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.