San Diego--Part One

Kate & I headed to San Diego on Friday, April 29th (the day of the Royal Wedding!) and met my mom there. We had an early flight (5:40 am), but it was nice that then we got to San Diego by 10:45. We stayed at the Gaslamp Plaza Suites in the Gaslamp district, and it was so nice! Our room was almost like a suite; it had a separate living area and a little "kitchen" with a refrigerator, sink and cabinets. The elevators had all the original marble, etc. from the 1930s or thereabouts, and the street was lined with some fantastic sounding restaurants! We went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch, since it was only about seven blocks away, and we love their food and seeing the architecture of the different locations.

We then walked around the city a bit more and got some souvenirs and postcards, and then for dinner we went to the Melting Pot, which was right in our hotel.


Our room: The Shakespeare Suite













At the Spaghetti Factory




Kate got a balloon at the Melting Pot, and she was so excited. When we got back to the hotel, she just kept marching around with it and laughing. Then, the next night when we walked to dinner, she kept pointing out balloons everywhere we went!

Kate Bouncing

When we were at Meghan's for Easter, Kate loved the jump-a-roo thing that Adelaide has. Every time we go over there, she wants to get in there, and this time was no exception! (Ignore my voice; I hate how it sounds on video!)

Easter Dinner

For Easter dinner, Meghan and Drew invited us over along with some of their other friends who have kids, and it was a lot of fun. Kate was the oldest at 14 months, Sabina was 9 months, and Adelaide and Griffin were 6 months. They were all so cute, but it was funny because Kate normally seems so tiny to me, but she looked giant compared to the other kids, haha. They're sitting nicely on their play mats, and Kate is toddling around to get into who knows what!

Meghan & Drew made a ham and some chicken, along with scalloped potatoes and asparagus. Everyone was asked to bring a dish; we brought some tangy fruit salsa with cinnamon tortilla chips (both of which I made from scratch, and it was quite good, if I do say so myself), some white wine, and a lemon poppyseed Easter cake. The food was excellent; we really enjoyed it. And it was fun to chat with some other young parents, too. Everyone was enthralled by Kate; they said she was so cute and well-behaved.


Kate playing with Griffin (on the left) and Adelaide. Addy looks like she wants to give Kate a massage!


Sharing so nicely!


Kate wanted to get in on the action, but she accidentally almost sat on Griffin in the process!








What? I'm not going towards the stairs...


Ok, yes I am.


My cake that I made. Clearly, cake decorating is not going to be my second career any time soon! At least it tasted good...

Easter Brunch

We went to the Hines' on Easter afternoon for an egg hunt, which was fun; Kate got some cute Fisher Price Little People and some socks in her eggs. She had fun finding them; I think she is starting to get the hang of it now. Afterward, we grabbed a quick lunch at the Great Dane, which was delicious, as always!


Looking concerned for some reason...






She got a carrot "necklace" full of bubbles, which she loved, because she likes to put anything and everything around her neck! Wii remotes, cell phone chargers; it doesn't matter. So at least this is meant to be worn as a necklace!






What a good walker!


I love this little face!


Two of my favorite girls ever


The twins at the Great Dane


Silly face!


Mad because her nap wasn't long enough

Kate's Easter

We had a fantastic Easter weekend. On Saturday, Kate went over to Tracy & Dan's for a few hours while Dan & I went to a movie (Hanna) and then to our favorite place, The Ocean Grill, to celebrate the 11th anniversary of our first date. It was delicious (as always); I had the Atlantic salmon with red pepper hollandaise, and it was amazing! Dan had the ahi tuna and the seafood enchiladas. I wouldn't touch the ahi tuna (I'm not into raw fish, thank you very much), but his enchiladas were excellent. (And Tracy & Dan said Kate was very well-behaved; she sat in the play pen and watched them decorate Easter eggs and didn't really fuss at all the whole time. Whew!)

On Easter Sunday, we got up and found our baskets. Dan & I both got some books from Borders (the one on the west side went out of business, and everything there was 70% off, so I think the Easter Bunny got some good deals), and we also got our favorite candy (peanut butter M&Ms for Dan, cadbury eggs for me). Kate got some books (two of which were about how fun it is to go to bed and sleep peacefully; hopefully that will sink in with her!) and a purple stuffed dog.


With her music sticks she got as part of her Musikgarten class. I don't know why she wanted to put that hat on, though!
















Such a beautiful Easter dress! My mom got this for her after last Easter season for a whopping $6.00. Isn't that crazy?


Examining the goods

Kate's Easter Egg Hunt

On the downside, poor little Kate has an ear infection. When she woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon, she had a temperature of almost 103! So I called our clinic and we were seen at urgent care at 7:30. They put her on a stronger antibiotic than she was on last time, since they think that maybe the ear infection she had in February wasn't cleared up all the way, so hopefully the stronger medicine will do the trick.

On the bright side, she was feeling a lot better this morning (after only two doses of the antibiotic; it's amazing how fast those things work!) so I decided to look online and see if there were any toddler-themed Easter activities we could do. We found numerous egg hunts geared toward the younger crowd, so we decided to go to the one in Fitchburg at one o'clock (there was one in Sun Prairie, which would have been closer, but we didn't get going in time).

Kate had so much fun, even though she didn't really understand what was going on. The egg hunt was separated by age, so we were in the 0-3 age group, but like Dan said, there is a huge difference between a three-year-old and a one-year-old! Luckily, Kate didn't seem to mind that all the older kids were snatching up the eggs; she had fun just watching them. Dan & I each grabbed an egg for her, though, and she did manage to pick one up by herself. She looked so happy to be clutching her basket, and she seemed so entertained by looking at all the other kids. After the hunt, we noticed there was a special guest, so Kate got to meet the Easter Bunny! I was worried she would be scared by him, but she was completely fine.


Kate with her basket before the hunt


Pretty purple girl!


She's getting so good at walking now; even when she's holding things!






Waiting patiently for the egg hunt to start






I love this photo; this jacket is just adorable on her! And the little tail is too funny!


Picking up the egg she got herself.





All-in-all, we've had a fun day so far! And, for comparison, let's look at Kate's very first Easter egg hunt ever, which was last year when she was a month and a half old. I'd say she definitely was a more active participant in the one this year, wouldn't you? ;)


Sleeping through the egg hunt