Majorly behind

Hello out there!!!  I am not sure where the past 2 months have gone but I have not been very good about keeping my blog updated.  A lot has happened but then again, not a lot has happened.  Strange. 

Let's do a quick re-cap.
Erik went to France for 2 weeks for work in February.  We missed him terribly.  He had a good time, learned a lot, and missed us equally as much.  He had the camera for 2 weeks while he was there so no pictures were taken here.  When he got back he brought goodies for us.  Here a shot of what he got me...

Chocolate and wine.... does he know me or what??  The perfect gift.  I have not opened the wine yet but the chocolates are amazing - some from Switzerland, some from France.  Look who snuck in the shot :)

Let's see... what else.....??? 

While Erik was in France, my friend Tami came over with Olivia (and Elias her newborn) and we had a sleepover. Super fun... the girls loved it. I enjoyed my time with Tami...

Pics.... totally stole these from Tami's blog since I did not have my camera :)

We had breakfast for dinner.... homemade blueberry pancakes... YUM!

The girls started on the floor in sleeping bags... both ended up in beds, Olivia in the bed with Tami, Elaina in her bed.

Cuteness.....  These girls love the you know what out of each other.

What else????.......We have been swimming several times to keep Elaina going and getting better with her swimming...She loves going, as any 4 year old would.

We have our house on the market again.. It's been on the market for almost 3 weeks.  Have had 4 showings which is almost as many as we had the whole time we had it on the market last spring/summer so things are looking up (or so it seems).  No bites yet but we'll see.  Where are we going??  Erik has the bug to build again so we're trying to sell so we can get that going.  We'll see.  If it doesn't work out, we'll stay put.  No biggie either way.

I have not mentioned this before because I was afraid to put this out there for fear of not succeeding and then having to say that I failed.  But, I started the "couch to 5K" program in January.  Erik and I got a treadmill and I have been doing the treadmill version.  So far, so good... I am through the actual 9 week program and am running now 3 times a week.  I don't run fast so I am not running a 5K in the 30-35 mins but I just wanted to get to a point where I could run a couple of miles to get my heart rate up.  I am running about 2 miles... not too bad.  I am happy about that.  I have run outside a couple of times.  That is harder for me but I will get there (or I plan to).  We'll see.  I am just proud that I have been exercising to get healthier.  I am not losing weight and that really wasn't the point (however, it would have been nice) BUT... I do feel better and stronger and that is most important.  I don't love it but I am doing it.  I determined.  There... I said it.  Now, we'll see how long I can keep it up.

We booked out beach vacation. We go at the end of May. Our friends, Tami and Justin and their 3 kids are going to drive down and join us. It should be super duper fun and Elaina will enjoy having her friends there to play with. Maybe I'll run on the beach.... hmmm???  maybe.

We enrolled Elaina in Kindergarten a few weeks ago.  We are going to send her to Grace Christian Academy close to the house.  She has her screening and we go to an interview in a few weeks.  Hopefully all will go well and we'll have that underway soon.  We are very excited about the potential and feel really good about being able to send her there.  It seems to be a great school.

I started a new job at my work.  Same office and company... different job.  I went from HR to doing recruiting.  I am very excited about it. I have only had the position for 1 week but the first week went great.  I am very happy about it because it will allow me to keep my flexibility with my hours - in fact, I'll have even more.  Plus, when Elaina starts school, I will be able to take her and drop her off every day.  Very cool. 

That's about it.. sorry for all the rambling.  Just getting caught up.  Spring is around the corner....  Easter bunny time :)

She's ready....  that's a spoonful of peanut butter in her hand.  Her favorite snack.

We have had some Easter festivities so stay tuned for pics of that.  Okay... I'm done.  Thanks for hanging in there with me on this one.  Lots of useless information :)

San Diego, Day 2

Okay, on to day 2..  We hit the San Diego Zoo.  It was incredible.  I know why people say to go there.  I love our Zoo here in Knoxville but it really doesn't compare.  The biggest difference we noticed was how active the animals were.  That was cool.  We saw a lot of animal exhibits and feedings.  Also they have all sort of different kinds of animals.  Good day...  Take a peek.

 

Flamingos - they are super loud.  But, very pretty, and cool

Did you know that Peacocks can climb trees??  I sure didn't.  He stood up there screaming at us down below.

One of many many monkeys we saw.  They were all SO active and entertaining.  This one just stared at me for a long time.

I can't remember what this was called (I told myself I would) but he is not the cutest of the animals.  But cool. 

One of many many many birds, beautiful birds.

Tigers... Gorgeous!!  We got to see them be feed  Very cool.  This is the baby.

The mama tiger.... I wouldn't want to cross paths with her.

Here is a video of the zoo keeper feeding the animals.  It was crazy.  We were all standing around waiting on him to come out and the tigers were laying in the corner of their habitat.  As soon as the zoo keeper starting talking (and it wasn't even that loud), the tigers got up and came over to the edge of the habitat.  They knew his voice and knew it was time for some grub... :)

Again, can't remember what this was called but it was neat.

Orangutan.....  gotta love em. 

This Oragutan was hiding down below on some rocks covered with some cardboard.

After a lot of walking, we caught a bus tour around the other half of the zoo.  Very cool, we learned a lot of interesting facts about the animals this way

After the zoo, we walked around Balboa Park.  It is very pretty.

This is a HUGE rose garden.  I wish I could see it when it is in full bloom.  So many different types of roses.

Weird tree - just thought I'd take a picture.

Balboa park had these great buildings with amazing architecture

We ate at a restaurant at the park, El Prado - delicious!!

Later that night we found a restaurant in town that a colleague told me about - Extraordinary Dessert.  AMAZING!!!  We had dessert and coffee/tea.  It was SO good.  The lady is from France and she makes these amazing desserts.  I was "that girl" that took a bunch of pictures of the desserts.  I was in heaven.  I would tell anyone going to San Diego they have to try this place.  The pic above is what Erik had. 

This is what I ate...

Each dessert is extravagantly done...  very pretty.

And speaking of French desserts....this is a picture that Erik sent me from France (he is there now) of an actual French bakery.  I would die at one of these places.  I have such a big sweet tooth so I would be in heaven (just as I was at the place in San Diego).  Hungry?? :)

Well, that wraps up our trips, it was short but very enjoyable.  I would definitely go back.....  

San Diego, Day 1

It's been almost 2 weeks since we got back from San Diego and I am just now getting around to posting some pics from our experience there.  I really enjoyed the city.  The weather was perfect in the middle of February.  I can see why people live there for sure.  It rained for a few days before I got there but my first full day there (while we were being tourist), the weather was absolutely perfect. 
We had a good time visiting.  We did Sea World and the Zoo (to very kid friendly places).  BUT, we did not have Elaina with us.  It felt weird and sad that we did not have her there when she would have loved it but it was nice to BE a kid and not have to be responsible FOR a kid.  We did other "non-kid friendly" things too that made our time together enjoyable.  Now on to Day 1....

SeaWorld

Before we went in.

I have to admit I was not as excited about SeaWorld as Erik was. I just thought it would be walking around looking at animals in a big water tank. But, it was not that at all. It was very entertaining.  We basically walked from show to show and saw the animals do really cool stuff.  First were the Whales.

This pic give a good comparison with how big these animals are... 

Next was the Sea Lion show - Sea Lions Live.  It was a very funny show.

The Sea Lions are totally adorable and funny, here is one diving off a platform into the water.

A quick pose before the "Pet Show"  Not many pictures of this show, too much going on.  Basically it was pets doing tricks - even cats!!!  Crazy, but cool.

Next was the dolphin show.  This was very much like a "Cirque de Soleil" show with dolphins.  They had trapeze people and divers doing crazy stunts.  Here is someone riding a dolphin, really fast.

Riding two dolphins...that would be so much fun

Just to get a glimpse of how big the whales are...

Then we went to a second whale show where they did more stunts/tricks than they did in the first show. The first show was an educational show about the whales.

You can tell the whales really love their trainers and the feeling is mutual.  It's pretty neat to watch.

And of course there was splashing.  We didn't get too wet though so that is good.  We sat far enough away. 

I love turtles, so this exhibit was neat.  I also bought some more turtles for my collection

A view of Mission Bay.. Sea World sits right up on it.

After Sea World, we drove over to La Jolla for dinner at sunset.  Totally gorgeous....  and dinner was good too.  We sat over looking this water.

After dinner we called it a day....  Good day, stay tuned for Day 2......