The Lee Family

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Sofia at 9 years old!

Our big girl is 9 years old and time seems to be zooming by! She's grown up so much in the past year and is now 55 1/4 inches tall and weighs 78.5 lbs. She is very tall for her age so she wears a size 10-12 clothes so her skirts are long enough. She loves wearing skirts with shorts in them and shirts with a design on them (a horse, birds, sequined star, etc). She pairs that all with her purple sparkle Crocs and glasses. She's pretty good at wearing her glasses, although she tends to take them off when she's reading. She also is so used to not wearing them that it doesn't seem to bother her when she forgets them at home, but she is wearing them more often than not lately. She also loves wearing her hair long down her back and she really does have beautiful hair with a slight wave to it and a lot of blonde streaks due to swimming and playing outside. Even with the heat of summer, she still prefers to wear her hair down.

Since school ended in June, she doesn't ride her scooter as often with Antonio and Brandon as she used to, but it's also pretty hot to be outside scootering around. She does meet up with them and play out front about once or twice a week and also has gotten into riding her bike. About a week ago, she suggested we ride our bikes to the park, which we did and then she wanted to ride bikes everywhere - lunch, the gym, the library, ice cream. Olivia hangs out in the bike trailer while Sofia and I pedal away. Sofia has become quite comfortable riding her bike now and has gotten pretty fast up hills. Her new bike is just what she needed and she's great at shifting gears. She isn't as interested in swimming as she was last summer, but has enjoyed going to the gym's pool and playing dragons with Olivia in the swim shelf area. Both girls have enjoyed watching How to Train Your Dragon episodes on Netflix and then pretend to be different kinds of dragons. Sofia has also created a bunch of different kinds of dragons that aren't in the series and they pretend being those too. She's drawn them out to "create cards" of each dragon and explains what they eat and different characteristics of them. When she does want to swim, she loves being invited over to Antonio's house, since they have a diving board. Of course, Antonio prefers coming over to use our slide so we've tried to switch back and forth when they've gotten together to swim.

Sofia still loves to read, although she keeps reading the Percy Jackson series over and over. This summer she has enjoyed The Secret Zoo, The Sisters Grimm, and the Emily Windsnap series, although she keeps coming back to read Percy Jackson. In the past month, she's also gotten into reading CK and my old Calvin and Hobbes books, which she loves to read out loud to me during her bedtime. I love it since they are so funny! She enjoys checking out books from the library to read to Olivia, which is great for both of them.

If asked, she says she wants to be a "dragon rider" when she grows up. Of course, when I point out that that may not be a profession in the future, she says she wants to be an author and a scientist although she isn't sure what kind yet. She also says she doesn't have a favorite color, but likes them all. Her favorite animals are horses, frogs and dragons and she still loves to cuddle and sleep with her lovey, Green Beup Beup. Her favorite foods continue to be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oranges, watermelon, apples or apple sauce, and has specifically asked to have salmon, cauliflower and canned clementines for her birthday dinner. She also likes chicken and steak, sweet potatoes and broccoli, but still isn't a fan of salad. For breakfast she loves pancakes made into a "volcano" with "smoke" (whipped cream) and "lava" (syrup). She eats scrambled eggs, toast and cheese omelets as well as biscuits and loves bacon. Recently she has started to love root beer, which we let the girls have on occasion when we go out to dinner. Otherwise, she likes Ovaltine chocolate milk occasionally and water to drink. Her favorite shows include "How to Train Your Dragon" episodes as well as anything to do with dragons. She really loves dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and fantasy characters in the books she reads and shows that she watches.

She keeps saying she isn't excited for school to start, but I know she'll be happy to be back learning new things, being with her friends and getting back into the groove. As much as she loves just relaxing in the summer, sleeping in, swimming, playing and reading I know she also loves to learn and grow and school is a great opportunity to explore new ground. I intended to have her work on math and language arts during the summer, but I finally decided that she needed time just to be a kid and play. I hope she gets back into school and loves it and continues to learn new things as much as she's enjoyed the summer.

Sofia's perfect day would include her staying in her pajamas all day, playing with Olivia, painting, reading, eating pancakes for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and maybe an ice cream or something for a sweet. She enjoys playing with friends, especially Brandon or Emma, but she's equally happy to stay home and play with her sister. Oftentimes she plays with Olivia even when she has friends over and sort of ignores her friends a little. I do love how much they get along, although I also want them to know that they need to play with friends if they have someone over. The girls do argue at times and fight, but not often really. Also, both girls really need to have time to themselves and like to play without the other nearly every day. We're lucky that they get along so well and love to be with each other and I hope their relationship just continues to grow us they get older.

Such a big girl!

Flashback to Sofia at a 4 week old - seems like a lifetime ago!

As a 1 year old - also a lifetime ago!

Filling up her chair as a 9 year old!

With her lovey, Green Beup Beup.

With Grandpa and Grandma

Three generations

The four of us!

Sweet girl with her glasses

Pensive

LOVE this picture of Sofia and Olivia together!

Sisters and best buddies

She sure loves her books!

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Goodbye California

We all slept in until about 9am, which really felt great after a long day at Legoland and the long week We dressed and headed down to our little breakfast place in the hotel and ate cereal, juice and bananas before heading back up to our room to finish packing before checkout. We checked out, thankful to be free of that crumby hotel, and said our goodbyes to Sian. It was such fun having her with us for our visit to Legoland and was great to catch up with her a bit. She's so great with the girls and it was fantastic to have another adult since so many of the rides are for two people and being with both girls would have been impossible on some of the rides. Hopefully we can see each other again soon.

As we drove off the girls settled into the backseat and started coloring in their coloring books. They have both been really fantastic travelers and have colored, played, looked through/read their books or made up stories while we drove. We stopped at Starbucks for a real cup of coffee and then headed onto I-5, heading for John Wayne Airport. We had plenty of time and I started wondering what we should do instead of hanging out at the airport for hours. Of course, we hit stop-and-go traffic even though it was late Saturday morning and not a weekday or rush hour.

Finally I decided to take a break and stop at one of my favorite places, the San Juan Capistrano Mission. I've visited the mission so many times growing up and worked at my Dad's office in college which was just a few minutes away. It's always been such a peaceful and beautiful place and I've enjoyed the history of Junipero Serra and the founding of the mission system in California, which was a huge part of our history lessons growing up.

We found parking right next to the Mission, even though it looked to be fairly busy and bought out tickets. Once inside the girls were drawn to a huge raised pond full of koi. The koi were fairly tame and kept returning to the gils and checking out if their fingers in the water might be food. We walked around and read about the Mission and took a lot of photos. It was a perfect day outside and it would have been great to explore further, but we had to get back on the road after an hour or so. As we left, we stopped at In N Out to grab a quick meal while driving. It was shocking how many people were waiting to get into the drive thru!

Within 20 minutes we were back at the airport with plenty of time. The girls were happy with full bellies of grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes. We returned the car to the right rental office and the man offered to drive us to the terminal which was a lifesaver! We had plenty of time but I dreaded the idea of getting all of our stuff out of the car and to the terminal. We checked our bags, checked in and were through the security line in minutes. It was so easy. On the other side, we bought See's candy to bring back to CK and the girls colored and played while I read. Before we knew it, we were on the plane and heading home to Texas. It was such a fun and exciting week but I think we were all looking forward to getting home too.

The raised koi pond and old mission in the background

The girls by an El Camino Real sign, which are all over California

Selfie!

Olivia "reading" up while sitting by the statue of Junipero Serra

The bells

Sofia by a small fountain

Another koi pond

The Mission's bell tower

Friday, June 24, 2016

California: Day 8

We all slept in until 9am which felt very needed after such a long day. We dressed and headed down to get breakfast which was included in our hotel. It included toast, yogurt, bananas and cereal and was perfect. Unfortunately their coffee was seriously terrible, so once we headed out I told Sian we had to stop at Starbucks! Sian isn't a coffee drinker so she probably thinks I'm crazy. We got to Legoland right as it was opening, parked and headed to the entrance. Sian took a picture of us and Olivia was not interested in having her photo taken. Given that, I decided to rent a stroller so she could walk when she wanted and sit when she was tired.

Once we were ready, we stopped at the first ride we got to which was a jungle car ride and it ended up being the longest ride line of the day. Sofia rode with Sian and Olivia and I were in our own "jeep" as Olivia drove us through the landscape with elephants, lions, peacocks, and all sorts of animals made out of Legos. It was a lot of fun and the animals and setting were great. As soon as we got off the ride, the girls saw a face painting station and asked to get their faces painted. I figured it was better to get it done first thing so they could enjoy it the whole day. Sofia picked out a red dragon and Olivia decided on a blue princess face. They turned out so great and the girls loved it.

From there we walked around and rode as many rides as we could. We visited the Lego Friends area and watched a show with the "real life" Lego friends characters, according to Olivia. They rode on the Lego Friends merry go round and then we headed to Fun Town where we rode bumper boats and tried not to get our boats heading backwards. I couldn't believe the boats weren't actually linked to a track and they were hard to control so we were bumping into everything and everyone around us. Of course the girls loved it with Olivia riding with Sian and Sofia riding with me. From there we went to "driving school" where Sofia drove around on the streets of Fun City. Olivia had an opportunity to drive also, but she would have had to drive on the other side on another street area, so she decided not to drive and instead watched Sofia.

From there we made our way to Miniland USA which was super cool! New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Washington D.C. were all made in Legos and in great detail. It was fantastic and Washington D.C. was by far the best. I loved seeing all the monuments made out of Legos and Sofia studied every city very closely as she wandered around. At one end of the Miniland USA was an opportunity to build your own boat and race it with others down a little river. Sofia was really into it and made a boat and then later made some modifications as she raced her boat. I tried to get Olivia interested in getting out of her stroller and join in making her own boat, but she refused. After Sofia was done with her boat making, we headed to have lunch and ended up at this great patio overlooking Miniland USA. The food was actually very good and we had the whole patio to ourselves. Legoland never really felt terribly crowded and we didn't have to wait long in lines, which was great. It remained a cloudy and slightly cool day, which felt better than too hot.

After refueling, we headed over to see the Star Wars exhibit, which was equally as cool as Washington D.C. and Sofia studied every single set up. As we walked toward the Death Star and Darth Vader, every Star Wars character was on a pillar. Of course, Sofia wanted me to take a photo of her with every single one of them! After fully enjoying all of the Star Wars scenes and characters, we moved on to Castle Hill. The girls loved the Royal Joust ride and went on it several times since there was really no line and each of them got to "ride" on their own horse throughout really pretty scenery. They both had huge smiles on their faces while they rode and wanted to go on it all afternoon. Finally, after the third time the girls got off their horses and the princess was there to meet them! They were so excited! She told them they had to ride on her friend "Breddo" the dragon roller coaster. We headed over there and while we were waiting in line, Olivia asked the young man "Is this dragon real?" and he looked at me with a smile that basically said "what do you want me to say?" It was so cute! Again, there was a very short wait time, so we rode on Breddo several times which was a lot of fun.

After we said goodbye to Breddo we happened to catch a castle show which was a lot of fun. After the show was over, the girls wanted to meet the cast, which was fun and they were all very nice. It was getting close to closing time so we raced over to go on the Ninjago 3D ride. It was actually a lot of fun and a good end to our day. We had just a few minutes to return the stroller and exit, which of course took us through a massive gift shop. Both girls bought key chains and necklaces before we headed out.

For dinner, Sian had an awesome idea! She suggested we eat at one of the hotel restaurants and we could explore the hotel while we were there, since the Legoland Hotel is apparently really cool. Actually, Sofia's buddy and our neighbor Brandon kept telling Sofia that there was a "surprise" in the Legoland Hotel elevator. We figured our that the best place to eat would be the City View Restaurant but before sitting down we decided to explore. We used the bathroom, which was really cute then took the elevator up to the top floor and found out that the surprise is that a small disco ball turns on and the song "Dancing Queen" plays! It was fantastic! Sofia told us that Brandon had actually already told her the secret, but she kept the secret and it was a fun surprise to us all. After exploring each floor, we visited the pool that looked like a lot of fun. After, we sat down at the City View Restaurant and had a great dinner. The food was delicious.

After, we headed out of the hotel to our car which was impossible to miss since it was literally the last car in the parking lot!! We made it back to our hotel and we were in bed by 11pm. Another late night after a very fun day!

Legoland! Olivia was not interested in getting her photo taken!