Happy Birthday Little B

Here's CJ showing off the cake she put together for Little B's birthday (she made her a card last week, too). Little B looks like she could care less, but that's just because she's out of sorts with a sore toenail. Hopefully that will resolve soon for our ten year old puppy.

Can You Curl Your Tongue?

These cousins can. CJ enjoyed sleeping over at Cousin C's house, playing with him and his new toys, visiting with Grandma, Aunt A and Uncle S and watching the puppies run in the sun like they haven't in years. Little B did a little too much running and tore a nail, but she seemed to recover ok.

Happy Birthday Cousin C

Even though she didn't try the velcro wall, CJ had a blast at Cousin C's birthday party at the bouncy place. She loved the pink castle, hula hoops and of course the cake!

Favorite Things

-Grandma came into town this afternoon to drive to Cousin C's party with us tomorrow

-It was our turn for the Childrens Museum pass at the library

-Putting on face paint at the CM

-Bella Pizza and Ice Cream

Not A Good Picture

Trust me, you don't want to see this picture on your computer. Mama did and it is no fun!

The Little Gymnast

Here she is all ready to head to gymnastics.

Family Traditions

On the way home from the zoo today, CJ stated "Mom, I know what job I could do when I grow up. I could take care of the babies at the hospital. And it's close enough to our house that I could walk to work."

Since many of Daddy's family members are in the medical field, this one isn't so far fetched.

Roar

The zoo has a new exhibit and we were able to check it out today. We renewed our membership so I'm sure we'll be back many times over the next year or so. CJ had a fun time reading all the plaques listing the contributors, playing the telephone games, watching cheetahs from the Land Rover and crawling through a tunnel to see some of the animals. We also saw sea lions, otters, elephants and others being fed; watched some baby goats butting heads; tried to catch a glimpse of the baby bats and pretty much shut down the zoo as it is already on winter schedule.

Here's the Skuut

It's getting lots of use...

Tiny Tumbler

CJ started her first gymnastics class today. We know many people who take classes at the local gym, but it wasn't until our neighbor had her birthday party there last spring that CJ got interested. So this year she chose gymnastics over dance and she had a blast during her first class. It might have helped that she was the only child in the class for the warm up stretches and then there was only one other little girl for the class. They did so many activities that Mama was impressed - balance beam, trampoline, parallel bars and even some work at the uneven bars. It was quite a work out.

New Kicks

CJ wanted Mama to take a picture of her showing off her new shoes.

Smiley Girl

Here's CJ. Doesn't she look happy as she tests out the new kitchen floor? She even has her measuring tape to help measure.

We haven't posted much because we haven't been home much this last week. Our neighbors lent us their skuut bike and CJ has been wanting to ride that every chance she can. The neighbor boy went straight from the skuut to a bike w/o training wheels at 3-1/2. We also met some friends at the outdoor pool on Saturday for the last weekend of the year. Great weather and lots of fun as always.

Dilemma

CJ's solution to your problems -

just sing a song

First Day of School

Here's CJ posing before school:

and after:

She had a good day. Being one of only two "2nd year" students this day, she was asked to be a tour guide for the new children as they learned their way around the school. She also was in charge of squirting soap on hands after outside time. Looks like she enjoyed the day.

Meet and Greet

Today we had orientation for the new school year and then a meet and greet potluck at a park to meet all the new families for CJ's preschool. School starts tomorrow.

Heading Home

Back in the car for the long drive home.

Location, Location, Location

Did we mention that Grandma and Grandpa R live directly across the street from a park?

And they have a pool in their neighborhood?

Show Girl

While in California, we had a chance to visit the Lagunitas Brewing Company TapRoom and Beer Sanctuary. There was a great outdoor area and Uncle D had mentioned that it was kid and dog friendly so we brought the whole family. CJ got there and immediately claimed she was hungry, but all that we could find on the menu for the under-age set was an apple juice and a basket of pretzels. It must have hit the spot, for after the live music ended, she treated Uncle D and his friends to this performance on the stage:

The Newest Cousin

Here's CJ getting to know Uncle D's new dog, Stella. She loved Uncle D's koi pond, but her favorite thing about his house? The juice!

The Loot

Here's CJ showing off the loot she scored from Grandma R's bingo winnings. She loves her colorful necklaces and bracelets.

California Bound

Headed down to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa R as well as Uncle D and his new puppy, Stella. 10 hours of driving turns out to be about 12 with stops. We planned the trip with an ice cream stop at Rice Hill and a visit to Chipotle in Redding. Much better than the first couple of times we did the trip and hit the Taco Bell in Redding - eating Taco Bell outside in the sun at over 100 degrees with the two dogs and a baby wasn't as much fun as it sounds like.

Nutritional???

Since today was the last day of our swim lessons for this session, CJ was told she could have a special treat. But for the first day this week the sno cone stand was closed before we finished our lesson. After some tears she decided to try the SpongeBob popsicle in the machine inside that she'd been eyeing all summer, but that machine was broken (darn!). So we ended up with a blue raspberry Slush Puppie from the pool stand. According to the cup it is "nutritional" because it contains juice. Looks like it contains quite a bit of blue coloring as well...

Preschool Rides

Today we went back to Oaks Park to meet some friends for the preschool rides. CJ had fun as usual, but didn't want to do the big pink slide this time.

Life Jackets

This is one of CJ's favorite parts of swim lessons. She loves floating on her back with the life jacket on.