Happy Memorial Day!

Monday was Memorial Day, and we decided to celebrate in the sunshine on Balboa Island (one of Kyra's favorite places). Grandma Linda joined us for a quick visit and then we were off to lunch at Wilma's Patio. We usually go there once a week, so all the waiters know and love Kyra! While waiting for our food, Kyra decided to pass the time by stacking creamer containers (she calls them trash cans since she thinks they sort of look like Oscar's trash can from Sesame Street). She was pretty impressed with her tall castle of 8 stacked creamers! We had a great day together!

 

 

 

Making triangles with a straw

 

 

 

She's very proud of her tall creation!

Father and daughter: perfectly in step!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maggie Yabroff's 1st Birthday Party

Last Saturday, we had the pleasure of attending the 1st Birthday party for our friends' daughter, Maggie Yabroff, at a park in Los Alamitos. Kyra had so much fun running around and playing on all the different play structures. She excitedly and repeatedly went down all the different slides, big and small. Kyra's buddy Natasha was there too, so they had a blast playing together.

A yummy pizza lunch was served from a re-purposed fire truck! Maggie's Mom, Allison, is a fantastic baker and made all sorts of delicious cupcakes and treats for everyone. Kyra took down an entire mini cupcake, and it was exactly the perfect amount for since she told me it was yummy but that she didn't want a second one. I'll have to remember to bake mini cupcakes for the kids at Kyra's next Birthday party since the big cupcakes sometimes go uneaten or unfinished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Maggie the Birthday girl and her Mom Allison

 

 

Look at the determination on Kyra's face! I think she looks like her Daddy here!

Penguins!!!!!!

We're members at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach (aka, the "A-care-ee-um"), and Kyra loves it there! Ever since the recent "Frozen Planet" series on TV, she's been fascinated by penguins (or "pang-gins" as she calls them). We had been looking forward to the opening of the new Penguin Habitat at the aquarium, and we managed to get there for the first time last week, just a week after it opened. Kyra loved watching the "pang-gins" swimming around! There's a fun little cave area where kids can walk underneath the glass and see the penguins swimming and playing overhead.

Another exciting thing about this trip was that we finally got to see the enormous octopus out and about with all eight legs outstretched! In all the times we've been there (I lost count long ago), this was the first time I had seen the octopus come out of hiding! After the Aquarium, Kyra loves to walk over to Chili's for a fun Mommy-Daughter lunch. As we approach the restaurant, she yells, "Mommy, I see Chili's! I see Chili's!"

Earlier this week, we went back for a second trip to see the penguins! Watch for a follow-up post with more fun pictures from that trip (as if there aren't enough pictures shown below! But I can't help it - I want to include all the cute pictures since I print our blog into a book for Kyra at the end of each year to document our activities). I have no doubt that we'll be making more trips to the "A-care-ee-um" this summer. Kyra is looking forward to introducing her Daddy to her new "pang-gin" friends!