Easter Weekend

We had a ton of fun this past weekend. If it keeps up like this, Easter just might be Jessica's favorite holiday. On Friday we went to the Gulf Shores Zoo in Alabama, then Saturday was the "Easter Eggstravaganza" at Blue Angel Recreational Park and Sunday we went to the outdoor Sunrise service at Church and then over to my friend Audra's for lunch. I'll start this blog with some pictures at the Gulf Shores Zoo... We went to the zoo with Audra and her little girl, Alyssa. We got to hold/pet baby kangaroos! Only $5! Here the zoo keeper is introducing us to "Matilda", the baby kangaroo, who weighs 17lbs (3 lbs less than Jessica). Jessica can't wait to get her chubby little hands on Matilda.Sheer delight! We took turns holding Matilda.

She was such a sweet gentle little girl. She would lean into you and nuzzle.

Matilda seemed to like Jessica too.

This is how these baby kangaroos are kept, hanging in a sack on the fence.

It was the smallest zoo I've ever been to but it was not a disappointment by any means.

Saturday was the Easter Eggstravaganza at the Blue Angel Park. It was a hot muggy day so Jessica dressed accordingly. Actually, everyday has been hot and muggy here lately. I am dreading summer.

We went to the park specifically to get a cute picture of Jessica with the Easter Bunny. But, due to a combination of long lines, baby needs, and total chaos, that didn't happen. I felt sorry for the person wearing that hot bunny suit, I'm sure he/she must have suffered heat stroke. Here we are sitting on the Easter Bunny's bench, the Easter bunny was MIA, probably jumping in the nearby water.The park was nice too. There was swimming, camping, paintball and more. Only a 30 minute drive from our house.We did a photo shoot of with the Easter props they had set up around the park.Here's a picture of Jess before she took off her hat and shoes.We invited Jessica's friend Jack, from stroller strut, to the park with us. Jack is 5 and a half months old and he is almost as big as Jessica.Jessica got to try her very first snow cone. It was mostly ice but she couldn't get enough. She threw the biggest tantrum ever when I took it away. Don't worry she sucked on it for 20 minutes or more and her mouth/hands must have been freezing numb.Sunday morning I woke up really early to get us to the sunrise service at church. Joe got really bad allergies from something outside and Jessica tried to grab the white puffy hair of the lady in front of us. When the pastor made a joke and everyone laughed Jessica started laughing. She didn't want to be the odd one out. We went over to Audra's for lunch. Jessica played with all Alyssa's toys. She tried to pull herself up on Alyssa's toy box and it scared me so I moved her away from it, I'm just not ready for that! After a delicious lunch we went outside to play in the grass and water. This was the greenest, softest grass I could find. There isn't much grass in Florida, Audra has a nice yard for this area and it's still a far stretch from the California grass. Jess didn't seem to care though.

Alyssa has a fun water activity table that she shared with Jess.My arms got tired so I parked her in this little push buggy thingy and she got to play in the water for a long time. She has 100 proof sunblock on and it was 85 degrees outside so I was roasting in the long sleeves. She really liked the little push car.

So I took her for a spin around the yard.

She might need one of these, hint hint. Her birthday is next month.

I think she really thought she was driving.

Thanks for having us over Audra, you really made our Easter special!

One Tough Week

Jessica had a tough week, to say the least. She's had a cold since we left California. The chest congestion sounds awful and it worries Joe. Sunday started out OK until I told Joe to scramble up some egg whites for Jessica. That's when we found out that she is allergic. You can kinda see the red blotches on her face in these pictures. We discovered that egg allergies are common and usually go away. She was scratching like crazy so I had to do an emergency nail clipping to prevent further insult to her little body.She still smiles for the camera even when she's miserable.After she woke up from her nap she was almost completely better so we decided to go for a walk. The magnolia trees just started blooming so daddy picked one for Jessica to take a closer look at the sweet smelling bloom.She ripped it into tiny shreds. It was fun. These are the cabins by the light house that you can rent.

Joe takes baby carrying duty very seriously. Jessica fell asleep in the carrier on the way home.So that was Sunday in a nutshell. You might think that a cold and an allergic reaction are not all that bad. That was just the beginning. I took Jessica to the doctor on Tuesday because she started having trouble sleeping, her temp jumped a degree to 101 and she just seemed sicker. It turns out that she had a double ear infection so she's on antibiotics now. We all know what antibiotics will do to your digestive system. But wait, there's more! She just cut her two bottom incisors this afternoon. Yep, two teeth at once. Poor baby! At least she got all this unpleasantness dealt with and out of the way at the same time. It's tough being a baby.

Springtime in California- Part3 (Grandpa & Grandma)

Our last stop on our California visit was Grandpa and Grandma's house. Jessica's first awesome experience with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Kari was at Chevy's, a fresh tex mex restaurant. The waiter gave Jess a ball of dough to play with. She had the most disgusted look on her face the entire time she played with it.All the excitement wore her out and she fell asleep on Grandpa's shoulder.Grandpa gave her a tour of the his back yard which is under construction at the moment. I should have taken some pics of his front yard, it really looks awesome. I can't wait to see how the backyard turns out.She decided to wave to her fans. Actually, her first wave was on the airplane on the way to California. A lady across the aisle waved at her and she waved right back like she'd been doing it for years. I thought it was a fluke and then she did it over and over again. Now she likes to wave to Bunker and Pinkerton all day.Dad and Kari have several raised bed gardens that they are growing vegetables in. It will be a lot of fun for Jess when she gets older. Oh yeah, there's even a Green House! Not too shabby.Menu for today: Carrots with Apples. Dad was a real trooper when it came to mealtime, Jess is not very fun to feed. She likes to spit and spray her food all over you when she is not grabbing the spoon or slapping it out of your hands. We took a couple walks to check out the parks in their neighborhood.

There weren't any baby swings so Grandpa had to do it the old fashioned way. Jess didn't seem to mind, in fact she got quite a kick out of it.

At one point we went to Chili's for lunch and Jessica stared at a man in a suit in the booth behind us. She isn't use to seeing people dressed up and it fascinates her. She was also being very sweet to Grandpa. We took a trip up above Lake Oroville to see my Dad's Father and his wife. Great Grandpa Ray and Great Grandma Rosemary to Jessica. They are regulars at a restaurant called "Scooters" just a few miles from their house and that's where we met for lunch.

We went back to their house and Jess got to meet their dogs. The little black one reminds me of a fat little bear and it loves to growl at my dad, quite ridiculous looking because it wags it's tail nub while it growls. Jessica was still just as fond of her Grandma this visit. She actually started crying when Kari got up to get food and watched her the whole time.

Here's a video of Jessica's wave.

Here's a video of Grandpa entertaining Jessica.

Here's a video of Jessica clapping (another new trick that followed only days after her first wave). She claps when I say "Yay" because I always say yay when I clap, smartypants!

Springtime in California- Part2 (Mooma & Grandad)

Our visit with Mooma and Grandad was everything we'd hoped it would be. I got to go shopping while Mooma and Grandad fawned over Jessica.We had a nice visit with Grandpa Smiley and Iola. Jessica found her little nitch on Mooma early on in the visit and enjoyed every splendid second of the snuggliness that is Mooma.Mooma had a big toy box with a ton of awesome toys just right for Jessica. Of course Jessica was more interested in Mooma's water bottle. But, no toy was left unexplored.

Grandad had Jessica rolling with laughter on the couch as he covered her face with her Taggie and then she'd take it off.Mooma and Grandad have a nice patch of that glorious California grass too. You can see her little fists are clutching hidden little bits of grass. Grandad introduced her to Oprah and Scrub, she is a member of their pack now. Jessica was was probably confused when she saw Oprah because Oprah looks almost exactly like her favorite east coast dog, Mace. My Aunt Mel and Uncle Rick brought over their grandchildren, Colton and Addison. They showed Jessica one of their favorite games: playing in Uncle Rick's (Papa's) truck. It was Jessica's first time at the wheel, exhilarating! Jessie showed Addison and Colton the walker that Mooma got her. They had fun playing "Driving Miss Jessie". Here's a video of Colton chauffeuring Jess around.

Jessie got to spend some quality time with Uncle Eric and Shawna.

She crawled under the table and got Uncle Eric's toes. He said it felt like a little fish bite.Mooma was delighted with everything Jessica did. We didn't get to see Aunt Lindsay this visit because she was sick and had to go to the hospital. That would be the only thing I would change about this otherwise perfect visit.