Since Jana, Jacy and Jilly couldn’t make it over on Christmas, we had a late Christmas with them. Kendal just loves her cousins – she had a great time dancing with them! Oh, and she LOVES her new Little People Nativity set they got for her. Happy Girl!
It seemed like a cute, innocent idea when the balloon-animal girl at Chili’s came by the table. “Sure, she would love a balloon animal.” Silly Mom didn’t think about the dinner ramifications of this soon-to-be monkey. Logically, Mom should have known better, but we were having such a good day…
I believe the initial decision of accepting the balloon animal was magnified tenfold by the inane idea that she should have a pink monkey to match her shirt. Monkey’s, you see, have long tails…
As our delighted daughter watched the creation of her very own monkey, it still seemed like a good idea – bringing joy to our daughter. Unfortunately, when dinner came, the full picture of the monkey became clear.
Toddler rules – even if I am ok with putting down “puppy” or “baby” for dinner at home, I will cry in loud protest at the idea of my new pink monkey sitting across the table from me. We are in a public place, you will give into me.
Clutched under one arm, K began to eat, but monkey seemed to get even more exciting as dinner went on. As Mom foolishly continued her quest to put the monkey down, K decided she must not only hold monkey, but sit in Mom’s lap to do so.
By now, the back end of the monkey had unraveled, so the monkey was now just a head with a really long tail. And Mom spent the rest of dinner ducking and weaving to avoid being bopped in the eye with the bouncing monkey. Not only did Mom loose the monkey battle, the eating battle, and the sitting in her own chair battle, but she had to endure her husband and daughter’s laughter as monkey’s tail slapped her face continually.
Dear Chili’s,
Next time we come, please hide the balloon girl.
Thanks,
Mom
Ever since we got our SeaWorld passes, we have talked about going to the Shark Encounter for dinner, but it never worked out. We finally made it, and it was better than we even imagined.
The whole evening was magical. It was wintry cold outside, so we bundled up. We ended up with the best seat in the house – a semi-circle booth in the center of the restaurant facing the sharks. Since they don’t have booster seats, Kendal sat in the booth between us and was a perfect angel through the entire evening. It was one of those perfect nights that I hope to hold onto forever. Dinner was delicious, and we all had a wonderful time. Kendal had never said “shark” before that night, but she quickly learned and pointed to each shark and said “shark.”
Christmas was really fun – this was the first time Kendal was really into it all, so it was adorable to watch her enjoyment. Since she learned (very quickly) at Hanukkah how to open gifts, there was nothing to slow her down Christmas morning.
We started the morning (after everyone got dressed, of course) opening the gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad and Aunt Liny. I am very sorry to say, I forgot to take pictures of the Christmas tree with all of the presents around it! I am very disappointed in myself! We were in a bit of a hurry, so Kendal didn’t get to play with each toy as she opened them, but she sure wanted too.
The first present she got her eyes on when she was let loose was the gift from the Hennigans – all wrapped in brown paper, it was the most boring looking one under the tree, but it was her first choice! Next came stockings, and Santa’s sacks finally gifts from Mom and Dad. “More, more, more…” that is what Kendal wanted! We did open part of the carnival set – and I have visions of listening to that set all day long in the future… but she was excited.
After we got through the first round of gifts, we headed off to Mimi and Papa Jack’s for round 2. Round 2 was even bigger than round 1! But Kendal is taking after Mom already, as much as she wanted to open more, she also wanted to play with each gift for a while after she opened it. Her first gift was a Mickey Mouse book with sounds, if she was left to her own accord, I think she would have played with it for a good 15 + minutes. But everyone else was ready to move on, so on we pressed (after about 5).
Round 3 began when Grandma, Aunt Suzie and Lizzie arrived with more gifts…
2009 will go down in my book as the year of the “baby.” Bobby and I bought Kendal a baby set with a baby, stroller, crib and highchair. Mom bought Kendal a baby dressed in red, but she seems to have this idea that Kendal doesn’t like red (since she very much dislikes all Santa’s at Mimi’s house, although some of the ones here are her pals), so Mimi also bought a baby dressed in a purple nightgown. Finally, Aunt Suzie bought Kendal a baby dressed as a princess (complete with a crown that Kendal loves to wear!). All 4 babies are from the Little Mommy Fisher Price collection and super cute! And Kendal does like the baby in red just as much – who will live at Mimi’s house since 3 is plenty here!
After a yummy Dicks family traditional Christmas lunch it was nap time for Kendal (and Mommy). After nap, round 4 when Grammy and Pop-Pop arrived. (Yes, Christmas goes on and on at our family!) It was a fun-filled day. Everyone enjoyed watching Kendal enjoy all of her gifts – opening them and playing with them afterward.
To compliment the babies, Kendal is also the proud owner of a whole village of Little People, several new wooden puzzles, books, blocks, a sit-n-spin, new movies, music, clothes and more…
Merry Christmas to all!
We hosted Mimi, Papa Jack and Aunt Liny here at the house for Christmas Eve. Since Bobby picked up the Playhouse for Mimi and Papa Jack on Black Friday, we didn’t see any reason to take it over to their house just to bring it back here — after all NOTHING else fit in the car with the giant box. So, during nap time, Bobby put together the house and everyone arrived.
When Kendal woke from her nap, everyone was there to “give” her the Playhouse. She was delighted! She took to the house very quickly and was soon requesting that Dada join her in the house, which he obliged. Once Dada had been in the house, it was only a matter of time before the rest of us would have a turn. Kendal was quite insistentupon it! (I foresee lots of time crammed into the little house!)
Believe it or not – we have pictures to prove it – Kendal, Mimi, Aunt Liny and I all got in the house at one time! It was cramped, but we all fit, and our sides hurt from laughing.
After dinner, we watched Disney’s Prep and Landing (a new Disney Christmas cartoon), opened our Christmas PJs and read The Night Before Christmas before putting Kendal to bed. Bobby, Lindsay and I watched Love Actually before retiring to bed so Santa could make his deliveries.
To celebrate Dada’s special day, we headed out to Disney. Our first stop was the Magic Kingdom ticket line. Since we have season passes to Disney, we wanted to take advantage of Bobby being able to get merchandise credit for his birthday. Kendal was so excited when she saw the “ride” – the monorail and heard the “cho-cho.” I think it was the most disappointing trip to Disney ever for her, we didn’t even go inside the gates.
Our next stop was off to Downtown Disney where we were to take a ride with Characters in Flight. I was to have profiled this new attraction for PLAYGROUND a couple of months ago, but the weather was lousy the day we tried so this was a rain check. It was a beautiful day and the perfect day for a balloon ride. (You can read all about the attraction on the PLAYGROUND blog here.)
After a wonderful ride, with an amazing view, we had dinner at Bongo’s. We have eaten here before, and the food is always yummy. Not only was the food fantastic, but I swear our food arrived in less than 10 minutes after ordering!
That night we went for our annual dinner at KOBE. Bobby is going on 20+ years of eating there for his birthday! It was a full and fun day.
Happy Birthday Dada!
The Mom’s club took a trip out to Santa’s Tree Forest, and since Daddy was off work, he came with us too. It was a chilly day, so we bundled up and headed out to the farm.
It was such a cute little farm, with small petting zoo lots of Christmas trees on the lot, a hay ride (which we skipped) and a reindeer “train” ride. Kendal was excited to go on the ride from the time she saw, it and I figured it would go slow enough that we could walk along side it, but once we buckled her in – it took off! Bobby, Maggie and I just stood there watching our kids ride away… it was the first time Kendal had ever ridden a ride without us. I was a little nervous she would get upset, but no so. The kids had a GREAT time, and they were all smiles when they came back!
After visiting the animals, wandering through the trees and the train ride, we headed home for lunch. It was a fun outing.
Since we have never made it to see the Osborne Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we decided to make the most of our passes and head out on the last night before the blackout started. Brrrr, it was cold and rainy. But the lights were really neat! We planned to have dinner at the Studios while we were out there, but everything closed at 5 or had no reservations left for the night. It was crazy, at 6 pm, we couldn’t eat dinner at Disney! So, we just looked at the lights and left…
We ended up at Carabas for dinner, so everyone was happy!
Each night of Hanukkah, Kendal helped Daddy light the candles on the menorah, and then put the “candles” on her little toy menorah. She was mesmerized by the candles.
On the last night of Hanukkah, Gammy and Pop-Pop brought over presents. Kendal became a present unwrapping (ox) champ in just moments. Kendal received 2 wooden puzzles (pu-) that make sounds when the pieces are replace, a wooden train (cho-cho) and a Little People Hanukkah set.
