To be used later...

I found this clip Chris taped when we were at Joe & Karen's house.  The girls are playing by themselves, taking turns sitting on each other.  Its pretty cute, and will be great to show them when they are older.

Where is Disney World?

Reina continues to amaze me with the speed at which she learns new words and figures out how to construct grammatically correct sentences.  She has finally gotten the knack of calling herself "I" and other pronouns and more recently started to ask "W" questions, like the post title.


We left Florida last Friday and are happy to report a very pleasant Disney experience, although definitely exhausting and hot.  Reina went on the following rides:

• Merry Go Round
• Flying Dumbo
• Whinnie the Pooh
• Flying Aladin carpets
• 3D Mickey mouse show
• Its a Small World
• Country Bear Jamboree
• Boat Safari
• Tom Sawyer Island

We were in line to see Goofy in person, but once Reina caught a glimpse of him, she started screaming, so we'll have to save that for another year.  I think her favorite ride was the flying Dumbo's or Carpets, but she seems to say something different each time I ask her, which perhaps just means she liked them all!  She was a bit scared in the 3D theater, since there were some darker moments (which scared her in any ride) and it was very loud.  The next day we couldn't bring ourselves to foot another 200 bucks to visit a Disney park and it was such an exhausting day for Reina anyhow, we decided to just do some shopping.

We visited Downtown Disney which Reina also really liked, but once we arrived, Reina asked "Where is Disney World" since she must have assumed that's what we were talking about.  But she liked the lego land and all of the toys to look at.  She kept saying, "buy it" for various things in the Disney store.  We walked away with some plastic Toy Story figures and a Minnie Mouse figurine that you can change the clothes on.  Reina can also name several Disney characters, to include: Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Jessie (Toy Story), Buzz Lightyear, & Woody.  Grandpa, Grandma, and Halil all joined us at Disney world, and I have to admit, Reina has thoroughly enjoyed all of the attention from all of her family.  And all of the gifts she gets!

The plane ride back home to Seattle was uneventful.  We stayed the night in Tacoma, courtesy of Aunt Debbie but unfortunately we didn't get to see the Miningers since they were out of town for a family death.  Reina and I were able to meet some of my college buddies, Erin and Kristina for breakfast, which was fun.  Then we met Mike for breakfast again (this was our third breakfast, since we had a small bowl of cereal when we woke up at 5:30!).  Finally we left for Roseburg to finish our last week of vacation with Romeni and Grandaddy.  It has been nice so far, since its nice just to relax, play in the garden, pool, and I will hopefully work on finishing Reina's quilt!  

The last of Bham and the Beginning of our next trip

We continued relaxing at Liliana and Celeo's until Wednesday morning.  We finished up what we could with the loan and house insurance stuff and drove down to Tacoma to spend a couple of hours with Grandpa Jeff, and Cousins Katie, George, Lucie and Will.

The flight to Florida was a red eye.  We figured this would either work out great or work out terribly.  It turned out to be, well, neither great nor terrible.  Reina went to sleep pretty easily on the first leg to LAX. Of course this wasn't that long of a flight....and then our transition to the next flight (to LAX to Orlando) went well.  Then Reina resisted going to sleep at first, but eventually slept for at least the last two hours of the flight.  Grandma Kim and Halil met us at the car rental place, and then we headed south to Jupiter....Reina slept the whole way, until we stopped for breakfast at IHOP.

It was exciting seeing GG and Charlee (her dog) and being on the water at her house.  That afternoon we did some shopping since Reina needed a few toys and puzzles.  We also found some very cute maryjane style crocs that I really love.  After a small resistance to bedtime, Reina crashed and slept for 14 hours straight.  After a nice breakfast with everyone, we headed to the beach. Reina really loves the beach and has gotten much more independent about being on her own (which is exciting and a little bit scary).

Reina did the funniest thing that afternoon.  She put herself down for a nap.  It was her idea and she insisted on putting on her pajamas by herself and even getting on the bed and lying down by herself.  It was awesome.  She tried to do it for bedtime too, but it wasn't meant to be, since I think she was experiencing a bit of jet lag.  Today we plan on the beach again, and perhaps doing more shopping.

Liliana and Celeo's

After nailing down a deal with the Xenia house and sorting out some banking details, the Eastman's have just been hanging out at home with the Guifarro's.  We made smores (just the adults after the kiddos went to bed) last night, and are hoping to again tonight....the boys went for a bike ride with Jack and Reina, and Liliana, Diego and I walked to the farmers market.  We've been having amazing home cooked meals thanks to Liliana and Celeo and are enjoying just relaxing.  

We head down to Tacoma Wednesday to fly to Florida for the next week.  We are looking forward to seeing Grandma, Halil, and GG but are not looking forward to another flight.  WHY do we have to live so far away! 

To Tacoma and Back

Paul is visiting Seattle from LA, so we decided to head down to Federal Way and stay with Debbie for the 3rd and 4th of July.  We were able to see most of Jeff (Grandpa) and Aunt Debbie's family, which is fun, especially since Cousin Katie has two little ones (Lucie - 3.5 and Will - 1.5).  We have a few cute pics of Lucie and Reina, but little Will was too active...that little one was always on the go! On the fourth we drove to Katie's house to let the kids play a little more.  Reina got to ride in a red wagon, which I think she was more excited about then actually going to the park with Lucie and Will.  We also stopped by Grandpa Bob's grave and took some pics on the 4th.

Back in Bham we were able to BBQ with our old soccer buddies, JP & Elyse (and of course Karen and Joe).  It was a good time as always.  Sydney and Reina were reunited and had a great time playing together.  Tomorrow we will move in with Liliana and Celeo (and their two boys Jack, 3, and Diego, 1).  Its so great having friends with kids close in age to Reina.  We love staying with all of our friends and appreciate their hospitality! ;)

We headed back up to Bham on the 5th and went straight back to house hunting.  We finally made an offer on a house on the 6th and are hoping to agree to a price today (the 7th).  The house we are hoping to purchase is on Xenia street, fairly close to our other house.  HERE is a link to the house with a picture slideshow if you are curious.  We saw a LOT of houses, one to include a toilet in a random alcove of a bedroom, which was so funny to us, that it was picture worthy.

Sleep Wars

Riding in the car together.

Oh man. Last night might have been the worst EVER.  I mean, even compared to when she was itty bitty, waking up every 2 hours.  It probably even beat last year, when we flew to England and were up with her a lot of one particular night, also battling jet-lag.

Lost hat...that made a great prop!  

On this particular night, we started our usual routine with a bath.  These are really fun now, since Sydney and Reina play together.  We didn't even try to put her down till maybe 8:30.  I laid in the big bed next to her pack-n-play and sang to her until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.  By this time it was 9:30, and I had negotiated no talking, etc until I was blue in the face.  Since I was exhausted, Chris took over, and ended up playing with her downstairs for another hour, since she clearly wasn't tired.  Then it got really bad....since Chris and I were both ready to lie down, and Reina was refusing to sleep.  We tried everything.  Reina continued to protest, continually trying to tell us she needed more milk, more water, or had to go potty, all just to get out of lying down.  In order to allow the rest of the house to try and get some sleep, around 12 Chris decided to make her a "futon" bed downstairs and sleep next to her on the couch.  Reina continued to talk and try to play, despite this move.  Then we talked to Reina about sleeping in our bed with us, which seemed like it might be something she might be on board with.  Of course, after bringing her up there with us she threw another fit.  This was the breaking point for me.  Chris reminded me that she was just jet-lagged, not deliberately disobeying us.  She fell asleep finally at about 1 am....and then we had to wake her up at 9am the next day.  Man oh man, please let today be better.  She actually feel asleep while watching something with Sydney on Joe and Karen's bed, and I brought her into her bed, put her down, and after a little protest, she was out by 8pm.  Hopefully, PLEASE CROSS YOUR FINGERS, she will make it until 6am...but I would even take 5!

Tomorrow, we are heading south to Tacoma to spend the fourth with Chris' family - to include, Grandpa Jeff, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jess, Uncle Paul and Mike, and Cousins Katie, George, Will, and Lucie.  I think that's it.

We looked at several more houses today, and definitely have some ones we are interested in.  We will continue to pursue that when we return to B'ham on Tuesday. We will also be spending some time with JP and Elyse, and Liliana and Celeo and, oh, I have to go torture myself at the DMV to get my license renewed...ugh.   

Playing with a friend

We made it to Karen and Joe's yesterday.  It has been really fun watching Reina enjoy Sydney's company. They are really cute playing together and learning how to share, be nice...the usuals!

New tutus!

Taking a bath with Sydney is fun - no negotiating to get Reina in the tub.

Playing in Sydney's tent.

No fear - Reina giving Blueberry a kiss.

Aside from hanging out with Joe, Karen, & Sydney we started house hunting right away.  We have been impressed with the market this year (as compared with 3 years ago, when we bought our other house)....and are excited to go see some more Saturday.  We are excited to see the rest of our friends and catch up with Chris' family for the fourth.