Seattle Trip

We had a great trip to Seattle! We spent 5 days hiking in Mt. Rainier and stayed in a cabin in the woods. The rest of the week we did sight seeing in Seattle. The weather was beautiful for our hikes (in the 80's), we saw some amazing views, waterfalls, and beautiful wildflowers. In Seattle, we went to Pike's Place Market, Washington Park Arboretum, The Children's Museum, a baseball game, Gasworks Park and Alki Beach. Chloe was a good little traveler!

24 months and 2 weeks (July 27, 2009)

Chloe and I have been using our Sea World pass to hang out and meet the Sesame Street characters at the Bay of Play. She loves all of the characters and can name all of them since she reads all of Matt's old Sesame Street books. Every day before nap time or bed time she says "I want to read Sesame Street book". She is enjoying her art class (she made some flamingo sunglasses and is making dot art). I also organized an arts and crafts playdate with some friends and we made sand art and picture frames. Here is a picture with her friend Jack after soccer practice. This time Chloe participated about half the time. (Her last class she finally participated for the entire class). Matt, Chloe, and I spent our weekend at Torrey Pine beach for the day playing in the sand.

Chloe's talking is non-stop from the minute she wakes up in the morning. She asks a million questions (and sometimes the same question over and over again), but she is very observant and just wants to know what is going on around her. She knows her colors and she recognizes letters. She is learning her shape recognition. Every day she seems to learn more songs and her favorite that she sings is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"...I am guessing she will enjoy chorus in school:) Other times she is very stubborn and demanding, usually at the worst possible times before getting out the door, but we are dealing with the 2 year old tantrums. Other times she is quiet and just plays and makes up stories with her dolls and trucks. I would say it is very fun and frustrating to have a 2 year old!

24 months and 1 week (July 20, 2009)

Chloe has been busy being a little independent 2 year old! She started her soccer class and basically was so cranky after her nap that she didn't want to participate until the class was over. Here is a picture of her and her buddy Allen taking a water break (even though they didn't even play any soccer, they still had fun socializing). Chloe loves her baby dolls and stroller. This is mainly what occupies most of her time at home. I took her to a new place in San Diego called Kid Ventures and one of her favorite rooms was the baby nursery (complete with doll beds, high chairs, strollers, and tons of babies!) She has also been swimming a lot since the weather has been so hot. Here is a picture of Chloe at a swimming playdate with her friends. Matt and I take her swimming in the big pool just about every night before she goes to bed. She is doing great swimming around the pool by herself with her life jacket on and it gives us a little peace of mind since is such a daredevil in the water. We also enjoyed a little time at the beach with some friends at Fanuel park.

2 years old!

Chloe's finally 2! We had a great birthday party at the beach this weekend with about 25 kids. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, the water, and doing beach crafts. I made a beach cake and cupcakes. It was such a fun day. Chloe was so exhausted from her party, she fell asleep on the way home in the car at 3:30 in the afternoon and slept until 6am the next morning! On her birthday morning, she woke up and opened some presents...it was kind of like Christmas morning for her! She enjoyed ripping everything open! We went to a pool party with our friends all day. Later, we talked to my parents on the webcam so they could watch her open the rest of her gifts and sing Happy Birthday. She had a great day!

23 months and 4 weeks (July 10, 2009)

A busy week for us starting new classes, preparing for Chloe's party, and hanging out with friends! Chloe did great for her first ballet class. She followed directions well at first, but her friend Audrey was also in the class so they got a little silly and make up their own dances. (Here's a picture in her ballet outfit). She started an art class on Wednesday...she really loves playing with paste. We checked out the new addition to the San Diego Zoo...the new Elephant Odyssey (here's her at the zoo). We went with a big group of friends and the kids had a great time seeing all of the new animals. On the weekend we had a birthday party at My Gym so she had a fun time running around and climbing. She is very excited for her birthday party this year!

Our 4th of July Weekend

Happy 4th of July! We had a fun weekend hanging around San Diego for the holiday. We spent the day at the beach on Saturday and then went out for ice cream later in the evening. Chloe was too tired for fireworks, so we watched firework shows on youtube with her (maybe next year she will be old enough to stay awake for real fireworks). Today we went went to the last day of the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar. It wasn't very crowded so Chloe went on a few rides, saw the farm animals, did an art project, and listened to the bands. It was a fun weekend!

23 months and 3 weeks

I can't believe Chloe will be 2 years old next week! We are still on a break from classes this so we have been hanging out with our friends this week. Here's a few pictures with Chloe's buddy Audrey (they are 10 months apart). They have such a great time playing with each other. We went swimming a few times since the weather has been beautiful. She loves the kiddie pool, but she is swimming like a little fish in the big pool. Chloe has figured out how to open the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs the other day. I couldn't believe she opened it herself. She jumped on the foot pedal a few times and hung on to the gate until it swung open...4 times in a row! So we decided it was safer without the gate (here she is posing on the stairs with her fire hat and badge). She also loves playing with her train table. Happy 4th of July to everyone!