Driving and illnesses

The blog is well overdue for an update.  Violet is like a little person now.  She speaks in 4 to 5 word sentences.  She is super opinionated and has no hesitation in letting you know it.

She is currently obsessed with driving the car.  No problem except she locked my steering wheel last week and the car wouldn't start.  It took a phone call and google to figure out how to get the car started.

I would prefer she stick to driving this car:

We were all wickedly sick with a fever last week.  Violet keeps bringing these horrible illnesses our way.  She seems sick more often than she is healthy but everyone tells me that is par for the course at her age.

Violet holding mommy's hand when she was sick.

During the sick week everyone was feeling so crummy that we decided to get ice cream for dinner.  We went to Rite Aid (formerly known as Thrifty's) and Violet had her first ice cream cone.

Here she is once she was healthy again, hanging out with her friend Gray at MyGym.

Today we went to the park.  I've been shuttling her to music class, MyGym, and swim class, so it had been a while since we had gone to the park.  I saw this and thought, when did Violet get so grown up?

She is shouting "it's a big one!"

Violet enjoying the park with Grandpa

And introducing Princess Violet:

Next up is preschool which she will start June 24th.  The summer program is a bit different and it is taught in 2 week blocks.  The first one is "Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!" Sounds like fun.  I wish I could go...

Irvine Great Park

 

Eric calls this her "hulk face".

Recharging

Time to hit the food trucks at farmers market!

Flower Shopping

Now that Violet can talk, she is able to ask us for things and tells us what she wants (usually repetitively).  Today she said she wanted to go flower shopping.  She loves flowers and the nursery is a playground for her.

She pretty much does this though the whole store:

There was a lot of smelling of flowers:

And there were all those fountains to put her hands into:

Then we bought a bunch of lady bugs and set them free in the yard.

Enjoying a "butterfly" on a different day at the park:

Easter

Violet had fun on an Easter egg hunt at the community center a while back.  She is very uncertain about this whole easter bunny character though.

Hanging out with her friend Emily.

Waiting to collect eggs.

Violet was a bit confused about what to do during the Easter egg hunt but caught on quickly.

 

Violet was not sure about this Easter bunny guy.

The mall merry go round became all bunnies!

Jenee Visits

I've been excited for months for my best friend Jenee and her family to visit from Hawaii.  The plan was to go to Disney Monday, the San Diego Zoo Tuesday, the wild animal park Wednesday, and Nick's 8th birthday party at the reptile zoo Saturday.  On the way to Disney on Monday, Violet vomited four times Exorcist style in my car.  We ended up sitting out Monday and Tuesday.  Two sick days (and one car detailing) later, we hit the Wild Animal Park on Wednesday.

Despite the 6 year age difference, Nick and Violet got along well.  We all had a great time at the Wild Animal Park.

Wow, that bat eats string cheese!

Violet really enjoyed Nick's birthday at the reptile zoo.

Violet hugging a skink

Petting a snake.

The visit was too fast, especially with us missing out on two days due to illness.   We miss them already!

San Diego with Jenny

Violet and I went to San Diego to visit Auntie Jenny.  We stayed in a neat hotel that had animal print robes.  They even had supplied a small one for Violet.

After a night of little sleep (Violet had some trouble falling asleep in the strange room despite the fact that I brought her nightlight, books we read before bedtime, and her special bed water cup), we went to Slater 50/50 for a hamburger that was 50% beef and 50% bacon.

Then it was off to the San Diego Zoo.  It was nap time and Violet was so sleep deprived at this point that we didn't stay for long.  We petted some goats, looked at some monkeys, and bailed.

Biking!

We just got a bike trailer for Violet and this past weekend the three of us went for a bike ride.  Violet loved her "bike".

We biked to a park where Violet played a bit and then biked to a candy store.  Shockingly we found out that she does not like chocolate gelato.  Even though we called it ice cream, she wasn't fooled.

We also recently received a balance bike from Auntie Deanna.  The bikes don't have pedals or training wheels.  The kids learn to balance on them and supposedly can transition from these to a regular bike while skipping the whole tricycle stage.

This bike is still a little tall for her, so Eric had to help her out.

Violet has been having lots of play dates with her friends Emily and Grey, two friends she has met in the neighborhood.  We have been meeting them at the park for a while, but now Violet is finally old enough to actually play with them, rather than parallel play alongside each other but with minimal interaction.  There are a lot of shouts of "Mine!" but when they aren't fighting over toys, they have a great time.

Sharing a rocking chair

Playing in Emily's playhouse

It's cool to have a friend with a bounce house!

Auntie D has been sending us some cute clothes.

So much bling!

As always, Violet is rocking the purple.

And if you made it this far, here's a funny story.  Often, during the day, there will be crows on the roof.  Sometimes we can hear them through the chimney.  Violet will now randomly walk up to the fireplace and start saying "Caw, caw!", sometimes even at night.  She must think that crows live there all the time.  It's so funny to see her walk up to the fireplace at 7 p.m. and just start randomly "cawing".