A Day At the Zoo

While in San Diego we also went to the zoo! I had just taken Hadley to the zoo in Albuquerque, and it was so tiny in comparision. I had never been to any zoo besides San Diego. We had a lot of fun at the San Diego one. I hadn't been since high school! I loved seeing the monkeys and the reptiles. And the aviary was enjoyable, too. It was so nice to not be in 100 degree weather while walking around, and the company was so enjoyable, too!

My sister, Alyssa came for a bit with her friend and another friend's baby. Wasn't that nice of her to give her friend a break and take her child to the zoo? Then my brother also came for a little while. He has no children and was surprised at how slow we were to get to places at the zoo with 4 children all together (and 3 strollers).

My older sister was there with her husband and 2 kids. Later on, my parents showed up too for a bit. One thing I liked to do while in San Diego was to pack lunches and eat them at the zoo and Sea World. Do you know how much money this saved us?!! It was a fun day with the whole family, and while we saw some animals doing interesting things (I'll say no more), it was fun to see what the kids enjoyed, too!

Below is my sister, Erin about to get trampled on by an elephant! This seemed to be a popular pose.

I love my two nieces- it is the greatest thing to see how much they adore one another! Keiya is 5 years old and Niyah is 6 months in these pictures.Is that my Hadley sleeping below? It is, but it only lasted for about 10 minutes.

Sea World!

I decided to blog about our vacation in pieces, so here is the part about Sea World. We bought a 2 year pass to Sea World for a good deal, and we got to go twice while we were there. I plan on going again when I go visit in August. You might think that a 14 month old would have no interest in Sea World. I won't lie- it was not the easiest taking her, and she had her grumpy moments, but she did enjoy many parts of it.

Here is my father (below) with my sleepy child who pretty much refuses to sleep anywhere but her bed.Below is a pic of my neice, Keiya and I. My sister, Keiya and I went on the Shipwreck Rapids. We also went on the Atlantis roller coster but there are no pictures of that because someone was scared and cried (no, not me) We went the day after we arrived in San Diego. I think Hadley was so sick of the car ride from Phoenix to San Diego that she was enjoying running all over. Yes, she runs, not just walks. The problem is that she isn't very capable of running that well. But she likes to try! Near the end of our day at Sea World she was running with her 5 year old cousin and Hadley fell. She fell alot, and usually she lands on her well-padded bum and its fine. Once here she landed on her face. And chipped her front tooth. She has a big gap between her two front teeth, and now it is all the more noticable. She usually has some sort of bruise somewhere on her because she is so ACTIVE! I was very upset about the tooth. She screamed for about 30 seconds, let me wipe up the blood, and then she squirmed out of my arms and wanted to run again.Keiya's favorite thing at Sea World was touching the sting rays and getting to feed them sardines. We spent about 40 minutes there!She liked the Shamu show- she clapped and screeched when the whales jumped out of the water. She enjoyed the dolphin show the same. She really liked the new Cirque de le Mer show where acrobats of all sorts contort their bodies in seemingly impossible ways. They started out with some 'French Clowns' which were actually really entertaining. Hadley thought these were hilarious! The rest of the things she didn't care too much about, just was content being held or pushed in the stroller. But I was glad to see her interact with some of it at least!

We went to visit my Grandmother after Sea World since she lives right by it. Have to get the 4 generation picture!

San Diego Trip!

Two weeks ago I flew to Arizona and then drove to California with my sister, Erin and her family to visit the folks!. We had a nice and fun-filled vacation! And a little crazy. I will have to blog about it in pieces because we got so much in and have a lot of great pictures! I'll start with the first few days. We had a nice breakfast at my brother's place. He is only about a 10 minute drive North of my parents. He is renting a trailer. He loves to tell people he lives in a trailer. But it is nice. Perfect for one person and his dog. He lives on 59 acres of property, had a ton of avocado, grapefruit and orange trees that he has full access to, and the people love having him there! They let him give people rides on the golf cart and ride their horse. We had a lot of fun visiting him there! The first picture is my dad holding both his grand-daughters on the deck of my brother's 'mobile home.' Niyah, my sister's baby is 6 months old. Hadley and she were born 8 months apart- to the DAY!
My 'baby' sis Alyssa is in a lot of photos with the kids. She loves babies. And babies love her. She had to run behind us during our tour in the golf carts. But Hadley liked it!

Fun in the Sun

Hadley and I leave Chris behind tomorrow :( as we go to Arizona and family to visit family and friends. Last week I met a lady here at a community pool with a 16 month old. She told me about all sorts of thing that a group of mommys do here. She knows all sorts of places to have fun and things to do. I have joined the group and although it has been less than a week I love it! I was always jealous of the girls at church who met up for play group. I wished I could take my child to play group, too, but I was always working. So...now I get to do it! On Friday we met up at a little gymnastics place for young kids, and Hadley played on the bog trampoline with me. She also had fun running around on the mats and playing with the giant shapes. The below pictures are from today at the zoo!

Here is the group and the kiddos- we stopped at the grassy area of the zoo to eat lunch. One thing I really liked- I packed us a lunch and thought to myself that everyone else would probably buy but that I preferred the healthier food I had at home- and didn't want to pay for food. ALL the parents had brought their own food! Not a single person bought! I was so happy that I found some people like me!One of the marsupials. They had a fan in this exhibit which made Hadley happier than any animal did. It was a nice escape from the 101 degree temperature!Hadley's favorite exhibit was the polar bears! They were in full view today! I couldn't figure out why this one wasn't in the water, though!Hadley stole a cracker here from another child.

We had fun at the zoo today! I arrived about 45 minutes late because Hadley was taking a nap and I don't like to wake her. Also, I relied on my GPS on my phone, which quickly gave out telling me it had no signal. But I eventually made it and we had a lot of fun. I am enjoying getting to make new friends! And Hadley loves all the kiddos, too! So far there are mostly girls- just like with my friends back in Lubbock.

Albuquerque- Our new home

We are together again- in Albuquerque. For a week and then I leave to see family. But it is wonderful! I never have been a fan of New Mexico. The three states I have always had absolutely NO desire to live in were always Nevada, Arizona (sorry, Erin- my sis) and New Mexico. While this is definitely not a promotion for New Mexico- I do like Albuquerque so far. Not that I have seen all that much yet, but first- the apartment is great! A great floor plan = more space for Hadley to roam. We have a wall of boxes that we aren't going to unpack since we just have a 6 month lease, the living room is big with vaulted cealings, Hadley's room is a lot larger than the last one which wasn't bad, and the closet in our room is awesome. One of the best features- washer and dryer in the apt No more coin laundry. I can walk to the park, grocery store, and I discovered a great market today where I got 10 ruby red grapefruits for A DOLLAR! I ate one, juiced 5 and have the rest to enjoy with breakfast for the next few days! I ave been jogging with my baby in her jogging stroller, played a bit of soccer with some people in the park, and last night I rode my bike up near the mountains! And it hasn't cost a penny! It does look like a desert, I won't mask that, but it isn't like there are cacti (plural for cactus?) all over Mostly just some desert brush and rocks in the medians, but since we are at the base of the mountains there is still a lot of grass and many pine trees. I feel so light and happy! And it is so wonderful to be the one to take care of my own daughter now that school is out! We are having a lot of fun at the park and in the pool. Hadley has learned how to go under the water without swallowing it! When people ask what it looks like here I am honest and say, "It's not the ugliest place, but it isn't the most beautiful either." It is nice though, and so far the people have been SO nice. I was at a light yesterday when a lady next to me in her car started waving me down because she told me my car was smoking. All this green smoke was pouring out, and I couldn't tell where, so I put on my harzards and grabbed Hadley out and started to back up, when I saw a smoke bomb some kids threw roll across the road. I realized that that was all the smoke was, and while I was irritated, I was also relieved. I waved apologetically to the car with two women in it behind me who just missed the light because of me. Not a single person honked at me as I strapped Hadley back in while the light went from green to red. I drove off and a little ways up the road pulled in to the pool parking lot where Hadley and I were going to go swimming, and I was getting her out when a woman walked over to me. It was the lady who was driving the vehicle at the light behind me. She was worried that Hadley and I were unnerved and wanted to make sure we were okay. How kind! She spoke to me for a few minutes making sure that we were alright and then wished us a nice day! So, right now there are no complaints and I am counting all our blessings! Plus, a place can't be TOOO horrible when there is a Trader Joe's and a Costco- right?

*By the way- the above pictures are ones of Hadley posing in some of the clothes I am selling in my Etsy Shop. The last photo is of Hadley checking out her new home.*

Graduation Photos

Graduation pics from a few weeks ago!

Living Out of Boxes

Chris graduated and is now about to start his classes for the bar. I will have to have him put up some pictures of graduation because he has them all. It was a special time, and we were lucky that his folks could come out and share it. Hadley had a lot of fun with them as well. Grandma Lisonbee loves to get right down on the floor and play with Hadley, and it is so great to see all the constant smiles.

Hadley and I have been a little lonely here since Chris left on Monday. She crawls around the bed when we get home looking for her best friend. He has spent so much time taking care of her that they have become best buddies. She has been crying with our friends who take care of her. We thought she must be getting sick since we can't get her to stop, and she pulls her ears and hits herself on the head, so I took her to Urgent Care last night. I thought she must have an ear infection. But they said she is as healthy as can be. Teething might be a factor here, but I think she is having a hard time without Chris. At least tonight she perked up when she heard his voice on the phone. Actually today was a better day overall. I got off work a little early, so Hadley and I came home and had a snack and then went swimming at our apartment pool. If felt SO GREAT! And Hadley was trying to get out of her floatie to get more in the water. It was difficult when I held her because she squirmed so much trying to escape my grasp. She was ready to go off and swim! Only problem is she would sink. I kept trying to have her get her face out of the water. She stuck her head down into it and wanted to drink it like she always tries (and often does) in the tub. This girl is going to love swimming lessons once I get her into them! She has no fear of the water. I took her out a minute and she ran right for the edge- ready to jump in!

And now I am actually looking forward to this next and last week of work. A bit sad to leave, but last week I got a ticket (I have not had one for probably close to 5 years) for 7 over as I sped up to cut across traffic. I am stunned that I actually recieved a ticket for 7 over. Seriously? So I have a bit less love now for the City of Lubbock. We shall see what Albuquerque holds for us. Almost everyone here in Lubbock loves it- except for the little food sample lady at the grocery store who was trying to convince me to buy some microwaveable rice. She made a very sour face when I told her I was moving there and said, "I DO NOT like Albuquerque." I'll get back to you and how I feel about it after the summer.

These pictures are random for this post, but they make me laugh. Hadley had about two weeks where she cruised the house never letting for of some item. One day it was the "Butt Paste" and another- as captured in these photos was the oragel. Actually, the oragel was carried around for so many days that it is looking very worn out now for a little hand constantly grasping it. I couldn't find it for a bit- and guess where it was? In her bed! She hardly uses it, but apparently likes to sleep holding it. It was getting to worn looking so we snuck it away.