We arrived home from San Diego this evening around 7:30 PM. A storm was supposed to come in to San Diego yesterday, but instead we had a bright sunshiny gorgeous day, the nicest weather of the whole trip! We spent most of the day wandering around in Balboa Park, while there we visited the Fleet Science Center and the Natural History Museum.
There were lots of hands on activities at the Science Center and even a fun play area for little kids Cora & Olivia's age. Cora had fun doing experiments and Olivia mostly played in the "Kid City." At the Natural History Museum we saw exhibits on animals, fire, paleontology, and chocolate. We watched "Winged Migration" in the museum's movie theater, Olivia slept through most of it. It was a beautiful movie. The girls both enjoyed looking for fossils in the hands on exhibit.
Later that evening we went swimming in the pool and the hot tub at the hotel. It was a very full day. This morning we had to pack up our things and get ready to go. After we had checked out of our hotel we still had time left before our flight so we went out to the Maritime Museum and explored a couple of ships. We went on the Star of India and a replica of the HMS Rose, the girls especially liked that they got a hand stamp of a sailboat! Our journey home began soon after. Olivia slept through the entire flight home, Cora even napped a little. We were all happy to be home once again. Cora had especially missed playing with her dress up stuff, she had mentioned nearly every night while we were away that she wished she were home. Aunt Cristina came over to visit this evening and the girls had a lot of fun playing with her.
A day at the pier and at Sea World in San Diego
Olivia had her first dentist appointment today. All in all it went pretty well, she enjoyed the stuffed animals and other kid stuff, but did not wish for anyone to look inside her mouth. As an introductory visit all the dentist did was to take a look at Olivia's teeth and count them while I held her, during which time she cried of course. Cora went first and did fabulously well. Cora usually cries, but didn't at all this time. She even sat in the dentist exam chair for part of her teeth cleaning! I was most impressed with how well she handled it all. She was especially excited to get to pick out a toy afterward. At first she thought she wanted a great big rubber spider (didn't I just love that!), but she played with it for awhile and then traded it in for a plastic ring. Cora was even trying to be helpful with Olivia, offering encouragement, when it was Olivia's turn to see Dr. Kim. They took pictures of Cora & Olivia and gave them to us in magnet frames for the fridge. I suppose it is a way to commemorate a first visit to the dentist, Cora had hers done since they hadn't done it for her first appointment. Their dentist office is very fun, lots of animal decorations, kid's videos, stickers, toys, etc. The girls left there with a toy, picture, sticker, pencil, toothbrush, flosser, and toothpaste sample. Cora picked Lion King 1 1/2 to watch while she was there, although she hardly saw any of it before it was time to go. I really like their dentist, she is very nice and good with the kids. Going to the dentist wasn't this much fun when I was a kid!
We had a nice rest of the day, after Tiny Tots we did some shopping and then went to check out a new park near us. It was really nice and it turns out that there is even a short bike path which will allow us to get there by bike without having to go out on the really busy road. Cora played with 3 of her friends from class who happened to show up while we were there. Beautiful weather seems to be continuing after a short period of cloudy weather over the weekend. Today was simply gorgeous, a great day to play outside. When we got home Cora, Olivia, and I even planted some bulbs and seeds in the playhouse planter boxes.
We have been having a stretch of beautiful weather; sunshine and warm days in the 70's. It seems to be coming to an end now, but we have sure been enjoying it! It makes me look forward all the more to the coming spring. Just today I took some pictures of the girls out in the yard by one of our daphne bushes. If you could only smell the wonderfully fragrant flowers in the picture, it is amazing how it fills the air!
I've been needing to be more vigilant lately with Cora's hair, it is so fine and tangles so easily. She likes to twirl her hair around on her fingers and will do so until she gets it stuck tightly on her finger and often creates a doozy of a knot that is difficult to untangle. Cora has never had a haircut, but lately I've had to cut several knots out of her hair that I just couldn't untangle any other way. So now we put her hair up in pony tails or braids almost every day. It seems to help some, because it is harder for her to create knots when it isn't as accessible. So now Olivia has decided she wants her hair done also. She hates when I brush it and will run away, but she really likes to be sprayed with the detangling spray and have little pig tails of her own.
Olivia is really quite the determined little girl. When she sets her mind to something, it is hard to dissuade her. She's not a very cautious sort either, except when it comes to people. She will just jump right in and do something without any concern for her safety. Most of the time she does just fine, she seems to be very well coordinated, but there are always a few accidents now and then. She loves to brush her teeth just about anytime she gets near the bathroom and playing in the water has to be her all time favorite thing to do. Any chance she gets, she's getting into water, either in the sink, from the hose, an unattended glass, or from the fridge water dispenser. You can see from the picture above that she really wanted a drink of water from the sink after brushing her teeth and did what she had to do to get it. It will be so nice when the weather is warmer and she can get wet and play in the water more often outside!
On Feb 2, Cora was in the kitchen carrying around some of her toys and she told me she was moving to a different house. When I asked her where she was moving she said, "I'm moving to some parents who don't give time outs. So those are the kind of parents I want."
I also came across an old Cora quote I had written down on a scrap of paper from November 23, 2004: "Look where I'm not so you'll think I'm somewhere else." -Said to Daddy while playing hide and seek and while hiding in a favorite place, the closet.
