Monday, October 10, 2011

Vegas Getaway

Dan and I were privileged to get away at the end of September, just the 2 of us, for 3 whole days! We needed one last deep breath and full weekend of sleep before baby girl gets here. Jackson had a fun weekend with my parents, who concluded that one baby is a 2 man job after staying at our place for 2 nights. Above is our view of part of the strip from our room.

 Dan relaxing in our huge room. It felt bigger than our duplex, or at least less crowded.
The ultimate sports zone. Each TV is showing a different football game! And there's me in front of New York, New York.  I had never visited Vegas and I found everything to be way over the top, but fun to look at.
 
 Our hotel (MGM) had lions! This was a highlight for us and better than any zoo display and we visited our furry friends every day.

 Going to see Ka. What a mind-boggling show! We loved the whole thing.
 In front of the Bellagio at night, just after the fountain show. Nevermind the walk over there almost killed my feet. Never wear heals in Vegas, too much walking!
  Exploring casino attractions by day, which is mainly what we did when we weren't laying by the pool. We decided not to throw much money away on gambling. We played one confusing slot machine and a half hour of blackjack where we both lost $20, and that was it.
  World's longest chocolate fountain.
 Ceaser's palace.
 
 Inside "Paris" having a nice lunch at a sidewalk cafe, except that we are indoors. They do a great job of creating illusions.
 An amazing meal at Craft Steak. I liked the lobster bisque!
 Finishing off our 4 deserts before heading to our show.
 The MGM at night on the way to The Lion King at Mandalay Bay.
 A very fun show. We loved it.
 In the front row waiting for the show to start. We got to look into the pit and watch the musicians. Very cool experience. The flash from this photo blinded the lady behind me and she gave me a lot of sass over it. I didn't mean it, really!
 Our last day. A helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. These sites are great from the air!
 Heading out to the chopper. I felt like I was on The Bachelorette since they are on a helicopter every 5 minutes on that show.
 The sensation of hovering is so cool. Loved it...at first. Eventually it made me sick, but everything makes me sick now that I'm pregnant and already a motion-sickness-prone person.

 Hoover Dam and the new bridge in front of it.
 Happy Dan. By the way, our pilot looked about 25 and was very laid back. I'm hoping that she was actually older. She did a great job of giving interesting tid-bits.
 The Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. So neat, I had never seen them before.
And lastly, more cute lions!

 Sweet babies! I'm ready to head home to see my baby. We missed him so much.



Friday, September 16, 2011

Recent Happenings

At almost 16 months Jackson is so much more verbal than he was a few months ago. Sometimes he'll say 3 new words in one day, and sometimes he'll go a week without saying anything new. He does not perform well and if we ask him to say something in front of people, he'll just laugh at us like we're crazy, but he really does talk, really!

He likes to say "woof" and "ut-ohh" to Dan and they play a game of saying them back and forth.

Some of his other words are "cheese," "wa-wa" for water," "mo-mo-mo" for more, "outside," "yeah," "up," "this," "down," "look," "varoom" like a car, and a roaring sound like a lion. His pointer finger is still his #1 communication tool.

He's in love with watching and following birds. He'll sit quietly in the yard for minutes pointing at birds and saying "ooohhhh"

He's a little short for it, but he loved his cousin's bikes so much that we decided to let him try a tricycle. He like to be pushed on it, but needs a few inches before he can reach the peddles. He tries really hard to learn peddling anyway.
 Getting on.
 Proud and loving it.
 Found himself a nice backyard perch. When I first found him he was hanging up in the air, but by the time I got the camera, the hoses had sagged.
 A day trip to Santa Cruz on a warm hot day. After a while we all warmed up to the freezing ocean and got a little wet.



Our Baby Girl!

Here she is! There was a lot of naysaying that we could have a girl, but the verdict is in and we're getting a splash of pink in our lives. She's due on January 25th and we're so excited. We're at the half way point now, so there's still a ways to wait.
Profile
 With legs up overhead
  A sweet little foot
 It's a girl!

We are trying to discuss "Little Sister" with Jackson, but I'm sure he'll be totally blindsided by the event when she arrives. He's been clingy to Mommy lately so we're hoping that he bonds a lot with Daddy when the new baby comes. I'm sure he'll never remember life without her once she's here.

Because It's Just So Cute


Here are some 15 month portraits that we had done at JC Penny's this month. I am addicted to their coupons that make buying things there so cheep, as long as you pick strategically and don't get suckered into their sales pitches to buy large packages of photos that you don't really end up using.