back from our first big vacation with Audrey; a trip to Maui for 5 days. We have heard so many dreadful stories about kids on airplanes, but our little one was a trooper. She was very excited to go to Hawaii and we told her all about the fun on the beach we could enjoy every day and the airplane ride we would take to get there. She was so thrilled and asked every day if she could go. We stayed in Napili at the Napili Kai Resort. It was very beautiful and low key, just our style. The weather was amazing and we played at the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. We met some great people and a cat too. Mama Cat was a resident at Napili Kai who slept out side our door every night. She welcomed us in the morning with an adorable meow :) Could have been the salmon food we gave her. Audrey loved having a sweet animal around and it made our trip really special. We look forward to another trip to Maui and many more fun memories.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween a little early this year with a few close friends. The Pearson family had a party for the kids and Eric dressed up as Buzz Lightyear. The kids were all over him. It was hilarious! He was the celebrity hit of the night. We enjoyed treats, did a little Trick-or Treating and enjoyed some time with friends. Audrey dressed up as a kitty cat and loved going door to door getting candy. It was so cute to watch her. We had a fun night and Audrey was so excited that she could barely sleep. She didn't eat much, had candy and cookies for dinner and that could have kept her up too? On Halloween night, we went to Trick-or-Treating to a couple of houses in the neighborhood and then went home to pass out candy to kids at our house. I was so excited when a big group of kids actually showed up because we have not had any kids come to our house in a few years. I buy candy every year and then we end up eating it. Audrey loved seeing all of the kids in costume come too! The weird thing was someone stole the pumpkins we had out front but it was a great Halloween weekend overall!

10/3/10

Our family headed to Big Bear on October 2nd to see Audrey's Aunt Sandi and cousin Naomi. We had never been to Big Bear as a family. We had a fun visit, took long walks, laughed and played. It was a great trip! This all changed on our way home. We stopped in Murrieta for a bite to eat and a potty break. It was a hot day and we needed to let Ivory, our dog get some water too. We ate and decided to get back on the road and head home. After a few minutes on the freeway, a large SUV came into our lane swerving out of control. Scott tried hard to get us away from them, but it was impossible. They hit us and sent us over the side of the freeway. We rolled at high speed and landed upside down. When we stopped, the car was quiet and I immediately looked back at Audrey. She was just sitting quietly in her seat, albeit upside down. I got out of my seat belt and went to her. I couldn't believe she was ok. She started to cry and I did too. I was so happy she was unharmed. I called for Scott to help us out of the car and to look for Ivory. He found Ivory, but she had already passed. She was not belted in and she ended up underneath our car. It was so horrible and sad. She was always protective of us and it saddened us that we couldn't protect her.

It was a tragic event and we lost an amazing dog who truly was the sweetest one I have ever known. The rest of us were able to walk away. Scott and I had some injuries but we are so thankful that we all survived. We are doing our best to move on and stay positive for Audrey. She still asks about Ivory daily and she says she misses her. We were happy that Ivory got a chance to run around, chase squirrels and be a dog. She will be remembered as part of our family.

Disneyland!!!

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary with a trip to ‘the happiest place on earth’. Audrey had never been and we couldn't wait any longer. We arrived on Friday and it was awesome! There were short lines, very few people and it was a great day to go. Audrey was so excited! She had heard us talk about Disneyland but never knew what it was. She saw the carousel and wanted to go there first. We enjoyed a few rides, met Mickey and Pluto, then decided to head to the hotel and rest for a bit and go back for some nighttime rides and maybe even watch the fireworks show. We stayed at the Disneyland hotel and it was nice to be close by and enjoy the full Disney experience. Audrey was so excited and couldn't wait to ride the monorail back for more rides and see the fireworks.

We returned later to a much more crowded scene and after a bit decided that it was too much. We enjoyed the show from just outside our hotel and stayed up later than usual. Audrey was tired and almost too excited to sleep. We can't wait to go back and see Mickey again.

Monday funday!

We started our week with a play date at the New Children's Museum downtown. It's a great place for kids and we love all of the fun things they have there; except for the jumpy. Audrey is not a big fan of those. As a matter of fact, the first thing she said to me when I told her that we were going to meet Lilly at the museum was, "I can't like the jumpy, Mom." I can't like is her way of saying I don't like. I would correct her, but it's so cute :) We had fun playing in the rain house, painting and listening to a story.

Audrey had a surprise visit from her Dad and we had lunch with him too. Scott works a few blocks away and it was great for him to see her and play for a bit. We look forward to our next visit. It was a great way to start off our week.

Summer fun with friends!

We had a busy weekend filled with fun. Since we don't have many resources for childcare, I am trying to get a good support network amongst our friends. It's crucial to have friends with kids close in age and it's a wonderful thing when we all love hanging out together. On Friday, Audrey's friend Brody came over for a play date and it was great for her to have a friend at our house. It's a pretty cozy (small) home and we don't entertain much here. It was so much fun, they play really well together and it was great to help out a friend.

On Saturday we celebrated a friend's second birthday and then went over to see the Pearson's for a BBQ. Blossom, Brian and Brody were there too. The kids all played together the entire time and we actually enjoyed some adult conversation and great food. It was a perfect evening and we all had so much fun. It's great to see Audrey enjoy time with her friends and they are all so cute!