O_o

Cecilia tonight opened a pocket almanac, turned it to the Ontario page, pointed near Toronto, and said "you flew here!" Laura said she's never told her that.

The other night she said "I want to read Heads Up in Flight!" (Flight is a collection of comics.) We turned to Heads Up and it was definitely not appropriate for little ones... Again, Laura said she's never read Flight to her, let alone Heads Up.

Coincidences?

Sent from my iPhone

The Play Station

On our last full day in Iowa, we took Cecilia and Grant to The Play Station, an indoor play space in Cedar Rapids. It felt odd being there with the kids, because I remember playing there in the mid-90s with my siblings. 

A view of the whole play space

Cecilia had a lot of fun running around and crawling through the tunnels. 

Grant enjoyed watching Cecilia play in the ball pit with Grandma Peanut.

Then he got a chance to play there too with Auntie Megan, Cecilia and Mommy.

While we were taking a break and eating, Grant had fun playing with Grandma Peanut and attacking her hair!

He also got to come down the slide with Mommy, but wasn't really sure what to think of the experience.

Cecilia also got to try the arcade games while we were there. She was a lucky little one and ended up winning a lot of tickets. In fact, she probably won as many as the rest of us combined!

So then she got to go to the prize counter and pick out what to spend her tickets on!

Cecilia plays catch with Zoey and Grandma Peanut

Cecilia had a lot of fun with Zoey this year. She is big enough now that she can throw a ball, which Zoey loves. She also loves to run and chase Zoey, which Zoey also enjoys. Since we have been home, we have missed Zoey and her ability to wear Cecilia out a little (and I'm guessing Grandma Peanut misses Cecilia wearing Zoey out!)

Visit with the Van Oorts

On January 5, we drove out to Clarence, IA to visit the Van Oorts in what has become a holiday tradition. It was great to see them and to see how big the boys are getting! Cecilia remembered Clancey and Marshall from last year and was really excited to get to see and play with them again this year. 

Before we left, Levi (a multiple-time Ironman) got down and was cheering Grant on, trying to get him to crawl.

Photo Shoot after church

Iowa Children's Museum

On January 2, we went to the Iowa Children's Museum with Grammy and Paca. Cecilia has been there about 4 or 5 times now, and seems to enjoy it more each time we go.

Cecilia loves the little store that they have there. 

Driving the ambulance!

Flying the plane!

Grant also got to fly a plane. It will be great when he is able to play more too!

Cecilia had an interesting ride down the slide.

Enjoying the toy trains they have set up.

Back to the Manors' house

The kids with Grammy and Paca

Cecilia also got to try her new game, Candyland, with Grammy, Mommy, and Daddy while Grant watched from his jumper.

Playing Outside and Sledding at Austins

On December 30, 2012, we spent some time playing and sledding outside at the Austins' house.

Cecilia loved getting to burn off some energy outside (and we all appreciated it too!)

Auntie Megan and Grant

Zoey, Auntie Megan, Grant, and Cecilia

Cecilia wanted nothing to do with posing for pictures with Grandma Peanut and Grant. This was the closest we could get for awhile.

One of the best pictures of Grant's smile that we have. This is a favorite of mine!

Grant and Mommy

A great picture with Grandma Peanut

A minute later, both kids were done with pictures (and 5 minutes later Daddy got Grant to take a much needed catnap)

Zoey jumping while Cecilia watches and laughs

Cecilia had a blast sledding!

Chad got Grant a much needed catnap all wrapped up in his coat.

Going sledding with Paca Peanut

Sledding with Auntie Megan

Chad took Grant sledding for the first time ever while he was sleeping. He woke up midway down the hill and seemed a little confused what was going on.

Grant waking up and being a little confused

More awake now

Dancing with Megan

Back to our summary of Christmas in Iowa. Sorry it has taken me so long to continue!

The day after Christmas, Cecilia and Megan tried out Just Dance: Disney Party a new Wii game that she had gotten for Christmas. Cecilia is still learning how to play it, but she seems to really enjoy trying and is learning how to follow the people on the screen.

Also, you can see from the videos that we were working with Cecilia on potty training while we were in Iowa, hence the lack of pants.

The first dance experience

Another song

Stomping in the puddles

Today was rainy and overcast all day. So after the kids' naps when it
had stopped raining and we all needed some fresh air, we decided to go
find and stomp in some puddles. We got all dressed in rain coats and
rain boots and the went across the street to the school. Cecilia had a
blast stomping in the puddles and managed to soak her jeans in the
process. Grant hung out in the stroller, smiling and laughing a little
at his big sister as she was playing in puddles and laughing herself.
By the way, you may be able to tell that Cecilia's boots are on the
wrong feet here. She insists on putting her shoes on herself a lot
now, and about half the time or more, her shoes are on the wrong feet.
But we are slowly working on correcting that!

Blowing wood chips

Yesterday as we were leaving the house to get my cake, we noticed some
big trucks at the school across the street. After looking a little
closer, we noticed that they were actually blowing wood chips out of
the trucks through big hoses, filling in the area under and around all
the playground equipment. So when we got home we went over to check it
out. Looks like they added about 6-8" or more to all of the playground
areas. Now it's very springy and soft to walk on too. Cecilia says
that she thinks it will be even more fun to play on now that there are
more wood chips.

Hidden Villa visit

Earlier today we went to Hidden Villa a teaching farm in Los Altos
Hills with a huge garden and a bunch of animals. Grant got to just
ride along in the stroller for most of the time relaxing and observing
the world. We took a bunch more pictures of the trip on the camera,
which we will try to post soon.

Unfortunately while we were at the farm, Cecilia got sick and started
throwing up. Thankfully tonight, after taking it easy and getting in a
good nap, she seems to be feeling better and has been able to eat a
couple crackers and some ice cubes.

Family game night

Last night we had a family game night and played 3 games of Candyland.
Cecilia had a ball playing with Mommy and Daddy and Grant had fun
playing with his toys and later Daddy's toes after he threw all of his
toys out of reach.

Bubble drip system

Finally figured out how to extend and modify my drip sprinkler system so now it had six bubblers, spaced approximately across the garden. It may still need some hand watering but this should help a lot.

Snap pea trellis

Yesterday I put together a snap pea trellis in the garden with T posts and twine. Hope it works!

Business trip to Waterloo, Canada

Last week I went on a business trip to Waterloo (between Detroit and Toronto). We flew up Sunday, got to the hotel by midnight, woke up at 7 a.m. (4 a.m. California time), and then got the interview scheduled. We interviewed 21 people that first day! Each person got 15 minutes with Mike and 15 minutes with me. Poor them.

I started blubbering about halfway through the day. Luckily by 4 p.m. it was over. On day two we only interviewed five people. Then we drove back to Toronto, and got on the plane.

Well, Mike Smith is crazy. He released our Air Canada seats so we could try to get on an earlier United flight to Chicago. We made it onto that plane.

When we got to Chicago, he saw a plane ACROSS the airport that was currently boarding and said "think we can make that?" I thought it was impossible. We took the shuttle to the other terminal and made it to the gate about one minute before they shut the doors. Huge success! We taxied very quickly and made it to San Francisco while the sun was still up, three hours before our scheduled arrival. :)