Winter indoor fun!

So there hasn't been too much excitement around here lately. We have done a few fun things that I would like to share with you. In the middle of February, we went to San Francisco to enjoy more yummy food and sites. We tried authentic Moroccan food for the first time, and it was awesome! We've made a few dishes before, but we didn't know how authentic they were. Everything there was delicious, but my favorite thing was the appetizer. It was called B'stilla and it was awesome. If I remember correctly, it had a ton of stuff (ground chicken, egg, raisins, almonds, maybe some cinnamon, and a bunch of other stuff) wrapped in a few layers of phyllo dough. And even though it was a savory dish, it had a dusting of powdered sugar on top. It was so awesome! The flavors and textures were delicious. I would highly recommend trying that dish. We also had some Thai food that night too. Mmm.

The next day we walked to Chinatown since it was the peak of Chinese New Year. Unfortunately it was raining very steadily, so we couldn't stay too long, but we had a good time. We went to our favorite Chinese bakery there and got some really yummy pork buns as well as some sweet treats. There were lots of festival tents and a ton of people there despite the rain. The Chinese New Year Parade was going on that night, which is one of the best parades in the country, so they say. We didn't want to stick it out in the cold and rain though, so we left. We went to a mall south of San Francisco and fortunately, they had Chinese New Year celebrations going on there too! We mostly enjoyed the lion dances going. After we watched for a while, I started to leave because I knew the noisy drums were too much for Chris. Claire, on the other hand, LOVED the drums and the dancers. She couldn't get enough! So we watched for longer. She literally could not get enough of the lion dancers. We went up to them afterwards, though she was a little scared up close. She even got a hong bao (red envelope) which traditionally has money in it. (Chinese New Year is as big as our Christmas.) She got a $5 gift certificate to a mall store. She also got a little paper Chinese toy.




When we got home that night, I found the parade live on the internet. Claire and I watched it, and she again couldn't wait for more dragons and lions. For a week or two after all of this, she still wanted to see more, so we would watch some dragon and lion dances on youtube.

Random cute pouty face Claire does so well. I love those pig tails, and those sweet cheeks!

At the end of February, we took Claire to "My Museum." It's a play place like "Strong National Museum of Play", but not nearly as big. It had maybe 8 different areas including a pretend lake area, a picking and processing local fruits and veggies area, a golf course, a tree house, a theater stage with lots of costumes, a kid size Dr. Seuss house, a building construction area, etc. We stayed for nearly 2 hours, and she had an awesome time. Even though you could tell she was getting bored by the end, she really protested when we told her it was time to leave. We plan to go back again soon. It's fun family time for us that is nicely centered around our sweet little one. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

She loves to hang from bars like this. She does this a lot at the playground.

Fire truck driver.

Daddy's little monkey.

Later as a tropical bird carrying a baby of course.

Golfing isn't her forte yet.

Daddy resting under the tree house and giving the puppy some love.

Riding in a boat with her life vest on. She's used to it because we like to go paddle boating together.

Going down the "water" slide. I can't count the number of times she did that!

Relaxing in her sized comfy chair in the Dr. Seuss house. (Oh, with a power tool and a baby.)

At the end of February, we also celebrated Chris's birthday. I just made him a special meal (his chipotle chicken roll ups (with phyllo dough) with an avocado dipping sauce) and a home made banana cake with cream cheese frosting. I also spoiled him with gifts. He's just too easy to buy for, sometimes it's hard to stop! We just celebrated at home as a family, and had a wonderful time together. We also had an extra celebration at Red Lobster, so Chris could enjoy some lobster. Hey, we love food. Why not celebrate more than once, right? :)

Here's a funny video of Claire and her hammy laugh. I was just making funny faces, moving my eyes around, and she demonstrates a couple of her hammy laughs. She cracks me up!

The second video is of Claire rocking her baby to sleep. She says, in a sing-song voice, "rock a bee boo, rock a bye." It's so cute. Then, though it's really quiet, you can hear her say, as she puts her baby down in the crib, "good...night...an...gel" which is what I often say to her when I put her down. It's so sweet to watch her pick up on the things I do for her, and see her do them with her baby. She also often makes sure the baby has a blanket and a stuffed animal.

In other news, at the beginning of March, I potty trained Claire! She now only wears a diaper at night time! She learned pretty quickly, and I'm very proud of her. She has accidents now and then, but for the most part, she does great! I just hope all of our future kids potty train as easily as she did! I was always nervous of that part of parenting, because I have seen how difficult it can be, but thankfully, with some good tips, and an easy child, it was relatively easy! Now we can be diaper free for a while. Woo hoo!