Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Swim

Violet has been enjoying her swim lessons.  She is sort of doing something resembling swimming at this point, although I'm pretty positive she would drown without someone in the water with her.  She is fearless about the water which is both admirable and frightening at the same time, considering she can't actually swim as well as she thinks.





She taught herself to do a somersault under water this week (video coming soon).

And a new dress ("princess dress" according to Violet) from Auntie D.  She is about all things princess right now.






Saturday, April 19, 2014

Egg Hunt!

A couple of weeks ago, Violet went to the easter egg hunt at the community center.  Growing up Jewish, this is all pretty new to me.  I enjoyed sharing her excitement.

Anxious to start!




She didn't seem in any hurry to gather eggs at first.  It wasn't until her friend opened one that she realized there were gifts inside and then she picked up the pace considerably.

A much faster pace.

Enjoying the spoils with Emily.

Straight from the Oriental Trading Company, they are easy to please.

Hanging in the garden with Emily.

Hey who put googly eyes on that butterfly?

Mommy won this!
A recent trip to the flower store:





Picture by Violet--Yes I bought those flamingos.
 And a recent trip without Violet:

Solvang:





San Luis Obispo wall of gum:

Yuck!
 The famous Madonna Inn.  Lots of pink...




Thursday, April 3, 2014

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Hawaii

Violet and I just got back from our first visit to the big island.  I went for a work conference and my friend Jenee joined us with her son Nicholas.  The flight there was long.  I foolishly thought it might be easier now that Violet was 3 but it wasn't.  She didn't nap at all and needed to be constantly entertained.  At least there was no crying.

Between leaving at 6 a.m. from LAX and not napping on the plane, Violet was literally rolling around on the floor near baggage claim.  Jenee is such a good friend--she whisked Violet away to go pick up drinks and giving me a bit of a break.  It also got Violet up off the floor of the airport.

While we waited for our room to be ready, we stopped for lunch. Violet enjoyed her first spam mosube of the trip.

Yummy spam!

Then we checked into the hotel which was right on the beach.























Other than lecture, the trip was full of alternating between the beach and the pool, then watching kids movies at night in bed.  Jenee was a saint, watching both kids when I was in lecture.  I don't think I could have handled it.

Hotel Lagoon





















Eating at the pool restaurant.

Watching TV after a long day.



















Somehow Violet managed to fool Jenee into believing that she was allowed to eat fruit loops at home and manipulated her into letting her have them for breakfast two days in a row.  How did they get so smart at 3 years?

The last day we were there we had the best weather of the trip and we went to Hapuna Beach which was not far from our hotel and was just gorgeous.

Clear water.

Violet took this picture!






Violet and Nick



It was a short but sweet trip.  Despite the age difference, the kids got along great.  I can't wait for our next trip.

Peekaboo!