Beach fun

Tuesday was the first Florida day that was warm enough for us to brave the beach! Some of you may remember last January when Isabel did NOT like the sand on her feet. She would cry and cling to one of our legs until we picked her up. We are happy to report that this time she was much braver! She didn't mind the sand at all, and was in fact covered in it by the time we left. The water was also extremely calm, with no waves whatsoever, so she was not intimidated and was happy to explore all the way up to the water's edge and even wading in!

Testing the waters...We thought it was definitely too cold to be playing in, but a few minutes after dipping her feet in, she was getting so brave that her shorts were about to get soaked, so we promptly put her in her bathing suit and figured if she got cold, she would let us know! Kids are funny that way...they will play happily in water that adults would consider frigid.

Her first "sand castle." :) She actually had the most fun ever-so-gently collapsing the castles that Daddy would build, and many times when she smooshed one, she would say in the sweetest voice, "Oh, no!" and give us a sly smile, then do it all over again!

Look very closely...it might be hard to see in this photo but there is definitely a LOT of sand mixed in with the peaches, and grits of sand stuck to the sandwich and cheese. We set out with the goal of having the beach towel be the "sand-free zone," but Isabel had no concept of that and would toddle directly from the sand onto the towel with her sandy little feet. We decided not to correct her, since she was having so much fun, and hence, the ingredient of sand got added to the picnic lunch. However, as you can see from the next photo...

...she happily ate all the cheese, most of her "sand"wich (in the most literal sense of the word), and about half the peaches, sand and all! We had a great time at the beach with her and were happy that the weather warmed up enough for us to take her there!

A Disney Day (or two!)

Our first Disney experience with Isabel has now officially wrapped up and we have had a day to recover and unwind at Grandma and Grandpa's house! So, now I have the energy to blog about it and post some photos! The photo above is Isabel standing on Minnie Mouse's gazebo!

Our original plan was to take in Magic Kingdom on Friday, the day after we arrived in Florida. However, the forecast as of Thursday night was for a 90% chance of rain, along with probable thunderstorms throughout the day on Friday. Disney World in a Florida soaker and thunderstorm with a toddler...we decided that wasn't the greatest idea in the world. So, we changed our plans to do Magic Kingdom on Saturday, and another park on Sunday if we felt like we were all up to it!

Saturday dawned sunny :) but chilly for FL, with lows in the low 40s and a forecast high of around 60. So we bundled up in the warmest clothes we all had brought and set out, not knowing what the day would bring but curious to find out!

The positive: Magic Kingdom was beautifully decked out for the Christmas season, which is something I have never seen before. The Disney team is definitely top-notch in creativity and leaves nothing to be desired! Cinderella's castle with thousands upon thousands of Christmas lights was particularly impressive and Isabel was saying her classic "Ooh, ahh!" that Daddy has taught her to say when she sees pretty lights!

The negative: Magic Kingdom was packed from front to back, side to side, with MORE PEOPLE than either Luke or I have ever seen in a theme park (and we are both avid theme park-goers, plus Luke grew up in Florida and has been to each Disney park several times). He commented that he has literally never seen a theme park more crowded, by a long shot. Navigating through the park, with a stroller, was challenging in and of itself. The crowds also meant that we were not able to take Isabel on as many rides and to see as many shows as we had wanted to. We did manage to get a FastPass for a couple of rides, but for those that we could not, the wait each time we checked was at least 60 minutes, if not 75-90 minutes. Waiting in line that long with a toddler, especially when you cannot take your stroller in line, was just not feasible for us, so we had to miss out on It's A Small World, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and the Mad Tea Party, all rides that we know Isabel would have enjoyed. But, despite the crowds and lines, we were determined to make the most memories we could that day!

Our favorite Magic Kingdom experience was getting front-row seats for the beautiful show Celebrate The Season, which took place right in front of Cinderella's castle and featured Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto (all of whom Isabel knows by name since she has been watching the show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). We had to arrive about 30 minutes in advance in order to get the front row, so I saved our front-row seats by sitting in the stroller to rest my aching legs and back (yes, I sat in the stroller, and yes, I fit, even 6 months pregnant!) while Daddy took Isabel on the carousel that was not too far away, where he informed me upon returning that she had ridden all by herself on a horse for the first time, and giggled and laughed as she spied herself in the mirror going up and down!

Our favorite Disney experience actually happened at Disney's Hollywood Studios (which was much less crowded than Magic Kingdom had been), where we had decided to go on Sunday. Shortly after arriving, we found out that Mickey was available for greetings and photos near where we were going to see the show Playhouse Disney: Live On Stage! We stood in about a 20-minute line, where Isabel was pretty shy and clung onto Daddy the whole time we were in line. We were not quite sure how she would react to Mickey since she tends to be a little shy and introverted with new situations, but we had high hopes because he is one of her favorite characters and we had been telling her for weeks that she was going to get to meet him! The minute we got to the front of the line, she was practically jumping out of Daddy's arms to get down. She walked right up to Mickey with no trepidation whatsoever, just like he was an old friend! Mickey bent down and Isabel got within inches of his face, touching his nose, letting him tickle her and give her kisses, and at one point she gave him a big hug, which caused the whole crowd behind us to let out a collective "Awwwww!"

Our second favorite experience of the trip was when we decided at the last minute to go see the show Beauty and the Beast. Isabel has never seen the movie, but I have been teaching her the Disney princesses from some toys that she has at home, and I have been wishing that Belle (the Beauty) would become her favorite since they share a name! So, we decided to brave it and hoped it would keep her attention for the 25-minute duration (pretty long for a two-year-old!) Well, keep her attention it certainly did! From the moment the curtains parted until the final applause, Isabel could barely tear her eyes away from the stage. She sat almost perfectly still in Daddy's lap and watched the entire show, leaning to one side or the other in order to see around the people sitting in front of us when she could not see what she was trying to see! In fact, every time a scene would begin that Belle was not in, Isabel would look at us and say "Belle? Belle?" We would assure her that she would be back in a minute and then she would calm down and continue watching. She enthusiastically clapped at the end of the show and kept saying "Bye-bye!" and waving to Belle and the rest of the cast. Now the plan is to get her the movie for her birthday party later in January!

Luke also had a favorite experience of his own during our day at Hollywood Studios. Ever the roller-coaster enthusiast (as am I, but couldn't go since I am pregnant!), he got to go on Rockin' Roller Coaster, which he has never been on and has had his eye on since it opened several years ago. While he went on the coaster, Isabel napped and Mommy got to sit down for 45 minutes to rest her legs and back!

A couple of things we were SO thankful for during this two-day Disney excursion were:

1) Isabel's lovey and the middle two fingers of her left hand that she sucks on to self-soothe. Isabel tends to be a little bit of an introvert and gets overwhelmed easily by new and different situations. This is part of what makes her who she is, and we love her for it. Much of the time, Disney world was very overwhelming for her, and she was generally fine as long as she had lovey and her fingers, as you can see in the photo below. We saw a LOT of this pose throughout the day!

2) The stroller canopy that our dear friends the Polzins let us borrow. Isabel, who has always had a tough time napping in her stroller, actually napped BOTH days in her stroller (an hour at Magic Kingdom and 45 minutes at Hollywood Studios), thanks to lovey, her fingers, the fleece pants we brought for her to nap in, and that canopy which darkened the stroller and prevented her from seeing all that was going on around her. Our days would have ended much earlier if not for those naps!

All in all, the two days were exhausting but fun, and we are glad that we gave Isabel this first Disney experience, but a lesson was learned for sure! Going to the parks the weekend before Christmas is not something we will ever repeat! We think the experience would be even more magical if there were just a few less people at the park and the lines were just a bit shorter! Oh well, life is all about lessons learned and we feel blessed that we have a happy, healthy daughter and the ability to take her to Disney World!

To view photos of our family in front of Cinderella's castle, and of Isabel meeting Mickey Mouse, please click here to view them on the Disney PhotoPass site, as we are unable to download them and haven't had a chance to order prints yet!

We're in "Loh-la" (translation = "Florida")

When I went into Isabel's bedroom this morning just after 7 where she was chatting happily in her crib, my conversation with her went as follows:

Mommy asked: "Where are we going today?"
Isabel promptly replied, "Up high!"
Mommy (laughing): "Yes, honey, that is right, we are going up high in an airplane. And where is that airplane taking us?"
Isabel: "Loh-la!"
Mommy: "That's right! And who lives in Florida?"
Isabel: "Mimmie!" (can be translated "Mickey" or "Minnie")
Mommy: "Right! And who else?"
Isabel: "Nahma!" (Grandma)
Mommy: "And who else?"
Isabel: "Papa!"

Ah, the adorable early morning conversations with a toddler. I will miss the mispronounciations as she grows, because with each word she learns to pronounce correctly, she is getting older and slowly but surely becoming less dependent on me. I cannot believe that she is going to be two years old in one week. The time has flown and with another one on the way, it will surely go by even faster.

So, we arrived safely in Florida to a balmy and humid (albeit overcast and drizzling) 70 degrees. Isabel did quite well on the plane for a two-year-old, and actually, shockingly, fell asleep in her stroller shortly after we landed at the Orlando airport. She NEVER EVER falls asleep in her stroller, so this was quite amazing and photo-worthy (photos will be posted soon as we are trying to figure out how to upload them from our camera to the computer)! Not to mention, she continued to sleep in that stroller for 25 minutes in what was without a doubt the loudest rental car parking garage I have ever been in. There were car alarms being set off every few minutes as people were trying to find their cars (none of the spaces were numbered, as the garage was under major construction), and at least twice, a large tractor passed by within 5 feet of her stroller dragging metal garbage cans over the concrete (take a second to imagine how loud that was!) and the kid never even fluttered an eyelash. Quite tuckered out from the long travel day...but had a great evening as we visited with our friends Jenna ("Nenna"), Aaron ("Aay-on"), and Camille ("Meel!"). The little princess is now sleeping soundly as her parents enjoy our first evening of a much needed VACATION!

"Checking her messages" after the plane landed! :)

What a tired girl to sleep through the ruckus of the parking garage!

Isabel got some exciting news today!

"Big..."

"Sister..."

"Who, me?!?!?!"

It's a little...boy?!?!?! GREAT, I love boys!

Wow, I am going to do such a good job as a big sister and Mommy's little helper!

A Ladybuggy Halloween - 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger

Let me start off by saying I am happy to be able to title this post "A ladybuggy Halloween." I bought Isabel's adorable ladybug costume over a month ago, and for the past month, when I have occasionally asked her to put the costume on, she has very politely said "no." I think the bulkiness of the costume was freaking her out a little! But finally on the Wednesday before Halloween, right before her bath I was able to get her to try it on with no problems, and toddle around in it for awhile. Whew! What a relief especially because it was SO adorable as you will see from the photos. I do not think I could have chosen a cuter costume on our petite little girl!

So, Isabel the ladybug had a blast on Halloween this year! On Friday, she got to bring her costume to school where they had a Halloween parade in the morning, and a party in the afternoon (parents were invited so of course we went!) At the party, she got to make bubble bats, color and decorate a Halloween crown, and (this was the best part) frost and eat a Halloween sugar cookie. Well, to be more accurate, once Isabel figured out that the orange-and-black sprinkles and frosting were edible, she proceeded to eat those while Daddy ate the cookie that she had partially frosted!

Saturday we got her back in her costume and headed out trick-or-treating to a few houses in our neighborhood. The first house we went to was our good friends the Ryans, and we were welcomed by sidewalk chalk signs and drawings in their driveway and sidewalk that said "Ladybugs wanted!" (They are some of Isabel's biggest fans and she loves them too!) And after we visited their house and Isabel selected a few pieces of candy for her "puh-ple" pumpkin, we were pleasantly surprised to find ANOTHER little ladybug walking around our neighborhood (our other neighbors were out with their daughter Natalie who is 6 months younger than Isabel). The two ladybugs were a little shy of each other at first, but at the end, they warmed up to each other and were definitely invading each other's space (as you can see in the photos) and Isabel was pointing at Natalie's spots! How darling!

Then it was back home again to welcome all the other trick-or-treaters to our house. Of course, Isabel would always point out the "boys" that came to the door (she loves to say "boy" but will not say "girl" - hopefully this is not a sign of boy-craziness in the future - oh dear). Isabel got her first taste of candy, since she had, of course, done all the work of saying "teet-teet-teet" (translation = "trick or treat") at each door. So, I may shock you by saying that we, the sugar-averse parents, broke from our rules and gave her a piece of a Kit-Kat and a piece of a Reese's (both of which she was most fond of!)

So last year...the crawling Squirt the turtle, this year, the toddling ladybug...what will next year's Halloween bring? We shall see!

Apples, pumpkins, and more apples!

Two Sundays ago, we took our annual trip to Afton Apple, for the first time as a family of three (last year, just Mommy and Isabel went so there were not nearly as many good photo ops!)

Many of you might know that Isabel's favorite word of late is "apple." So, we thought it would be doubly as fun to take her apple picking this year! Despite the chilly October temps we have been having that caused us to have to don our winter coats, hats, and mittens for our trip there, we headed down after church on a sunny (but yes, chilly) morning, and the trip was definitely a success!

Notable activities of the day:

1) Isabel feeding a donkey out of her hand (we have no photo of this so you will just have to take our word for it. Mommy couldn't handle taking the photos AND making sure that Isabel held her hand flat so the gentle donkey wouldn't accidentally lop off one of her little fingers!)

2) Daddy taking her to the top of the big haypile.
3) Sticking her head in the little cutouts in the animals faces. We especially liked showing these photos to her on the computer at home, where she could see herself as a cow ("moo-moo-moo"), sheep ("baa-baa"), etc.

4) Getting to carry around, and eat, her VERY OWN apple that we picked off the tree just for her! That thing was glued to her hand from the moment we gave it to her until we ended our day at the orchard!

5) "Helping" Mommy and Daddy find the very perfect pumpkin to take home and (hopefully) carve. It will be interesting to see if she likes the feeling of pumpkin squishing through her hands, and if she tries to eat it (ew!)

"I think I found the one, guys!"

6) Opening the car door when we got home to find her sleeping HARD in her carseat, exhausted from her adventure (those of you who know Isabel well will know that this never happens, especially not to the point where we can take a photo without her waking up!)

There were too many cute photos to put on the blog, so I have posted a few here and you can find the rest at our Shutterfly site, http://www.lukeandkristy.shutterfly.com/.

Enjoy your autumn!

Smart girl starts preschool!

Well, our little girl has been off to "school" for a little over a month now. (I know, I know, you can all be mad at me for not updating the blog in FOREVER!) She started in a program for a half-day one day a week, called Children's Praise N Rainbows. I was a little apprehensive about how she would do in a new, larger group of kids, and being left there by Mommy (plus being picked up about an hour after she normally lays down for a nap), but she has been doing PHENOMENAL! She has not shed a single tear when being dropped off...not one! And when she gets home, yes, she is VERY tired, but she still has been taking a good (later) nap in the afternoon after school.

My favorite thing that she does, that is school-related, is that every time you ask her, "Isabel, do you have school today?", she responds "Uh-huh!" and then when you ask "What do you get to bring to school?" she says, without fail, "Bah-pah!" (backpack). How adorable is that?

Here are two photos of her before her second day. The first day she was being anti-photo, but I figured we would try again the next week, and she cooperated QUITE well!

I have learned this summer that I love....

Peaches...

Playing in the warm rain...

Pushing my stroller...

Riding on REAL ponies...

And high fives and hugs from good friends!

Ahhh, summer!

Isabel's day at the park

Jenna wrote a very amazing blog post about their day at the park today along with some pretty doggone cute photos so I thought I would link you to it here. Enjoy!

On another note - I am SO excited that tomorrow, Isabel will step foot for the first time into a gymnastics gym! We are going to open gym at IGM Gymnastics in Burnsville. Little girl, I hope you fall in love with the sport as much as your mommy loves it! If so, then meet your future! Look out, 2024 Olympics, here we come!

Haiku Tuesday - 4th edition

Bouncy balls are fun

So is sliding with Mommy

Laughing all the way!

Roseola

Isabel came down with a mysterious fever on Thursday evening (in the low 102s) and kept it through Sunday evening. It was pretty strange because she didn't really have any other symptoms except for some irritability and extreme tiredness (she was sleeping a solid 14 hrs at night and was back to two long naps during the day). It is a little uncommon for her to hang onto a fever this long even with a virus, so I took her in Monday morning to rule out anything bacterial (ear infection, strep throat, etc.) They did those tests and they came back negative, and her blood work did show that her body was fighting off some sort of a virus. So, the doctor told us to watch the fever for another 48 hrs and to come back if it had not gone away by then. She also told us they had been seeing some roseola (a virus that causes a self-contained, non-irritating rash after the fever and contagious phase has gone away). Well, lo and behold, today when she woke up from her nap, she was sitting on my lap and I peered into the neckline of her dress to find a rash, confirming that it is indeed roseola! It is all over her chest, tummy, and back, but like they said, it is not contagious and really doesn't seem to be bothering her at all. So, at least we know what it is and that it is nothing serious. The research we did said that almost all kids are exposed before age two but not all end up with the fever or rash. Leave it to Isabel to actually GET the fever and rash and scare her mommy a little before we knew what it was! I just hope it goes away before her photo session this Saturday!

Haiku Tuesday - 3rd edition

Fun in summer sun

On our way to Valleyfair

Hurry, Mom and Dad!

Little people mama?

I had to share something that Isabel did yesterday that was so adorable! She came walking up to me in the kitchen with a Little People character in her hand (the mommy who drives the Little People SUV), and she pointed to it several times and said "Mama, mama" and then pointed to my legs and said "Mama, mama." Apparently she thinks that the Little People mama looks like her mama! I will leave that up to the voting public! :)

UPDATE: Luke just got home from softball and after FIRST telling me about his softball victory, and THEN reading my blog post, he informed me that before I got home from work yesterday, he heard Isabel saying in the living room "Mama? Mama?" He knew I wasn't home yet, and a second later she came toddling around the corner with, you guessed it, the Little People mama, and was pointing to her and chanting "Mama, mama!" Tooooo funny!

Haiku Tuesday - 2nd edition

Missing family

Business trip in hot Texas

One-oh-two degrees!

Haiku Tuesday (joining Jenna!)

I have joined in Jenna's challenge to write a Haiku each Tuesday, that will sometimes and sometimes not go with a photo. So here is my first shot, after getting "Haiku 101" from Jenna!

Our trip to Fairdale

Lots of fun with family

Can't wait for next year!

Isabel greatly enjoyed sitting up on the loft in the RV that Grandma, Don, Luke, Morgan, Andrew, and Lauren rented for the trip up to Fairdale (no worries, she didn't ride up there while it was moving!)

Teeter-tottering with Auntie Lauren (every time Lauren would stop, Isabel would sign "More"!)


She did not hesitate for an instant to climb into the turtle pool when we brought her out in her swimsuit and she saw it! The water was a bit cool despite our "bucket brigade" of hot water from inside the house to warm it up, but I swear she still would have gone in if it was icy cold. She is SUCH a water girl!


Putting small rubber duckies in and out of the cup...

...and Mommy's mouth :)

Isabel knows what mommies are (and not just her own)

Tonight while I was reading Isabel Love You Forever (we read this almost every night before bed), on the page where the mother is pictured rocking her 9-year old boy, Isabel pointed several times to the mommy on the page, and then turned her hand back toward me and pointed several times to me! How adorable is that! She is just learning more and more every day...she has already grown from a baby to a toddler in the blink of an eye, and before we know it, she will be a little girl and no longer a toddler, just like how the little boy in the book grows up before his mother's eyes.

Isabel's first trip to Valleyfair

We took Isabel to Valleyfair for the first time today and it was a lot of fun! We bought season passes this year (have skipped the last two years because of being pregnant or having an infant) so we can go and not feel pressured to stay for more than a few hours to get our "worth" out of the ticket price. With the combination of a toddler's maximum length of time to be happy without napping, and Mommy's determination to not let her sunburn, we will go for shorter stints more often this year, rather than less often for longer days.

We started out in KidZone, which used to be the Berenstain Bears park. There was a foam ball factory in there which Isabel was OK with as long as she was in my arms for the first 10 minutes or so (there were loud noises that scared her). Eventually she was OK with getting down on the floor and helping me gather foam balls to load into the Ball Launcher! The very first ride we took her on was a Thrill Ride Level 2 (Grandmas and Great-Grandmas, gasp here). It was a rowboat where she sat in between Daddy and Mommy and the ride went around and round and rocked back and forth a bit too. She was never scared, but a bit reserved at first, but by the end she was laughing, grabbing onto the bar for leverage, and when the ride ended, she signed "more"! We have a photo but it doesn't capture the joy she really felt on this ride!

We wandered around the Kiddie Park hoping for more rides that we could go on with her, but unfortunately were disappointed that most rides only allowed the child to go. Obviously, she is far too young to be able to ride a ride by herself! So, off to the waterpark we went. I had thought to bring her swimsuit and a swim diaper last minute, so once we saw how few rides there actually were for her to partake in, we were happy we brought it.

The waterpark was a HUGE SUCCESS! When we got there she had been fussy, as she was getting tired. But the minute her little feet were put down on the bottom of the wading pool, all thoughts of fussing or sleep were a distant memory. She was MUCH braver than we thought, venturing toward the big fountains in the middle, leaning down and splashing herself in the face with water (and then laughing), and pushing our hands away when we tried to hold her hands, knowing that she would at some point slip and fall. We ended up "compromising" with her by using the straps of her swimsuit as "handles" so that we could pick her back up when she started to fall. Around and around and around the wading pool and baby lazy river she went, climbing in and out all by herself (under our watchful eyes and while we hung onto her "handles"). She would have spent hours more in that pool if we had let her, I think, but I was starting to worry about the sun even though I had liberally applied SPF 60 sunblock on her several times already! We got LOTS of great photos and hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

Next she had a snack of a pretzel with cheese, "bopped to the beat" of the music show outside the 50's Diner, and went on the carousel twice (once with Mommy on a bench and once with Daddy when she finally became OK with sitting on a horsie). Then we decided to call it a day. Came home, ate dinner, gave her a nice bath to wash all the sunblock and fair grit off, and had her promptly in bed at 7:00 (she was a very tired girl).

(P.S. Mommy and Daddy each managed to sneak in a real thrill ride while the other stayed with Isabel. Mommy went on the roller coaster Renegade, which I haven't been on yet since I was pregnant with Isabel the year it came out, and Daddy went on Extreme Swing. We each had to get a tiny taste of the thrill rides we love so much, or we might have been just a tiny bit jealous of Isabel getting to have all the fun!)

I am sure there will be more Valleyfair stories to come this summer!

Holding onto her "handles" helping her get in and out (and in and out) of the baby lazy river!

She had just splashed herself in the face and thought it was quite hilarious!