San Diego Vacation

We decided to have one last vacation before this baby boy comes. We don't go on very many vacations that aren't trips to Idaho or Utah to see family so we decided to change it up and go on a vacation with just the three of us to a "vacation destination". :)

San Diego sounded like the perfect place to go with Sea World, San Diego Zoo, etc because Nyah absolutely loves animals. We weren't disappointed. It was a great vacation, and Nyah tells us at least once a week that she wants to go back to San Diego!

We were gone for 6 days so we had lots of time to do the things we wanted to do and still have time to relax. The weather was great although there were a few times that Nyah wanted to go swimming that it would have been nice to have a little warmer weather. It's a good thing Ryan is such a trooper. There was one evening Nyah wanted to go swimming at the hotel pool (which was heated but that can only help so much) and I was sitting by the side of the pool in a jacket and pants and was still chilly. She loves playing in the water and she definitely gets that from Ryan. There was a water slide that she absolutely loved to go down.

Sea World was our favorite. We spent two full days there and just loved it. We loved going to all the shows and Nyah loved the play area as well. We figured out after the first day that we could just recline Nyah's stroller and suggest that she take a nap and she would. The result was a much happier girl at the end of a long day and we were able to see whatever we wanted (at the speed we wanted) for a couple of hours. We enjoyed the zoo and the wild animal park as well but I have to admit, I like to be entertained and Sea World definitely had the best shows. :)

We also went to the beach but the water was freezing so we went back to the heated pool at the hotel. We spent the rest of the day at the pool and got a lot of sun. Based on Ryan's sun burn and uncomfortable sleeping situation the next couple of nights, he probably got a bit too much.

Our trip was great and we look forward to going back some day. :)

Easter

Here are pictures finally from Easter. We decorated eggs and we didn't end up with very many because quite a few of them were cracked in the decorating process. :) We hid the decorated eggs as well as plastic eggs with candy for Easter morning. It was funny because if she found one of the "real" eggs, she would just leave it there and go look for one of the ones with candy. It was fun to see her excitement.

Birthday Celebration #2

So we decided to have another birthday celebration for Nyah and her friends from school a few days after her birthday. One of the other kids had one at Monkey Bizness a few months before, and it worked so well we decided to do the same thing. Nyah absolutely loves Monkey Bizness. She has so much fun and can just run around like a crazy. It's fun to watch them play. Adonia and Valerie came a few days before so they were there for the event as well. I really appreciated their help with everything (especially the little gift bags they took care of).

This picture is just of Nyah going down one of the slides. Later in the evening she stood on the top of this slide and decided it would be a good idea to jump to the bottom. She figured out it was a long way down...


After the kids play for a while then they go in and have pizza and cake. It was fun to watch them as they interacted with each other.

Here are some pictures of the cake Nyah chose. She told me she wanted a pink princess cake so here it is. She wanted cupcakes so we ordered a "cupcake cake". She loved it every time we sang her "Happy Birthday" and she just loved being in the "spotlight".

After we finished up at Monkey Bizness we came back to our house and then opened presents. Here is a quilt Valerie made for Nyah.

Here is a picture of Nyah, Valerie, and Adonia.


This is just a cute picture I took of her that night. Happy birthday Nyah! We love you.

Nyah's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe Nyah is already 3 years old. The time has just passed too quickly and I don't like to even think about it. She is such a smart little girl and makes us laugh all of the time. Here are a few of the many fun and new things she's doing:

• She knows an amazing number of nursery rhymes. I must admit most of this comes from one of her teachers, Ms. Diane. She goes from Hey Diddle Diddle to Humpty Dumpty to Little Miss Muffet. I can't believe how quickly she catches on.


• She loves to sing. She is always singing songs for us and they range from "I Had a Little Turtle" to "Popcorn Popping" to "Baa Baa Black Sheep". I love hearing her sing. There is even a song Ryan plays in the car all the time by "Boxcar Racer" and she has managed to memorize lots of those words as well.


• She loves to talk. She has so much to tell us. The other day we got home and I seriously think she talked for over a half hour straight. She went from topic to topic with very little time to stop and think in between, I love it.


• She is so excited for her baby brother and to be a "big, big sister". She tells people I have a baby and a baby brother in my tummy and I'm just grateful they are one in the same. :)


• Nyah tells you exactly how it is. The other day she pointed to my belly button and asked what it was. When I told her it was my belly button, she informed me it's in the wrong spot (It should be under my belly according to her) and that there's no hole.


• She's a daddy's girl and I love to watch the two of them interact.


• She is 37 1/4" tall and 33 pounds. She is in the 50th percentile in height and 75th percentile in weight. She has only gained about four pounds this whole year.


• Nyah has an amazing amount of energy. She can just run and run forever.


• She loves to ride her tricycle (very fast I might add).


• She loves tumble time.


• Nyah loves to be outside whether that's at the park, playing on her swing set, or just blowing bubbles and using sidewalk chalk. She loves it.


• Nyah loves to boss Toby around and it's amazing how well he actually listens to her. She is one of the only people he will let win at a game of "Tug of War".


• She can count to 13 and knows her ABC's.


• She has lots of opinions and is a very determined little girl.


• She has compassion and really wants to nurture those around her. I told her Grandpa Grandpa had broken his hand and she looked at me and said, "That's so sad". Then she asked me how it happened and said, "He needs to be careful".

So I had to take the following picture because this is the only baking I did for her birthday. She wanted to take pink cupcakes to school to share with her friends so that's what we did.

Then we were trying to decide what she would like to do for her birthday. She is always telling us she wants to go to the "Monkey Bizness" by our house. That's the name of a business where kids go to play here in Denver and that is also what she calls the McDonald's. She had never played on the toys so we decided to give that a try and she absolutely loved it! She played for hours and had the time of her life. I didn't realize quite how much it was snowing until we left the restaurant and there was about five inches of snow. The good news is McDonald's wasn't very busy due to the blizzard. You will see some pictures of Ryan and I in the pictures (on the toys with her). I went through once but told her she would need to wait for her baby brother to be born before I try that again. It was a lot of work!

Next we went back home to open presents and have cake. That was a great bribe to get her to happily leave McDonald's. :) She loves opening presents. Every time we order something in the mail, she has to be the one to open it.

Ryan and Nyah checking out her new lego set.

Baby stroller and car seat she got for her baby that she has hardly stopped playing with and hauling around ever since.

Nyah with her cake. I decided Dairy Queen does such a good job that I would let them take care of decorating the cake this year. She picked Mickey Mouse and the ice cream cake was yummy. You also see Nyah sampling the cake before we could even get candles in it. She was a big fan of the purple frosting.

Even though it was totally late at this point, you can see our happy little girl below. I love her smile and laughter and am so grateful we have been blessed to have her in our family for the last 3 years. We love this little girl (our cutie patutie) so much.