Finding Snow

We decided to take the kids up to South Lake Tahoe. Here in Folsom, we do not experience snow but we can get our "fill" about an hour away. I have never been snow shoeing and thought we would just rent them for the first time, but when I went to check on rentals, they had some great deals on them. We ended up buying both Brian and I a pair and then Kaylee spotted a pair for her. I couldn't resist:) She had so much fun that it was totally worth it. I was impressed at how quickly she picked up on it. She didn't fall once, but daddy did!!!

For our first time, we did not go too far in the snow shoes. We got pretty tired very quickly. They are harder than you think. My calves were sore and it was noon, so lunch time!!! After grabbing a bite to eat in the van, we got the sled out. There were quite a few people and lots of trees around. That does not mix very well. We watched as a few kids ran into trees coming down the hills. They were fine but I was not feeling quite right about sledding down with that danger. We found some small hills to go down that did not have as many trees. The first time down, Kaylee got a mouth full of snow. She didn't think she wanted to go anymore. Brian got her up the hill again and then he got on the sled. She was standing off to the side looking down the hill so as he started going down, he just grabbed her on the way and set her down on the sled. She protested at first but then was laughing hard. She ended up having fun and was enjoying herself again.

Kaylee also built a snowman:)


Carson could not get enough of sledding. Before we were even off the sled, he was pointing to the top to go back up.

Snow shoeing!!! Carson just enjoyed being outdoors.

This will definitely be a regular activity. So much fun. I am just glad we have to go somewhere for the snow and not our backyard. We came back home to 60 degree weather that afternoon:)

Trip to San Francisco, part 2

So on Thursday, it was another beautiful day. We decided to head to the ZOO!!! We had a blast and couldn't have asked for better weather. Kaylee found a friend in the first five minutes we were at the zoo. He was 4 years old and his name was Carson:) They kept asking if they could go the same way so we ended up hanging out with Carson and his dad for some of the day. I only brought the single stroller as I knew Kaylee would walk most of it. When she wanted to ride, this is how we rolled:)

Carson, can you please slow down in the growing department?

Feeding of the penguins:

Kaylee is seeing hoe she measured up.

After the zoo, we made the short walk to the beach!!! We didn't spend too much time there as I did not have much with us.

Carson was just ready to get into the water.

On Friday, we decided to head across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was raining and so not the clearest picture. Still beautiful.

We hit the Bay area children's museum. They have an area for little ones that Kaylee was just short enough to still get in. Thank goodness because we spent a lot of time in here. They basically had water beds that were set up as water ponds and lily pads. Kaylee was one of the older kids and when she would jump she would bounce all the kids. I started noticing kids following her as they were enjoying being bounced around. She was enjoying being the leader.

They also had a science area. Kaylee enjoyed dumping beads from one container to the other by putting her hands into the gloves.

Carson was enjoying taking and putting back all the sticks. Kaylee is helping him makes patterns with the colors.

Even though it was raining, they wanted to build. I love how they are working together to build.

That night for supper, Brian got off early so we took him back down to the Pier. Showed him the sea lions and walked for a bit. On saturday, we were heading to the Golden Gate Park but the weather was not cooperating. We played for about 45 minutes but then decided we were all tired and ready to head home. We stopped at Texas Roadhouse on the way home!!! Kaylee was introduced to ther bread and butter - she is hooked:)

All in all it was a great week. Wish Brian could have spent more time with us but we understood he was there for a conference. We will enjoy heading back to have even more fun!!!

Trip to San Francisco, part 1

Downloading pictures and painting the living room so will be dividing up the trip into a few posts. Let me back up, Brian was heading to San Francisco for a conference. Since it is only 90 minutes away, he asked if we would want to go also. Hotel room paid for, yes we will go!!! I have never been to SF so this was exciting to me. I started to research some places for the kids and I to explore and talked with some friends here. Then we were off!!

We left monday afternoon to beat traffic. Got to our hotel and then walked down to Chinatown. I will admit, I was not impressed. I think I am just not a city girl. Anyways, we headed down the huge hill to find some supper. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was pretty good. Kaylee loves to try to eat with chopsticks, so here Brian is trying to help her learn the proper way.

Carson tried to find another use for them but quickly found out they can not be used as straws.

On Tuesday, it was the kids and I as Brian started his work week. It was drizzling, so we planned indoor activities. A friend told me about a museum called the Randall Museum. It was crowded and small. They had animals to pet and Kaylee had a fun time trying to catch the chickens and bunnies. Carson kept thinking everything was a duck. It is the animal he knows the sound for so the whole time, he was walking around saying "quack, quack." Even to the chicken and bunnies:)

They had trains downstairs which Carson loved. Overall, it was a pretty small museum and pretty crowded.

Other than that, we ran to a few stores to get some supplies we forgot and just explored the area. We ended up back at the hotel a little earlier than I hoped and so we walked to a nearby park to kill some more time.

Wednesday was a beautiful day!! We headed down to the Piers to explore and hit the aquarium.

We drove down early to walk around a bit at Fisherman's Warf,

and to see the Sea Lions that hang out on Pier 39. It was fun to watch them fight with eachother.

After spending some time at the Pier, we headed to the aquarium. I was a little surprised at how small it was, but it was still really fun. In the morning, we had the aquarium to ourselves.

It only took about an hour to go through, so after that we headed for lunch, carousel ride, and shopping in Fisherman's Warf. We also walked up to ghiradelli square for some chocolate and then headed back down. Late in the afternoon, we walked through the aquarium again (all day pass) and then headed to the Rainforest Cafe for supper. Both kids loved watching all the fish while eating. We were wiped out after the long day, but it was a lot of fun.

I will post about Thursday and Friday later.

Well checkups for the kids

Since arriving in Folsom, I have been on the hunt for new doctors. This is a task I do not like. I talked with many people and we tried one doctor a couple of times. I was not impressed:( I was put on hold minutes every time I called and sometimes after the 10 minutes I would just hang up out of frustration. Seriously? It was not a big office, what are you doing people. So, again, we talked with people and got another recommendation. Made my appointment and in order to see the main doc for a well visit, it was about a 3 week wait. No biggie, I understand that. If you are good, you are busy. Then about a week before we went to the visit to meet with doctor, I was attending a new women's group and they had a guest speaker that morning. Guess who the guest speaker was? The doctor I had an appointment with!! It was awesome. I got to meet him and see him in more of a casual setting for the fist time. It was a question/answer forum and so a lot of his view points came out. One thing that stuck with me that I still laugh about is he said "people are using too much hand sanitizer. Germs are good and build the immune system, if you use too much sanitizer then you are not allowing the immune system to build. Plus all the sanitizer is is alcohol, not good." That right there sold me:) I am not afraid of germs and if you see my kids playing outside and then I bring them a snack for them to eat, don't expect me to drag them inside to wash first. Dirt does the body good in my opinion.

Anyways, the real reason for this post: updates on the kids.

Kaylee: 3 1/2 years old. 90% for both height and weight!!! This girl is already 40 1/2 inches tall. He said she is perfectly proportioned:) She does love her sweets though so need to watch that - she takes after her mother!! We are taking her off of milk products to see if she has developed a slight allergy as she complains quite a bit of stomach aches after drinking milk. No biggie, but we will see if that helps.

Carson: 1 year checkup. He is now 31 1/2 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds. He is 85% for height and 63% for weight. Doctor said he is also perfect:) We do have to see a urologist again on him though. I had seen one when he was about 6 months old or so because his circumcision did not take, but he told me to see if it corrected itself by 18 months. Well, there has been no change. Our ped said he was short changed on it:( So we wait for the referral to go through to see a urologist out here and see what the action plan is. Hopefully, it can still be done in office and not in the OR.

Both kids are in great health which we are very thankful for. Couldn't ask for better kids. So proud of how they are growing and I am especially proud of how Kaylee is already seeking God. She asks often to talk about things she is learning in class and just the other day she asked Brian, "do you hear God when he talks to you?" What an opportunity to have an awesome father, daughter talk!! Love that girls heart.