With Tim, Kathy, Rylan and Aubrey Belizing it for a week, Sierra is spending their Central American vacation with us. This means she is scoring a blog all of her own. Well, okay, she didn't totally come by herself. Sadie is here too!

August 15 & 16, 2012:

After spending a day at Angel Island, Wednesday was another stay at home day, well almost. We did go out to TJ's (where Sierra scored an ice cream sample and flower stickers) and then to Target. Later Sierra and I went to Brown's Valley Market to buy ice cream for Grandpa's birthday.

Not only did Grandpa get ice cream, Sierra and I also made him cupcakes for his birthday.

Wednesday was also a good day to finally break

 
   

open the pool to take Sierra swimming. She surprised us and stayed in for a good hour! She was even willing to wear the water wings and was so proud of herself when she would float by herself and kick around without holding onto either Grandma or Grandpa's hand.

Oh, and Wednesday was pancake shape day #2. Even though Sierra told me while coming back from the park she was going to have a giraffe, she decided on a cat from Jim Belosic's "OMG Pancakes!" book.

Thursday was Jelly Belly factory tour day. Okay, mostly we did this outing for ourselves but we decided it still would be good for all three of us to get out and do something different. Turns out, there were lots of kids there and Sierra really did enjoy looking at the piles and piles of candy, the conveyer belts, the robots and, of course, all the other kids. As we were leaving the factory by way of the gift shop, she spotted the Jelly Belly car and told us she was going to ride in it and being grandparents, of course she did.

Grandpa decided going out for lunch after the tour would be fun. I had to agree and we know for sure Sierra was happy about this decision because on the way to the Athenian Grill in Suisun, she spotted Mickey Mouse! When she saw him, she was dancing around in circles with excitement. Big ol' stuffed MM was sitting outside a travel agency to promote Disneyland trip bookings. Sierra announced she had to go hug him and so she did. After lunch she made sure we went by MM again so she could give him more hugs.

Thursday morning, for the first time, Sierra had a meltdown. She decided she was not going to go to the park with us. She started carrying on and crying when Grandpa left without her to take the dogs by himself. After realizing she was going to be sent on a time-out she pulled herself together and decided she DID want to go. First though she had to make sure all her dolls were taken care by putting them to bed and covering them with blankets. By the time she and I arrived at the park, Grandpa and the dogs were already up the hill. Surprisingly she was willing to walk up the hill to meet them and once we did, she had to walk back down the hill because there was no backpack for her to ride in. She was perfectly fine with this and the fresh air did her good. She was so much more on the team after that.

Naps are always a challenge when we do a day out. On the way to Fairfield, Sierra fell asleep for about eight minutes. We decided this might mean she thought this was her nap for the day. Happily and thankfully, on the way home, after chatting and singing for fifteen minutes to her entourage of dolls (six of them) she fell asleep again for a longer nap! Outside of waking up cranky, Sierra remained a pleasant young lady for the rest of the day.

On the way to the Jelly Belly factory, we turned on Navilee, our navigation system. Sierra immediately exclaimed, "That looks like my Mommy talking at me." She really thought it was her Mommy giving us directions. Whenever Navilee talked, Sierra told us it was her Mommy. She later changed it to "That's like my Mommy talking at me." She was in total wonderment that her Mom was in our car talking to us.

Being where we are located, close to the Sierras, I have always wondered when Sierra would start noticing her name on the news. Wednesday evening, when we were watching the weather forecast, she heard the weatherman say, "Showers expected in the Sierras." Very emphatically, like how dare he, Sierra said, "That's MY name!"

Coming up, Friday will likely be another lay back day. On Saturday Sierra will be spending time with Briana again. Kim will be watching her for us while we go to Robert's class reunion!