To avoid boredom....

I've been trying to be creative with our activities lately, and trying to keep busy so I don't feel "bored." Each day is a challenge with a 2 year old in hand, but we are slowly finding things to do. Thankfully, we are feeling more at home each day. When we first moved to Southern California, I couldn't wait until we were done with school so we could move back to Ptown. I never imagined myself feeling so lost in my own hometown, or missing So Cal because I seem to have left a piece of my heart there. Wah, wah, I know. Hopefully Ptown will feel more and more like home--and So Cal will be a happy memory and fun place to visit again. :)

Here is what we've been up to, in order to avoid boredom....

Abby's first baseball game back in Ptown....I spent the 6 innings chasing her, giving her candy, peanuts, anything to get her to sit down. She wanted so badly to be on the field. She ran down the stairs in hopes of getting there, but I caught her. And we got put up on the Jumbo-tron in the middle of it all!

I've just recently discovered this brilliant kid's gym here in Ptown. It's called Super Franks and it is AMAZING. They have this huge "Jungle Safari" room that has toys, puzzles, toy cars, scooters, and a huge bouncy slide. It cost $7 to get in, but you can stay for 3 hours. And we stayed 2! I read my book while Abby ran around like crazy. She especially loved this car below. They had about 6 of these going around, but whenever a kid tried to get in this one, Abby threw a fit! During the 2 hours while we were there, they had a little circle time (pictured above) with the kids where they sang songs, danced, read books, and played with a parachute. Abby loved circle time, except for the story part. :) She didn't want to sit for that! I'm loving Super Franks....I'll have to save up some money so we can go often!

We've been exploring new parks around town and came across this one. It had a HUGE slide that made me nervous. So Mike took Abby down for a trial run. She loved it and ended up going down by herself. It was kind of an "older kid" park, but still fun.

We've been catching up with olds friends. This is Brooke and Evan and one of their daughters on the left, with Evan's brother Luke in the middle. We hung out with these guys when we were dating, and got married 3 months after Brooke and Evan. They now live in Ptown and had us over for dinner the other night. It's always fun to get together with friends!

I've been busy working on projects, of course. I always have to have some type of sewing or craft project going. These are squares I'm working on for my scrap quilt. I got this idea from my friend and her craft blog here. Check out her cool scrap quilt! And all her other fun ideas...she is so creative! I've never quilted before, so this is a challenge for me. So far I've cut, sewn, cut, and sewn some more. Then I had to take squares out and sew again. There are over 50 squares in this quilt, so very time consuming. But I've had fun with it.

My sister asked me to play on her soccer team last week in San Francisco. I was a little nervous to be playing again, since the last time I played, this happened. But all was well and I really had a good time. I played awful, but it was still enjoyable. My brother Glenn came out to play, too, so it was a "Germany" team! Go Germs!

I've been playing around with Abby's hair a lot lately, and this is one of those experiments. I tried to put it all back in a pony-tail, but it kept flying out everywhere. I can't wait until it's long enough to pull back. I hate seeing it in her face all the time. And she is always wiping it out of her eyes. It's getting longer--I just hope her curls stay!

Abby and Mike like to play outside on Sunday evening. Their favorite game: baseball. Abby loves to try and hit the ball, but is rarely successful. At least she tries!

We took a weekend trip up to one of favorite places: Aptos. My best friend has a house there, so we all went up for a night. The weather was pretty crummy, but we still enjoyed good company and good food and beautiful scenery.

My parents and brother came out for a visit from Utah. It was fun to see them again (I LOVE when they come to visit!) Abby ADORES my brother, David. She doesn't usually warm-up to people right away, but every time she sees David, she runs up to him and will give him a hug and a kiss. There's just something about him that she LOVES! I have to admit, he is pretty lovable!

Last, but not least, a dress I made for Abby. I really LOVE this fabric and wanted to make a skirt for myself, but then I saw my friend make this and I knew I had to try. It was rough, at first, and didn't turn out as nice as I wanted (I actually had to add fabric in the back, so it looks odd), but it served its purpose. And I love how it looks on her!

Here's a video of Abby climbing the bouncy slide at Super Franks. I don't know how to turn it right side up, so enjoy it sideways! I had to help her up it the first couple of times, but she finally conquered it on her own. She is quite the climber!