Recap: November

November: November was awesome. Jillian and I both celebrated big birthdays (turning 2 and 30) and we went to Maui for 10 days with my parents. It was a wonderful month that I will never forget!

Jillian's first airplane ride. She did great. The ride home was awful, however. She couldn't get to sleep, screamed bloody murder, and managed to kick some fellow passengers. Everyone loved us.

Jason took me to Oahu and the Kualoa Ranch for a day to see where they filmed some things for the TV show Lost. We had an awesome day at Kualoa but I HATED Waikiki. No thank you!

Celebrated my birthday breakfast at The Gazebo restaurant. Super yummy food and a fun atmosphere. You wait in line outdoors to be seated in this tiny restaurant. The restaurant is located in this old condo/hotel complex and the line abuts their swimming pool!

Jillian spent quality time with her grandparents!

November 17th: Jillian's 2nd Birthday

Hanging out at the park with Nana

Celebrating with a cupcake. I bought it a couple days prior and she was desperate to eat it!

Celebrating with friends and family a few days later. We let Jillian pick her party theme and she wanted a Dora party. We decorated Pam's clubhouse with Dora decorations and even had Dora playing on the computer and projected on the wall.

A sugary ending to a great birthday!

Recap: October

I have for some reason had incredible blog fatigue and can't bring myself to post. Hopefully this will be cured soon. But, for the sake of Jillian's future scrapbook I need to post something.

October: Jillian dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween. I decided to make her costume thinking, "It can't be that hard." I think I overestimate my sewing skills. Our camera's flash broke on my outing to The Office and so I really have no good Jillian Halloween pics. She did like

trick-or-treating but she'd get nervous at the doorway and didn't really want to take candy when anyone offered it. Her cousin Adam is almost 8 months younger and went for it more than she did! I

think next year she'll get it.

Jason and my family also threw me a surprise birthday party the day before Halloween. It was a Lost theme and I had so much fun!

The Office

Ronnie has a connection to TV and to The Office specifically. He's friends with the photographer of a ton of TV shows and this guy also dates Kate Flannery - Meredith. About 10 days ago I got the thrill of a lifetime. It started off when we pulled up to the studio and it was - The Office! I mean it was the exterior of what you see on TV! Next, I was blown away as Kate Flannery - Meredith - greeted us for our private tour and lunch with the cast and crew. We also watched the cold opening being filmed before returning to reality.

Sorry, the photos are out of order and I don't feel like wrestling with blogger. And sorry if you've already seen all these on Facebook.

With Stanley. He was amazingly nice to us. We met him on our way to see Kate's trailer.

Creed. He really is that kooky in person. He told us two dirty jokes. The second one he even chased us down for as we were leaving. Ron has video!

Dwight. Rainn was definitely intense. He was good friends with Chris, Ron's friend, and so he couldn't say no to a photo with us!

Erin. Ellie is so sweet to meet. She even introduced us to her sister and waved when she saw us later on.

Kevin. It is a trip to hear Brian speak as himself, not Kevin. He sounds so different.

I was so excited to met Angela as I played her in a spoof video we did at work. She really is tiny!

Phyllis is awesome! She was more than happy to take a photo with us. Chris and Kate kept snagging everyone as they walked by and introduced us as their "friends." I'm friends with a TV star!

Ron channels his inner Michael.

I was so crazy excited at this point. I didn't know if I should pose or try to look natural. Don't you want to play with everything on that desk?

I LOVE this picture. Kate kept suggesting picture ideas to me. She had a couple bottles of alcohol in her desk and told me she is always finding new bottles in there.

Recap:

We met: Meredith, Stanley, Dwight, Phyllis, Kevin, Angela, Erin, and Creed

We saw: Jim and Pam (They got back late from an off-site shoot and so we didn't get a photo with them.) We also so Kelly and she looked at us like, Do I know you?

Not around that day: Michael, Darryl, Andy, Ryan, Toby or Gabe. Though we did meet Toby's (Paul's) brother who is a writer on the show.

I have more photos and stories but I don't want to bore y'all.

Summer

I have missed a few months due to... who knows. Here is a recap of the summer thus far.

Dad taught Jillian how to spit bath toys. Mom loves this.

A trip to the pool on one of the few hot days so far. She was in for a couple minutes and then over it. We were so hopeful after hearing from both grandmas how much she loved the pool.

After many tearful requests for "fing" (swing) I took a trip to Toys R Us and got one. We rigged it to our outdoor big swing frame. She likes it but hasn't become obsessed with it or anything. I felt so bad the day we bought it because she saw some swings at Del Dios (or some kids playing) and said, "FING!" I told her excitedly, "we're buying a swing." Evidently this information is not delightful to a toddler but incredibly frustrating. As soon as she saw the swing she wanted it set up so she could swing right then. In the car. However that would work.

Hanging out with cousin Adam at Marie's 30th birthday hoedown.

Her first trip to the zoo. At least with Mommy and Daddy. Which means this was her first trip to the zoo.

I found some Little People sets at a garage sale for a good price. She now has a ton of people and animals. She is especially fond of the animals. She shows her love here.

Learned a new skill: climbing through the coffee table.

Revised the pool situation to a blow-up crab. She enjoyed it but didn't want to sit in it for an extended period of time.

Showing me her smile.

And finally we cheered on Daddy at the America's Finest City Half Marathon last Sunday 8/15. He did awesome!

Cookie Monster Eyes

Aren't we cute? Jillian has a Sesame Street play mat that has removable faces.

We Got A Climber!

Unfortunately we don't have a playground within walking distance and Jillian, like any toddler I'm sure, has become enamored with the slide. She loves going on the slide at Grandma's house for some time and after seeing her use a climber at her cousin Ethan's 2nd birthday I became determined to get her something for home.

I became quite the Craigslist stalker. I searched "climber", "slide", "gym", you name it. And I searched every day. Sometimes twice. I had a couple heartbreaks, you know, the usual Craigslist song and dance. And so, when I saw this baby today, I jumped on it!

Or should I say I made Jason jump on it. I didn't want to lose out on it so I sent Jason over right away while I stayed home with a napping Jillian. Thankfully it was only over in Poway so he didn't have far to go.

And it was worth it. Jason and Uncle Taylor set it up in a matter of minutes and she was zipping down the slide. She can't climb the ladder by herself and wants to hurl face first down the slide but thankfully she has a lot of supervision and we'll be working with her in the days to come. So all of you with the itty bitty kiddos, come on over and play!

Riding the Train at Balboa Park

Jillian and Daddy.

A couple weekends ago we went to a birthday party for Jillian's friend Allison at Balboa Park.

We were right next to the zoo. I love the peacocks that just roam around the grounds. This one wanted to check out the party. Jillian got excited to see the bird and kept saying "tweet, tweet."

Sadly Jillian got a little frightened by the train's horn. She began to shake her head and say, "no, no." We felt terrible but we had already started moving. She liked the rest of the ride ok. I think our hopes were higher than her actual enjoyment. Still, it was such a fun event and a beautiful day.