ICDC Luau and the OC County Fair! (Week 160-22 7/29-8/4/10)

Hello!  This has been quite a tiring week, and it's only Wednesday!  Why?  Because Will is out on travel this week in New Jersey, leaving me with the kids.  It wouldn't be so bad if (1) Tyler hadn't developed a fear of the dark/being alone and (2) Katelyn doesn't like to sleep at night.  Thank goodness for my wonderful nanny or I'd really be going crazy!

Go Bears!  We somehow came across the Berkeley T-Shirt we got for Tyler on our trip last year to the Bay Area.  I love that we can put him in it because both Will and I went there - no rivalry or anything with any other school!  Would I like Tyler to go to Cal?  For sure!  Would I object to Stanford?  No. Hahahaha!  Just kidding, no pressure Tyler...

Saturday we headed to Tyler's school for an end-of-the-year luau benefiting the PTA.  There was ice cream and lots of different activity stations for the kids.  Tyler was very excited to have ice cream again - he's a YogurtLand fan, but he does enjoy his ice cream on the (rare) occasion that he gets some.  His favorite (and the only one he's ever tried and is willing to try) flavor is vanilla.

This game was one of Tyler's favorites - throwing ping pong balls into little bowls.  (Tyler won his bear Gordon at Knott's Berry farm playing a game just like this one!).  He was able to win little prizes each time and kept him coming back for more.  There was even a raffle next to it to win a Beta fish to take home (I wanted to win but Will was VERY happy that we didn't.).

There was also fishing!  Tyler's a pro now, he went fishing and caught a real fish when he was in Texas!

Look, I got one mama!  Katelyn did great in the ring sling (as usual) and napped for a little bit as well.  I'm starting to be more anal about making sure she gets her naps - sometimes I feel guilty for taking her out on activities with Tyler because it messes with her naps... sigh... the downside of being a second child..

Next up - face painting! Or, as in Tyler's case, arm painting.  This is Tyler's favorite teacher Vanessa painting a rocket ship on his arm.  He REALLY likes her.  We've been having issues with drop off in the morning (imagine Tyler crying and saying he wants to go home or that he wants us to stay there with him).  It's a really rough way to start the day for everybody - I think it has to do with him adjusting to being out on vacation for a week (Houston) and not wanting to go back to school.  It's been tough.  Vanessa has been great in distracting him when he's crying.  Even yesterday, he wouldn't go into his room until I said, "let's go find Vanessa!".  Unfortunately, she wasn't in it.  Fail.  But we had a good drop off this morning!  Fingers crossed it'll continue.

Finished rocket ship!

Next up - Tiki toss.  Basically throwing bean bags to knock down stacked up cups.  All these games are basically for fun and all the kids get little silly prizes - so Tyler was able to knock all the cups down after ~20 throws!

Nice arm Tyler!

This was a fun station - making a lei!  It turned out really cute and I hung it on the rear-view mirror of our car.  Kind of gaudy but hey, Tyler made it! :)

Then Tyler decorated a wooden photo frame with shells and sand.

It came out real cute - mostly because Will helped!  I wasn't a fan of the sand on it though, all I could think about was the mess it would make!  Yes, I am that clean-crazy...

The day ended with all the boys trying to make baskets.  Tyler showed more interest that day in basketball than he did his entire basketball class a couple months ago!  Go figure.

As you can tell, basketball may not be his forte...

But he's got hops! :)

The next day we headed bright and early to the OC Fair with our friends the Garners.  Last year when we went, I was kind of newly pregnant!  And it was hot.  It was hot this year too.  Here's Tyler and his buddy Kaden petting some baby goats who were trying to sleep.

Bambi (also trying to sleep)!

This trip also marked our first time putting Katelyn in the stroller seat for the Uppa baby.  Before she was always either in her car seat or the bassinet.  I think she liked it - she had a great view of everything.  Only problem was that there was so much to see that she couldn't fall asleep at all.

Last year we didn't go on many rides at the fair, and the few that we went on resulted in Tyler crying.  He was pretty scared.  What a difference a year makes!  Here he is loving the flying elephant ride.

Afterward the dads took the kids to the top of the Goliath slide.  I think it would have been fun to go but dang, that's a lot of stairs to climb! :)  Will mentioned later that Tyler started getting a bit nervous as they climbed the stairs higher and higher...

Tyler definitely looked concerned coming down!  But afterward he was really excited and said he liked it.

Next up - a helicopter ride!

Tyler loved this one too - lots of laughing...

...and waving!

Then a pirate ship ride...

Seriously, it was kind of hard to choose pictures this week because he had a giant smile in every one of them!

Then a train ride.  He didn't look too happy here... it turns out all the cars except the first one (which they were in) would rock back and forth to make it bumpy.  Oops!  Kind of like the time I put him on a carousel ride and he was on one of the few animals that don't go up and down!

They still had fun though!

Tyler does love his trains and chose to sit in the leading train engine car!

Katelyn took a nap in the sling.

Off to the farm animals!  It was hot and smelly here, I was ready pretty quick to escape somewhere with air conditioning!  Here's Tyler and Kaden checking out a bull.

And petting some baby chicks with Will...

A ladybug even landed on Tyler and he didn't get scared!  (Side note: Tyler/my nanny/and I had a scary event with a big spider in the kitchen the other day.  It really sucked that Will was out of town.  The spider has since disappeared and I am trying to forget that it is hiding somewhere in my kitchen, ready to scare me again...)

Farmer Tyler!  I have pictures of Tyler from when he was 2 years old and when he was a 1 year old in/near the same cutout.

The boys were really interested in checking out the bee colony and pointing out the queen bee.

Katelyn in her stroller! heehee, she looks so tiny in it!  I LOVE this stroller, especially since it has a great pull-out sun shade.

Hi Katelyn!  She liked being able to see everything!

Here's me with Tyler and Katelyn.

Outside it was getting quite warm and the kids had fun cooling down at the misting station.  I snuck in a deep fried Klondike bar - really quite yummy actually - it was fried (you can't go to the fair and not eat something fried!) and cold (mmm ice cream on a hot day = perfect)!

We passed by some clowns and I was really surprised that Tyler wasn't afraid of them.  They still kind of freak me out.  He even ran up to them and gave them high-fives!

We stopped for lunch, and by this time Jen and I were getting pretty tired.  Amazingly, the kids hadn't had any meltdowns yet!  We decided to go on a last ride and then head home.  The boys decided on the helicopter ride again.

A fun day at the fair!

Here's Will and Tyler with Stacy and Kaden.

Alright, here are some miscellaneous pictures from the week...

Katelyn's new favorite thing is holding on to her toes.  Super cute - and a perfect pooping position too!

Only problem is that she'll scratch up her ankles as she tries to grab them.  Not so fun.  Even with her nails cut!

She's still enjoying her jumperoo. I had to put it on the second level now - she's getting tall!

Trina and Mariam came over for a visit and we hung out in the yard since Trina brought her doggy Sophia.  Tyler didn't realize the table was quite dirty/dusty and wiped his face with his hand.  DIRTY Tyler!

Group picture with Mariam and Trina with the kids. :)

Tyler had an In-n-Out burger for the first time this week.  Granted, it was just meat and cheese, but still!  He insisted on putting ketchup on it and even finished the rest of the ketchup from the packet!

Mmm.. In-N-Out...

Will's parents came by yesterday afternoon to help out while Will is away.  Here's Tyler playing trains with Will's dad.  Will's mom made these meatballs that Tyler really liked!  He ate so many!  When there were two left, he said, "I want two!".  They're kind of large so Will's dad cut one in half.  Tyler immediately said: "..I want three!".  When Will's dad cut the other one in half, Tyler said: "I want 4!  I want to eat them all!".  They really were that good.  It helped to have the in-laws here to keep Tyler occupied while I put Katelyn down for bed. 

Today we ventured out a bit with my nanny and Katelyn.  We headed to our local public library so I could replace my lost library card.  I think Katelyn was excited to be there - she was so intent on looking around and absorbing everything!

And a new toy Katelyn got this week - it's a ball that rolls around by itself?  Supposed to encourage crawling.  We're not there yet - but she does use it to help her sit up!

And at last a photo of Katelyn playing with her toes. 

Have a good week everyone! Can't wait for Will to be home tomorrow!!