First hair cut

Alyssa's hair has been getting pretty long. Her bangs have been in her eyes for several weeks now. I have been putting barrettes in her hair but she manages to pull them out. It would be fine except that she chews on them, of course, and I am worried about her swallowing them.

I didn't want to do it yet but really had no choice I guess. So we decided to go get her hair cut.

There was a cute children's salon in Everett we took her to. She was all excited about it when we got there. While we waited Alyssa was playing with all the toys. We were watching some of the other children get their haircut as we waited. Some were upset some were not. I had no clue how Alyssa would do. When it was her turn she took it like a champ but after a few minutes she was done. She started crying and would not stop. Poor little girl!

Afterwards she received a cute little certificate with a locket of hair. To my shock though it was expensive! Now I checked the website out before and saw their prices but I didn't think that was a flat rate for everyone! We payed $21 for her first haircut next time I'm going to find someplace else that will trim those bangs for cheaper!!!!!

Afterwards we went and ran a bunch of errands and went out to lunch. It was a great beautiful day spent with the family. We have somewhat of a quite week planned. Cory is going to be gone working the Mariner's and with this weather so nice I think we will be spending it at some of our local parks. I love the Northwest in the summer!

Auntie Robin and the return of Daddy!

When we got back my other sister came over to see us. Although we were all exhausted Alyssa was a champ and played with her auntie. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more! Robin stayed for a few hours and than we went to bed. We ended up leaving early the next morning. Alyssa slept the two and half hour drive home and than slept once we got home until four in the afternoon and went to bed at six! She was spent!

She missed the arrival of Cory! He was on his on vacation with the guys. They went to Arizona to play some golf. They were crazy! Every day was 100+ and some days the played thirty-six holes. I would have died, especially since the air condition in the house they were at broke! UGH!! Anyways they all had a great time and arrived home safely. Cory got both of us great gifts that were totally unexpected.

Tahoe Vacation

It's been such a busy and beautiful week out and haven't spent much time catching everyone up.

Alyssa and I went down to visit my family in Gardnerville, NV. It was Alyssa's first plane ride and I was really nervous about how she would do and handling all the baggage we were bringing. My mom flew with us and that was a tremendous help. I tried to plan the flight around her nap time but with no luck on that. She did not want to miss out on anything! She was wonderful on the flight never cried once, just flirted with everyone around her.

We arrived at my sister's house in the early afternoon. Later that evening my nephew Jason and his wife Melissa came over for dinner, bringing their two little boys. Jackson is four months older than Alyssa and Robert was born this last February. They had never met Alyssa so this was a great opportunity to get everyone together. The kids were so dang cute! Jackson is a typical little boy just go go go! They have one of the cutest families!

The next day we hung out and went to the park. It was fun, I always enjoy taking Alyssa to the park. She enjoys it so much as well. There were a lot of ducks that we went to look at when we got there. We didn't bring any food for them. We wandered over to the play equipment which was fantastic. I had never seen a park like that before they just had so many slides! I would have loved that place when I was little.

On Wednesday we headed up to Lake Tahoe which is about twenty minutes from my sisters house. She lives down in the valley. We had wanted to go lay out on the beach but didn't think it would have been warm enough, so we didn't bring our swim suits or anything. When we got there is was perfect! We went to Camp Richardson and had a wonderful lunch and walked along the beach. After that we headed back to have another dinner with Jason and family before we left the next day. Again it was a great dinner and wonderful to see them.

The plane ride home was a little different than when we arrived. Alyssa hadn't been sleeping that well since we arrived and had been up since five thirty that morning. Our flight left at one in the afternoon. She was a little cranky on the plane but not horrible. Nothing that stressed me out. We had her blanky, sippy cup and the coveted snack cup to thwart off any major fits and for the most part it worked wonderfully. She was exhausted and just didn't want to miss anything a few times she found her thumb and grabbed her blanky and went to her happy place.

We arrived back in Portland, OR and headed back to my parents house. We were all exhausted. That night we got pizza from Bruno's, one of my favorite restaurants, and went to bed pretty early. Although my other sister Robin did stop by and we got to hang out for a while. Alyssa just loved it. Robin gets on her level to play with her and I think it just cracks her up!

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day went up to Grammy's house and had a brunch and visited. It was a very low key day. Cory was exhausted from his work week, it was his Friday! On Monday is when we celebrated Mother's Day. We went out for breakfast, one of our favorite things to do and later on went to the zoo! It was a great time. It did rain on us a little but was more of a drizzle.

A lot of the animals were out and Alyssa seemed to have a good time. She especially liked the petting area and the farm areas. The Jaguar is the one who was looking at Alyssa like she would have been a good meal! It will be so much fun to take her to the fair this summer and look at all the animals! Other than that not a whole lot has been going on with us. We all leave on Sunday for vacation and are looking forward to it and the warm weather! Enjoy the pictures!!!

Update continued

I forgot to mention, in my last post for those of you who are interested, that we have started brushing her teeth twice a day now and she is loving it! I have been doing this for about a month or so and thankfully she never fussed at all. She does bite down on the toothbrush so at times it's hard to brush. For the most part she just sits there with her mouth open and lets you do it. I think it's because she likes the flavor of her special toothpaste though.

She also likes her snack cups. These cups rock! They have a lid on it where you can stick your hand through and pull the food out and the idea is that the food shouldn't fall out when tipped over or dropped. Alyssa likes to hold the top open and shake it so of course the food comes out. Harley loves this! She doesn't do it all the time just occasionally, I think to drive me crazy!

A walking update...she is now walking approximately 95% of the time. It makes me laugh to watch her, she is just adorable! A little biased I know but what can I say.

We went to Target this last week and got her a tunnel that she absolutely loves to crawl through. I got the idea after watching her at Gymboree and she enjoyed theirs so much. It's great because I can put it outside or in the house and it folds up small. Gotta love those type of toys!

Changing all the time

I've said it time and again but it amazes me how quickly babies change! I swore when we picked her up in Longview she had grown and I may be right. She can't walk under our kitchen table anymore without bumping her head and she can now reach the television, which is a BIG no no. The other day she said what I thought sounded like dog but was more like "og" or maybe I was just wanting her to say something. She loves to point to her name in her room and point to herself and laughs at me when I spell it out. We have made up a silly little song about it which she laughs at but I think it's more at me! Her walking skills are improving day by day. I'm now able to tell she understands stuff when spoken to. I will say "milk" and she will look around for her cup and go and get it. Pointing is one of her favorite things to do but if you don't get her what she wants she definitely lets you know. She has quite the feisty attitude. I have been enjoying her snuggling lately. She never was a snuggler until recently. The other night her and I curled up on the couch and I watched a movie and she played with my face and watched me while sucking her thumb. Her favorite toys at the time are her balls and books. She loves to roll the ball back and forth with me. Although at times can be hard because Harley likes it to and will chase it! Moving the kitchen table chairs is a big game for her. I think she just likes to test her strength. I allowed her the other day to crawl down the stairs by herself. Don't worry, I was there! She did a fantastic job, she is pretty slow still at the top step but knows exactly what to do and goes for it. We were over at a friends house and she played in sand for the first time and loved it. She enjoyed throwing it on the ground, of course, but didn't eat it! We have had her in sand before but she was never interested. I'm looking into getting her a sandbox and/or water table to play with for the backyard. I can't believe I'm even thinking it because I always said I would never get that crap! Oh....the things we do for our kids when you see how much they like something...Hey mom you know what I like : ) just kidding!

So that's what's new with her. She is going to a dress up party tomorrow and we have her play date on Tuesday. Sunday, Mother's Day, we will spend it with some family. Monday we are having a family day before we all go on separate vacations : ( It will be a fun and busy week. Hopefully I don't freak out to much, I feel like I'm starting to get some anxiety about flying with Alyssa!

Back to the daily grind....

What a great anniversary we had! Cory and I headed out of town on Tuesday when he got home from work. We stayed the first night in Longview, to break up the trip and to drop Alyssa off at her Grandma and Grandpa Richter's to spend the first two nights.

We left early Wednesday morning and headed down the Oregon coast to Sand Lakes, which is about 11 miles south of Tillamook. Arriving a little after noon we weren't sure what to expect. As we drove in we were amazed that out in the middle of no where there is all these dunes right on the ocean for you to ride on. It was beautiful. We unloaded the quads and were getting ready to ride. I was a little apprehensive because I had a utility quad which is a lot heavier than sport quads and didn't want to sink in front of everyone. There were only two other vehicles there and me being the only girl didn't want to make a complete fool of myself!

After getting out there it was amazing. Cory and I took the quads down to the ocean and road and went up some trails. We rode for a couple of hours and went back to the vehicle and cooked us lunch. Afterwards we went back out for another quick ride. The rain was starting to come in. Cory let me ride his and I practiced shifting on there. It was a blast! Once I get more comfortable with that I just may need to get a new quad!

We headed back late afternoon to Tillamook where we stayed. There isn't a whole lot to do in Tillamook unless you go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Cory and I have both done that already having grown up close by, so we opted out this trip. The next morning before riding we did go to the Air Museum, which was AMAZING! We spent about an hour or so there going through the hangar and checking everything out. There was so much memorabilia from WWII and the planes were incredible. It amazed us how small the cock pits are of these planes. There is no way either onf of us would be able to sit in one of those comfortably. I got a picture of some stamps with Hitler on it and a Nazi flag, that's note posted. Along with a lot of other great photos. A lot of the planes are still in working condition. There website is : www.tillamookair.com

It was beautiful and both of us couldn't wait to get back out and ride. It was Thursday and when we pulled in it was starting to fill up. We had a great time watching everyone. People out there doing wheelies and the Jeeps and the buggies out there driving around was great to watch. We saw a few Jeeps get stuck and almost hit each other while climbing the hills. We packed up our stuff late afternoon and where exhausted. It sure beats you up! We went through the large camp site and scoped it out.

The next morning we left early for the long drive back home. It was around six hours drive but was nice to get Alyssa and be back home! Especially coming back to beautiful weather! We are really looking forward to going back and already have another trip planned at the end of June. So if anyone is interested in going with us, let us know and we will give you the details. This time we are planning on camping.

Our Anniversary

It's still four days away, but we will be out of town celebrating, our four year anniversary! When I think about it all it's truly amazing. Let me give you all a little background and bare with me all of you who already know!

Cory and I have known each other for about twenty years! We met at Cascade Middle School when we were in the sixth grade. A friend had been talking to me about these "twins" and she had a crush on one of them. I had no idea who these boys where so she had me come to her locker because Tyson's, Cory's brother, was by hers and that's who she had a crush on. So we were standing there and both of them were at the locker. I don't recall seeing Tyson at all, I just remember asking her who the one in the green jacket was. I still remember what he was wearing when I first saw him, a pair of jeans and his green Miami Hurricanes Starter jacket. I am not sure what it was about him maybe because he was one of the few who were as tall as me or taller at that point. I was 6'0 already but I did know from then on I was smitten.

We "dated" or whatever you do at that point in your life. In the 8th grade we kissed. He was my first although I was not his! He says his was a friend of mine. We went onto high school and went to dances together. That picture is us at one of the dances, I think it was our sophomore year. We had a lot of mutual friends so we would see each other from time to time. We dated other people and went off to different colleges.

We reconnected in the summer of 2000 and have been together ever since. It's crazy, we have been together for nine years and married know for the last four. I can't believe how time flies! If you would have told us back then what we know now, we would have told you, you were crazy! It's been a blast and I look forward to the next twenty plus years! So we are headed down the Oregon coast to go to the dunes and ride the quads. We are both looking forward to it. Our parents are both watching Alyssa so it's complete freedom! The weather is supposed to be good, but the real thing I'm looking forward to besides spending alone time is the possibility of sleeping in! I of course well let everyone know how it was and will post some pictures when we get back!

Busy, busy, busy week

This last week we have been so incredibly busy. Almost every day we have had some sort of activity planned or something. Last week was the Mariner's Opening Day and Nicole and I attended and it was a blast! I didn't get my garlic fries like I wanted to but that was alright. We did get a picture taken with the Moose though and that was worth it right there. They ended up winning and it was a great welcome home for THE KID. Although he's not quite the "kid" anymore considering he is, if not the oldest one on the team now....but that's alright by me! G. Grammy watched Alyssa and they had a great time like they always do.

Later in the week we met up with my good friend Michelle and her newborn son Cole. We went to IKEA and did a little shopping, had lunch, and did more shopping at Southcenter. It was great to see her and catch up.

On the weekend we went to a birthday party. My friend Mandy's son, Owen, was turning one. It was a great party and fun to see him again and how much he has grown. They grow so darn fast! Mandy did a fantastic job, like I'm sure she always does! She had wonderful food and the decorations were adorable. I still want that recipe for those yummy cookies!!!!!! The kids seemed to have a good time. I was kind of worried how Alyssa would do in a room of strangers, but after fifteen to twenty minutes she was gone and tearing through the house.

Monday we headed to Gymboree for open play with our MOSS group. That was a blast. It's so nice that I joined this because I only have to pay $5 for the open play rather than the $79 a month. Alyssa was a lot more brave than the first time I took her there. She was climbing all over the toys and going on the bigger ones. She loved the tunnels and the balls. I can't wait to do this next week again. We're going to a similar one in Shoreline.

Tuesday we met with our playgroup at a park here in Everett. It's a great park right on the water at Silver Lake. Alyssa seemed to do very well on the equipment and she loved the swings, of course. It will be fun to take her to the park throughout the summer. Hopefully we continue to have this great weather.

Cory has been busy working Mariners and has been gone a lot : ( I guess there is a silver lining, next week we are finally getting away for our anniversary and heading down to the dune in Oregon for a few days!