A Trip to the Children's Museum

This past weekend, Jessica went to the Children's Museum with her friends Leilani and Luke. They played on the firetruck and posed as firemen (for some reason Dancing Queen comes to mind).



The museum has a Bob the Builder exhibit now. Jessica and Leilani posed with Bob.



Jessica pretended to be Bob too as she tried to fix a broken sink pipe.



Jessica and Leilani raided Bob's flower garden.



All the kids had fun in the art room. Jessica, Leilani, and Luke played with play-dough while Jamison took a nice long nap.

Sedona Vacation - September 3, 2010

On our last day of vacation, we had to drive back to Pheonix to catch our plane. We stopped at the Pheonix zoo for a few hours. Unfortunately, it was over 100 degrees and Jessica got very uncomfortable and irritable in the heat. We couldn't even get her excited about the carousel, which is her most favorite thing about the San Francisco zoo. You can see that she did not have her happy face on.



We were able to save the trip to the zoo by coming across a water area where Jessica could play. Jim saw a good portion of the zoo while I sat with Jessica. One day, we will have to go back and tour it properly.

Sedona Vacation - September 2, 2010

On our last full day in Sedona, after Jim and his dad went golfing, we decided to go to Slide Rock State Park. This park is a natural slide rock area and we thought Jessica would enjoy sliding with her daddy. She tried it once in one of the small slide areas after a bit of coaxing.





It was a bit scary for her unfortunately.

Jim had a good time sliding down the rocks however. He went from top to bottom many times.

Jim's parents even joined in on the fun too.





Luckily for me, no one was snapping photos when I went through the slide.

While all of us adults were playing in the slide rock area (taking turns of course), Jamison hung out in a shaded tent.



The fun finally came to an end and it was time to leave. This time around I'm learning that have baby will travel -- even if it is over rocky terrain. This is actually where it got easy as stairs were provided.

Sedona Vacation - September 1, 2010

September 1st is Jim's mom's birthday. On her birthday, she wanted to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross and have lunch and then browse the art galleries at Tlaquepaque.

Here is the view from the Chapel of the Holy Cross.



After lunch at a French restaurant at Tlaquepaque, Jessica enjoyed playing in the fountains and throwing coins in them. We then snapped a few family photos.





Jessica continued to play around. She found a piggy statue that she just had to pose with.



After all the playing, Jessica needed to rest.




And, Jamison needed a good stretch. She had spent most of the day in the car seat or Bjorn and needed to lay down and kick for a bit.




While I took the girls back to the hotel to the rest, Jim and his parents went to Bell Rock.

Sedona Vacation - August 31, 2010

While in Arizona, we decided to drive to the Grand Canyon. Rather than take the direct route, we took a bit of a longer drive and stopped along the way.

Once you are out of Sedona, the scenery changes quite quickly (and many times along the trek to the Grand Canyon). Here was one of our first stops at a vista viewpoint.



We also stopped at the Sunset Crater volcano where we got to see evidence of the lava eruption and the ruins of the Wupatki National Monument.





We made lots of other stops along the way. Jessica enjoyed getting out and walking around for the most part. All the walking was tiring though. She had to snack along the way and play games (like chase Daddy and Papa monsters around).



Eventually, we made it to the Grand Canyon.



Jim snapped this picture of the rest of us while he was up in the tower. Jamison is hiding in the Baby Bjorn of course.



We stayed for sunset and got some nice views of the canyon.

Sedona Vacation - August 30, 2010

On the second full day in Sedona, we decided to go to Out of Africa -- an animal park that is located near Sedona. Here is a quick photo from the tram.



Jim, Jessica, and her Mimi went on an animal safari where they saw a variety of animals in their habitat and even got to feed a giraffe and a camel. Here they all are before the truck left.



The giraffe was very anxious to get his cookies.



Jessica enjoyed feeding the giraffe.



The head zebra, Diligence, knew there were cookies in the front of the truck, which is where Jim was seated, and he tried very hard to get some.



In the afternoon, we went to the Tiger Splash show. There wasn't much splashing in the water by the tigers, despite lots of coaxing by the trainers, because it was a fairly cool day. We did get to see lots of great leaps and running however.





After the tiger show, Jim and I took Jessica to the reptile show. She was very excited to go and see the snakes. She had a chance to pet the snake they had on exhibit.



And, later, Jim and Jessica posed with the snake. It was Jessica's idea, but as soon as they put the snake on Jim, she wasn't too keen on the idea. Eventually, she did come back towards her Daddy, so she was at least in the photos.



According to Jim, the snake is much heavier than he looks and was extremely hard to hold up.

Sedona Vacation - August 29, 2010

On our first full day in Sedona, we decided to drive around Sedona to see some of the scenery. We spent most of the time on the Upper Red Rock Loop and ended up at the Crescent Moon National Park.

Here are a few photos that we took when we stopped on the drive through the Upper Red Rock Loop.





Once we got to Crescent Moon National Park, we took one of the short walks to get a nice view of Cathedral Rock.



While Jim took pictures, Jessica had fun trying to skip stones in the river with her Papa and Mimi.



While her Papa could get the rock to skip many times, Jessica could not. Instead, she would pick up multiple stones and throw them at the same time to get many splashes.

Here was a quick family photo we snapped in front of Cathedral Rock.



And, after all that, we were ready to go check into the Briar Patch Inn and relax for the evening.

Sedona Vacation - August 28, 2010

After an early flight to Phoenix, we met Jim's parents at the airport and drove to Sedona. By the time we checked into the hotel, everyone was in need of a little rest and relaxation. Jamison spent the afternoon / early evening being rocked by her Mimi on the outdoor swing bench.



Jessica and I went swimming in the hotel's pool. She had fun jumping into the pool.

Meanwhile, Jim and his dad went and took photos around the hotel. As Jessica would say, there were lots of big red rocks. Welcome to Sedona.

A Family Vacation in Sedona

We just got back from a vacation with JIm's family to Sedona, Arizona. Here the girls are with their daddy on the plane ride there. It was a big day for Jamison as it was her first plane ride.



More photos from the vacation will come shortly.

Jamison week 8

During Jamison's 8th week, she had her 2-month check-up with the doctor. She measured 21.5 inches and weighed 10 lbs 2 ozs. She's still a bit on the tiny side (in the 30th percentile), but doing well overall. After Jamison showed the doctor how long she could hold her head and how she liked sitting, she commented that she is very strong for her age.

Jamison likes to practice her sitting and head holding on the couch propped up between pillows. As you can see, she hasn't exactly perfected either one of those skills.

We also broke out the Bumbo and she had some fun sitting in that too.



Smiling and cooing at us are still very popular.



She is having more fun on her activity mat. She likes to look in the mirror and stare at her mobile.



While she likes spending time on her back, she doesn't like being on her tummy much anymore.

And, Jamison still likes to sleep in my arms. She wakes up a bit early, snacks on a bit of food, and then we fall asleep on the couch together.