Happy Birthday, Emi-chan!

I'm taking a little break from chronicling Emi-chan's adventures this past week to write about her birthday!  She turned 4 years old!  Time has really flown by.  

This morning, after she woke up, Emi-chan opened some birthday presents and got a call from Grandma and Grandpa.

Later in the day, we helped Unca Jeff out and Emi-chan opened more presents.

The cute little bear family was from Unca Jeff. 

 The Mater Firetruck was from Uncle Ted, Auntie Yumiko and Mi-chan.  

 Then we gave her a cupcake and sang her "Happy Birthday."  She loved the icing on the cupcake.  

Hanging out with Grumpy Bear

 Her favorite toys were the least

expensive ones...it figures

We hope she has a healthy, joy-filled, wonderfully blessed year.

Emi-chan's Excellent Adventure - Part II

On Monday, I took Emi-chan to Happy Hallow Park and Zoo.  Partially because Rick and I promised her a trip to the zoo if she used the potty 30 times and she finally did last week, and partially because she was driving me bonkers cooped up in the house.

On the way down, she kept talking about animals (giraffes, elephants, etc.).  The funny thing is this particular zoo doesn't have those animals.  Mostly animals like parrots, cows, goats, and lemurs.  Oh, I think they have a jaguar.  Once we got there, she wasn't interested in seeing the animals.  She just wanted to play and run.  

 The only animal she wanted to see: a parrot

 On a rope bridge

 I'm on top of the world!

Emi-chan went on a bunch of rides, even the ones I was sure would freak her out. 

She liked the ladybug ride this time

She loved the car ride

 Here's Emi-chan screaming,

"All done swing!"

 

Emi-chan's Excellent Adventure - Part I

On Sunday, we decided to go to Half Moon Bay and visit tide pools when we got a last minute invitation to have dinner with some friends in Monterey.  We quickly changed our plans and headed down for some seafood for dinner and to visit the tide pools down there.

We hung out at Uncle Vince's house until some people showed up and then headed to Pacific Grove to check out the tide pools at low tide.  I guess during the spring and summer the low tide is pretty low and the sea is mellower.  

When we went, the tide wasn't very low and the sea was pretty angry.  But we persevered and checked out the pools.

We saw a lot of hermit crabs and sea anemones.  And I didn't knowingly step on them and destroy the poor sea creatures.  Emi-chan had a great time looking at the hermit crabs and throwing rocks into the tide pools.

We finally called it quits after about 40 minutes or so because it was getting dark and it was so COLD.  Emi-chan was the only one who wasn't affected by the cold.  We'll come back, when it's warmer.   

Valentine's Day

We had a low key Valentine's Day.  I made a salmon dinner and ate it myself because I was too hungry to wait for Rick (sorry, Papa).  Then Emi-chan and I made chocolate brownies.  She did a good job mixing the ingredients, sprinkling the sprinkles, and eating the batter.  

W

After the brownies were done, I had a great idea of cutting them into heart shapes using a cookie cutter.  Cute idea but I had trouble making them look cute.  Oh well, the brownies still tasted good.

 

Sick, sick, sick

We're all sick at the Yoshida Shire.  First, Emi-chan caught a cold and got over it.  Then I caught the flu, then Emi-chan caught it from me a couple of days ago, and now, Rick is feeling pretty blah.  *Sigh*  So much for hoping and praying for a healthier new year.