Christmas

Wow it has been busy this week.

Kaylee's school has been out since Monday and they'll be out this week too. This is a first for us. When she was in daycare, it might close for a day or two but not two weeks. So we've been winging it. Monday, Kristina took her to Little Gym. She hung out there half the day until Pam came to watch her. Pam watched her on Tuesday. Sandy watched her on Wednesday. I took her with me to work on Christmas Eve. She did a bunch of coloring and ran around from desk to desk handing out her drawings.

Christmas Eve - we found a neighborhood near Redondo Beach in Federal Way to go look at lights. Sandy and Marty joined us. It reminded me of when I was a kid and my folks would take my sister and I to East Bremerton to Candy Cane Lane to look at the lights. Kaylee liked all the inflatables especially the penguins. It amazed me that you could live in this neighborhood and not put up anything. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, might be wise to put up something just to keep the peace. After the lights we went out for Chinese food near Southcenter. We discovered that Kaylee likes Won Ton Soup. We also discovered that I liked it too! Kaylee also really liked the two big fish tanks in the lobby.

Christmas day, we started at our house. Kaylee is getting real good at opening presents. I was impressed this year because she easily put down one to open another. It used to be, she'd open the first one and want to play with it and ignore the others. We then headed over to Kristina's Dad's (Randy) house for breakfast. Kaylee was hungry but didn't want a cinamon roll. Instead she had string cheese. Weird. She did have bacon and eggs. After breakfast it was time for presents. Kaylee did a good job of keeping herself together for two hours before opening. She went right after the big one first. There was a box about as tall as her. It turned out to be a beauty station. After presents we came home to prepare to have over Kristina's Mom's (Sandy) family.

At home, Kristina started to cook and clean to get ready. I started to put together the beauty station because Kaylee wanted to play with it. I knew I was in trouble the moment I openend the box. Two and a half hours later it was done. I can hear my dad laughing. You're dead to me Robinsons. Special thanks to Marty for putting the seat together. Dinner was great. Kaylee and her cousin Peyton played all night long. They especially loved all the new beauty stuff that Kaylee got. It was now present time and Kaylee got a bunch more cool things to play with.

The day after Christmas we went over to the Campbells and had left overs. Just as good the next day. We then went over to Zoo Lights at Point Defiance. It was CRAZY. Every spot was taken in the lot. I dropped the family off and Marty and I went in search of an elusive spot. We found a family leaving after about 10 minutes of searching so we sat and waited. When Marty and I got down to the ticket stand, the ladies had made their way to the front so that worked out nice. We then started to walk around and look at the lights. They have a pretty cool setup. Kaylee was excited to go look at the petting zoo. Goats! She sees goats everyday at school but I guess you can't get too many goats. We then headed around the zoo. The coolest light display is near the entrance. A million lights of different colors and in the center a good sized model of the two Narrows bridges. Kaylee got to go to the aquarium and see the sharks and then Marty took her on the carousel.

After Zoo Lights, we took our time heading back to the Campbells. Kaylee decided she wanted to stay over night. So Kristina and I headed for home. We're getting ready right now to go over to her Aunt Peggy's for Peggy's birthday. We'll swing by and pick up Kaylee afterwards. Kaylee gets to go to a classmate's birthday party tomorrow afternoon.

Shew.

God and Squiggles

I was taking Kaylee to Little Gym the other day and she asked why their were squiggles in the road. I said I didn't know what she was talking about. On the way home she got real excited and said Dad Dad Dad, there, look! There were some patches in the road. I told her that the road had an owie and the construction workers fixed it but that left a squiggle in the road. She asked, "What are their names?" I said I didn't know the construction workers' names and she asked who did. I had nothing so I said God. She said God with the angels? I said yes. She said so then does Puppy know the construction workers' names? I asked her why and she said because Puppy had gone up to heaven to be with God and the angels. I told her yes and almost balled my eyes out. Puppy was Sandy's dog for a long long time and he passed the other day. Kaylee wasn't sad, just matter of fact about the whole thing. I could learn a lot from that little girl.

Flag

Kaylee asks me every time I drop her off at school if I can stay for Flag. Today I did. Everyone gathers around the flag. One big kid and one little kid hook it up to the pole and raise it. Everyone then says the pledge of allegiance and sings This Land is My Land. She sang Grand Old Flag over the summer. It's pretty darn cute seeing all the kids with their hands on their hearts and their little voices singing.

Airplane Kaylee

Sorry about being absent for so long. So Kaylee has been taking swimming lessons all summer at her new school. A week ago Friday they had their big end of summer Swim Show and potluck. Kaylee asked me if I was going for about two weeks beforehand every day. It was pretty darn cute. The big kids came in first and then Kaylee's class of 3 year olds. The 3 year olds got to go first and she jumped in to the pool. A couple of older kids helped her onto a floaty device and she flapped her arms and legs to move across the pool. They call this being an Airplane. Kaylee also got to show us how she can jump in the pool in water deeper than she is tall. I was so proud of her courage. She has learned so much. I bet next year she'll be swimming all by herself.

Take Our Kids to Work Day

Last year my office had this and it was limited to 6 years old and up. This year they dropped it to 3 so Kaylee was the youngest one there. She was pretty darn excited about it. She had been to my office a couple times before and both times got to use my highlighters to color on some post its. What fun!

They had a good agenda for the kids. We started off the day in a conference room. They took the group photo you see below. Kaylee shouted Daddy! and I said What and she said I Love You! That broke a few hearts. Pretty cute. Kaylee made fast friends with Charlotte who is the daughter of my coworker Jasmine. Charlotte is 5. She's the little girl in the red shirt on the right. Kaylee got her own badge and business cards just like daddy.

Most of the morning allowed the kids to do their own thing. They set up a big area for coloring. Kaylee is so independent. She would wander from cubicle to cubicle without me if I let her. She did get away from me a couple times which freaked me out but she came right back. They fed us Pizza Hut for lunch. After lunch they played picture bingo and all the kids won a pack to take home. The packs were filled with little toys, pencils and stickers.

At the end of the day, all of the kids were presented with a certificate of completion. Our company director Lance presented Kaylee with hers. We headed home about 2:30 and I thought Kaylee would pass out in the car because she played hard all day but she didn't.

Sunday

Sunday we took Kaylee with us to lunch at our local pub. We met up with Kristina’s friend David. Kaylee ate about three noodles from her mac & cheese. I took Kaylee to the park that was right around the corner. She was sad that there weren’t any kids there her age for her to play with.

After the park we took Kaylee to “Disneyland.” Somehow she got it in her head that the Family Fun Center near our house was Disneyland. They had a kids’ corner which had four rides - a train, a carousel, a plane ride and a swing ride. Kaylee all but the swings. I got motion sickness after the plane ride. Going round and round in a circle doesn’t work for me any more apparently.

Monday night, Kaylee was helping me put away my laundry the other night. I would open a drawer and she’d stand on the bed and she’d throw the laundry in. She had thrown a couple of socks into the drawer when she announced, “That’s What I’m Talkin About!” I could have peed my pants from laughing so hard.

Day 6 – BBQ

We had to get going a little early today. Uncle Paul, Nicole’s boyfriend Jeremy and I went down to Ann Arbor to watch University of Michigan’s spring practice. It’s a cool stadium but I’ll take Husky Stadium anyday. The folks who stayed back at the house went shopping to get a bunch of stuff for our BBQ. The Johnsons’ neighbors came over with their two daughters. As well as a couple of friends that we saw at Ocean Shores a couple years ago. The adults played some cards. Euchre was the game of choice. The neighbors have a 5 year old girl that Kaylee a good time playing with. They wrote with sidewalk chalk outside. They got to take a bath together and play with some tub toys. The big event of the night was the dying of the Easter eggs. Kaylee ended up with hands dyed all different colors. She got really upset when we ran out of eggs. Tomorrow will be the big hunt.

Day 5 – Travel back to Michigan

We got rolling around noon. We went back to the Falls and Kaylee was in a bad mood. I took her to a candy shop and she chose a bag of cotton candy. That cheered her up. The rest of the family went to a show called the Fury of the Falls. They got wet. We piled back into the van and drove to a couple of different lookouts. We then headed back downtown and stopped at a the Hard Rock Café because folks wanted to pick up some souvenirs. We weren’t impressed with the gift shop. We then headed out of town and back towards Michigan. Kaylee needed me to sit next to her. This was non negotiable. We made it back thru the border and stopped at Taco Bell and KFC for dinner. Kaylee enjoyed a bowl of rice from Taco Bell. We got back to the house and Kaylee was excited to see cousin Nicole. She hadn’t seen her since she was 3 months old so I’m not sure about the excitement. Kaylee immediately took Nicole to play Candy Land and Monkeys on the Bed.

Day 4 – Travel to the Falls

We got on the road midday. It was a 5.5 hour journey over to Niagra Falls. Kaylee did well in the van. She slept some of the way. She watched her DVD player some of the way. We needed two vehicles to transport everyone. We got to the Falls around 6 and drove thru the town. We walked around by the Falls and Kaylee ran around again like prisoner released after captivity. I remembered the scene from Superman where the kid falls over the railing at the Falls. We had dinner at the Keg and Kaylee ate a little steak. Mostly she liked having rolls and jam. We checked in to the hotel and got 4 rooms kind of close together. Kaylee had a good time running from room to room and jumping on every bed.

Day 3 – Lazy Day

Kaylee is sitting on the foot rest of Aunt Jo’s recliner. Aunt Jo is in the recliner and they’re having a picnic of oranges. Kaylee is in her Pj’s and her Easter hat and her Easter purse. When Kaylee woke up this morning, the first thing she asked was if she could open another Egg. This time there was a cute shirt in the egg. Kaylee had Jo take the ribbons from the egg from yesterday and today sew them on her hat. Very cute. Kristina made some breakfast for Kaylee, Sandy and herself. They were sitting at the table when Kaylee said something. Kristina said, “I don’t know you at all” and Kaylee said, “Ya you do, My name is Kaylee.” Pretty funny. Kristina’s Aunt Lorie and Uncle Paul came up from Kentucky. We ended up in the living room sitting around singing songs while Paul played the piano and Jo played her guitar. Kaylee danced around and sang. Again, pretty cute.

Day 2 – German Town

We got going around noon. Uncle Dick made us breakfast. We got dressed and headed out. We went up north and went by their old house. We were on our way to Frankenmuth. It’s a German town similar to Leavenworth. On the way Kaylee fell asleep. Dick and Jo drove us through the town. Pretty cool. Kaylee woke up with an attitude. I had to buy her some candy to get her to cheer up. We went to Bronner’s which is a gigantic Christmas store. Thousands of Christmas ornaments. We met up with Dick and Jo’s daughter Stacy. Stacy bought Kaylee a little fuzzy lamb. Kaylee had a good time looking at every ornament. We headed back to the homestead and watched American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Kaylee got to open some Easter gifts. She got an Easter hat that’s white and got to open a paper egg that Jo made. It’s about the size of football. A little white purse was inside.

Day 1 – Travel

We were traveling on Monday to Michigan. Kaylee did really well on the planes. We flew to Minnesota and from there to Detroit. She slept most the way to Minnesota probably most likely to the Benadryl that she took. We bought her some new coloring books and a new Strawberry Shortcake DVD. Minneapolis’s airport felt more like a mall than an airport. We sat next to a very nice guy on our way to Detroit. He talked to Kaylee pretty much the whole way. Kaylee sat between us and she held hands with both of us on takeoff and landing. It was pretty cute. We got to Detroit and there was snow on the ground. It took us about an hour to get our bags and Kaylee ran around like a caged animal that had finally been set free. Kristina’s Uncle Dick and Aunt Jo picked us up from the airport and we drove to their place just outside of Flint. We got to sleep just about 2am Michigan time.

Saturday

Today was a good day. We started off with Kaylee's gymnastics class. She has so much fun there. She runs around and tumbles and flips and falls and jumps. They have a different theme every week and try to teach them something new. We then grabbed some Old McDonalds for lunch because Kaylee wanted the toy. They're doing Monsters vs Aliens right now. When we got home we had lunch and then met with our financial planner. He informed us that under our new plan we'll have our house paid off and be completely debt free in 10 years. Wow!

After he left, I passed out in our bed. I thought Kris and Kay went to sleep in Kaylee's new full size bed but apparently that didn't work so well. Kris laid down on the couch and Kaylee was watching cartoons. When I got up, Kaylee was asleep on her monster chair sitting up. So cute!

When they woke up, we went to Taco Time for dinner of course and then went to see Monsters vs Aliens at the Landing theater. Kaylee was scared thru most of the movie which was a downer but she was a trooper and stayed for the whole thing. I thought the movie was cute and the older kids that were there said they liked it.

We're back at the homestead and Kris is talking with her mom and Kaylee is picking the toejam out of her toes and chasing us with it. I love the sound of my girls laughing.

Nana

My mom was here recently and she got a whole week's worth of playing in with Kaylee. They played with Barbies and Critters and played dress up and Candyland and Dollies and and and and.

I really admired her ability to sit and play with Kaylee for long periods of time. I get bored playing with dolls. She said it's because when you're a little girl you play with dolls. Then when you're a mom you play with dolls with your daughter. So by the time you're a grandmother, you're used to it. I guess as a Dad, I don't have much experience playing with dolls. But I did have some Star Wars action figures when I was a kid. My dad really enjoyed putting together things like the Millenium Falcon. Probably almost as much as I enjoy putting together my daughter's doll houses. Cheers.

Favorite Number

I don't know if little kids can have a favorite number but Kaylee sure seems to have one. It's the number 50. Why 50? Who knows? The other day I was working late and Kristina and Kaylee brought me some dinner and on their way out Kaylee said, "See you in 50 hours!"

We were playing with her kitchen and she said we were making a cake or something and I asked her when it would be ready and she said 50 minutes. Kaylee has a cash register and we were playing grocery store and I asked her if I could buy some grapes and she said that would be 50 dollars. Wow, those are some expensive grapes. Grandma Debbie was watching her a little bit ago and Kaylee said something about 50 hours there too.

Haircut

Back in January, Kaylee got her hair cut much shorter than it has been. Kaylee wouldn't let us put it in a pony tail or pigtails so Kris asked the stylist to cut it down. It ended up being a little above the shoulders and had a little curl to it on the bottom. Kaylee was so good. She sat there still as a statue. Here's a photo I took with my phone.

First Movie

I took Kaylee to see her first movie in a theater today. We saw the Dog Hotel movie and she liked it a lot. We had taken her to the drive in a few times over the summer and it didn't go so well so I was a little anxious. Kristina went to see Bride Wars with Alesha at the same time so we drove over together. Everything went really well. Kaylee liked the movie. It was really crowded and pretty loud as there were a ton of kids. I got a bag of popcorn and a soda and Kaylee curled up next to me and watched the movie and munched on popcorn the whole time. She only asked a few questions. She did make us go potty about 5 mins in and then once in the bathroom let me know she didn't have to but I expected at least one potty break anyway. The movie was cute. I know Kaylee liked it because she loves anything with animals. We've been watching a lot of Disney movies at home lately and the Lion King was a big hit. This evening she asked to watch a Baby Einstein dvd on her portable player and she had it in her lap while laying on her monster and she fell asleep. Pretty darn cute. She woke up when I moved her bag of Cheetos. Now Kristina is in her room putting her down for the night. Today was a great day.