My BABY is THREE!!

Ok, this post is long over due, but better late than never!  Last month, my bouncing baby boy turned 3 years old, he's a full-fledged kid now people!  He had been insisting on a "dinosaur cake" for about 6 months prior to his birthday party, and as the date grew nearer he added on "dinosaur balloons too!"  The kid knows what he wants :).  And luckily he has a mommy that takes a theme and runs with it.. so we had a dinosaur birthday party for our big boy Z.

We decorated the house to provide dinosaur-related ambiance :)..

 

 

We had 3 dinosaur-themed games, including, pin the horn on the triceratops, digging for dinos in the sandbox, and decorating our dino-goggles, the kids had a blast!

 And of course we had the dinosaur balloons and the dinosaur cake, as were mandatory

 

The cake left the kiddos with blue tongues and lots of sugar induced energy.  They spent the rest of the night running through the house and dragging each other around in Z's tunnel.  Because, obviously, that is the most fun thing EVAH.  The party was a success, we were so happy to celebrate our little (I mean BIG) man's birthday with great friends :)

 

 

We conclude our SD vacay 3-parter with.. DINOSAURS

Our last outing in San Diego brought us to the San Diego Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park.  One reason we went is that we hadn't really "done" Balboa Park in all the times we visited SD, and the other reason was naturally, dinosaurs.  Our little budding archeologist was VERY excited at the prospect of visiting his current favorite thing ever.

For kiddos, this museum was awesome, VERY hands-on, and they totally delivered the dinos.

Z loved playing with all the displays, in the one above, he is pedaling a bike, with his hands to turn on the water faucet in the case, this was VERY exciting, "look mommy, I make the water go!"

Pushing buttons to make the picture change, definitely a winner.

And then we saw the DINOSAURS!  He was pretty excited to SEE them, but getting close was a whole different matter, I think it's safe to say the scale freaked him out a bit.  Above I have wrangled him into taking a picture with me in front of a dino, he is none to pleased.

They also had some pretty cool displays about the arctic with displays that had bear paws, for easy comparison with your own paws of course ;).  And some games where you had to find fish for penguins.

Z enjoyed the exhibits a lot, the museum was a little smaller than we thought it would be so it only took a couple of hours to go through it.  We spent another couple of hours enjoying the GORGEOUS weather on the lawn outside the museum.  Z ran around in the grass, picked clover flowers and was just generally ecstatic.

On our last day in San Diego we decided to hit the beach again and just take it easy.  We had a fantastic vacation, we definitely need to plan for more week long vacations where at least half of the days we have no  plans except building sandcastles.  And, of course, coming back to the hotel room and making sandwiches for lunch (we're cheap yo!), and ummm.. eating sliced pickles straight out of the jar with maniacal laughter..

I interrupt this vacation 3 parter to bring you this...

We had our "big" ultrasound on Friday, we decided to bring Z so he understood that this whole "baby" thing is real.  There really is a baby inside mommy's tummy, so you really shouldn't body slam her :p.  So we saw a VERY wiggly, healthy, baby... BOY!!  Z is going to have a fantastic playmate, and I am now certain that my house will be smelling like sweaty socks for the next 15 years or so.  We are thrilled, we would have been happy either way, but another boy is very cost effective (we're cheap yo).  We have plenty of boy clothes, toys, and knowledge, so bring it on.  I am destined to be a boy mom, and I wouldn't have it any other way :).

Whales make BIG splashes!!

To break up the lazy days on the beach we decided to hit some San Diego area attractions.  We usually go to the San Diego Zoo every time we visit so we wanted to mix it up a bit this time, it was between Legoland and Sea World.. Sea World won because it is significantly cheaper, and we weren't looking to drop a ton of money.  Anyways, Z loves animals of any sort, so we totally hyped up this visit with promises of BIG whales.
Before I spout sunshine, rainbows, and unicorn farts, I'm going to get a little venty on Sea World, lemme just say folks, this place is NO Disney, and it shows, in every way.  Our hotel concierge told us that Sea World opened at 9am, lesson learned, IGNORE the concierge and just check the damn website, because it opened at 10am.  They let us park, buy tickets and into the entry way of the park, but we had to stand at a chained pathway until, slightly past 10 for them to open.  Strangely (I thought) they decided to play the US national anthem over the loud speakers before they fully opened the park.  And then we had to wait for another 10 minutes for someone to actually open the chain to let us in.. at like 10:15. Z waited patiently through all this, scouting out all the things he wanted to see..

Eating some strawberries since he refused to eat the cereal bars I brought with us to save money on breakfast..

 We were lined up by the area where the dolphins were because a feeding was supposed to start at 10:30, and Z seemed really excited about the prospect of feeding the dolphins.  Naturally, he clammed up when it was our turn to feed them and *refused* to do it, he said "no mommy want YOU do it", so I held him while I petted the dolphins and tossed them fish, they were very friendly for the record.

And true to Z form, as soon as we were done and left the dolphin area, he screamed, "I WANT TO DO IT NOW"  yah, kid, you totally missed your chance, we did not go back, I just told him to look at the dolphins, because they were full now.

After the dolphins we set out to find the Shamu show, because, well, duh, we were at Sea World, isn't that the whole point of going there?  It was a great show, Z was thoroughly impressed, he still talks about the "whales making a BIG splash!!"

We saw penguins and polar bears, and most of a show about dogs and cats (Z had a potty emergency about 3/4 of the way through) and had a generally great day out in the beautiful San Diego weather.  Z was exhausted at the end of the day, so we snuggled on the hotel bed watching a movie.

We might have gotten a little sun burnt due to our defective (not expired!) sun screen.. Loving Naturals, you will be getting a letter!  It was a good visit, Z loved seeing the shows and animals, but I can't say that we'll be going back, it was a little disappointing generally.

Vacation to a mystical island

We just got back from vacation, and I, for one, am SO sad to be back.  You see, we went to this magical place, it's called San Di-e-go (well, technically we stayed on Coronado, hence the island reference), there the temperatures are at *least* 30 degrees cooler than here, a lovely cool ocean breeze blows and there are lots of fun and interesting things to do, I miss it already.  The only part that I don't like so much, is the loooong car ride to get there, thankfully, Z was AWESOME in the car, no doubt helped by the promises of the "BEACH!!" when we arrived at our destination, we hyped it up for days beforehand, I highly recommend this approach.  Also, my poor hubby endured numerous potty stops, because he DARED take a road trip with both an-almost-3-yo, AND a almost-5-months-preggo, bless him, at least his bladder had no excuse to be full :).

After 6 long hours in the car we finally arrived at our hotel, we stayed at "The Del" aka Hotel Del Coronado, because we got a great deal that made staying on the beach cost pretty much the same as staying by the train tracks, Holiday Inn, I'm looking at YOU.  It is a beautiful hotel, full of history, probably worth a visit if you're ever on Coronado, behold:

Notice, this the view from the beach, where we IMMEDIATELY went after checking in and getting settled, for like 5 minutes.  Z was itching to get out to see what he was promised, and well, we *had* to deliver, so we went out, in our clothes, to the beach.  Let's just say, Z was... ecstatic, there is probably less high pitched screaming in glee at a Justin Bieber concert full of 13 year old girls..

The water was freezing, but we got used to it quickly, hard to complain when your kiddo is in a pure state of joy.  His clothes were soaked after, well, frolicking in the ocean, so we had to change before dinner, after these shenanigans he downed an enormous hotdog and some veggie sides for dinner.  He also slept like a rock, in blissful peace... between us on the king bed :p.  It was a fantastic start to a perfect escape.  Stay tuned, we also visited Sea World, and saw some dinosaurs!!

I've been keeping something from you blog

I didn't keep you from it on purpose, there was just never a good time to tell you.  And now, well, now it almost seems far past the moment to say this, so here goes.  Blog, I am knocked up, with child, expecting, straight up preggers, 16wks now actually, due the end of January.

Z is going to be a big bro.  We told him at around 8wks.  Naturally his response was to open his eyes really big, open his mouth in shock and then say "how she gonna get outta you belly mommy?!?"  I chose to spare him the horrifying details and just said "the doctors will do it" and left it at that, he seemed satisfied.   Quickly, he moved on to more pressing matters  "she gonna take my toys?!?"  These are the things on the mind of an almost-3-year-old.  You notice how he's decided it's a girl, for the record, we don't know yet, we find out in 3 weeks, and YES we will be finding out, as IF I could wait in suspense, my internal planner would probably go (more) insane.

So, there it is, it feels much better to have told you.  And now that you're in on the big not-so-secret news you can be a part of my ridiculousness.  I feel good, I'm past the super-fun nausea, and now, I'm straight up ravenous, like oh-my-GAWD if I don't eat immediately I'm going to pass out, even though I just ate a sandwich kind of hungry, it's crazy.  Oh and cravings-wise, CARBS, carbs are my like, super duper BFF.  And people, I am NOT a carbs person, but right now, give me a bagel, a loaf of sourdough and a bowl of spaghetti and I'll be a very happy preggo.  Crap, now I need a snack, see what happened just there?

We go to da MOUNTAINS!!

Well, kind of anyways.  Last month we decided to get out of this crazy heat and take a weekend trip up to Sedona, which technically involves driving through the mountains.  In order to get Z properly motivated to take a 2.5hr car ride and leave his droves of toys behind we promised him we were "going to the mountains".  And he certainly latched on to this idea, it was VERY exciting for him.

So exciting he HAD to make a silly face for the camera ;).  We arrived in Sedona around lunch time and hit our favorite Mexican place there for lunch, this is our routine every time we go up there, and evidently Z remembered from this past winter when we drove up, because he immediately wanted to look for "grasshoppers!!" in the courtyard in front of the restaurants.  Unfortunately it's hot in Sedona in July, I mean, it feels awesome to us, because it's obscenely hot in the valley in July, but I'm sure by grasshopper standards, Sedona is hot, so they were not out hopping around like they were in December.   After a very filling lunch we hit the tourist trap shops, did some walking around, and then checked in to the hotel.  Since in the Summer in the Phoenix metro area it's pretty much out of the question to go outside and play, Z was itching to do this here, where it was *only* in the 90s.

So we indulged him, and he immediately found some wildlife.. errr.. ants, to inspect.  Whatever makes you happy kid :).  The next day we decided to go on a "hike", and that means everything you'd think it means with a 2 year old, an easy walk in the outdoors, albeit with beautiful sites to soak in, because, well, Sedona is gorgeous.

This particular hike took us back and forth across Oak Creek, Z was a little timid about this creek crossing business, but by the end of the hike he was all about getting in the water.  Oh, and he has discovered the camera, and taking pictures, and he's not to bad at it, when his little fingers aren't covering the lens ;).

He is carefully taking pictures of the ants, I assure you people, we have ants in Phoenix, I have no idea what this was all about. 

On the last creek crossing on the way back, we decided to change his shoes into water shoes and let him burn some energy playing in the creek a little, he LOVED this..

He loved looking at the little fish in the creek, and picking up small little rocks to throw in the water so they would splash.  This hike will definitely be on our agenda when we come up "to the mountains" from now on, it's one that B and I enjoyed pre-Z, especially in the fall, when all the trees turn their leaves into a beautiful spectrum of colors.  I have a feeling Z will love coming here in the fall too... as long as we bring his water shoes :p.