Third Day - Pretend City

Sunday morning Emelyn and Melissa made a big breakfast for us all. 

After breakfast, David and Melissa offered to stay home with Isaiah while Jake and I spent the day with Emelyn. We took her to Pretend City and she loved every minute of it. It's a miniture city for kids 8 and under with everything just their size. Emelyn got in her car and her first stop was the post office: 

Here she wrote on some letters and postcards with markers, chalk and stamps... 

...and then mailed them to grandpa and grandma.

Next Emelyn realized she was almost out of gas, so she stopped at the gas station...

...and filled her car with gas.

After that, she got in the John Deere tractor, and drove to the farm where she put on her straw hat and checked the baby chicks...

And then went to the fields/garden/vineyards to pick all of the ripe produce... 

After her wheel barrel was full she delivered it to the grocery store to sell. 

At the grocery store she went down each aisel finding the foods she liked to eat and then with money in hand, went to check out. (At each place, kids get to stamp their time cards, and once it's full, they go to the bank to get paid. They then have money to save, give or spend.) 

After Emelyn bought her groceries, she then became the cashier... 

After she had her groceries, she went to the local cafe where she became the chef for the day.

She not only cooked but also hand delivered the meals she prepared! She made me a delicious pear pizza. (???) 

After dishes were done, Emelyn went to the marina and became a fisherman.  

She caught a couple lobsters that she called "big spiders."

Then back to the beach for a cruise and more gas... 

And then she became a carpenter and helped build a house. 

Last thing to do was check on a boy's broken leg at the doctor. She had a lot of fun looking at all of the xrays! 

After Pretend City, we asked her what she wanted for lunch and of all things, she wanted grilled cheese. So we went to the Corner Bakery Cafe and she ordered a grilled cheese (with a giant MM cookie on the side!) By this time, she was more than tired, and asked if she could go to sleep so we went back and took naps. Well, Jake & Emelyn did. I opted to read magazines by the pool with David and Melissa. The temperature was mid-70's each day and I'm pretty sure I could've laid in front of the fountain each day. Here is the pool that their balcony overlooks. It doesn't have a kiddie pool, but was closet to their apartment:

After everyone woke up, we again decided to forego the whale watching cruise and instead went to the pool/hot tubs.

Isaiah even got in on the fun by riding Emelyn's whale. I think the movement of the hot tub almost put him to sleep.

After some pool time, we went to a garden/playground area called the "Secret Garden" to grill supper. The garden reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. 

Emelyn enjoyed playing on the playground adjoining the garden while David grilled. 

After supper we went back to their house where Emelyn enjoyed a bubble bath (why don't we do this more often?!? She loved it!)

And Isaiah and Jake took a nap... I think they were exhausted!

If you asked Emelyn what her favorite part of the trip was, she would definitely tell you this day... Pretend City, pool/hot tub, playing on the playground, ending with a bubble bath.

Second Day in Irvine

After sleeping in a little on Saturday, we had a relaxing morning. This is a random picture, but was hilarious at the time and I don't want to forget it. As Emelyn was eating her yogurt for breakfast she said "Look! I'm licking my yogurt off of the spoon, just like an elephant!" (Yes, the puzzled look on your face right now is the same one we all had before we busted out laughing. Not sure what goes through her head sometimes!)

Emelyn was full of energy and super excited to be here, so Jake took her downstairs to a park while the rest of us got around. Next thing we knew, they were outside the window yelling "Rapunzel, Rapunzel!" 

Isaiah and Melissa had some fun laughing moments.... 

..then we headed to the Great Park (still under construction, but when done, should be about twice as large as NYC Central Park.) They offer hot air balloon rides, allowing you to view Orange County via the air. We got our pass and then went to ride the horse carousel while we waited. In the mean time, the wind picked up, so they cancelled rides for the rest of the day. :( Here's the balloon we were hoping to ride...

But, you know Emelyn... the horse carousel was just as much fun!

As we were leaving the park , we saw this fun bike rack that Emelyn wanted to try to "ride."

From the park, we went to the Spectrum, a large shopping center, and we rode their ferris wheel and ate lunch. It was a neat old fashioned wheel with baskets. Emelyn chose the basket with the letter "D like Dog!" to ride in. That girl has no fear of heights... she looked around and down with delight while riding.

A view of the mountains from the air.

After lunch, we went home and took naps. The plan was to go on a whale watching cruise for dinner at 5 but we all slept too long so settled for a drive along the beach instead. We ended up at Corona Del Mar State Beach next to Balboa Peninsula.

Emelyn loved playing in the sand and watching the water, as did we all. It was just a really really relaxing picnic/evening. There were sand volleyball games going on nearby and birds would walk right up to us as we were eating. And of course lots of a sand with an imaginitive little girl who saw a blank canvas!

Another funny moment I want to remember. The first time a bird walked up to an unexpecting Emelyn, she grabbed Jake's neck and goes "Don't worry daddy! The birds won't get you! It'll be okay!" as though to reassure herself. We happened to take a picture as she was saying it. (The bird was right behind Jake.)

Emelyn also had fun watching and cheering on the sand volleyball games. She sort of became the ball girl and ran to get the ball everytime it went out of bounce. Such a good helper! They offered to let her play but she told them she was too little. 

Isaiah was laid back and enjoyed the sound of the waves. He ate a bottle and snuggled in the rest of the time. One of my favorite things about this guy... such a snuggle bug!

 He also got a taste of his first food (sort of.) Poor guy has been drooling non-stop lately and rubs his tounge along his gums when he isn't chewing on his fist. So we took a raw baby carrot and rubbed it on his gums... boy did he like that! I think we'll be getting out teething toys when we get home. Can my baby really be that old already?!?

Emelyn loved to step out to the edge of the ocean then run away from the water when it came in. I think we could've done this all day. Here we are on our way back in... 

Such a fun relaxing day even though the two things we had planned didn't happen. We're thinking of skipping the cruise and balloon ride all together and going back to the beach, pools and playgrounds instead.

Over the mountains to the BIG POND!

Early Friday morning we headed to the airport to fly to California. Emelyn was beyond excited Thursday as we were packing. She chattered all day, nonstop and talked constantly about going to California to visit Aunt Melissa and Uncle David. Warning, many pictures to come since this is my way of remembering what we did each day. :) Yes, that's right, I'm getting old and forgetful.

 Here we are at the airport in Tulsa, watching the airplanes come in and out. With each plane she got more and more excited to fly. (On a side note, over the last few days, we've realized what a fearless little girl we have - water, heights, speed, you name it, she has no fear and wants more!)

I thought I had rotated this picture, but it doesn't seem to want to stay. Here we are on the plane ready to take off... at first we could tell she was nervous but she put on a brave face.

Before we left for the trip, Emelyn drew a map showing us how to get to Aunt Melissa's (I think she gets it from Dora.) On our way to the airport she just about had a meltdown because we forgot her map...( how would we know how to get to Aunt Melissa's without it??) She had mountains, rivers, birds and clouds on the map, and sure enough, we saw all of the above on the plane. The Rocky Mountains... 

 And part of the Hoover Dam

It was so neat experiencing an airplane ride through the eyes of a toddler. She was amazed at everything. "Oh look, we're close to the clouds... we are IN THE CLOUDS!... Oh wow! We're going over the mountains! Look at the water below! What are all of those circles and square on the world? And as we were nearing Orange County Airport... "Look at that BIG POND!" (ocean) Perhaps the best part, however, was when she broke out singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" while looking out her window.

Isaiah, on the other hand, was laid back and relaxed as always. He smiled at everyone on the plane and just had a good time. He's getting to the age where he doesn't sleep just anywhere, and there were too many people and activity going on for him to want to sleep, but he wasn't fussy. Here he is in the airplane before takeoff...

And during takeoff.... hilarious!!

He had such a great time... especially between Vegas and Orange County because the two of us had an entire row of seats to ourselves. I was so so thankful they both did so well. Everyone around us seemed to have fun interacting with both kids and we had a great time chatting which made the plane ride go faster. The guy in front of us (who had a big afro) had some great hair tips for us regarding Isaiah's hair (we need to be using Shea Butter not baby oil  which he said dries out hair.) He said that will prevent the afro Isaiah is getting on top :) And the family next to us adopted their 17 month old son so we had fun hearing their story. 

As we neared Irvine, Emelyn exclaimed that she "thinks I see Melissa's house" and we actually did. :) She lives really close to the airport and so we were to her house quickly. When we arrived, Emelyn was excited to see all of the pools and playgrounds so we changed into our swimming suits and took a walking tour of their beautiful complex. They have 5 swimming pools (and some toddler pools) and numerous hot tubs in their community with playgrounds throughout as well - a toddler's paradise!

Walking with Aunt Melissa. (Notice she needed her floaties on to go for a walk.)

Our little Miss Hollywood! 

The front of their building... 

...and finally into the pool. We haven't enrolled Emelyn in swimming classes yet, but after seeing her take to the water and constantly ask us to let go so she can "swim" by herself, I think we'll be looking for a class soon.

We brought this ride on toy on our trip and she had fun with it in the hot tub! Again.. we realized what a daredevil she was... no fear in this girl!

Other than swimming, we didn't do much the first day, which was super relaxing... exactly how a vacation should be!