Kaitelyn's 1st Haircut

Yesterday, I took Kaitelyn to see the gal who does my hair in San Diego. I love how Antionette cuts and puts highlights in my hair. Some of Kaitelyn's ends were getting a bit straggly so I thought it was finally time. I was really nervous though, Kaitelyn has these cute curls and I didn't want her to lose them. It turns out, she still has some. We took about 1.5 inches off her length and "oh my" what a difference that made.

Although it was Kaitelyn's naptime, she did a great job sitting still, looking up and looking down for Antionette. I'm so proud of her.

BEFORE

AFTER

Kaitelyn not looking too sure about this

Baby Bump - 27 weeks

Ugh...I hate seeing pictures of myself while I'm preggers. But...I know some of you are curious as to how big the bump has gotten.

I had an appointment last week and all the doctor would tell me was that "You're measuring big, but since you're having a C-section it doesn't matter". Tell me how you'd feel after a doctor tells you that? I know I'm big, I know I have big babies, just tell me what I'm measuring. Geez Louise!! Anyway, can't wait to get back to Washington to see my real doc.

Legoland

Last weekend, we ventured up to Legoland for a day. It was their last weekend for the "Brick-or-Treat" for the little kiddo's. Kaitelyn was dressed up as a K-State fan :-)

Halloween is going to be really different for us this year. We plan to venture out to Coronado Island, the stores on Orange Ave will be handing out goodies for the little ones. It should be fun. We opted not to purchase a costume for Kaitelyn this year, instead she will be dressed in the Halloween outfit she wore at the pumpkin patch. I found a cute little scary cat bag for Kaitelyn's trick-or-treating experience. This will be Kaitelyn's first year really doing the walking and carrying her candy. In the past, we've only gone to our neighbors and that's about it.

I'm going to miss handing out treats to all of the little ghosts and goblins this year :-(

Visit to Kansas

A couple of weeks ago, Kaitelyn and I took a trip back to Kansas to visit family and friends. It was a fun getaway, so fun, that it has taken us more than a week to recuperate. We both came down with terrible colds a couple of days before we were to fly back to San Diego. I guess that's the risk you take when flying.

Anyway, I got to spend some quality time with my BFF Monica while I was in town. I was so sad to leave a week later. She's a great host! Our first day in town, we stopped and had lunch at this really cool place called "T-Rex". They have different lounge stations to sit and enjoy your meal with your kids. There's so much to see that Kaitelyn didn't want to sit still, she wanted to be all over looking at all of the neat dinosaurs. After our lunch, we stopped at their build-a-dinosaur shop and Kaitelyn built her first stuffed animal. His/Her name is "Purple" and Purple goes almost everywhere we go now.

Kaitelyn with Monica's two older children

Kaitelyn brushing and drying her "Purple"

We went to one of the parks in town and rode the 100 year old carousel. Both Kaitelyn and Taylor took their babies to enjoy the rides with them. We also rode the train around the park which was really cool. After the train ride, the conductor let each of the children who rode, pull the whistle. Since we were last in line, Kaitelyn got to pull the whistle a few times.

Kaitelyn and Taylor with their babies

Kaitelyn loves choo choo trains. This was such a treat for her.

Kaitelyn with Taylor, long distance buddies.

My BFF Monica, she's one of a kind and I love her for it.

This was a different day at the park, Kaitelyn really wanted to ride this pig.

Why... I don't know, it's scary looking, but she rode it twice that day.

On Saturday, we ventured out to the Chermak farm to see grandparents and extended Chermak family. It was a beautiful day. Luke's grandma (as always) had lunch ready and waiting for us right when we arrived. Kaitelyn had a blast hanging out with her cousins while us adults caught up on everything else. There were lots of grasshoppers out that day, so the kids enjoyed jumping, running and catching as many as they could. It was a really fun visit.

Our little farm girl

Kaitelyn hanging out with her 1st cousins and 1st cousins once removed.

Kaitelyn and Kaycee

Kaitelyn holding a grasshopper

It was a long day, I'm sure the grandparents
were glad to have their home back to themselves.

On our last day and before our flight, Monica and I took the little girls to one of Luke and I's favorite places to walk. It's the "Shunga Trail", a paved trail that runs throughout most of the city. It's really beautiful in a lot of areas especially on cool crisp autumn days. The girls enjoyed picking up leaves and letting them blow in the wind. I was so sad to leave that day, but glad to get back to S.D. I was tired of living out of bags for a week.

Aren't they cute?!?!

Kaitelyn's 1st Pumpkin Patch Extravaganza

A couple of weekends ago, we sought out a pumpkin patch in the area. We found one up north in Rancho Bernardo, it turned out to be fun. Kaitelyn really enjoyed picking out her first pumpkin.

Kaitelyn posing with piggy. If you look closely at piggy's ears, they are banded together.
That morning, Kaitelyn wanted to put a ponytail in all of her baby animals.

I can't believe how tall Kaitelyn is.

Kaitelyn giving the corn a kiss

Hmmm....which one should I pick?

I think this is the perfect one :-)

See Mommy, See? I found it, I found the perfect pumpkin:-)

Biiig Boat

The other day, the Lincoln set off back home. Kaitelyn and I were taking a stroll along Harbor Island when we had the opportunity to watch the Lincoln leave.


Harbor Island has become one of my favorite places to walk. It's right up against the water so you have this great breeze that cools you off. You have the back drop of downtown, the Coronado Bridge and the planes coming or leaving from the airport.

You can see just how windy it can be. Poor Kaitelyn was cold, thankfully I had a spare blankie in the van.

Exhausted!

Kaitelyn and I took advantage of what may have been the last string of hot weather here in San Diego and we did some swimming. It wasn't even 5 minutes after we came in from swimming and Kaitelyn was snoozing. I guess I wore here out :-)

It's Not All Smiles and Giggles!

Yesterday, Kaitelyn woke up crabby from her nap and it didn't get better until after she had a good cry later. Here's Kaitelyn all red faced and blotchy.

So...it's not all fun and games.

Oktoberfest

Over the weekend, we decided to check out one of the Oktoberfest festivals in the area. We took advantage of one San Diego's mass transit options, the MTS rail to get to and from. Kaitelyn absolutely loved it. She was so excited to ride on the "choo choo train".

The Oktoberfest was a disappointment for us. I guess once you've been to the real thing in Munich, anything else just doesn't compare. Our biggest disappointment was that it was just several streets filled with booths of people selling their goods. There were only a few booths selling food and most weren't even German food, but instead they sold fair food. Needless to say, we left after an hour and had lunch at Chili's.

Riding the choo choo

Waiting to catch our next train.

The Blue Angels were in town this weekend, but we missed the show :-(
However, Kaitelyn and I got a couple of glimpses as they flew by the apartments a few times.

Who's the Cutie?

I have to be honest, I didn't think of the title on my own. Look closely at the shirt, it says "Cutie on Duty". What can I say...it totally fits. Thank you Brooke for the shirt and jeans :-)

Our Time in San Diego is Winding Down

Now that summer is over and the amusement parks are closing earlier, we are running out of things to do. So we've been spending more time indoors and less time outdoors the past few weeks. Plus, it's just been plain ole hot. The past couple of days have been a little cooler, so we took advantage of the weather and made a MAD DASH to Seaworld Thursday evening when Luke got off work. Kaitelyn asks to ride "Melmo Rides" almost everyday. When we do go to the park, she will see the big water slide ride off to the distance and the Seaworld tower too. As soon as she spots them, she will yell out, "There it is! I find it!" It is super duper cute.

I was thinking back to the beginning of the summer when we first came down here and how much my little Kaitelyn has grown. The first time she rode the Abby's Sea Star ride, she wasn't real sure about it, she just sat up against me with her eyes closed the entire time. Now...she loves it! She will want to ride it a few times before she moves on to another ride.

Kaitelyn is now talking in 4-5 word sentences and repeats most key words we say when we talk. Thankfully, Luke's sailor mouth is better, or we'd be in lots of trouble. Her favorite thing to do right now is playing catch. She has a beach ball and a yellow duckie floatie she loves to toss around and if it's not one of those it's a stuffed animal. Speaking of stuffed animals, if you give her a choice between a baby doll and a stuffed animal, she will pick the animal in a heartbeat. If you give her a choice to pick between pink or blue, she picks blue. She's not the girlie girl I was hoping to have, but I love her even more :-)

Kaitelyn loving the sea star ride.

Look how tall Kaitelyn is getting :( I tell her all the time,
that she will be taller than me before she's in 7th grade.

Weee...the twirly slide.

Kaitelyn petting "Drummer" a clydesdale horse with daddy.

Who Loves Ice Water?

I'll tell ya, a little kitty named "Xanthippe" - Xanthippe 1596, spouse of Socrates (5c. B.C.E.), the prototype of the quarrelsome, nagging wife . Just a little note: Luke named our cat Xanthippe specifically for the definition and her personality totally fits it too.

Yep, our Xaners loves ice cubes in her water, here's proof. Anytime we get into the freezer for ice cubes, she makes a mad dash to her water bowl for some action :-)

It Rained!!

Monday, we received a few scattered showers in the area. It was a pleasant surprise. However, they were just sprinkle showers with lots of thundering and the sprinkles only lasted for a minute or two. Kaitelyn and I sat back on the balcony and watched the clouds and sprinkles roll in.

Check out that rain cloud in the distance ... woo hoo!