We headed out to the beach for some fresh air. We all needed it – Nala most of all, and while she ran around trying to find everything we would NOT want her to get into (e.g. fishing wire with hooks attached and dead pelicans). We discovered that some inexpicable sort of excavation had been going on out there. There were huge trenches dug perpendicular to the shoreline. Whatever the true purpose was, we had a lot of fun on the big mounds of dirt!
Amy
….ANIMAL PARK!
On Martin Luther King Day, the Fowler crew went to the Wild Animal Park. Those wild animals are just so darn photogenic!
Oh, wait……..I actually meant these wild animals.
It was a fun place to spend the day. I especially enjoyed watching when the keepers would interact with the animals.
No wait, I am confused again. I really meant like this.
And like this.
Of course when you have the little ones with you, you have to spend time in the petting zoo.
Yes, the deer was eating Ruthie’s hair. And while the petting zoo may have been for our little Ruthie, I think Ali enjoyed it too.
It was a fun outing, and lucky for me I got to take the wildest ones there home with me!
Amy
Last weekend was one big celebration of Ali’s birthday all weekend long. On her first birthday, Ali barely touched her cake. This year she was ready to dive in before breakfast.
Yes, I made a Blue’s Clues cake. About half way through decorating it I decided that I would never try to decorate another character cake again – I was fairly certain it was going to turn out horrible given my lack of artistic ability, and it was a lot of work. However, I was very pleased with the finished product. You could tell that it was Blue, which was success as far I was concerned, and Ali was really into it. I guess I would try it again after all.
Hey! What are you doing? I worked so hard on that cake, don’t mess it up at 8am!
Oh well, I already have pictures, do whatever you want 
I love my new schedule since Matt started his new job. Many days I get to leave work so much earlier and spend the afternoons with Ali….however, I also go to work much earlier which seriously cuts into my sleeping, which seriously cuts into my late night blogging. I would love to share more pictures of the birthday weekend, but for now I will just leave you with this one:
And this one:
I can’t help but reflect on how blessed I am to have a healthy, happy two year old in my house. I am so thankful.
Amy
Everyone knows the saying that you buy kids nice gifts and they just want to play with the boxes, right?
I have heard it many times, but this year I saw it with my own eyes. It was not exactly what I expected though. Ali did not put the empty boxes on her head or use them to play house. Instead, she turned a pile of still wrapped gifts into a slide!
I feel compelled to explain why my almost two year old has a pacifier in her mouth right in the middle of opening presents on Christmas morning. She loves her “Bobbie” as she named it, but usually only has it right before, during and after sleeping. Because she loves them so much, Ali got two new Bobbies in her Christmas stocking and it seemed too mean to take them away, thus the Bobbie in her mouth. Also, she took the two Bobbie gift as a challenge.
Can….
She….
Do….
It?
Yes, she can.
Proud Momma
I would love to live within walking distance of the shops and restaurants of downtown Ventura, just about any local beach, or a pleasant bike path. Our neighborhood is just a few quiet streets surrounded by very busy ones. Things we have in our favor include several parks we can walk to, a short commute (this is the most important pro for me), and this time of year our proximity to the decorations in the historic district or “F” Street.
We have enjoyed touring this neighborhood on foot for the years that we have lived here. This year, with concerns about a toddler’s attention span, we focused on the highlights. The first thing we headed for was the house with the huge train set. We were captivated along with the other 40+ people standing around the huge display.
Ali rode in the backpack for most of the night, but we let her out at the end to pose with some reindeer.
We were standing in front of a tastefully decorated house admiring the architecture when all of the sudden another one of those darn reindeer just fell right over while we were looking at it. Thump. This was a more quiet block, so we were alone with the tipsy reindeer. We looked at eachother surprised, then looked back at the house where a jack russell terrier had appeared in the window and was giving us the evil eye – he did not bark, he just looked at us accusingly.
We left.
The next night Matt had bigger plans than a baby backpack for transportation. We invited Hannah along and he rigged up the wagon with Christmas lights.
The girls rode in style and got lots of attention.
I can’t wait to see what Matt comes up with for next year!
Merry Christmas!
Amy
Ali and I had as great a trip to Hawaii as we had to DC. Kirk, Jenny and Sadie were so hospitable to us. We mostly played around the house and in their neighborhood and went to the neighborhood park. While we were there they had huge waves on the North Shore prompting the Eddie Aikau surf competition which is only held when the wave face is at least 30′ high. We did not go to the area where they were having the competition because of the huge crowds, but Jenny did take us to a north facing beach where we saw the big waves (way off in the distance) and a bale of sea turtles.
(Credit to Wikipedia for providing me with the correct spelling of Eddie’s name and the proper term for a group of turtles. When in doubt, Wikipedia.)
Since we have been back, we have of course been very busy getting ready for Christmas. I am pretty sure the shopping is done, and I haven’t done much wrapping but I am counting on Ali to take good naps the next couple of days in which case we will be good to go. One of our pre-Christmas projects was to buy a Cargo Carrier to go on the back of the Escape. When we travel, Nala rides in her cage in the back which doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for all the rest of our stuff. Especially when you add in Christmas presents. Matt threatened to put Nala in her cage on the carrier, but I don’t think he meant it.
Matt and Ali worked together to assemble the carrier.
Ali really did help to take the nuts off the bolts so that Matt could use them. She was concentrating so hard.
Nala was sad. She did not know that Matt was joking about making her ride on the carrier.
Also, she wanted to help but they would not let her.
Amy
Last week, my mom and Ali joined me in Washington DC. I was there for work, but they made it a pleasure! We had a good, if rainy and chilly, week and Ali is a stellar traveler, so I am bringing her with me again this week to Hawaii! I should be packing right now since we have an early departure and it is supposed to be raining very hard during our early morning drive, forcing us to leave even earlier!
It made my trip so much nicer having these two blue-eyed babes with me.
At first Ali was nervous about riding the Metro. “All done, choo choo” she told us. After the first couple of trips she got the hang of it though, and she became quite the metropolitan girl – riding the metro and eating in a restaurant for every meal like she was made for it.
We visited the Museum of American History and got to see some very cool history, my favorite was the display of former First Ladies’ dresses. Mostly though we hung out in their hands-on kids area. A very good thing when it is too cold and wet to play outside!
I know the weather was not that bad, we are just wimps from Oxnard where it is almost always a good day to go to the playground! Regardless, we were happy there was so much to explore indoors.
We stopped by the White House and saw the National Christmas Tree and Mrs. Obama’s vegetable garden.
The rest of the week I was working while Mom and Ali explored the zoo. It made the week much better for me, having them there.
Tomorrow – Ali and I will be off to Hawaii and Matt starts his first day at his new job! Yea!
Aloha,
Amy
