Another Arizona Weekend

This last weekend was the weekend Izak's rugby team went to Arizona for the playoffs. Unfortunately they did not win. (No Texas for us.) But we still had a good time! Well at least Beatrice and I did!

We got on the plane in Fresno. I worried that Bea would be unruly, but to my surprise she only fussed for a little bit and then fell fast asleep. Could it have been all the playing around she did in the kiddie helicopter in the airport? Or all the energy she exerted while trying to pull her own suite case? Either way, I got lucky! We arrived in the afternoon got a rental car and car seat and headed to the hotel, which reminded me of the Rancho Bernardo Inn, in San Diego. It was very nice. Tutu, Teen, and Josh were the first to arrive of the Arizona clan. We had a little cousin gift exchange and then we just chilled and talked and watched the kids warm up to each other. Beatrice got soo warmed up she put on a little dance show for everyone! She got so hot that she took her dress off and continued dancing around the hotel room like no body's business. She was almost break dancing at times! Then the other cousins arrived and we had another gift exchange! I got a giant tub/bucket of EEGGEES - the best gift ever! After catching up with the other cousins we went to bed.

Saturday we went shopping! Well, sort of. We headed to the mall and went straight to the food court and ate lunch. All of the kids were antsy so we headed to a play area. On the way there, there was a Crocs kiosk. Tutu yelled, "Summer presents! Everybody gets a pair of crocs!" Bea went right up to a pair and pulled them off the rack and was trying to put them on her foot. It was so funny! Getting back to the play area, I thought it was going to be something sort of lame like in our mall in Fresno, but this place was so cool! It had a pirate ship complete with a cabin that the kids could crawl into from the outside or just walk into from the deck. There was a little window seat in it too. There was also a pretty Victorian house with a balcony and window seat. A castle with a slide and a place for a queen and king to sit. AND there was a cabin/fort/tree house with a little bridge. There were kids running all around everywhere! Bea loved it. She would just run and run around into the different buildings hardly paying attention to the other kids. I was running after her because there were some bigger kids playing around in there that I didn't trust. I just didn't want her to get knocked over or anything. We took a couple of breaks and went out to the sitting area where the tired parents were taking turns watching their kids. It just happened to be next to Nordstrom. Beatrice ran right into the store and was wondering around in the women's athletic department. A few sales associates talked to her and remarked on how cute she was. We then went back to the hotel for naps.

After the nap we went to a train park where we all got to ride a little choo choo train and a merry-go-round. To my surprise Beatrice did not want to get on one of the horses. She just didn't care for the merry-go-round that much. We then went to dinner at a cute little 50's like malt shop that didn't have fries... but they had awesome potato chips and luscious malts! (FYI luscious malts are when the glass is lined with either marshmallow, caramel or hot fudge sauce.) I sort of split a old dutch chocolate malt lined with hot fudge with Tutu. I say sort of because I'm pretty sure I drank most of it. :) Bea ate practically all of her hot dog, some chips and had some of my malt. Then we played games at the arcade! Even Bea got to play. She loved the ball came... it's kind of like bowling, but not... you have to roll the ball up into a cage and get it into certain circles worth different amounts of points.

Sunday we sort of lounged around. The cousins were going to take off later that afternoon. They had a lot of fun I think. Bea really had fun with her older cousins. She loved following them around from room to room. And the closet was an unexpected source of entertainment. The closet had two sets of doors, one from the bathroom area and the other from the bedroom area. The kids were in and out of that thing whenever we were in the room. Tutu, Josh, Bea and I had lunch out on the patio of the sports bar. It was very nice because there wasn't any one out there and the Josh and Bea could run around to their hearts content. Then Izak and Teen joined us, and then it was time for them to go too. :(

So it was just the three of us Sunday night. We went to the mall, met an old co-worker of mine, didn't find anything worth buying though. We headed back to the hotel, ate room service and watched the movie Taken. It was soo good! Monday morning we packed up, returned the car, got to the airport. We got lucky and there was another play area for Bea to play in. And it happened again, we got on the plane, she fussed for a bit and then slept the whole way!

It was a very busy weekend for all.

Should I be worried?

Yesterday afternoon Beatrice and I were at JC Penny waiting to get her pictures taken. She was very good and occupied herself rather well. I was sitting on a bench watching her walk/run around within the tiny waiting area of the portrait studio. There was a young girl, probably in her late teens to early twenties sitting on a chair across the way. Beatrice went up to her and smiled and talked. And then she did something I've never seen her to do to someone other than family members. She ran to the girl and reached out her arms to her, to be held. I watched on, wondering what would happen. The girl reached down and picked Bea up and put her on her lap. Then Bea proceeded to point at things and demand the names of those objects. The girl told her the names, then Bea grew tired and wanted down. But she still stayed near the girl. And after a little bit, she did it again. Beatrice held out her arms to the girl, and the girl picked her up and put her on her lap. Now I wonder if this will be a problem. Maybe Beatrice felt safe because she knew that I was right there? Sergio things that Bea must have gotten a good vibe from the girl or otherwise she wouldn't have approached her. I just don't know what to make of it just yet....

My Little Pony... well, half pony...

I can finally put Beatrice's hair up in a half pony! It looks so cute. (Please excuse the Brittney Spears shot.) :D

This last weekend the show I was assistant directing for opened. The cast is amazing and super funny. Now I have my week nights to myself again!

Since Izak's team is going to the finals this weekend they've added another day for practise. So Izak will be gone 3 nights this week to Fresno, instead of his usual two.

I can't wait for Friday, we'll be hopping on a plane to Arizona!

Baby with Bling

I should have known that Beatrice would be a jewelery girl. After all she loves wearing her beaded necklaces. One day she saw me wearing a bracelet and she kept trying to pull at it. So I got some other bracelets out for her and let her wear them. She thought they were the coolest thing. She walks around with her arms out and looks at them. She did receive a bracelet before she was born, but it's too small now. I think I'll have my friend make it a bit longer so Bea can wear it. And Beatrice will soon be the baby with bling. But she won't be as bad as the original baby with bling.

Beatrice discovered my rings just a couple of days ago. She's only happy when I take them off and give them to her to wear. Can you see she's got my wedding ring on her index finger in the picture below? She's also got another ring of mine on her other finger, but you can't really see it.

Once the rings are on both her index fingers on each hand she walks around with her fingers up in the air. So funny!

The original baby with bling was this little six month old in our Toddle Fitness class. She had a necklace, a bracelet on each wrist, (I think, am I right Dez?) and a ring or two on each finger. She looked so ridiculous. And her necklace wasn't just a chain it was like a full on charm necklace. It looked so stupid! I guess she ate one of her rings or something because one was missing at the next class. Her parents were like totally unconcerned with that possibility. And I believe they were first time parents because they both came to the class, whereas normally with other kids, just the moms come.

Dancing Queen

Beatrice loves to dance! When she's standing up she'll squat a little and move her torso and her head. When she's sitting down she'll move her torso and her head. When she's in my arms she starts to squirm, shake her head and raise her hands in the air in little fists and move them side to side, or she'll clap. She even knows what the word, 'dance' means because as soon as you ask her if she wants to dance she starts dancing. Izak got a little bit of it on video last night, it was right after dinner and she was more interested in drinking her milk, but she did manage to 'dance' for us for a little bit. Enjoy!

One Peep too many?

Yesterday Beatrice was playing with her blue box of bunny Peeps. She really wanted one and wouldn't settle for a part of an ear that I ripped off. So I thought, 'what harm could it do?' And I gave her a Peep. She LOVED it! But I hid the rest of them anyway.

What a morning!

Today was Beatrice ear tube surgery. We arrived at the surgery center 10 minuets early. That didn't seem to do much good. We were only admitted at 7:50. The doctor hadn't even arrived yet! We were in a back room where we had to change Bea into a tiny medical gown with ugly yellow socks and wait. The anesthesiologist came in and started to explain what would happen. I started tearing up because frankly I didn't really want to know. Finally the doctor arrived and the nurse came to take Bea away. Beatrice cried of course, but I managed to blink back the tears and appear somewhat presentable in the waiting room. Before we knew it the doctor came out to speak to us, telling us everything went well and that we'd be able to see her soon. Almost directly after he left a nurse came out to get us, Beatrice was waking up. We walked back to the room where we had been before and she was crying and looking sleepy. She cried for almost a good hour. She tried to drink some juice and then she'd cry some more. We couldn't leave until she went to the bathroom. It was making me crazy because I could tell she just wanted to go home. She finally managed to drink all of her juice, but she still hadn't gone potty yet. I was seriously debating just making a run for it. But of course I was slightly worried that there was a valid reason why she needed to potty. We kept asking the nurse if we could leave. We debated even lying and saying she's gone... I almost broke down and started crying again because Beatrice was so upset and we all just wanted to get out of there and go home. We asked the nurse again and she contacted the doctor and he was going to come and check on Bea. By then Beatrice was calmed down and walking around smiling and talking to people. The doctor came and said we could go home, but to call him if she didn't go potty by noon. So we're home and in the clear. She's eaten and acting fine, like nothing ever happened. I think I need a massage!