Happy Halloween!

Months ago Aurora told us she wanted to dress like Honey Lemon from the movie Big Hero 6 for Halloween. My wife decided she would make her costume and boy did it turn out great! Honey Lemon's Power Purse lights up and has a periodic table with buttons, just like in the movie! We had a great time showing it off at her preschool Halloween parade.

I'm going to get ready for bed myself!

Tonight at bedtime Aurora announced that for the "first time ever" she was going to get herself ready for bed. She went in her room and put on her pajamas (with a short intervention due to a backwards shirt); she brushed her teeth and washed her face; and then she read herself a story (one she has memorized). We were not allowed in her room, but I got a short video peeking through the door of her reciting one of her favorites, "We're going on a bear hunt."

If the video doesn't play, you can watch it here: https://goo.gl/photos/bVSBWCBjnRZVkaFY6

Preschool!!

It's been a busy year and this little girl is growing like a weed. We were very excited to learn a few weeks ago that we had made it off the wait list and into preschool. Wednesday (10/7) was our first day. This begins a new adventure for all of us as it's a parent participation school. One day a week one of us joins the class to help out for the 2 1/2 hour session.

Aurora LOVES going to school!

The teacher's update for our first week said, "I want to again WELCOME Aurora, and her parents to the class.  Aurora fit in very well, and you would never know that she has not been with us since the beginning!"  We couldn't agree more.

Happy Christmas!

We took Aurora to see Santa a few weeks ago. We were worried she might be scared, so we told her while we were waiting what was going to happen when she met Santa. As you can see there were no tears. She LOVES Santa.

Hope all our friends holidays were merry and light.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our wonderful Duckling! 

The Quest for the Mermaid Gem

This was a crazy summer and fall. So I'm doing a massive post, lots of photos and video.

We got annual passes for both Happy Hollow Park and Zoo (hhpz.org) and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Her two favorite places in the world.

So nearly every weekend, we have done one or both. Exhausted mommy and mama. Meanwhile, she's grown from just barely big enough for the little rides, to tall and fearless enough for the roller coaster at Happy Hollow.

























About a month ago, we went to Sacramento to say our farewells and share memories of my much beloved grandma Flossie. Aurora summed up the emotions of the weekend well.

We stayed in a hotel with a pool, so Mommy and her Duckling practiced swimming.At first she was quite reluctant. But by the end of the lessons, had paddled back and forth (with assistance from her floats and I.)

As we headed upstairs to change, she started talking about "needing to find my Mermaid Gem."

When we asked what that was, she looked at us somewhat exasperatedly and said "Its a magic gem to make me splash like a mermaid so I can swim better."

The story kept growing. Eventually we realized this was fast becoming a quest.

So I bought a few things. A green faceted round crystal ball, some purple ribbon, some "mermaid tears" beads, a small pirate treasure chest with a tiny lock, a 6" brass/leather spyglass, and some plastic gold coins. (Thanks Amazon Prime!)

Our friends helped play along. Our dear friends the Y-Js from Seattle "found" the map I made during their drive down.

I was repeatedly told to warn them to watch out for sneaky Swiper the Fox. Our old neighbor "found" the key.

So we read The Map. It was made Dora the Explorer-style, with three places that had to be found/crossed/explored before you could move to the next.

So Sunday found us first driving OVER the Tallest Mountains. (Santa Cruz Mountains

Then we went to the Boardwalk and for the first time, the 3 of us rode above everyone in the Sky Glider. While we were up there, I "saw where the Pink Pirate House is!"

So then we drove to the Pink Pirate House. Which is actually our friends' house in Santa Cruz. Hillary and her dad (who was visiting his new grandkids) dressed up as pirates for when we arrived.

Once she had established that the pirate in front of her was one of her favorite people in the world, I thought she was going to keel over from the excitement.




So then into the backyard, where she hunted about until she found where X marked the buried treasure.

Then a bit of learning to sword fight after being given a hat and sword. She's a natural.


She loves her Mermaid Gem. And we are all looking forward to lots more adventures!

A busy spring

Holy cow, is it May already? I see my last post was in January. We've done just a couple things since then.  Aurora is now two and a half. It's a little hard for me to believe, but really, she isn't a baby anymore. We are pretty much done with potty training, except at night. Her Spanish is better than mine probably ever will be; she's learning numbers, shapes, and letters right now.

We've been spending a lot of time going to the park and keeping our active girl from getting bored. She asks lots of questions, often over and over. We try to get more creative with our answers. I suspect any day now the dreaded, "Why?" will finally enter our daily existence.

In mid-January we learned the lease on the house we've lived in for the last four years would not be renewed, so at the end of June we'll be moving. Our new place is near Aurora's new favorite park and zoo, Happy Hollow. We've gone there twice this year, and are already reaping the benefit of getting annual passes.

On the Frog Hopper
(yes, she's just tall enough)

In early April we decided that Aurora really needed a haircut. We cut it a little when she was a baby, but nothing since then. We LOVE her curls but they are often a tangled nightmare and she's not very patient with a hairbrush. Thankfully her cousin Michael's girlfriend Zoe is in school to be a hair stylist, so she came to our house to give her a trim, sparing us a trip to the salon.  Michael was kind enough to let her sit in his lap.

And yes, I kept an envelope full of ringlets.


For Easter, we filled the backyard with eggs and let her run around and find them. The day before we let her color some eggs with crayons before we dipped them in dye.

In early May we had a short visit with our friend Joy. Of course we had to take the opportunity to go to the Santa Cruz boardwalk to see Aurora's beloved carousel.

And here we are half way through May. I'm sure I've forgotten any number of things we've done. Like celebrating a Super Bowl win with my parents. Aurora can now proudly say, "Go Seahawks!" I suspect my wife has more and possibly better pictures to add. We're looking forward to getting moved and settled so we can get on with more fun things.