Grand Canyon Part 1

Our trip to the Grand Canyon started off with a little bit of a surprise. Two days before we left, we received a call explaining that Justin's Grandma would need to come with us on our travels. Unfortunetely , there was a problem with the people who were watching her ranch and Chrissy would no longer be able to drive her there. We shuffled around our transportation to the airport and welcomed the change.

Justin picked up his 3 nephews (12, 15 & 19) and his grandma on Monday afternoon. They settled in for a nice dinner and then we hung out outside and played games, etc after Paige went to bed. I slept on one couch and the boys slept on the floor (We gave Grandma the bed- Yes my mother raised me right!).

On Monday morning I woke up at 5:15 AM, dropped Justin and Tyler off at the Bart at 5:30 AM. Keith and I stopped and picked up some coffee and headed home to get the rest of the family ready to go. My dad picked us up and dropped us off at SFO by 7:30 AM. We had a little trouble since Grandma realized she did not actually have her ID in the stuff she brought. Luckily, she had a credit card with her picture on it which they accepted with a little extra security. Our nephew Joseph was on crutches because of a skateboarding accident and also had to go through the whole screening (They even tested the poor kid for explosives). It took us a little longer to get throug security, but we made it.

Our flight was slightly delayed, but it was not a long on into Las Vegas. Paige did very well. Joseph and Tyler had never been on a plane. It was nice because Joseph and Grandma got to pre-board and get us seats. Justin, Paige & I were able to family board before there were too many people on the plane too. So we all sat in one row and had an uneventful flight. When we landed, we got a wheelchair to help Joseph and Grandma through the large airport. It was like having our own personal guide which was great.

We upgraded from a basic minivan to a Toyota Sienna which was great. It actually had 8 seats so Paige, Joseph & me (We both get car sick sometimes) were able to sit in the middle. Grandma sat up front. Justin & I switched off driving on the way there, but he did drive most of the way. We got lunch and some drinks. Then we headed towards the Grand Canyon. About 30 minutes into our trip we made a pitstop at the Hoover Dam. It was HOT. Some pics are below.

Justin, his Grandma, me and Paige.

3 generations in one pic.

From left to right: Keith, Justin, Grandma, Tyler, Joseph. Paige is in front.

After our short trip, we continued on. We stopped a couple of times. We got into our hotel at about 6:15 PM. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to drive there, but we weren't in a rush. We got settled in. Our rooms were HUGE and the beds were so comfy for a Best Western. We went to the hotel restaurant for their buffet, which was in my opinion a waste of money. It was $18/person, for a total of $140! And it was not that Good. We should have gotten Pizza, but it was dark, we were tired and didn't feel like exploring the area.

The hotel had a bowling alley and game room. We put Paige to bed, turned on the moniter and hung out next door in the boys room. The boys and Grandma went and bowled. I turned in around 10:30 PM. Justin & Keith stayed up until 2AM when his brother Dan & Dan's wife Michelle arrived. It was along day. Stay tuned for my blog on the next days events.

Ohio Bound

I went to Ohio the first weekend of May to watch my 1/2 sister Danielle get married. It was a beautiful wedding. A little awkard for me since I don't really know very many people there. Danielle is usually my tie to the family and always makes me feel better since she gives me a heads up on who people are and re-introduces them to me. But overall it was a great time. It was weird to be away from Justin & Paige for 4 days. But I read 2 1/2 books on my trip, watched 2 movies on the planes and had some relaxation. Now we are gearing up for a quick trip to the Grand Canyon in a little over a week. We are going to spread Justin's moms ashes, so I can't say the trip will be a lot of fun, but we are going to make the best of it. I will post more on that adventure when it comes. For now, I will leave you and avoid the fact that it will be mothers day tomorrow and my 30th birthday in a couple of days.

Danielle & Jeff during their first dance.
My nephew brady and Danielles new neice and nephew dancing.

Me & the Bride.

The Ceremony

The Ceremony.

Summer Fun- Wait it is only spring

It has been very hot the past few days. It was in the 90's yesterday. So after we got home from swim lessons, took a nap (Only Paige) and ate lunch, we set-up the kiddie pool. At first it was too cold for her and she did not like me much since I kept pouring water on her. She is used to very warm water at swim lessons so it was different. When she got used to the water she had a lot of fun playing. Then we introduced her to her first popcicle. It is one of those 100% fruit, no sugar added, ones and they were delicious. It took her a few minutes to figure out what it was, but she ate it. The plus side to eating popcicles in the pool is that the mess is easily washed away!

The birthday parties begin

Paige was invited to her first birthday party for a friend. Her name is Audrey and she turned 4. She had a party at a place called Gymtastic in San Ramon. It was so much fun. It took Paige a little while to warm up, but she was having a blast by the end. She jumped on the trampolines and the jumpy house. It also became her mission to empty the ball pit, but it was another young boys mission to put the balls back in so that kept her busy for a while. Chasing her around this gym made it difficult to take too many pictures, but here are a few. Climbing the balance beam
Jumping on the little trampoline

The staff did a great job playing game with the birthday girl.

Paige and her buddy Zane are only a couple of months apart. They had fun eating Pizza and cake together. Zane has the pizza thing down better than Paige.

The birthday girls cake.

Her Daddy's Daughter

Mikaila and I went and ate at Panera Bread yesterday. I had not brought much food for Paige so I ordered a turkey sandwhich with the intention she would eat the turkey and cheese. Instead she ate onions. And a piece of salami from my sandwhich. She is definetely her daddys daughter.

Great America for Easter

This year, my parents came up with a great idea for Easter. We went to Great America. And it was really a great idea. The parking lot was only about a 1/4 full. We were there for about 5 hours and rode pretty much all of our favorite rides. Some of them we rode more than once, and we were able to sit in the front row after only waiting for 2-3 cars. It was cake. And Paige had a great time. She rode her first rides and while she was a little scared at first, she warmed up and enjoyed them after not long. And she loved running around. We all got season passes so we plan on coming back at least a few times, and there is talk that this will be our new family Easter tradition. See below for the pictures of Paige on the rides.

This is her very first ride. Auntie Chelsie tried to put her on a horse, but she clung onto her for dear life before the ride even began so she sat in the bench instead.
This was the Dora the explorer ride. The car goes up for a while and that freaked her out for minute but she did like this ride.

This was a bus that goes over and up and back down. She did not like this one too much. She wanted to be in my lap, but she could not be in my lap.

This is the Great American Bandstand where they do Karaoke shows. Justin and I really met for the first time here when I was singing with my friends. Now 14 or 15 years later we are back with our daughter.

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter has a whole new meaning with a little girl. We decided to "hide" plastic eggs in our front yard. We gave her the basket and showed her what to do with the first egg and she went on her way. She had no problem finding most of the eggs (only got a few hints). When she was done, we went back inside, she dumped them out and then put them back in the basket. The greatest part was that we didn't even have to put anything in the eggs. At this age, just finding the eggs is fun enough. We "hid" some more at my moms house after church while we were getting ready for Brunch before heading off to Great America (More to come on the next blog). Here are some pictures from both hunts.

At my moms.
Isn't the basket a little big for her.

Her first one!

Learning to self feed

It is important to teach Paige how to feed herself. And not just the finger foods she has mastered well. It is time to start teaching her how to use a fork and spoon. So every dinner we feed her something more on the liquid side (yogurt, cottage cheese) and let her go at it with her spoon. We do it at dinner because as you can imagine it can get a lot messy and it is good to have bath time not far away. She is getting more food in her mouth every day.

Riding Her Tricycle

OK- So she can't actually ride her tricycle, and the helmet is a little big. But her cousin Alyssa gave her this bike when we went to visit a couple of weeks and she loves to try to ride it. Plus she loves wearing the helmet. Sometimes she will actually try to take it on a walk with us. Then it usually gets turned into a purse. But safety first, right?

Brushing Her Own Teeth.

Paige had decided that she needs to brush her own teeth. No one else can do it. She won't let us near her mouth and there is a lot of screaming if we try. But she loves to brush her own teeth. She would do it all day if we would let her. Here are some cute pictures.

Paige Walking Clo-e

We took Paige for a walk last Monday and she insisted on walking out 65+ pound pitbull. It was so cute I had to run back to the house and get my video camera. This is a small sample of the cuteness.

Our little kitty cat

We have Clo-E, out pitbull so we haven't felt the need to get a cat. But my mom took Paige to library time where it was kitty day and she learned how to Meow. It is the cutest Meow so I tried to catch it on video. This was the best we could get.

First Hair Cut

Today was a very important day. We are both tired of her hair always being in her face, and she does not always keep the ponytails in (more often than not- she takes out the hairtie within seconds). So we decided it was time for her first haircut. I called up the place this morning and they are very busy. But they had a spot at 9:45. After rushing out of the house and picking up my sister Mikaila, we made it just in time. However, Paige took a small nap on the way. So when we walked in she was just waking up. When I put her into the car chair, she was not very happy. She cried for the first few minutes. But then she did great. They kept her hair long which is what I wanted, but I have a feeling it will still get into her face some. The did give her bangs which will help. They put her hair into a ponytail, added a ribbon and snapped a picture. They printed out the picture and put it on a special piece of paper with her name and the date. They clipped some of her hair on to so we will have something to remember this day by. Here are some pics.

She was not a happy camper at first.
I tried to comfor her but it took a little while.

I was able to step back and she started smiling.

She didn't even try to push the hairdresser away.

Mikaila and Paige after.

Update- What Paige can do at 15 months

I believe that our daughter is very smart. She knows lots of things and is learning every day. She has a vocabulary of over 20 words. She runs around. She climbs up on things. She loves to go down slides head first. She likes to say "Hand" and take you places. She also says "Up" and tries to pick you up to go somewhere. She loves to play in daddy's old car, and she loves taking walks in her car. She is trying to use a fork and spoon, but still gets most everything somewhere else. She eats weird things when Justin feeds them to her (Raw mushrooms, radishes, whatever else he eats) but won't eat many of those things in her high chair.

Camera Dump

I have not been taking as many pictures as I did when she was first born. Even more so, I have not been posting them. I just uploaded a bunch of pics to my computer. Here are some of my favorites from the last couple of months.

Yes that is my bra. And yes she did this on her own.

In her new Green outfit.

Pig Tails- Not great at putting them in and they don't stay long- but aren't they cute?

Having fun in her ballpit

Working on the Old Car

Most of you know about the car Justin was able to get from his Grandma. He loves spending time in this car. He is a great dad and often takes Paige outside so I can get something done inside (Cooking Dinner, Paying bills, etc). Most of that time outside is spent walking or at the park. But a growing amount of time is spent in this car. She walkes by it and says "car" and tries to get in. Here are some pics that I took when I walked into the garage and saw this cute Daddy & Daughter moment.

15 Month Check-up

We took Paige for her 15 month check-up today. She weighs 23lbs and is 30.5 inches tall. 50% in both categories. But that was not surprising. The Dr told us she has two molars which we did not know were there. So she now has 9 teeth total! Hard to believe. She says more than 15 words now which puts her way ahead of the game! I knew she was smart but it is nice when the Dr confirms it. Everything went will. She had two Vaccines today and while she did cry (But she also cried when they weighed her and looked at her) she calmed down quickly and is her normal adventurous self this afternoon. Just thought I would give a quick update.