Christmas Eve

We took advantage of our extra sunny day in Cali since we arrived early. On the 23^rd we had a picnic lunch of Togos at Alum Rock Park. Andrew and I had one of our first dates there doing the same thing so we thought it would be fun to do again, and I wanted to make sure Kayley got to go Alum Rock before my mom moves. It was a little chilly, but the sunshine was gorgeous!

Kayley had her first real swing ride and loved it! She had a smile plastered on her face the whole time and would laugh every once and a while too. So cute and precious. We also had fun playing on the eagle and walking around a bit. It was so nice to just soak up the sun. Kayley was probably trying to figure out what the big yellow thing in the sky was. We don’t see it as often or as clearly up in Seattle. 

Swing time!

The eagle!

Soaking up the sun

That night we went to Christmas in the Park with my mom. I grew up going to Christmas in the Park and when I was in elementary school my classes helped to decorate some of the Christmas trees. Since then I have always found it fun to go and look at the decoration different classes and organizations have made (there are a bunch of Christmas trees, and each tree is sponsored by a school or organization and they get to decorate it how they want to). Like always Kayley enjoyed watching all the people that were around her, but she also liked looking at all the lights and animatronics too.

Christmas in the Park

One of the extra-extra decorated trees

Time with Maimie looking at the people and ligths

On Christmas Eve we all took it easy, baked some cookies and helped prepare the delicious turkey dinner. My brother Jay, his wife Amy, and their son Kayden joined us for dinner before we all went to church for the Candle Light Christmas Eve Service. I love how the sanctuary lights up at the end of service when everyone lights their candles to symbolize how Christ’s love spreads from person to person and all around the world.

My mom singing in the choir during service

Pastor John and Chris Christian's last Christmas Eve service before John retires.

Everyone raising the candles

Andrew and I went back to my mom’s after service and had some family time before my mom came home (she works at church and thus stayed to help out with the next service). Kayley discovered the stairs, and on her first attempt climbed up some of them! I was not expecting that! I figured she would have to try for a while before she figured it out, but nope, she just went right on up! She goes up, but hasn’t figure out how she might go down yet and just turns and does her “mama help” sound. 

Kayley in her Christmas Eve outfit in front of the tree

Family photo time!

Up, up, up the stairs.

Andrew and I ended our night with a nice hot mug of hot coco and homemade Christmas cookies. Yummy yummy yummy. ^_^

Hot chocolate!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Follow the yellow brick road, you know, because the California hills are golden. Our drive down to Cali was better than we thought it would be. It was so nice having the new car. We had so much more space and amazingly filled it up quite a bit. Plus it was a lot more comfortable. But the best thing is that Kayley was great for our drive down. We left the night on the 21^st and stopped in Tigard for the night. Kayley slept basically the whole time in the car since we left just over an hour before her bed time. We stayed in a hotel that night and took it easy in the morning. We wanted to make sure Kayley had her normal morning play time before we put her in the car for the day. We didn’t know if we were going to do the rest of our trip in a day or take two days at this point, it all depended on Kayley. 

Hoshi wanted to pack herself and come with

All ready to head out the door on our adventure!

We drove in some snow for only about 30 minutes, and the rest of the drive was dry and sunny. Thank you, God, for the great weather! We made sure we took some nice long stops to Kayley could move around and get her wiggles out. I was happy that we found a Sizzler when we stopped for lunch. Later we took a break just south of Medford at a rest stop. The sun was out and it was beautiful, so we took out our blankets and let Kayley crawl around on the ground. 

The little bit of snow on our trip. Kayley slept through it.

Sunshine!

Walking around with daddy

Sunshine cuddles with Mama

When we stopped for dinner we were only about three hours away from my mom’s place. Kayley was still happy and smiley, so we continued on our way. And then the crying started… Thankfully it only lasted about 45 minutes and there were pauses as I was able to distract her while I sat next to her in back singing any and every song I could think of. She was just fed up with being in the car ALL day long. So we stopped again, I fed her, and bang, she was out like a light and slept the rest of the way to my mom’s. Considering those 45 minutes were the worst part of our trip, and she wasn’t even crying too loudly, I’d say we had a pretty decent and great trip down south! And we made it in better time than we guessed we would with a baby. 

Hyper and happy at Burger King.

Play time with daddy before being put back in her car seat for the final stretch of our trip.

Thank you all who were praying for good weather and road conditions! And that Kayley would be in a good mood in the car! I am so pleased we had such a successful long road trip and that we arrived at my mom’s place in good spirits even though we were tired.

Now That She Can Crawl...

Now that Kayley can crawl, no cat is safe!

Mommy! I got the kitty again!

Kayley loves to crawl after Hoshi and “pet” her, which sometimes results in her toppling on top of Hoshi. All Hoshi does is meow when this happens. Part of me thinks Hoshi likes being grabbed and toppled on by Kayley. I mean Hoshi walks right next to her and lies down in Kayley’s reach. Sometimes she lies against her and rubs up against her in the way she does with us when she wants to be pet.

Hoshi is becoming a bit more cautious now that Kayley is on the move. It should be interesting to see if Hoshi decides to continue to be close to Kayley, or to set some distance between her and Kayley. I am glad they’re getting along. And I know one day Kayley will understand what gentle means.

Ps. Kayley does not enjoy eating chicken. 

Chicken (chicken pureed w/ sweet potatoes to make it creamier): I don't like it! Get it out of my mouth!

However, even though she makes funny faces and sticks out her tongue (a first in relation to food), she still eats it most the time. She's such a good eater. Though she does eat it better when it's mixed with pears or apple. I think it's just the texture she doesn't care for.