Sacramento Fun

My friend Aubrey and I took our girls to Sacramento for the day. We visited the Sacramento Zoo, Fairy Tale Town, and the Roseville Mall. The zoo reminded me of the SF Zoo, but not quite as big. Claire and Talia had so much fun looking at the animals. I think their most exciting event was feeding the giraffe. Since they were the only ones there, they got to feed a whole basket of kale and leaves to all four giraffes. Even the baby boy giraffe, who is normally shy, came out to eat.

The girls were already overdue for a nap by the time we went to FTT, but we went anyway and got to enjoy it briefly. I think Aubrey and I were having more fun than the little ones. They had a little house or activity for each of the fairytales. It was adorable! I can't wait to go back at a time when the girls know more fairy tales.

Then, we drove the the mall and chowed down on Cheesecake Factory! Oh how I miss that restaurant. It was such a fun trip and the girls had a TON of fun! Thanks Aubs for the fun time!

SF Zoo montage

Fairytale Town Montage

Fun with Wizard of Oz Cutouts

Cadence's "A Little of This..."

...a little of that.

1st rice cereal

her fave sleeping position

love her leg rolls!

sometimes tummy time is so not fun.

Cadence is growing waaay too fast. She started cereal and loved it from the get-go. She has the steadiest head ever, and enjoys tummy-time most of the time, but not always, as you can see from the picture. She smiles on cue for pictures and has such a cute giggle, especially when her big sister plays with her.
 Now, how do we stop time and keep her itty-bitty?

Claire's "a little of this..."

...A little of that.

We have been busy this past month. Claire is getting so big. She is starting to help me around the house and really enjoying her lil sister. It's fun to do more things with her as she transforms from a little baby to a little girl more and more.

We love love love...

walking our beautiful UNR campus. It really is gorgeous. We took a walk around campus with Jeff's sister Catherine, Jeffery, and little Scarlett. Claire had a blast just being able to run, and since there was no one there (it was a Sunday), she had free reign of the campus. I do love this campus and how green and classic it is. Can't wait to be back there in January!!!!

Mackay School of Mines

Jeffery, Catherine and Scarlett

the Original building for UNR, now the Alumni building

Balloon Races 2011

I am beginning to remember why it was great for us to move back to Reno, besides the awesome fact that we have family so close! We enjoyed another one of the infamous Reno activities this weekend.

The Balloon Races are so much fun. This year was actually my first year to make it Rancho San Rafael Park and watch it from the field (which happens to be a 5 minute walk from our new home). It was also my first time to go up in a ballooon! Jeff, being the sweet husband that he is, arranged for me and a friend to go up with one of the balloons his dad's company sponsors. Definitely not a bad view!

It was a great experience, beginning to end! We helped inflate the balloon, dust the balloon (because it landed in an olive field last week), watch the test run with the fuel, fly, refuel, land, and helped deflate it and load it up. Then, we headed back to the park to perform the funniest closing ceremonies. Our pilot's name was Scorch, who received his nickname by scorching his first hot air balloon 30 years ago. His partner-in-crime's nickname is Chardonnay Lips. Together, they are one of the sweetest couples I know! Our balloon's name was Magic Moments V (IV is in Switzerland right now-- tough life ;-0)


A little montage of the events:

my co-pilot. Thanks for the fun Aubrey!

closing ceremonies- they really know how to "Tailgate!"

 

Definitely an experience that I hope to repeat!

The fun continued on Saturday too! We planned a breakfast at our house with family and friends after a trip to see Dawn Patrol and the balloons. Waking up at 3:30 in the morning was totally worth seeing the show that we did. Dawn Patrol was at 5:30AM, so we had to be to the park early to get a good seat. All the kids were good sports, especially since there were chocolate donuts at their little fingers.

 

The gang that got up for Dawn Patrol.
Brandon-Talia-Aubrey-Christian-Matther-Richard-Susan w/Cadence-Claire-Jeff-Stevie
 (Cat and Jeff met up after)

Could not have taken a better picture
(during National Anthem) 

I think this will be a yearly tradition for sure!

Finger painting

One of Claire's gifts for her 2nd birthday was finger paints.

 Our little girl is not afraid to get a little messy!

She did a great job, but thank goodness we have a backyard and hose!

KidsZone

I truly miss the Bay Area and all the fun things for kids that are indoors. This is important here, because the winters are cold and snowy and we need fun things to do. I just discovered The KidsZone Museum, in Truckee (about a half hour away), which is a lot like the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Smaller, but fun for Claire. I am SO excited that Reno is going to be opening its own discovery museum in less than 2 weeks, and we are definitely getting a season pass. Can. not. wait.

Fun indoor sandbox

Cadence had fun discovering her feet the whole time.

The little under-the-sea area.
On the other side of the wall is a cool indoor playground area.

Moon dough. Arts and crafts room.

Paint- 1st experience.

Captain of the ship :-)