Miscellaneous January

Alisha says: Skye turned 14 months in early January. She still doesn't walk but she is starting to do a tiny bit of walking when you hold her hands and will take a few steps on her own so we are making a little progress but she just still isn't that interested and prefers to get around on her knees. She has started to say a few things like woof, quack, ball and can point to a few different things when we ask in her books like the bee. We are still working on getting her to use some of the sign language we have been teaching her. She uses "more" and "all done" occasionally when eating but still requires a lot of coaxing.

Lights of the World: Using a groupon I planned us a night out to this event. It was okay. At first when we got there it still wasn't dark so things weren't lit up and it we weren't that impressed. We walked around at the carnival and watched an acrobat show while it got dark and then walked around the light displays once it was dark. They ended up being fun to look at and Skye liked all of the lights.

Carousel ride at the mall.

We got a membership to the Children's Museum and have been a few times. Skye likes to play in the room that is just for kids under 3 years old where her favorite thing is this air vent that has a motion sensor on it so that it turns on when she crawls on it. She also likes the light boxes with sand on them that are in another room.

Bath time!

Family mountain bike ride in Usery on Cats Peak trail.

So We Bought a Camping Trailer

Alisha says: We had been toying with the idea of purchasing a camping trailer for a little while now so Dave had been watching craigslist for something that interested him. We were looking for a particular kind, a TrailManor, because they are a hard shell pop up. We needed it to compact down so that we could keep it in our backyard and not get in trouble with our HOA. Dave saw this trailer at a good price so we set up a time to go take a look at it. We decided it would be great for us and Dave negotiated a little bit off the asking price before we hooked it up and took it home.

We were anxious to take it out for a trip but since it is winter in most places we stayed close and headed to Tucson out by Gates Pass. We had a great time and Skye loved playing around. For fun we went and ate lunch at one of our old favorite restaurants, Cafe Poca Cosa and did two small hikes by Gates Pass and Saguaro West National Park. Even though it was only one night it gave us a chance to try most things out and make a list of things that we need to get for future adventures. 

Girls Paint Night Out

Alisha says: For Christmas Christine and I got tickets for all the girls in the family for a paint night. We all had a great time being artistic. The painting that the teacher was teaching had a tree in it but a few of us (Me, Christine and Lindsay) decided that we wanted to paint saguaros instead. I love how each persons painting turned out a little different and unique to their own style. 

The painting crew: Donna, Venice, Anne, Christine, Alisha, Lindsay, Allie and Rachel. (Anne and Allie switched paintings)

The Box Fort

Dave says: We had a bunch of empty boxes left over from the holidays so I decided it was time to make Skye a box fort. Kids often like the box better than the gift inside so I figured why not just make the boxes part of the fun. It has a tall tower in the back, a long tunnel, and two box houses. Some silver sliced bubble wrap made a great door. We decorated with a few stickers and taped in pictures. In a more recent update, I added a string of multi-colored lights. Currently the long tunnel is her favorite. She likes it if you crawl in first and I barely fit which keeps things exciting. 

Rocky Point

Dave says: Over winter break it was once again time for a trip down to Rocky Point. We were there a year ago when Skye was just a few weeks old but this time she was big enough to do more things. We did the usual things like swimming in the heated pool (Skye's favorite) and walking on the beach. We went down to the old port and walked around. Skye got a cute little Mexican dress and a maraca. We also tried a new beach a ways out of town and found a new market street that we hadn't been to before with a great restaurant. Christine and Parker joined us at the Sonoran Sky although unfortunately Christine was sick for a lot of the trip. Overall, it was a fun little getaway to relax on the beach.