Bad Idea

The other day I had the bright idea to give Zaida a new treat in the car. She loves the strawberry Pocky's --- she will eat the strawberry yogurt stuff from around the stick and leave the biscuit clean to promptly throw away. Well, I had the genius idea to try the other flavor - chocolate. Here are the brilliant results!

Happy Birthday Quinn-san!

Quinn's birthday was last Monday - he turned 24! :)

So, yes ... I am late blogging about Quinn's birthday! SORRY!

i know, i suck!

Happy Birthday Uncle Quinney! Remember when I got that phone call in the middle of present opening ... how embarrassing! Sorry 'bout that!

And then when I was just going to read your card to you ... oh how silly ...

... here, you can read it. It would be a little embarrassing to read my personal message outloud anyway! :)

But, seriously ... I thought my Marilyn Monroe was near spot-on! We hope you had a great birthday! You are a wonderful brother, uncle & friend. We love you!

Funny girl!

My mom came over to hang out with us one day and Zaida greeted her with a friendly swat to the face with her fly-swatter. Mom was hamming it up & Zaida was gut laughing, which of course made us all laugh even harder.

Zaida's really figuring things out ... she knows what shoes are (she calls them shees). And if you ask her if she wants to put them on, she will come over and offer her foot. Lately she has been trying to put them on herself (without much luck). Here she is holding on to her toes and trying to guide them into her shoe. I just wish I could keep her this age forever.

Sundays at the Wheelers

This was a couple of Sundays ago ... after dinner we went outside and hung out for a bit (and ate our dessert). Zaida is so curious and she loves to check things out. Her and my dad were walking around the yard. Zaida is so funny - she loves to hold on to something while walking around. This day it was the camera case. :)

I think this next picture is so precious! I love you Dad!
After being outdoors we came in and watched some women's gymnastics ... Zaida was completely enthralled with the jumping and flipping.

Konichiwa!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The cute waitress brought out a plate of rice for Zaida too ... and she loved it! I love how she is hanging on to the chopsticks, too. Hey Quinn: Ii o'tenki desu ne?!

After our lunch we went over to Quinn's and had some fun in the pool.

Update

Sorry for the lag in blogging. I've had a very boring, yet still weirdly busy couple of weeks. I've been putting off blogging about this, because I guess I just don't know what to say. As of earlier this month I am no longer working for Wells Fargo. It's been a good run ... been with the bank since I graduated from college. (My first day with WF was January 4, 2001)

I'm so grateful I was given the amazing opportunity to work part-time from home since I had Zaida. But, I am excited to have full-time mom as my only title now.

So, I've been trying to move the stinking computer equipment off of my kitchen counter & have found a place for it in the "office" ... I say "office" because it is really just the extra bedroom that is CRAMMED with all sorts of crap & unpacked boxes - oh, and a desk. So, once I get a little more organized I will be a lot better at blogging more often. Seems like there is always something that keeps me away from blogging ... maybe we just don't have much to say??? Could be!

Zaida's Zoo

Baby Steps

So, after we got back from Newport Beach we went and spent a couple of days up in Park City with my family. It was a gorgeous condo! It was all one level with hardwood floors & lots of open space. For Zaida, this was the perfect time to work on perfecting her walking. She was a walking maniac. I swear if she could she would have been saying "I am running!" (like Forrest Gump). Here is one little clip of her walking.
She still walks on her tippy toes - I think she is going to be a ballerina!

Huntington Beach

We went to Huntington Beach with John on Thursday. For some reason I got zero pictures of John - sorry! I actually did try to get a couple of the boys boogey boarding, but by the time I got the camera I think you had drifted almost all the way to the pier by then! :)
While the guys were out in the water, I still had my hands full. Huntington has shells, which Newport did not. So, yes, Zaida was determined to eat them. I seriously had to fish a couple of them out of her mouth. She is a sneaky little girl. She would crawl & get one in her hand, then turn away from me & then try to sneakily cram it into her mouth.
After she gave up on the shells she found a new game. It's called grab-the-tennis-ball-&-racquet-ball-put-them-on-the-beach-chair-then-crawl-up-after-them-then-throw-the-balls-off-and-repeat! :) Hey, it was either that or let her play with Corey's expensive sunglasses!

I think she is ready to learn how to boogey-board Daddy!

The last day of our trip we went in to Huntington again. They were having the US Open (surfing, extreme biking/skating) the week while we were there. So, we went to check out the festivities. Here is just a portion of the beach. You can see a grandstand in the backgroung, above Zaida's stroller, and that is the biking bowl. It was pretty fun to watch. But, man it was hot out!
And, at the end of this afternoon we were all worn out - some of us more than others. :)

Cute little sunbather!

The following day we just spent the day at the hotel. We went out to the smaller, quieter pool. The "problem" with that is that my daughter has got some serious lungs! So, all of the people at the pool who were just trying to get some lounging time in were probably disturbed a bit. But, our daughter is gorgeous and so most people just smiled & then were entertained by her. Here Zaida is trying to figure out how to put my sunglasses on.

Later that afternoon we went to Balboa & walked along the pier & boardwalk. Although it is beautiful, I just don't think I would ever want to live there (or somewhere similar). I would hate having people walking right next to my house and looking in & spying on us (like I did with all of their houses). I am already paranoid. I just can't even imagine how nuts I would be about having the blinds drawn & doors locked. Sorry Corey ... the vast nothingness ... I just don't get it. :)

Newport Beach

So this picture pretty much says it all - Zaida LOVES the beach! I should have known. Her dad is such a fish. Corey lived in Huntington Beach for a year & loves the sun, sand & surf. And she apparently is a chip off the old block. She was so excited to go walk in the water (even though it was pretty cold). It was SO cute, when the waves would come in she would lift her leg to try to step over them.

Look at this pose ... which she did all on her own, by the way. She has such the personality!

Even when not in the water she had a good time just crawling around or playing in the sand.

Briana & Addison were able to come out and meet us for a day at the beach. Here Addi is giving ZZ a cute little kiss on the head. What a sweetheart!

Addi is an old pro at this beach thing and was showing Zaida the ropes.

I love this picture that Briana took of the girls sand caked toes. They are quite the beach babes!

Later that afternoon we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up. Briana was able to get Zaida's hair up in a cute little piggy (miracle!). Look how cute it is!

Bree & Addi ---Thanks for spending the afternoon with us! We had such a good time & hope we will get to have more outings together soon!