Ball Pit Jumping

The other day I discovered this really fun place to take Ethan. It is at one of the nearby rec centers and they have a soft play room for little ones like Ethan and it has padded floors, walls and these huge blocks and slides so he can just run everywhere and climb and jump off things without fear of being hurt! He had a lot of fun, but his favorite thing was definitely the ball pit. He jumped in over and over. Getting out was another story - he definitely needed my assistance. It was so cute though because there was a little girl about his age there and she was jumping in too. So she comes up to Ethan and says "hand" and they held hands and would jump together! Ethan was loving it, so they jumped over and over again, holding hands. (Lisa, if you're reading this, don't tell Sophie!) He is quite the little ladies man!

Dinosaurs

Ethan has decided he really likes dinosaurs. He makes me read his dinosaur book over and over and we bought him some little dinosaur toys and he just plays with them every day and says "dinosaurs" over and over. It is so cute I just love it! So we took him to the museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Museum to see some real dinosaurs.

Ice Fishing!

My dad breaking through the ice with a chainsaw - is this how the eskimos do it?









My nephew, Tanner, my niece Misty and my sister Carla.







Now conventional wisdom may state that it is unnacceptable and altogether bad parenting to consider taking an 18 month old active and self-proclaimed indestructible toddler onto a frozen pond of ice with holes cut to allow for fishing. However in New Mexico there is no such thing as conventional wisdom. So that is just what we did. When in Rome right? Ice fishing is becoming a new tradition in my family and we have had so much fun in years past that after my father (who I truly believes knows all) assured us the ice was plenty thick enough to hold all of us and the addition of a 23 pound hyperactive toddler would not add to the risk of it cracking we slapped on our snow boots (or our non-insulated and entirely inapropriate tennis shoes in Misty's case) and headed out. This is actually a pond behind our home in New Mexico which my father built probably somewhere around 30 years ago. He keeps it stocked with plenty of fish so that we were sure to catch something. The question was, who would win the fish derby, which I might add I have dominated on past trips, much to Jay’s frustration. Well, I will always come up with a loophole to make myself the winner so I would say Jay may have caught more fish, but I am certain that my fish was bigger than his - so I win again! Sorry Jay! Our annual ice fishing trip has honestly become one of the most highly anticipated parts of our year!

Snowy Fun

We decided we wanted to take Ethan sledding. So of course we found the biggest hill around. Jay thought it might be a little too big, but I was excited. So Jay began to try to hike up the monster hill. Unfortunately he and my nephew Tanner struggled and slipped and rolled down the hill several times before they were finally able to make it. I was determined that Ethan and I would go down this hill so I grab Ethan and start heading up the hill. As Jay and Tanner try to tell me what a hard hill it was to hike etc etc etc, I sailed right on up easily while holding a 23 pound toddler I might add, with Jay and Tanner still trailing behind. The hill did turn out to be quite the ride as you can see by mine and Ethan's faces, but we had a great time. Jay sought out a tamer hill after that for him and Ethan to brave. This was Ethan's first real run in with snow and he loved it! Especially eating it.

New Year's - Party Time!

New Years turned out to be blast for the little ones. We went to Aunt Jackie's house and Ethan had a great time playing with his cousins. I don't think Ethan would have made it to midnight (at least not with a smile on his face), so we rang in the New Year a little early and celebrated in true New Year style - with those exploding plastic bottle things and confetti and balloons being thrown in the air yelling "Happy New Year"!

Elephant Seals in San Simeon

On the way home from Monterey we made a stop at San Simeon to gawk at these huge elephant seals lounging on the beach. It was quite the sight - and sound - to see these huge seals laying and the beach not 10 feet below us.

Monterey

To wind down after Christmas, we packed up the whole family took a roadtrip to Monterey, CA. Although we were all a little skeptical at first given the fact that we were hauling 3 young children for several hours in a car, it turned out to be a fabulous trip and we all had alot o fun. The first night we went out to eat at Clint Eastwood's Mission Ranch - yes he has a restaurant and what else would be the specialty at a Clint Eastwood Restaurant but steak. It was great, though we were sad not to see Clint himself there that night. We started out the next day by taking a tour on a glass bottom boat. It was a little chilly but a great time was had by all. I am sad to report we didn't see any sea life in the glass bottom portion of the boat, unless the unsubstanitated report of a barracuda attacking a fish can be believed, which Stan swears too. The rest of the day was spent at the Monterey Aquarium, which was amazing. They have the strangest fish in the world. It is called the sunfish. I put a picture of it on here. In true Anderson fashion, we topped the day off with lots and lots of dessert at the Ghirardelli ice cream extravaganza. Our last day in Monterey some of us rented bikes and took a leisurely bike ride along the coast, which was one of the most scenic bike rides I have ever been on. It was awesome. We had such a good time in Monterey!

Ethan's First Haircut

Believe it or not Ethan finally grew enough hair to justify a haircut! Perfect timing too because we happened to be in California with his Auntie Megan who is an expert hair cutter. It was a bit of a challenge to get him to sit still, but the results speak for themselves!

Knott's Berry Farm

In the week preceeding Christmas, Ethan and I braved the cross-country flight to L.A. ahead of Jay and enjoyed a week with the Anderson side of the family. We had such a good time and Ethan loved spending time with his cousin Sydney and being outside! The weather was beautiful and we even spent a day at Knott's Berry Farm. From surprisingly fast race cars (note the hair) to the Snoopy Bus, which taught him an important lesson - when you get on a scary ride there is no turning back. If you look closely you can probably see him screaming. We had a great time!

Graduating....a great concept!

After taking an almost 2 month long fulough, we are back! Ethan and I have been home for almost 2 weeks and I am finally feeling caught up enough to get back to business on the blog. So let me give a quick recap of what we have done with the past 2 months. This may have to come in a few installments! It was a busy time.

First of all, both I and JR graduated from Graduate school - YOOOHOOOO! So now we are faced with starting adult life - I know you would think that having a baby would have been our entrance to adult life. Jay is applying for new jobs and we will see where that takes us.

Unfortunatley for me, graduation was not the end. I still had to face.....the Boards. I am happy to report that I passed! Believe it or not I am a for real Physician Assistant now! I have accepted a PRN position with Emergency Medicine Associates, a physician group that staffs several emergency rooms in the area. I plan to only work 1-2 days per week and be a mom for the rest. Life is good!