Christmas Tree

For years Anna's favorite holiday has always been Christmas. She loves the spirit of the season, the time to get together with family, and especially the decorating! Over time she has amassed an amazing assortment of Christmas items that have been prominently displayed in our home since I've known her. When Caitlin was born, she was all ready to share this experience with our daughter, but in her toddlerhood, we were afraid she would knock down the tree or otherwise create havoc with Anna's decorations and tree. This year, we decided that Caitlin is old enough (mature enough and can follow directions enough) to not explode our home or destroy the tree... so we had Caitlin decorate with us.




If you are wondering, we have a full size (fake) tree we have traditionally used in the past, but last year in a post-Christmas sale, Anna found this wonderful little Caitlin sized tree for a basement bargain price, and we decided since it's Caitlin's first decorating experience, we could use the Caitlin sized tree so she can decorate the entire thing... rather than just the lowest 2 tiers of branches. =) Perhaps we will upgrade the size of the tree as she gets older.

New Year's Day!

Wow...it's 2010. I gave my daughter wonderful Vulcan bangs to start the new year. At least I was told that Caitie pie's hair will grow back ( Whew.....). We had a nice little family time with shopping and eating a delicious lunch. I got a yummy ice cream cake in the evening for our little family to celebrate the day, and Caitlin and I wished Daddy a Happy Birthday. Caitlin wanted the cake really badly once I got into the car. She was a happy camper once we got to eat the cake together. Yumm....

Hanging Out with Friends

Caitlin was able to enjoy time with Micah and Auntie Judy yesterday. Caitlin had a lot of fun playing with each other. Caitlin was able to share her toys with Micah. We had a nice lunch together at our place. For New Year's Eve, we got to hang out with Uncle Bryan, Auntie Jamie and Tommy for lunch at their place. We were able to exchange gifts with each other and catch up on things. Caitlin was playing with lots of Tommy's toys. Caitlin had a great time bonding with everyone. I got to hold and play with Baby Tommy.

More from our Disney Marathon

Here are some more pictures and a video from our days in Disneyland. It was very tiring but a fun week. It was an experience for Eugene and me to go to Disneyland 5 days in a row. It was just hard for me to pass up the 5 days park hopping package for the price of 3 days. Our feet already got tired just from the 1st day. I think we are good until Caitlin goes to kinder or 1st grade.

Disneyland with Auntie Rica

It was a our 1st day in Disneyland. We were quite surprised we were able to get on some big adult rides considering it was Sunday. Eugene and I were very excited that Rica can spend two evenings with us in Anaheim. We had a lot of fun park hopping between Disneyland and Disney California. Caitie pie was very excited. We were quite surprised that we stayed from 10 in the morning to 10 and night. Caitie pie did not have a meltdown like most kids do at her age. We were impressed! Here are some pictures from that day.

Caitlin's First Vacation

Caitlin has been pretty much a homebody for all her life, but finally Grandma and Grandpa decided to head to South Tahoe, so we all got in the car, and made our way to Tahoe! Auntie Rica even came up from San Diego to spend the week with us. We would have had pictures a week ago, but I accidentally left our camera at Grandpa's house, so we ended up having to wait a week to share.

While everything was new to Caitlin, even Anna got to see something new. This was Anna's first time at the *actual* Lake Tahoe!! We took the time to head to Emerald Bay, and had the privilege of being Caitlin's chauffeur on the mile or so hike to the shore of Emerald Bay (from the road, which is quite a hike above from the shore line. So after years of skiing in Tahoe, mommy finally visited the reason the town is called "Lake" Tahoe. =)

Caitlin also got to go swimming for the first time EVER!!! She didn't cry or anything, but did have fun at the pool (no, no, we didn't swim in the lake) with her new Seahorse floaty device. She loved splashing the water and was quite mobile, kicking her little feet like duck-feet beneath the flotation device.As usual, vacations never last long enough, and we had to go home, but we all had a great time.