November

Dave says: Time for a quick November update. Skye loves going on regular trips around town. One of her favorite places is the children's museum although she also really likes the aquarium, malls with carousels, and parks with kids. 

I escaped for a quick overnight trip to Sedona. So beautiful and such tough and fun riding!

We took Skye down to the Gilbert city parade and she had a good time. There we a half dozen dance troops that passed by and she seemed pretty interested. It's only a matter of time.

She's always doing something new that is funny. Right now she loves the pantry. Partly, this is because all her favorite snacks are in here. But she also likes to hide in here, close the door, and peek out the bottom. She's starting to count to ten and will also try to sing some songs like the ABC song.

Payson

Dave says: My parents recently bought a cabin in Payson. It's only an hour away and finally has all the furnishings to stay there so we headed up for an overnight trip with the family. The weather was pleasant and Skye ran around at a holiday event while Parker and I bought and installed a flatscreen tv. As always, we enjoy visiting some of Payson's parks where you can play in the pine trees. Skye's favorite part was hanging out with all of her cousins.

First Time Fall - Prescott

Alisha says: We took a mini vacation to Prescott as part of our Thanksgiving celebrations. When we first arrived we spent some time at a park that had a lot of leaves on the ground. It was so much fun to watch Skye experience playing in the leaves for the first time. She loved running around in them and throwing them up in the air. Her face in the picture of her sitting in the leaves says it all, it is pure joy! After the park we went and did a little hiking around the boulders at Watson Lake. We headed to the hotel for a little rest and then it was pool time. Dave had booked a hotel with a heated indoor pool just for Skye. She had a great time going back and forth between the kid pool and the hot tub. For dinner we thought we would just walk to the mall that was close to our hotel but we it ended up being quite the journey with a lack of sidewalks. Luckily after dinner we found a much better way back.

Day two included a hike around Lynx Lake in the morning, lunch in the old Prescott downtown, and an afternoon at the little zoo. It was so nice to get a little tiny bit of that fall feeling. The next day was actual Thanksgiving so we got up and drove back to Phoenix where we met Dave's family at the park for a picnic. Later that evening Christine hosted a really nice Thanksgiving dinner at her house. I thought that the holidays would help make this pregnancy go by fast but so far they really haven't. Ha, oh well, Thanksgiving down and now on to the Christmas season.

A highlight was playing with the luggage cart, silly girl.

Happy Happy Birthday

Alisha says: We now have a two year old. She can be very sweet but we are also discovering the "terrible twos" at other times. We love her to pieces and had a fun birthday weekend celebrating her. Saturday which was actually the day before her birthday we took her to the train park in Scottsdale where she got to ride a mini train and a carousel. She likes trains and says "choo choo" a lot.  

We stopped on the way home and got some birthday balloons to decorate. She also just graduated from her backward facing infant car seat to a forward facing one.

Birthday morning. She woke up to a new kitchen play set. She loved the banners and balloons and kept pointing to them saying "happy, happy".

Strawberries are one of her favorite fruits right now and so I made her a strawberry cake.

She also loves hats and wore her birthday hat around all afternoon. We had Dave's family and my parents over for a little party with dinner, cake and ice cream. She liked being the center of attention and got lots of new toys including a wagon from Grandma and Grandpa Welsh, a cute bunny backpack filled with lots of snacks (she loves snacks and is always asking for a snack) from Grandma and Grandpa Bezanson, a cute dress and money from Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins and a play castle from the Leavitt's.

Halloween

Dave says: Last year, Skye wasn't old enough to really appreciate Halloween (despite a really cute tiger costume). This year, Halloween suddenly became exciting. We went to a Halloween party the weekend before that was a lot of fun and she got to wear her puppy costume around and play some games. Surprisingly, the haunted house seemed to be her favorite part. She went through it three times and then kept wanting to wander back in.

She also had a lot of fun wandering around the neighborhood on Halloween. She had a bucket shaped like a pumpkin and it wasn't long before she figured out what she was supposed to do. She would walk up to a door and bang on it while saying "snack, snack." Because there aren't a ton of kids in the neighborhood, everyone was excited to see her and she got a lot of candy. Our nearby neighbors gave her a glow stick with a butterfly on it which was a big hit (she really likes butterflies right now). It was also a lot of fun for mom and dad who got to go around with her and see her growing up a bit. At first, we thought we would just do a street or two but she (and I) was having so much fun that we kept going and going. Eventually, Alisha had to carry her pumpkin basket because it was so heavy with candy.

October Happenings

Alisha says: October flew by. We still saw many hot days with temperatures still in the high 90's. Despite the heat we still got out and did a few things.

Crazy morning hair

We made three trips to the zoo. The first was with Christine, Jonathan, Charlie and Grandma Venice. The second was with our friend Emily and her two girls, at this visit we got to see the new dinosaur exhibit. The third trip was with our friend Monica and her little girl. Skye will barley touch the goats.

Skye loves "helping" fold the laundry. Here she has dressed herself in two pairs of Dave's shorts and two shirts.

Wearing her Halloween puppy costume around the house.

A trip to the Botanical Gardens and the butterfly exhibit with Dave's parents.

My mom came for a visit. It took Skye a few hours to warm back up to her but then they were best buddies for the next few days. They played and giggled in the fort, went to the aquarium and rode the carousel at the mall.

She already wants to help pump up the bike tires.

More great morning hair.

Dave took her on her first ATV ride which she loved and now wants to do all the time.

We visited the fall festival at a local farm.

Fall Vacation: San Diego

Dave says: When fall break arrived, it was time to head to San Diego for a few days. We hitched up the trailer and headed to Campland on the Bay. We pulled in on a Saturday and found the campground quite busy. By mid-week it was much quieter. On Saturday night we rode our bikes to the beach on Mission Bay and grabbed some take out. Skye played in the sand and got very dirty.

On Sunday morning, we went to Balboa Park. The park was having a Maker event where we could walk around and see lots of things including a giant robot. The highlight for Skye was this wooden tunnel that she liked to stand right in the middle of. Eventually, she realized that you are supposed to keep walking through it and then did a few laps. We also did the super old/super long/super cool carousel from 1918 and a ride on the mini train. Finally, it was time for lunch at one of the food trucks. It was a little cooler in the afternoon when we rode our bikes to the beach. In the evening, we went to Old Town for some average Mexican food but some good music and sights.

On Monday, we went hiking at Torry Pines Park to the north where there are some rare pine trees and some nice views of the ocean. Skye liked playing with the hiking poles but wasn't always as keen on being in the pack. We played on the beach afterwards and even had the blankets get hit by a wave. On the way back, we got a taste of busy California driving by making a half dozen turns and wasting a half an hour trying to get in and out of a drive through. In the afternoon, we headed to La Jolla where there is a nice waterfront walk with seals and ocean cliffs. Skye was more excited about walking on the rocks near the seals than the seals themselves. We grabbed some take out pizza and ate it on the park by the beach.

We figured Tuesday would be the least busy day and so we went to Sea World. This worked out well because the park was about the emptiest we had ever seen an amusement park. Skye walked right onto rides like Elmo's Flying Fish, something that resembled tea cups, and Oscar's flying eel that goes from side to side. We did an attempt at a dolphin show and discovered that Skye preferred running around in the bleachers to actually watching what was happening. However, she did really like all the aquariums with fish and other ocean creatures. We thought she would really like the penguins but her favorite part of this exhibit was running around in the back on an angled floor in front of video screens. Alisha bought us some tickets online that included "free all day food" and so this meant we had a snack at one place when we arrived, a big lunch somewhere else, and then an early dinner at a third location. The food was your typical amusement park fare but I delighted in gorging myself. Skye was getting cranky by mid-afternoon and so we found a quiet patch of grass and tried to get her to sleep. I had almost given up when she finally fell asleep and this rejuvenated her for a final push through the rest of the park.

Wednesday was our final day and we did a longer bike ride around Mission Bay followed by a stop to play at the playground. In the afternoon, it was off to Ocean Beach and the farmer's market. We went out on the pier, had some ice cream, saw some really big bubbles and a kite, and ran on the sand near the waves (but not in the water too much). The farmer's market had good food but was crowded and we tried to eat while containing Skye at a nearby park where people were hoola hooping, having drum circles, practicing acrobatics, and doing all other types of unusual things. On Thursday morning, it was back to Phoenix. Overall, it was a nice escape with pleasant weather and a lot of things for Skye to do.