Great Wolf Lodge

In honor of Kalaya becoming a big sister in a VERY short time, we decided to take a mini vacation as a family of 3 for the last time. We didn't have a huge budget, but wanted to do something fun! Disneyland would have been my #1 choice, of course, but we didn't want to travel that far from home, this soon before baby. Plus, it would have meant 4 days of driving or paying for airline tickets during the week after Christmas. Um, no thank you! The date had to be the week after Christmas, because Portland State (where Nelson works) has a furlough week then and all other vacation time is being saved up for paternity leave!

We decided to go to the Great Wolf Lodge, which is only a couple of hours away, but out of state. For those who haven't heard of it, it's a large hotel/resort that has a huge water park inside of it, 2 days of which are included with staying one night. It's on the spendy side for one night, and of course there are PLENTY of other ways to waste money there, but we were smart about it. The rooms have microwaves and fridges, so we saved money by bringing our own meals.

It was really fun! We're glad we went. I don't think we'll be heading back up any time soon, mainly because there is not as much for toddlers to do as we had thought. The water park had several play areas for her, and she loved the wave pool and another pool that had floating toys and basketball hoops. But, she wanted nothing what so ever to do with the slides. Any of them. We had her go on 2 small and one larger and she hated them all. Period. So...maybe a few more years. We had thought we could ride with her, but apparently not. Plus, I was just too big and too pregnant to do much of anything. When we have 2 kids in elementary or middle school. it will be just perfect! But, it was good to go, see what it had, and Kalaya had a blast, so that's what matters! The hotel is fun, there's activities and things to look at all over. It SNOWS inside, which was really exciting and there are all of these animatronic (sp?) animals that talk to and interact with you, including a big area where they sing and perform throughout the day. They have a craft and imagination room that Kalaya absolutely LOVED and lots of other ways to spend money too. The rooms are nice and the facility is very family and kid friendly and we will head back some day!!

Tree at the entrance

Coloring; there are lots of activities around!

Favorite part of the water park; spraying water!!

Love the life jacket : )

Playing with Daddy

Very pregnant Mommy and Kalaya, main structure of park in background

Getting ready to leave : (

Christmas 2011

Whew! What a whirlwind of a couple of weeks it has been! I guess that is how it will be from now on, especially with 2 kids starting next year! It's been a fun time, but I am not going to mind getting back into a regular routine for a few weeks (and then all will never be the same again as we try to figure out life with 2 kids!) and not having so many things to do each day, even though most of them have been really fun!

This year's Santa visit went alright. We talked a lot about Santa, read about him, did puzzles, colored him, practiced telling him (nicely) what we'd like him to bring for Christmas, etc. Then, the big event arrived. We went to a local mall and, luckily, the line was short and Santa was very friendly and obviously had a lot of experience with timid toddlers. She went up to him, talked to him, looked at a book she had brought about him; they had a discussion about the reindeer and the elves and she told him she wanted a 'bike and dollhouse' (there maaaay have been some help from mom and dad preparing her ahead of time). Then we suggested a seat on Santa's lap for a picture and the crocodile tears appeared. We ended up taking a picture with her on MY lap, sitting in front of Santa. Her face is not smiling, and is a face caught between sobs. (our scanner is refusing to work, I will try to post it later) Oh well. It could have been worse. Maybe next year, when she gets to show baby brother how it's done, things will go better. Or, maybe he'll show her how it's done. We'll see!!

She was in her 3rd Christmas pageant at church this year and also did very well. She had the choice to be a sheep or angel this year and had very strong opinions on being a sheep. Her buddies Oliver and Rosie were sheep too, so that determined it. She wore the costume with no problems and only needed a little assistance from mom to go to her place. She sat quietly with the other sheep and did great!
Christmas Eve was spent going to the family service, which includes a special sermon for the kids (our priest used to be a chaplain at a school, we love her!), including candy cane distribution, which she was very excited about. We then went to my parents' house afterwards to share Christmas Eve dinner, which in our house has been Italian food for the last few year. Mom made lasagna and Kalaya ate a ton! We opened presents, which for Kalaya was a new table and chairs, which Daddy put together later that night for Christmas morning:
Christmas Eve was spent putting together the gifts from 'Santa' which Nelson loves! (no sarcasm, he seriously does) This year included a tricycle ($15, new in box on Craig's List!!), the table and chairs and a new trampoline!! ($49, down from $120 on Black Friday, thank you very much!) It took 3 HOURS for poor Santa to put the trampoline together, but she loves it!

Christmas morning, we had to draaaaaag her out of bed at 9 and she did NOT want to get up! We would have let her sleep, but had plans to see Nelson' family that day and wanted to give her time to open presents. She finally warmed up after some special Christmas blueberry muffins from mommy and then decided Christmas was pretty fun! She especially loves her new tutu, toy cars, Sesame Street play set and dollhouse.

We then drove to Salem to see Nelson's family and had a delicious meal, none of which I had to cook!! Kalaya got lots of fun gifts and had a great time playing with her one year old cousin Amara. She got lots of cute clothes, which made me extra happy. : )

We rounded off the week with a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge, to enjoy one last vacation and some special time as a family of 3, but that's for another post!

Let the holiday season begin!!

It's been a busy few weeks, which apparently meant no blogging!! Let's see, where to start...

Thanksgiving was really nice. We had (as usual) 2 dinners, one with my family, one with Nelson's family. My mom and dad came over on the actual day and mom and I split up the responsibilities of cooking the big meal, which was GREAT! I was in charge of the turkey, rice, jello salad, green veggie (broccoli), mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and.....I think that was it. Mom did the sweet potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. Then there were those other quick things that just come out of a can. At our house, that includes olives and cranberry sauce. I do the turkey in the crock pot (just the breast, actually), so it actually was a really easy, laid back preparation. We had dinner, the men watched football, the ladies looked through Black Friday ads and chatted in the kitchen. (and the men did the dishes, of course.) Saturday was spent in Salem with Nelson's family, eating another big and delicious meal. And, I didn't have to cook a thing!! I was going to bring a side dish, but Nelson had this idea that he wanted to try to make a new recipe he found, so he made a sweet potato casserole, leaving me with nothing, AWESOME!! Kalaya ate a LOT at both meals this year; much different from last year! She especially liked mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, broccoli, cranberry sauce and stuffing and mommy and daddy let her have a (VERY SMALL) piece of pumpkin pie at each meal, which was very exciting!

Black Friday. Yup, it's totally crazy and I understand completely why people avoid it. The last few years, my mom and I have sometimes gone out in the late morning or afternoon, to check out the sales, but avoid the crazies. Then, last year, my friend Sarah got me to go with her in the middle of the night and I got HOOKED!! Do I feel guilty about those people having to work ridiculous hours and for supporting corporate America?? Yes. Very, very much so. But, we are on a limited budget and the sales really do make a huge difference in savings. Last year I went to 5 or 6 stores, but at 7 months pregnant, not this time. I go with a plan and very strategically. This year, I decided on Toys R Us and K Mart. Toys R Us opened at 9pm on Thanksgiving (which is absolultely horrible, I agree) and I learned last year that it's pointless to get there before 2 hours after they open. (the line out the door takes that long to get through) I arrived just before 11 and got in pretty quickly, got the items I wanted and checked out @ 1am, which was exactly what I expected. Yes, it's crazy, but I got everything we wanted for Kalaya and saved 50% or more on each item, as well as the other kids on my shopping list. My make a list ahead of time, arrive with cash in hand, have back ups for each item and only go if it really is worth the savings. Last year, it was for her kitchen, this year a trampoline and some other toys. I got up and went to K Mart @ 6, which wasn't crowded at all, had no lines and I got everything I wanted. The only bummer this year was that I did it alone, since Sarah had just had a baby 3 weeks prior.

The weekend after Thanksgiving was spent finalizing projects around the house and working in the yard, getting things ready for our Housewarming party that we had this past Saturday. Nelson has removed a LOT of weeds and been putting down mulch, it looks SO much better. We did a lot of raking as well. Nelson put the lights on the house and we did come other decorating around the house, including getting our Christmas tree! We found a great place, within a couple of miles of our house. It's a family home with 5 acres of Christmas trees behind it, all trees one price and you cut it, they tie it to your car. We'll be heading back, it was really nice!! And so close! Kalaya had a lot of fun running around and looking at the trees, even though it was COLD! She wasn't too sure about the whole tying the tree on the car part, but once we got home, she loooves having a decorated tree in the living room, especially the lights!!

Running around and having a blast!

Supervising

New word learned: Stump

Helping decorate! (notice her area of choice, mommy had to spread a few out, as she put them all on the same branch : )

Labor Day Camping Trip

For Labor Day weekend this year, we decided to go on our first camping trip since having Kalaya. Of course, we started planning this and made the reservations back in May, having no idea that this would happen days after closing on the house!! We decided to go anyway, partly because we weren't going to get the money back, but mainly because we knew we wanted time away from the chaos, just the three of us.

We headed out on Saturday and planned to stay 3 nights, as Nelson had taken of Tuesday. We camped at Beverly Beach, near Newport and planned to visit the aquarium during on of the days we were there. The drive went really well until about 10 miles before the campsite and then it took almost an hour! Kalaya did great though. We got to the site, set up, had dinner and just hung out until bedtime. She slept surprisingly well in the tent, I think co-sleeping was a big factor there!

Sunday she got up EARLY, because of all the light and noise in the campground, which we expected. I forgot how cold it is ALL THE TIME when camping in Oregon. I packed plenty of extra blankets, clothes, etc, but still. I wonder how much of a camping person I actually am....it may be the idea of camping that appeals to me more. A big factor was probably the fact that I was pregnant while camping....though our air mattress was actually pretty comfortable and I packed lots of extra pillows, etc.

We headed out the aquarium after breakfast, which was crowded (again, expected, because it was Labor Day weekend), but not too bad. She had a lot of fun looking at all the fish, sharks, sea lions, otters, etc, but especially talked about the octopus, which was weird kinda, because it hid in the corner of the tank the whole time and didn't move, but she liked it! We went down to the pier in Newport for lunch and walked around a little bit, especially to see the sea lions.

We headed back to the campsite, during which she took a short nap in the car. I made dinner when we got back and after that, things started going down hill. Nelson took Kalaya with him to get the firewood (which had gone just fine on Sat). She was pretty cranky at this point, due to getting up so early, big day and short nap. We planned to put her to bed after they got back. While walking back to the site, she was holding Nelson's hand and then decided to run toward the street, trying to let go. When he held on to keep her out of the street, he heard a loud pop and she started SCREAMING. He got her back to the site and she was inconsolable. (he, of course, felt absolutely terrible) She was so exhausted, she fell asleep almost immediately. We felt all over her arm, wrist, shoulder, etc, but didn't feel or see anything out of the ordinary. When we lifted it, same thing. However, if we twisted it in anyway, she screamed. So, I called our nurse advice line (by this time it was after dark), while she slept on Nelson. The nurse was very friendly and helpful and said it didn't sound broken, dislocated, etc, since there was no swelling or anything else. He said we could take her to urgent care if we wanted to, but since she was sleeping, that was a sign that she wasn't in TOO much pain.

We decided to just go to bed. The problem was that if she shifted in her sleep and moved it, she started screaming and it took a LONG time to calm her down. (God bless nursing, it was the only thing that worked) Around 11:30pm we decided it was too much and got in the car and drove to Newport to spend the night in a hotel. We got REALLY lucky, considering the date, and found a nice hotel on the 2nd try and for not too bad of a price. It was nice to be in a warm room that was quiet and she slept through the night after that.

We got up Monday, had breakfast at the hotel, showered and drove back to the site to pack up. She refused to use her arm, but as long as she didn't move it, she was acting pretty normal. We decided to head back home and stop at urgent care on the way. She did fine on the drive back.

At urgent care, as soon as the doctor on call heard her symptoms, she immediately knew what it was. Apparently, it's really common and called 'nursemaid's elbow'. Here is a link to more details. Basically, she dislocated a ligament in her elbow. OUCH! But, it's is apparently VERY, VERY common and it took the doctor literally 2 seconds to put it back in to place and Kalaya was using it normally in less than 10 minutes. It was crazy!!

So, our first camping trip was....a success? In that, she adapted well to being away from home, it just had to end a little earlier than planned. : / For obvious reasons, we only got a few pictures. And, we didn't even make it to the beach!!

Digging at the site, it's COLD in the morning!!

Exploring and learning at the aquarium

Our 5th Anniversary

For our 5th anniversary, we went away for a nice weekend in Lincoln City! One of Nelson's groomsmen's parents (got that?) own and rent out a house and they were nice enough to give us the 'family rate' for their gorgeous house. It was a good deal! We hope to spend a lot more time there in the future! Nelson took off Friday (last vacation day for awhile, he's saving up sick and vacation for paternity leave when baby comes, a wonderful blessing, he should be able to get at least 6 weeks!!!), so we went Thursday night through Saturday. (the house was already reserved for Saturday night. Here's the house:



I told Kalaya that the front door said 'welcome' and for the rest of the trip, we had to hear over and over (and OVER AND OVER) how, 'It says welcome! It says welcome!' It was pretty cute. I wonder if she'll recognize the word out of context in the future?


Thursday night we went out to dinner at Mo's (yeah, about as touristy as you can get, but I was craving a cheeseburger and fries and theirs are yummy!) and then walked down to the beach, which was less than a block from our house. She played with her sand toys and then wanted to test the water. It was actually a really nice evening, even for the Oregon Coast, pretty warm, only a little windy and the water actually wasn't ice cold. So, Daddy let her put her feet in and she wanted to go further and further and LOVED the water. We had to drag her back. It actually felt pretty good!



Saturday morning she got up VERY early (around 6:30, I think), because the master bedroom was very bright with four windows. She had breakfast and was asleep on the couch within an hour and slept for another 2 1/2 hours after that. (we are not morning people at our house. A typical morning for her starts between 9 and 9:30) A quick lunch and down to the beach! It was perfect weather and she dug, searched for rocks, buried herself, ran around and went in the water (with Daddy's help) to her heart's content. This was followed by another afternoon nap (the morning one really was just finishing off her night, she'd gone to bed late Thurs night) and then out to dinner at a local brewery, where I had some delicious shrimp!


The hot tub was also a big success, especially with Daddy! (I didn't go it, of course...sacrifices for pregnancy!)


Saturday morning was packing and getting ready to leave, but not without breakfast first!


We finished off the trip with a stop in Salem to see Grandma (Nelson's mom) and drove home on Saturday. Sunday Nelson and I had an anniversary celebration during Kalaya's nap, while Oma took over for a bit. We went to a yummy lunch at Benihana and a movie.


Yup, our daughter is too young for a movie, we went to Winnie the Pooh's latest by ourselves. : )

We know that many people/couples think it's important to have time away just the two of us, but we don't feel that way. We just aren't the kind of parents who go on vacation without our whole family, at least not at this point in our child's life. We understand why some think that's important, but we know we'll have years and years to be alone. We treasure every moment with our whole family! We feel that our relationship is plenty strong enough without dropping the kid off at the grandparents so we can be alone. At least, not for more than a few hours. Definitely a personal preference that each family has to make for themselves!

Memorial Day 2011

Yes, I know that it was over a month ago, but I wanted to post these pictures anyway. We went out to Eastern Oregon over Memorial Day weekend (Pilot Rock, to be exact) and took Kalaya to 'see' her Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, who have both been gone for several years. She is very lucky to have one set of great grandparents that she's seen a few times, though they live in Alabama. They are actually here for the month right now.

We kept it very simple and she accepted it without batting an eye. She still talks about it almost every time she sees a flag about 'gate gamma, gate gampa, flags and flowers.' That pretty much sums up Memorial Day to me!

Easter 2011

We had a nice week of fun Easter activities this year. Kalaya definitely gets the Easter egg hunt concept, especially after the THREE different hunts she participated in. Luckily, we had practiced with eggs and baskets around the house and she LOVED it. She got to hunt at out church, with out mommy group and this morning, after the Easter Bunny left some eggs to find out our house to find, as well as some fun surprises! I can't believe it's been a year since this...


Enjoy the pictures! I didn't manage to get one of her in her Easter dress by herself, but will try again tomorrow and will post it when I do. It's SO pretty. She's going to be a flower girl in June and the dress is a little over the top for Easter Sunday (it's pure white!), but we wanted to get as much wear out of it as we can! I'll post more about it for Small Style this week.

Egg hunt #1 (at church) with BFF Elena. Stumped trying to find eggs.

Got one!

Egg hunt #2 with our mommy group, expert at finding eggs this time!

Checkin' the loot

Egg hunt #3, our house Easter morning!

Basket in hand, this is what we trained for!!


Wait, another basket, FULL??

Bunny Pillow Pet gets a kiss

Looking through her Easter basket

Happy Easter from the Sigrahs!