Dear Tooth Fairy

Dear Tooth Fairy,
I worked really, really hard to get my tooth out. I ate lots and lots of apples and chewed on bagels and wiggled it until I couldn't stay awake any longer and finally, finally... it was loose enough for Daddy to pop it out!! Check out my new smile!

Love Zoey

Namaste

I was home alone with Max the other morning and was going to do some yoga, just from a recorded show off of the TV. Whenever I do this, Max always comes up and does some of it too. What I thought was so cute today, though, was during a series of poses, we would start in namaste (just your hands together like praying) and then raise it up and out, and Max was narrating to himself saying, "Prayers... Prayers up... and prayers out." It was cute. Here's a picture from awhile ago...


I think Max is better than me!

The morning race...

My parents were here for a week, but besides the baseball game, we didn't do too much out of the ordinary. They were on a trip and passing through, and Ross was going out of town, so I asked them to stay and help me out and keep me company for a couple of days. So basically the kids had their normal daily schedules with school and stuff. My dad gets on the computer first thing as part of his morning ritual, and if Max is lucky (like on days when I need him distracted to get lunches made and Zoey ready fast) he also jumps on the computer! So each morning it was a race between Max and Papa to see who could get on first. It was so funny, one time Max made it and didn't want to share... and then the next morning Papa beat him. He came running into the office room, saw that Papa was there and just said, "oh, Hey Papa." And went to find something else to do.

Zoey had fun at the baseball game, although she did get tired in the end. But came home with a big plastic helmet that she ate popcorn out of, a small plastic helmet that had ice cream, and a little Dodger stuffed doggie (grandparents are so fun!!). When Grandma asked if she should get something for Max, she said he could just have one of the helmets!!

So although we didn't do too much stuff, it was a nice visit. It is always nice to have some other people to talk to and to just get a break from the ordinary. Papa took Zoey to school everyday and Grandma picked her up and we went to Zoey's school open house to see all the neat work she has been doing. Oh, and Zoey is about to lose her second top tooth. Never has a little girl been so obsessed with getting that sucker out!! I thought she wouldn't go to bed last night, she was too busy wiggling it. She's asking for apples and bagels and anything to help it along. I will have a picture of two front teeth missing very soon!!!

But no pictures yet because Ross has the camera. Where is he? Well, TDY first, but then stopping off at Ohio to check on our New House!! Very exciting. We are looking forward to it. Zoey can't wait to have a pink room. More to come on that... as time gets closer. We first need to organize everything for our move out of here.

Oh the drama...

Papa and Grandma are visiting and planned on taking Zoey to a baseball game tonight. Zoey woke up this morning very upset saying, "But... I can't go to the baseball game without a baseball hat!" She is very much her own person and has her own style, so you never know what clothes will be a hit or not. Anyway, we got her one, its pink, and very cute. So they are off to the game for "fun, dancing and yummy food" (oh yeah, and baseball, too Zoey)!!

Can you see it?

What do you get when you mix Ross and Will Smith?















Barack Obama!! Can you see it? Ha, Ha. I know I could probably find better ways to utilize my time, but...

Entrepreneur

We just had Spring Break. So much stuff going on and I have lots to blog about, but am just behind... Do you sometimes just have lots to do so you don't do anything? Well, I just wanted to tell this quick story from today. Background: Zoey has given herself the nickname BUBBA. Not too original, but for whatever reason, after I said it one time, she loved it and continues to call herself that. Zoey also loves crafts and making things, as you probably have guessed from various blog posts and pictures. She makes anything out of paper and other supplies. So today, the little entrepreneur has named her "company". She made a card for Ross and brought it to me. It was very cute, so I told her we would show him when he got home. She then says, "wait, do you want to see the company its from?" And she turns it over and written in big letters, with a funny print....

BUBBA

What other name could it be?

An Adventure to Remember...

Since I have known Ross, he has consistently mentioned how cool a helicopter tour would be over Los Angeles, or New York City, or the Grand Canyon. It is not something that he mentions often, just every year or so, as a random thought. Anyway, I figured since we are leaving California in the summer, what better time to take that trip than now, for his birthday. I wanted to make it a total surprise, but since I had to arrange for him to be there and not at work, I told him about it before hand. On Monday, we dropped both kids off and headed to Torrance Airport (very convenient, just two minutes from Max's school). When we got there, nobody was at the office and it was dark! I was a little disappointed and hoping that we would actually get to go through with it. We waited and waited, and then a little Japanese guy hops out of a car and comes in. He has us sign a paper and then a taller, chubby Japanese lady enters and introduces herself, Hitomi is her name, and she tells us the helicopter is ready. She has a wide brimmed straw hat and a big, sweet smile, and then we notice that she is wearing the flight suit... Let's just say, we were a little surprised because the guy I talked to on the phone to arrange everything was a California Surfer dude, and you just don't see female, Japanese, helicopter pilots everyday!! Anyway, that part was just funny... a lesson in making assumptions I guess. And everything turned out fine and Hitomi was really nice and pointed out neat things along the way, and made an extra circle to see dolphins... so on with the show...

Here's me taking a self-pic in the helicopter:

Here is Ross ready to go:

A picture of our shadow as we are taking off:

Here we are taking off. I hadn't ever been in a helicopter before (Ross had) so I didn't really know what to expect. I was just thinking in my mind I was in an airplane, so when we just took off going straight up, it was a very weird sensation. But also very cool!!

So we begin our little LA tour. Here we are going from Torrance (where we live) towards the beach. It is Palos Verdes to the left, and Redondo beach straight ahead.


Here is looking in towards Redondo Beach Marina. There is a painted wall and the Cheesecake Factory, which some of you have eaten at when visiting us.

It was along here that we saw the dolphins and circled around to get a closer look. My picture of it was just okay, so I didn't post. The cool thing was how many there were. When you sit on the beach you usually see a handful of fins (5 or 6), but from overhead we saw 30-40!! So next is the beach house from the show Beverly Hills, 90210. I am probably the only person who thinks that is neat, but I am showing you anyway.

We were close enough to the beach that people on the sand or piers could see us and we waved at each other. We then went passed the airport and had to stay low enough to not get in the flight path of the planes taking off at LAX. This next picture is of Marina Del Ray. I think it is the largest marina of its kind.

This is Santa Monica Pier, usually the one in TV and movies with the big ferris wheel and stuff. We also passed by Venice Beach and Muscle Beach and you could see the big barbells.
From the beach we headed inland, over Brentwood and West LA. Lots of big neat houses. This is the Getty Center.
Here is an view looking down at Universal Studios. They also had the plane crash from the Tom Cruise movie? (I think) and it looked so real from above.
This is by far the coolest shot we got of the day. Ross took the picture, through the front window. We were so close to the sign that we couldn't get the whole word in on the camera's widest angle. Definitely one to frame, especially since we are leaving good 'ole SoCal.

This is the Griffith Park Observatory. A neat place to see all of LA, especially at night with the lights. Ross and I used to go here a lot when we lived here before, but haven't been since!! Kids change things:)


This is Dodgers Stadium. I was starting to get really sick now (I even took Dramamine) so I couldn't get the best shots and keep from throwing up. No barf bags on the helicopter.

After Dodger stadium, we headed downtown, and actually flew through the buildings. This shows how close we were to the tallest one in LA.

So that is it. We also flew over the Playboy mansion and Aaron Spelling's house, I think they were just two of the really, really big ones that could be easily pointed out. And they were practically neighbors. And they were HUGE. And no one was out by the pool at the playboy mansion (someone already asked). On the way back to Torrance Airport, we headed through LAX again and this was pretty cool. There is a V that is made by the planes landing and the planes taking off, so we flew right down the middle of it and to our left you could see big planes coming at us to land, and to the right you could see the back of them taking off. It was all very neat. Thanks for coming along with us!!

OLD, OLD, OLD

We were driving along this evening, when Zoey says from the back seat:
"So, when you guys were kids, did the American Flag only have 13 stars in a circle on it? Because that was a LONG time ago, right?"