The Safari Experience

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a Safari. 

We finally met up with my cousin, Courtney and her boyfriend, Jason. I don't know how this is possible, but it was our first visit since we moved to southern California. Time goes so fast. Courtney's friends Alan (who works in catering at the San Diego Zoo) and his wife Bonnie also joined us. Those two had all the inside information, knowledge about the zoo, conservation efforts, trail shortcuts, and are friends with many of the trainers. 

They were excellent tour guides. 

The San Diego Zoo is a beautiful park in a great city location, and it's impressive to see the variety of animals on display from all parts of the world.

The San Diego Zoo's Safari Park, however, is totally different. 

Rather than row-after-row of perfectly landscaped, educational cubbies of animal families, the Safari Park is all about wide open space. The park is located about an hour inland of San Diego (it was a two hour drive from our house), and the animals live their zoo life with the other animals as they would in real life. There's an African Safari, and an Asian Safari. 

Courtney and me.

At the Safari Park, you can also get MUCH closer to some of the animals and it's the "experience" they really promote. 

We got SO close, we even fed some of the residents!

Can you believe the life experiences Audrey's already had in her 1.5 years? I love it!

Courtney and Jason.

Alan and Bonnie were so excited about our visit, they bought us all VIP tickets to the park's famous cheetah run. 

Wanna see a cheetah run a 100-yard dash at 70 mph?

It was incredible to see in person. Apparently cheetahs are traveling 40 mph before they take their 3rd step. There's no "bad seat" for the cheetah run (the main event), but it was so nice of Alan and Bonnie to set us up in VIP. We had excellent seats, didn't have to fight the crowd or wait an hour to save our spot, and GOT TO MEET THE CHEETAH {too close for comfort} up-close-and-personal.

There was no touching allowed, thankfully. 
And, it's only open to kids 6 years and older {double thankfully} so unfortunately Audrey stayed back and played/napped while Courtney babysat. 

Giving me a death stare. 

It was another great day, with great people. 

love, kerry

Getting back to normal, hopefully

The last few days have been low-key, at home, in bed, uneventful. 

Our sick baby demanded that we slow things down. 

Rest. 

But, when Audrey cheerfully woke up this morning, chattering from her crib, wanting to play- I knew things were on the up-and-up.

There's still a sad, lingering, wet cough. But, she's acting more normal. 

She's tough, and I'm relieved. It could have been worse... We're lucky for such a healthy, strong baby.

Anyway, it felt right, like she was ready to get back to normal around here, and spend our family-Satruday like we always do- totally crazy, chaotic, busy, no-time-to-rest, just fun. 

Our first "main event" was our first-ever visit to story time at the library for Dinosaur Day. 

Technically, Audrey and I went yesterday for the first time, but today was the first time with all 3 of us.
It was more complete with Dada.

WOW!!! Story time lady was FANTASTIC!!! So fun, so interactive and engaging. Audrey's a shy girl, but she was loving it! And, we were loving her!! How is this free????

I'm looking forward to story time, every Saturday morning that we can, moving forward. 

It. was. awesome. 

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Story time was followed by a much needed run on the beach. 

Long overdue. 

My new goal: run 3 miles/day. We'll see.

LOVE this picture.

You can always expect SOMETHING to be happening near the Pier. 

Today was a Kite Club Tournament. 

We didn't totally get what was going on, but THINK teams were judged based on their tricks (types and number during a specific amount of time). 

 I suppose we could have asked. 

But, it wouldn't have mattered. 

We knew which team had our vote.

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After lunch and nap time, we headed to the park next door and met a nice girl celebrating her 5th birthday. She {and her Mom} invited us to play in her rented jump house, and Audrey was in to it. 

Jumping runs in the family.

We've got BIG plans for another great day tomorrow. 

Looking forward to sharing with you...

love, kerry

Still sick...So sad...

love, kerry

Let's Go Wolf Pack!!! Clap, Clap, Clap!!!!!

Beat San Jose State tonight!!!

love, kerry

Sick Day...

Resting in Mama & Dada's bed.

Mommy's Shopping List:

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup for Toddlers

Crackers

Strawberries

Orange Juice

Apple Juice

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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And, I'm making her favorite for dinner- steak and broccoli. 

Feel better, sweetie!

love, mama

Home Sweet Dreams

We had some pretty fabulous playdates last week in Reno,  and oddly EACH included exciting news from friends of either 1) a new house being built, 2) remodeled, or 3) just recently moved-in.


The real-estate market must be making a come back! Awesome!

They were all equally amazing homes/plans too! I'm so happy for these friends and their families. Life is exciting. But, it also got me thinking....This doctor stuff is hard. 

I get it, one day it will all be worth it. And, I couldn't be happier with our HB beach condo, a couple blocks from the beach and Main St., modern appliances, big rooms, a backyard, neighboring park and resort pool...We're very lucky, but it made me miss our house. And, I don't mean "OUR" old house necessarily, just the idea of "OUR" home. A stable, comfortable home to live, improve, enjoy...settle into to.

We can't do much about our living situation now considering that in 3-4 years, we'll be moving again. So, I'm not going to dwell on this unstable feeling, but rather focus on the positive.

We have so much ahead to look forward to, and....more time for planning!

I love an organized, thoughtful, strategic plan.
What can I say?

I'll just enjoy this living-in-vacation mode for the next few years, while I can, and when I miss the "OUR" house stability, I'll remind myself that it's coming....And, there's limited time to really figure out what we want out of "OUR" next home...Better get to work!

Some immediate ideas come to mind.

I want a KILLER backyard. I want to entertain, and be the cool house for Audrey and all her friends. One of these would work, I guess... 

I would also like an older house, in an established neighborhood. So, I can't really expect many bedrooms like a newer home would have, and in fact like the idea of our kids sharing a room. Custom bunk-beds like one of these would be BEAUTIFUL:

Beautiful for older kids!

Everything about a kitchen intimidates me. Seriously. So, I don't even know where to start...
This is beautiful, minus gaudy chandler. 

A SWEET master suite is mandatory. I think it's about time for me and John to get our own closets too, and a relaxing bathroom would be so amazing... You know how much I enjoy the spa!

Love this style, but again- what's with the chandeliers???

I know I'll have other requirements, and requests like:
A big pantry.
A bacement/game room/craft station would be fun.
A his/her home office is a no-brainer.
Then there's the garage, storage, curb appeal, and more....

OH, and of course I dream of a Donner or Tahoe lake house too!!!

We'll see, but good thing I've got some time to plan! 


love, kerry



These photos and some other inspirations can be found (with links to original source) on my Pinterest board, "Decorating My Future House".

On My Love List: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

At first, it wasn't just going to be about the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a Disney Junior cartoon that we watch in the morning with breakfast. 

It was actually going to be about these children's board-book sets in general:

Audrey LOVES, LOVES, LOVES this toy. 

The set includes 12 mini- books that are the perfect size and length to keep Audrey interested. 

But, the box itself is so much of the fun. Audrey carries it around like her little purse, sits on her pink chair or the floor and pulls all the books out, plays, reads, then arranges them back in the box, and continues to carry it throughout the house, repeat, repeat, repeat. 

You can see HERE that Barnes & Nobel has a variety of set themes, and I think we've got almost all of them- Disney Classics, Disney Bedtime Stories, Disney Princesses, and the latest addition- 

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Her love of these book sets goes back to about her 10th month when her good friend little-Beckett shared his toy one day at the office.

It was immediatley obvious that we were introduced to the latest must-have children's toy. 

And, she's been obsessed every since. 

But, more recently I've noticed- Audrey REALLY loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 

She waves at Donald during the Show's intro. 

She dances the "Hot Dog" dance every time. 

She knows the characters, and the songs. 

She's a BIG fan.

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Naturally, this was Audrey's pick at Barnes & Nobel over the weekend...

She ran right up to the book, all by herself, and presented it to me.

"Miiiiiiinnne", she said. 

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Who could say no? 

Not me.

love, kerry

Happy Birthday, Amy!!!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday to the beautiful-bride-to-be-

oh-and-future-sister-in-law-to-me-

and-finally-official-auntie-to-Audrey!!!!!!

We COULD NOT be happier for you and Mato!!!!

Congratulations again on your engagement!! What a wonderful week to celebrate your birthday too!!!

I hope you have a GREAT day, full of fun, but something tells me even if you have ZERO plans today- you're good. ;)

Miss you guys. 

Cheers from Nevada and Huntington Beach!!

love, kerry