Ten Things Tuesday

I keep finding myself missing out on opportunities or fun things to blog about.  I’m frequently getting behind and end up summarizing it here:  in a Ten-things-Tuesday format.

So…. here’s what’s going on with us!!

1)  We’ve had several visitors the last few weeks with Spring Break!!!  Laura, Rich, Dylan, Ryan, and Sean Cudd were just here last week.  We’ve enjoyed seeing so much of Aaron’s sister and her family lately (3 times in the last 6 months!) and we had a really good visit.  They all came over one night for tacos and smores, we had dinner at their hotel one night, I took them to the Musical Instrument Museum, Aaron traveled all the way out the to Confederate Airforce Museum and they went to 2 spring training games!!!  All before they left for the Grand Canyon on Thursday.

I didn’t get very many pictures but here are a few from the MIM:

2)  Also last week, we had a nice Spring Break visit from Linda and Megan Litle.  Linda is Aaron’s aunt and we had a really nice dinner and talk with them.  I hope they enjoyed their time in sunny Scottsdale and returned to Bozeman safely!

3)  In not good news, we had our garage broken into last week.  First they opened the xterra out front, took the garage opener, and stole on of Aaron’s bikes.  We’ve filed a police report and insurance claim – not a lot of hope that they’ll recover the bike.

4)  After a few weeks off, we’re back in serious potty-training mode.  This has caused mom some angst as Elayna relapsed to using a diaper at school but I think we’re all back on track again. 

5)  Aaron is traveling for business most of the next 2 weeks.  He’s in Kansas City right now, will return tomorrow and then fly off to France on Saturday.  Elayna and I will miss him greatly but I think we’ll be able to manage….

6)  Elayna had a haircut today!!!  We only trimmed a few inches but I think she looks adorable.  And she did GREAT at the salon…. such a little lady.

7)  I am making plans for Elayna’s birthday party!!  We’re just going to do a smaller gathering for her closest friends at our house on her actual birthday.  The only other definitive detail is she wants PRINCESSES.  Lots and lots of freaking Princesses.

8)  My brother Nathan is wandering around Australia.  They’ve tried a few temporary jobs but the latest – and least successful – was as a carnie.  He lasted a day – but I applaud his courage.  And I’m hoping he disinfected.

9)  My birthday last weekend was very special.  We spent the whole day as a family, all took 3-hour naps, and Aaron took me out for a delicious dinner that night (thanks Lic for babysitting!)  I feel old – and seem to age faster as Elayna gets smarter.

10)  I have officially sold my old camera and am slowly adjusting to the new one.  It had its first official outing at Allison Griffiths’ birthday party and I love the results!  It is an amazing camera and I’m looking forward to a more official camera outing sometime soon!

The Potty Collage

Santa visited our house this week with my combination birthday / bonus-celebration present to myself:  a new Pentax K-7 camera, 3 new lenses, and some fabulous random camera junk included in the ‘kit’ I bought on Ebay.  It is beautiful.  It is far too advanced for me and I’m almost afraid to touch it.  And it makes a very lovely shutter-release noise (delightful for only me, I’m sure).  It is a wonderful step up from my existing Pentax 110D and I’m thrilled.

When I posted my excitement on Facebook, here were the responses:

So…. For my brother Nathan, here’s a journey through Elayna’s potty-training time of 2010.  The lesson here is be careful what you wish for….

April2010:  Happy Birthday!                    May 2010:  Reading.

 

Sep 2010:  Relaxing after a bath          Oct2010:  YEAH – football.

 

Feb 2011:  We must occupy our time while sitting on the potty.  It may be where the most creative thinking happens.

Elayna’s new bed

That’s right … the crib is gone!!! 

We’ve upgraded to a super cute white toddler bed a-la Target.  While Elayna picked out the plastic pink Princess bed, we were able to talk her down to the Princess bedding instead.  I do believe these Princesses are her favorite part of the new room!

I anticipated some growing pains with the new freedom but E has done remarkably well with the transition.  Well, at least so far … after one night and one successful nap.  Let’s hope this brings her many happy dreams to come!

Disney!!!

We spent last weekend in Disneyland and the remainder of this week recovering.  Aaron even caught some kind of cold there – not fun at all.  But the majority of the trip was fun, crazy, expensive, and people-packed.  After day 1, I felt as if I’d done nothing all day but was still exhausted….

So here’s a summary of our trip.

Day 1, Thursday, Feb 24:  We spent the majority of the day in the car … driving, driving, driving.  Elayna was GREAT on the long road trip and watched movies, sang songs, and played.  The rest of us were grouchy and hungry by the time we made it to Huntington Beach and our evening of playing in the surf.

Elayna loved this most of all.  It was slightly chilly but once she was wet, we couldn’t keep her out of the water.  It wasn’t until she took a good wave in the face that we could convince her to warm up and change clothes.

Day #2 Friday, Feb 25:  Off to Disneyland!!  Elayna had a dazed expression the majority of the day.  We raced around the park and packed most of it in this first day.  The Fast Pass system was amazing and the lines weren’t too bad.  I did learn a few very important things this first day:

1)  A 2 year old is just as happy to watch birds as she is to see Mickey Mouse.

2)  The excitement of the ride is directly proportional to how long you stand in line.

3)  Candy suckers fix all things.

4)  It’s a Small World is obnoxiously long.

 

Around 6 we were tired, cranky, wet (it rained most of the afternoon), and sick of Disney.  We did discover a great restaurant in Downtown Disney though and slept well that night.

Day #3  Saturday, Feb 26:  Alicia met a friend of hers for breakfast and California Adventure didn’t open until 10.  Therefore, Aaron and I decided to tackle Disneyland first thing and try to beat the crowds.  This ended up being one of the best days – the crowds were slim, Elayna was in a great mood, and we crossed off most of Fantasyland in one about an hour.  Elayna may always be traumatized by Mr Toad’s Wild Ride but she was a great sport. 

Mid-morning, we traversed over to California Adventure and met up with Lic.  California Adventure is a much smaller park so we were able to explore and do the Soaring over California ride in the morning.  We visited their winery for lunch (yes, there’s a winery in California Adventure), rode the empty Monster’s Inc ride several times, and had margaritas for a snack -- so the afternoon went quickly.  Elayna liked the Bug’s Land and she did great on the ferris wheel with us.  She even warmed up to Mulan.

I had prepurchased dinner tickets for us in the park and this gave us special seats for the World of Color show.  This was amazing – lights and color and music and the fountain – all beautiful and choreographed.  It may have been the highlight of our day!

It was a late night but Elayna took it in stride and seemed to enjoy herself much more.  I think she ‘got it’ and was particularly happy with her new Ariel sweatshirt.

Day 4, Sun Feb 27:  Because of our success the day before, A, E and I again hit the park early and found it mostly empty!  We walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones, and quickly rode Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We were even able to visit the Princesses without an obnoxious wait. 

This was Elayna’s best day by far.  She smiled at the Princesses, she waved to the characters in It’s a Small World.  She even played with her Minnie toy for long periods.  It was so satisfying to see her light up and have a great time and we definitely want to take her again when she’s older.

But our time there was short … back in the car for the long drive home throughout the afternoon.  Amazingly, the ride home flew by and we have a lot of good memories of the trip.

Thanks to Aunt Lic for going with us!!!  She was a great sport and it definitely helped to have an extra set of hands to watch E.  The 3 of us were able to take turns watching her and going on older adult rides and this definitely helped.