Vegas Vacation...

Ah, the bright lights of Vegas.

There is nothing quite like it and what a way to spend a relaxing weekend. Our plan was nothing more than to lay by the pool and go swimming all weekend long.

Hailey rode down with my parents the day before we left. That definitely worked out in our favor because she got to watch movies the whole way down. I had also packed her a bag with some snacks, coloring books and other car friendly entertainment. My mom said that she did great! (Probably better than me, I had severe ADD from Mesquite to Vegas.)
The first day of our Vegas trip started off with Hailey wanting to paint Greg’s toe nails. I was pretty impressed at how well she did; so I have made the decision to start making her earn her keep and she is now giving pedicures. Please call to check availability and make an appointment. Right now she is pretty open, but I think with this advertising she will book up pretty fast.

Anyway, the first day at the pool we walked down and saw a family that had a floating car for there little boys. Hailey of course loved it said she wanted it, I think I remember telling her that it wasn’t ours so we couldn’t use it. A little later Grandma and Grandpa were swimming with Hailey in the lazy river and we see Hailey go by in the car. She is yelling at me and Greg to look at her honking the horn and trying to run Grandpa over. I guess my mom had talked the people into letting Hailey use the car for a little while. (Anyone who knows my mom knows that she can talk anyone into anything, but they weren’t using the car anyway so it probably wasn’t hard to convince them.) My mom had told Hailey that she got one turn around the lazy river and then they had to give the car back. The guy was helping my mom get Hailey out of the car after her turn and she looked at the guy and asked him if she could have another turn. The guy told my mom that they weren’t using it and she could use it until they were ready to leave. While my mom was talking to them she also found out that they had bout it at Babies R Us and she was convinced that we needed our own. I knew that this would make watching Hailey in the pool so much easier and she would love it too, so that night my mom and I went to try and find one. The store we went to didn’t have one and the lady tried two other stores and they were out as well. She told us to try Toys R Us because they carry the same products. She gave me the address and because it was already late I decided I would make Greg go with me the next day. We ended up finding the car (the only had two left) and she was able to play with it the rest of the trip. It was the best $8 that we spent the whole trip.

Monday night we went to dinner at Margaritaville which was so much fun! They had pirates on stilts walking around and making balloon hats. Hailey really liked the guy that made our hats for us but she wouldn’t wear hers until all of us had them. It was really entertaining there and the food was great! I can’t wait to go back on our next trip. After dinner we walked over to the fountains in front of the Bellagio and watched those for a little while. Hailey loved it, although she was really concerned when she saw ducks in the water but then couldn’t find them after the fountains show.

Wheeler Farm...

These are some pictures of our recent outing to Wheeler Farm. It isn't the most exciting place ever but it was really nice to just get out and do something different. Hailey loves to watch Charlotte's Web, so I think that she really enjoyed being at a farm and seeing all of the animals. She thought that the chicks were really cute and she wanted to hold them. She got a little close to a sheep and it bleated ("baaa", if you prefer) at her. It scared her so she didn't really get too close to any of the other animals. But we bought her some oats (probably the best dollar we have spent in a while) so that she could feed the ducks. She had a lot of fun and then the mean geese found out that she had food and came over. They wanted that food so bad that they would come up and eat it right out of your hand. They even started fighting with each other over the food. Since they are such mean things I wanted Hailey to keep her distance even though she wasn't scared. As we were leaving she kept telling us that she wanted to do it again. She has started doing this anytime we go anywhere or do anything fun she will say over and over and over (much like a broken record... except you can't turn this one off) "I wanna do that again!" And no matter what you say back to her she will just repeat it again and again. It's funny because I use to think that when kids would repeat themselves like that it was because their parents weren't acknowledging them. But I have learned that sometimes it doesn't matter how you respond... they just keep talking. I really do believe that my two-year-old is now an expert on selective hearing. It is probably because she is in her own world and she has a million other things on her mind. If I need to know that she is listening to me, I have to make her look at me before I tell her anything.

Other kids' toys are alway more fun...

Anyone who has kids would have to agree with me that it doesn't matter what you buy your kids, cause they are always going to want what someone else has. The bike that we bought Hailey doesn't even compare to this cool "Flinstone" car that her cousin Sadie has. She absolutely loved it and Sadie was sweet enough to let Hailey play with it all night. We all know that kids can become possessive about what is theirs when other kids are playing with their toys. But these two girls share really well with each other and rarely fight. Hailey has such great cousins; the older ones always do such a good job including her and the ones her age and younger just enjoy being together.

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

The other night I was getting Hailey ready for bed and helping her put on her pajamas. She looked at me and said “I wanna play ALL NIGHT LONG.” It makes me wonder where she picks up some of the stuff she says. Although I am willing to bet that she got this one from Grandma Cole.

More Park Pics...

A few weeks ago I was driving Hailey home from my parent’s house and we drove past a McDonalds play place. Hailey could see the slides from her seat and started telling me “I wanna go down purple slides”. Since it was kind of late I promised her that I would take her another time. Then last week, with the weather being slightly cold outside, we decided to take her to the McDonald’s play place by our house for lunch. Lately, when she goes down slides she will climb up and then sit at the top take her own sweet time before sliding down. So, to make sure that she didn’t get scared or that the other kids didn’t push her down the slide I crawled through an obstacle course to help get her to the slide. Then to get up to the slide you had to climb up on this platform (that was at least as tall as Hailey is) which meant because I had to lift her up, I would have to continue to go up with her every time. After going down with her on the slide twice I decided that this just wasn’t working and it would be better to go to a real park and deal with the cold rather then to try and climb through that maze that was not made for anyone over the age of twelve. (Just for the record this play place didn’t have purple slides, so Hailey is still asking me to take her to the purple slides. But I told her that we have to wait for one of her cousins to come with us so that they can help her go down the slides.) The park was so much better, and it really wasn’t too cold except for a wind chill. We got some extra entertainment there as well. There was this random hippie guy trying to walk on a tight rope tied between two trees. He was actually pretty good and it was funny to watch. I have to show you a picture that we secretly took of him cause Greg would be really disappointed if I didn’t.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Alright, so it isn't "me first" or "gimme, gimme" but recently Hailey has started saying "no, I do it myself". Ahh, one of the many perks of parenthood. Things that I have never given a second thought to before have now become some of the biggest events of our day. I never knew it could take so much time to put on a pair of socks! And I never knew how serious things like this are to a two-year-old. The other day I put in a movie for Hailey to watch before she went to bed. Usually I let her push the "close" button on the dvd player, but instead I put in the movie and started it. What was I thinking? Well, the truth was I wasn't thinking because before now starting a movie didn't require thinking. Well, what I had done was truly offensive and Hailey had a major meltdown. (She was also really tired which meant that she was beyond reason.) So, at that point there was nothing left for me to do except go over and stop the movie, pull out the dvd so that I could put it back in and let her push the "close" button. Like magic the crying stopped. ~Sigh~ I can't believe I went through all of that over Hailey taking claim to a button!!!

Park Adventures

These are some pictures of the last time we took Hailey to the park. Its been a little while since we have played at the park and lately she has been a little hesitant to go down the slides. She starts by being really excited and she climbs all the way up and then she sits up at the top of the slide and waits. I would like to know what is going through her mind at that point. I think that she might be a little nervous or scared, but if that's what it is I am glad that she is able to overcome her fears and eventually go down the slide.
I love the age that Hailey is at right now (although, I have told myself this at every age). But it is fun to watch her interact with other kids and watch her learn new things. The other day my parents took Hailey and Sadie to the zoo. My parents told me that she wasn't as interested in the animals as she was last year. But she took every chance she had to tell the other kids "look,elephant" (or whatever animal they were looking at). Her personality is shining through more and more everyday and I couldn't be any happier being her mom.