Blog | Jenn
Mimi’s gift to Brianna was a trip to the local natural sciences museum - another bit hit! (I must say, I am loving how well the memory gifts are working out - she is having a great time!)
Because we got tickets to ride the train near the beginning of our visit, we first headed outside to check out the drums (on our way to the train station). While the older kids were quite rambunctious for B, I was impressed with how she held her ground and waited for her turn to play the drums.
More cowbell…
The train went through a tunnel twice, and she didn’t like the idea of that tunnel much, so we told her to close her eyes…
After the train ride, she decided the giant sand box needed to be checked out.
That was a brief stop, however, because what she really wanted to see were the BUGS!! The creepier, the better (ick!).
She was just fascinated by these lady bugs.
We also saw cave roaches (at least 3″ long!), ants, caterpillars, beetles, other spiders, and these beautiful (but deadly) frogs.
It took a little convincing to pull her away from the creepy crawlies to go see the butterflies (I am so not kidding)!
Postman butterfly
Owl butterflies
While I believe we spent most of our morning admiring some type of bug (beautiful or otherwise), we did spend some time in the other parts of the museum, e.g., the space section
The math section (this is her “wine”)
There was just so much to do - we could have easily spent all day there (and probably will when she gets older)!
Next up on the visitor list was Nana and Poppa.
For her birthday, Nana and Poppa took B to a local kids museum. WOW! It is wonderful. Brianna had such a fabulous time! Here are a few pictures from her first trip. She can’t wait to go back.
Probably her favorite part was this bus.
Another section had a baby hospital with ambulance, a grocery store, a veterinary hospital, a landscaping area, a cafe, a theater, a sports car, a fishing boat, a train section,…
Another section had a pseudo hockey rink, a soccer field, a cooking area, a gigantic Lego area, a carpentry area, an art area, and so much more.
Tia gave Brianna her first pedicure today. We first went to the store so she could pick out the color. she chose two colors: a shocking pink and a bright blue. Then, after I trimmed and filed her nails, Tia applied the color - one pink foot and one blue foot, per her request!
I have to be still…and not touch…sooooo hard…
Almost final product
Such a silly girl!
Our little girl is three now and growing so fast! Literally. During the past month or so she has eaten ridiculous quantities of food. There are times she eats more than me! Over the course of a month, I think she has grown at least an inch (as evidenced by her suddenly high-water pants).
Her birthday was chock full of fun and surprises. We started the day by bringing her downstairs to see all her festive balloons. She liked the plain orange and pink ones (her two favorite colors), but he Pooh and Lightning ones were really exciting!
After a quick breakfast, we headed to her swim lessons (I’ll post some swim pictures another time), followed by a trip to the ever fabulous, ever exciting Monkey Joe’s (gift from Grandma & Grandpa)!
As if that was not enough activity for one morning, we headed over to Chik-fil-A (her choice) for some yummy lunch and some time at the playground.
You would think after all THAT she would have taken a marathon nap, right? Well, you would be wrong. She was just too excited because after nap it was time for presents!
The little artist.
Hockey!
Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head
Look at all my Cars!
Tag Jr. with Grandma
She was significantly faster this year with her presents, but she is still quite deliberate - I think it is adorable that she wants to play with them all the minute she gets them. I just wish that didn’t mean hours of opening presents!
After presents it was time for dinner and a big surprise - her buddy Hawke came over for dinner! He also stayed and helped decorate the cupcakes (she picked face cupcakes this year, where the faces were made out of candy).
Hawke & B decorating cupcakes.
Tada!
The final product
Happy Birthday to you….
Make a wish!
Hawke & B were very sad when it all had to end, but it was an excellent day!
For the last leg of our trip, we drove from San Francisco to Tahoe, with a brief stop in Folsom to visit one of my oldest friends Kelley. Sadly, I was having such a good time visiting, that I forgot to take one single picture while we were at her house. 
You’ll just have to take my word for it - her house and family are just beautiful, and our visit was too short - wished we lived closer to each other.
The next day, after a brief sleep over in Auburn, we headed up the mountain to Northstar. What a hair raising trip! We had lots of wintry weather, and at one point there were at least 50 semis pulled over in the emergency lane AND the right hand lane of I-80 so they could put their chains on their wheels. We took it very slowly and had absolutely no problems (thank you 4-wheel drive!). When we arrived at Northstar, Jason took off to ski in the rain while B and I toodled around the village in the rain. Yeah, it wasn’t nearly as much fun as it sounds. That afternoon, Jason and I traded off so I could go to my ski lesson (no skiing in 4 years makes for a nervous first trip down the slope). By that time it was snowing, and interestingly, conditions were perfect for me - the slush was just fast enough to get me going, but not fast enough for me to be uncomfortable. My instructor gave me all kinds of wonderful advice and I was on a blue run in no time. Uhhhh….she forgot to tell me she was taking me on a blue run…an ungroomed blue run…with nearly white out conditions…. It was definitely a challenge, but I came down o.k. without falling once!
O.k., so the first day was a little rough, but the next two were perfect! We took B to Minor’s Camp the next morning so we could ski together. Once she saw all the toys and movies and super fun things to do, she barely looked back at us to say goodbye! It was just beautiful on the mountain that day (this is the only picture I got, however)!
After we exhausted ourselves, we picked up B for some fun play in the snow, followed by pizza for dinner (seriously, the pizza is the only reason she agreed to stop playing in the snow)! This is HER mountain, and she scaled it beautifully! Up and down - this child does not get tired…
The next day, we skied some more - here was our view at the summit. The lake in the distance in the second picture is Lake Tahoe.
Of course, we picked up B early again so we could play in the snow again. This time we took her on the gondola and went up by the skiers. She declared that next year she will ski too (yay!), and then she scaled an even BIGGER “mountain”
After dinner at The Chocolate Bar (yes, you read that correctly), we headed back to San Jose to catch our flight home the next day. I have some videos of all the fun we had - I’ll try to get those sent out soon.
After her marathon nap, we took her on the cable cars, just like I promised we would. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to do that, it was dark, so we didn’t take any pictures. But the next morning, we stopped by the cable cars again and took these.
I thought about taking her on them again, but we didn’t really have time - we were taking the bus to Golden Gate park for the day (THAT walk was just a little too long…). She was great on the bus, which was full of commuters and tight on space. She was very focused - I had told her they had a playground at the park, and she would do ANYTHING to get there. 
After we got off the bus we checked a little bit of the park and ran around as we worked our way to the playground.
She was reasonably patient - only asking me about once a minute when we were going to the playground. Then, we arrived. This playground has got to be the mother of all playgrounds! It is huge, and even has a carousel that runs on the weekend (thankfully it was disguised and B never noticed it since it was not running while we were there). She climbed and spinned and swung and ran and generally had a great time for about 90 minutes.
The spinner.
Surf’s up!
My beautiful girl.
We looked briefly at the Academy of Sciences while we ate lunch, but that place really needs a day of its own. As B constantly says these days: Maybe next time! After lunch I handed her the bink, put the seat back on her stroller, gave her kitty bla bla and her blanket, told her to go to sleep, and held my breath as I walked around the park some more. Within 20 minutes she was out and sucking hard on that pacifier - AMAZING!!
I have seen other parents with kids sleeping in strollers, on shoulders, etc., but B has NEVER been one to do that. On the rare occasion she has fallen asleep, it generally only lasts 20 minutes or so. This time she slept for over 2 hours!! Meanwhile, I toured the Japanese Tea Garden…
After catching the bus back into the city, we headed back to our hotel. On our way, we noticed a Dr. Seuss gallery! Look Mommy - Sam I Am!
After loading up the car and picking up Jason, we headed out of town. Next stop - Tahoe!
After arriving in San Francisco and checking into our hotel, we walked through China Town on our way to the Stinking Rose for dinner. Love, love, love that restaurant! And, I am pretty sure we ate at least Brianna’s weight in garlic. It is a good thing we all partook. Brianna even tried mussels…and she LOVED them (at least the ones at The Stinking Rose). My pasta was made with black linguine, which did not phase my little noodle lover one bit!
The next day Jason headed over to the convention center for his conference, so B and I headed out to explore the city. First we headed towards Coit Tower. Yes, I pushed her up this hill, and more like them…
We did not make it all the way to Coit Tower - my lovely map was not really pedestrian friendly, and by the time I figured out how to actually get a stroller up to Coit Tower (without having to climb any stairs), I really didn’t feel like it anymore. So, here is the view from the base of the road that goes up to Coit Tower (that is the Bay Bridge in the distance)…
At this point, B had fixated on my promise of chocolate at Fisherman’s Wharf, so off we went. Going down those hills was much less exhausting, but much more nerve-wracking. I got a hand cramp from holding onto that stroller so tightly!
After satisfying both of our chocolate fixations at Ghirardeli, and getting a little treat (she actually chose strawberry ice cream over chocolate, but I got a FANTASTIC hot chocolate), we spent a little time relaxing and enjoying this fountain. B just thought these “fish” mommies were fascinating.
The tiny little beach by the wharf had this lovely view of Golden Gate Bridge (the picture doesn’t really do it justice).
Then it was back to the main part of the wharf so she could better explore the “boat parking lot” we passed on the way to Ghirardeli. Seriously, if you want some cheap entertainment for B, just take her to a marina and she will be quite content for hours! Here she is posing by the two boats she declared were hers.
Next stop - Boudin’s! On our way to Ghirardeli, we stopped to watch them make the bread in the window, and they had all kinds of rolls made into all kinds of different shapes (aligator, turtle, crab, etc.). She wanted the crab, but it was HUGE, so she settled for a small turtle to eat and a medium turtle to “play with”.
We finished our morning outing by heading over to Lombard Street so B could see it. She was fascinated! I, of course, had forgotten that the pedestrian part of Lombard Street is all stairs. No worries - she climbed up everyone of them (~250 steps) all by herself!
Anyone surprised that when we finally made it back to our hotel she took a 4 hour nap??
We had a wonderful trip to California - B is quite the little traveler. She generally takes things in stride, and that attitude served her well on our trip (especially since we did not actually arrive in CA until roughly SIX hours past her bedtime - no biggie since she slept on the plane).
After resting a bit, we left San Jose for Monterey and a trip to the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. We got up early and ran her all over the place in the hopes she would take a nap in the car on the way down. It worked! And she loved the Aquarium (though to our chagrin, she is talking about the fabulous candy store we took her to afterward more than than the Aquarium).
Look Mommy - Dory and Nemo!
She wasn’t too sure what she thought of these lovely creatures…
They had a couple of really cool play areas for kids to explore and learn about ocean creatures. Of course, the Nemo costume was a big hit!
Just a tad smaller than a whale…
They have this fun waterfall that is beautiful from the outside, and falls over glass so you can watch it from the inside. What do you think Kitty?
Of all the beautiful things to see, her favorite part about the Aquarium was this 30 second video on a permanent loop that shows a diver viewing and being careful with some coral. Yeah, we saw him quite a bit…
A trip to the candy store (yummy salt water taffy!) and dinner at Fisherman’s Grotto completed our day. You would be right in thinking we all slept well that night!
The next day we had a leisurely morning before heading out to meander up to San Francisco, with a stop in Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful time walking around Surf City, USA, and B was particularly fond of all the dogs running around on the beach playing frisbee.
Can you hear her roar?
So pretty Daddy!
Woah, Daddy - that’s a big tree!
She wasn’t happy about leaving, not one little bit. But, after she settled down and we handed over her bink, she went right to sleep and took another excellent car nap - amazing!
Next stop: San Francisco!
In addition to Valentines from all her school buddies (her favorite being the Cars ones, of course), Brianna received a few Valentine packages. While she loves her sunglasses, she can be quite picky about which ones she will wear. These heart shaped ones that came in one package were a hit, however! They have even replaced her pink ones, at least for the moment, as her favorites. With these on, she looks even more Hollywood!
Her first package was packed with a bunch of packing popcorn. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she is a regular kid - to her the popcorn was just as fun and exciting to play with as the actual gifts!
A new Tag Jr. book, and a new Maze book are so exciting! We are big fans too as they keep her active little mind occupied.
Another package contained a personalized dragon stamp with purple stamp pad - it was perfect for “signing” the Valentines she gave to her buddies!
Her next package included the beloved sunglasses, and Friggy (her name for him), the smooching “I love you” frog (the latest animal to take up residence in her crib)!
The day before Valentine’s Day she got all frilly on me and decided to wear her “Santa” dress. I think it makes a pretty good Valentine dress as well, and looked so cute with her sunglasses and new Valentine hair bow.
Hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s Day!
For a wide variety of reasons, we decided to get Brianna some headphones. They arrived this week, and she just LOVES them. I couldn’t find her music player right away (it was actually right where it was supposed to be - imagine that!), so I gave her my iPod to use. How cute is she?
Please excuse the cookie her “face” enjoyed…
