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Something I’m thinking: We would have had a record turnout at games night yesterday, but we had to cancel due to Maddie throwing up in the middle of the night. It turns out that two of her friends also were throwing up this weekend, so I think we were smart to cancel. It does sound like a mild bug. By the morning, Maddie was normal and has been for the rest of the weekend.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that we’ll have a good turn out in two weeks with the rescheduled games night.

Something happening around the house: I think we would be in better shape if we had had games night. We would have had to at least tidy up the toys before people arrived. Of course, the toys would be all over the place afterward, so maybe it’s about the same.

Something I’m reading: I finished The Last Olympian. I started and finished Ready Player One, and I LOVED it. It was a fun read with all sorts of geeky 80s references. Good stuff. I started on Peter and Wendy, one of the selections for February’s book club. I thought I would enjoy it more. At least it is short. It shouldn’t take me long to finish. I’m on the waiting list for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for kindle at the library. I hope that I will get it soon since it is the other February selection.

Something Gabe is reading: He’s reading The Fall of Hyperion and plans to read Ready Player One next since I’ve been telling him over and over that he needs to read it!

Something I’m watching: We are enjoying Alcatraz.

Something I’m creating: I’ve been working on Cullen’s 2-year letter. It’s taking me a while to put together all the words from my notes that I made on his birthday. I need to finish it so I can get back to writing about the cruise. At this rate, I’ll have trouble finishing the trip reports before our next cruise.

Something Maddie is doing (47 months old): She had another ballet class (I think that we have 6 sessions with this set). She didn’t listen to the teacher very well this time. Instead, she goofed off with her friend. I went to tell her that she needed to listen to her instructor, and she said, “But Sofie isn’t listening!” Oh boy. That stuff starts so early, doesn’t it? She had a stomach bug that caused her to throw up in the middle of the night Friday night, but she was fine the rest of the weekend. I hope that is all we will see of the bug and the rest of us stay healthy.

Something Cullen is doing (24 months old): We had a little party for Cullen at school. He requested cupcakes and rocket ship goldfish. While we were at the party, Cullen pointed at Gabe and said, “Daddy! You’re not going anywhere!” I still love how Cullen talks with pauses between every syllable. Also now sometimes he sings random lyrics about what he’s doing. I love his little songs!!

Something I learned: Good things.

Something I’m looking forward to: A couple years ago, I painted a piggy bank for Maddie. I’m planning to paint one for Cullen this week! We also have a small joint party with mostly family next Saturday to celebrate both birthdays.

Something captured: At Cullen’s classroom party. We didn’t get too many good photos – he was too busy talking about the rocket ships.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

It’s time once again for my “best of” list for the previous year (inspired originally by Cindy in 2008).

Best Restaurant: This is a tough category to start with because I don’t feel like we ate too many remarkable places this year. Our anniversary dinner (post coming soon) was great, but it wasn’t as notable as some previous dinners have been. I think my favorite restaurant this year goes to Bosphorus. Thanks to Michelle for introducing me to it!

Best Book: I thought it would be difficult to pick my favorite book from the year, but when I glanced through my list the answer was clear: Water for Elephants. We read some other good ones, but this was a fairly easy choice.

Best Vacation: This category doesn’t seem quite fair when we have one big vacation each year, usually. Obviously, our best trip was our cruise on Allure of the Seas! More stories, reviews, and photos coming soon…

Best Movie: We saw some good movies this year, but I cannot think of a more perfect first theater movie than the new Winnie the Pooh.

Best Album: Well, it wasn’t released this year, but my favorite album that we bought this year was Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons.

Best Board Game: Gabe played Die Burgen von Burgund at this year’s That Board Gaming Thing. He raved about it, so I managed to get a copy for his birthday. I’m glad we bought it when we did, because it has been hard to get since then! We both love it, and it plays well with two players.

Best Lighter Game: King of Tokyo was one of the most played games at That Board Gaming Thing, even with only one copy out of the entire convention. We picked up a copy, and it gets a fair amount of play at our house. It’s (usually) quick and accessible and entertaining.

Best Kids’ Game: The kids started to get into board games in 2011, and Go Away Monster is the best game we have found for little kids that both Cullen and Maddie can play. They love it! Maddie is ready for some more involved games, but she still enjoys playing this one, too.

Best TV Show: Hmm, this is a tough one. We don’t watch much TV these days, but we did enjoy Ringer with Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Best Toy (for Maddie): This is a hard choice, but I think that the Bitty Twins got the most play for the whole year out of Maddie’s toys (from both Maddie and Cullen, for that matter). She didn’t play with them as much for a few months, but her interest was renewed when Cullen started showing interest in them. She’s become more interested in changing their clothes and playing with their accessories lately.

Best Toy (for Cullen): Even though he got his Bitty Twins at the end of the year, I’m going to have to say Annabelle (meaning both Maddie’s Annabelle up until he got his own). He has been crazy about Maddie’s dolls for a while. We could not wait for Santa to bring him what have now become known as his “ladies,” Annabelle and Izzy. The house seems a tiny bit more peaceful now.

Best Children’s Book: I’ll have to pick Mr. Bump from the Mister Men (and Little Miss) series. Both kids have enjoyed the books in that series.

Best Maddie Moment: Maddie had so many great moments this year, and it’s difficult to pick a favorite. One of my favorites is the family birthday party that we had at the American Girl Bistro in Atlanta. That was a very special birthday for a very special 3 year old!

Best Cullen Moment: Cullen has been amazing this year as well, and his vocabulary is extraordinary. One of my favorite moments was on the cruise. His reaction to some of the characters was priceless. The first time that the dragons appeared in the How to Train Your Dragon ice show, he was in awe and gasped, “FWAGONS!”

Something that makes me happy: My sweet TWO year old boy!

Something I’m thinking: Happy birthday to Cullen!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that this week passes quickly.

Something I’m reading: I didn’t read too much this week, but I’m still reading The Last Olympian, the final book in the Percy Jackson series.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished The Sea of Monsters (the 2nd book of the Percy Jackson series). He’s now reading The Fall of Hyperion.

Something I’m watching: We recorded Alcatraz, but we haven’t watched it yet. If we don’t watch it soon, we’re going to run the risk of it being too overwhelming once the recordings start piling up.

Something I’m playing: We played a little of the Hinterlands Dominion expansion. I think I might have played a little Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Something I’m creating: Hopefully, I’ll create a few more blog posts this week.

Something tasty: Mmmm, we ate at Brigs for Cullen’s special birthday breakfast this morning, and I had gingerbread pancakes. Yum!

Something Maddie is doing (47 months old): It turns out that Maddie was unable to avoid the stomach bug, though it appears that it didn’t hit her too hard. Thank goodness. The last thing you want is a preschooler with a stomach bug. It sounds like she mostly had a fun day at home with Daddy. She and Daddy baked Cullen’s birthday cake together today. She also mostly iced it herself and did all the sprinkles. She loves helping in the kitchen. She’s been cooking a lot in her play kitchen, too. She’s gotten into building forts out of their Anywhere chairs and blankets. For whatever reason, she calls it the “jail.”

Something Cullen is doing (24 months old): We had a big day for the birthday boy! We started at Brigs where he helped himself to handfuls of my pancake. He just reached over and tore off sections of it over and over. I guess we should have gotten him the gingerbread pancake instead of the plain one! He thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast with scrambled eggs, fruit, pancakes (both plain and my gingerbread), turkey sausage, and milk. We then headed to Target where he was allowed to pick out any toy he wanted (well, we would have steered him away from something expensive!). He did very well with the concept of picking out one thing at a time and then “trading” it for something more desirable. He started out with a cowboy rubber duck and ended up with a Duplo Firehouse set. We were happy with his choice! In between, he held an apple shaped pillow, a Minnie Mouse pillow, a set of toddler cars, a LOUD Lightning McQueen toy that talked and raced when you shook it, and a Mater spy truck that did something but we weren’t able to figure out what. The process was entertaining! We stayed out of the decision making process for the most part and just let him ask for the things he wanted. We also picked up some Space shapes goldfish and had a snack in the car on the way to get his haircut. He sat very still and the stylist was surprised at how good he was during the cut. For dinner tonight, he had some of his favorites: pasta, strawberries, broccoli/cauliflower, and garlic bread. Of course, we had cake. This week, he really has made progress with his one-to-one correlation when counting. He has demonstrated accurately counting objects up to 8 (and I think 10 once). Sometimes when the items are all together (rather than distinctly apart) he does the thing where he just points and counts out numbers, but for the most part he really seems to be getting it. He does especially well with 4 or less items. Earlier this week, one of his teachers told us that he declared that “Aiden can’t eat milk and egg.” I’m surprised he’s picked up on his classmate’s allergy! I guess he’s heard the teachers talk about it enough times. He also used air quotes for the first time. His teacher said that Cullen said his diaper was “messy” (and used air quotes when saying this). Cullen then looked at me and said, “I pooped. It was ‘messy’” and used air quotes appropriately. Ha! I’m so proud.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I booked TWO trips to Disney! Woohoo!

Something I’m looking forward to: Lots of stuff going on this week. I’m mostly looking forward to getting through the week, book club, and games night!

Something random: Well, I thought I had found my Favorite Thing of 2012, but I might have to reconsider. On Saturday, I took a bubble bath with my kindle double bagged in ziploc bags (admittedly, one bag is probably sufficient). It was fabulous! Best use of a ziplog baggie EVER.

Something captured: The birthday boy!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

I definitely prefer itineraries where the first full day is an “at sea” day. I do like the ports and excursions at times, but my favorite cruise days are sea days! Of course, if we did the same itinerary in the future, I’m pretty sure we would just pretend that Nassau was a sea day, but that’s another story.

The kids were restless at night again and we were all up around 6am. We had to be up early for the first of three DreamWorks character breakfasts (“Rise & Dine!”). The 8am start time is a bit harsh for all three at sea days, but most days we’re up with plenty of time to get ready anyway.

We had made our reservations weeks (months?) in advance. My parents had already gone in, and they were unsure of how many of our total 12 people were going to be at the table this morning. Because of that, they gave us two tables of 6. It turned out to be a great mix up because we had the best seats in the house!

The character breakfasts are also “chocolate breakfasts” with selections on the menu with and without chocolate as well as chocolate pastries. I felt a little guilty about the state of Cullen’s chair at the end of the meal, but then again whose idea was it to have a kids’ chocolate breakfast?

They don’t tell you ahead of time which characters are coming to each breakfast. We got the idea that there would be two Madagascar breakfasts and a Shrek breakfast. This was the first of the two Madagascar breakfasts, and Mort was up first. Our two tables were the best place to see each character arrive and dance. We were in this “island” area with only about 6 tables, so we felt pretty special indeed.

Our photos from the character breakfast didn’t come out so well. That didn’t stop us from taking a ton! Dad was the first one of us to meet Mort.

Cullen started to warm up to the characters at this breakfast, but he still wasn’t quite sure.

Next were the penguins!!! We took that opportunity to get a group photo of all of us (Melissa’s parents weren’t at this breakfast).

The penguins always had a lot of personality with their silly antics.

Cullen was excited about the chocolate laced pastries.

Gloria was the last of the characters at this breakfast. The kids tried to give her a big hug.

After breakfast, we headed to the Boardwalk where we thought we might ride the carousel a few times. It wasn’t running. We hadn’t yet figured out the schedule for the carousel, but I think it typically didn’t start until 10am. We spent some time at the play structure next to Rita’s Cantina.

The kids enjoyed climbing and sliding and climbing and sliding. As long as we had an adult at either end of the structure, it was fairly relaxing to let them climb and slide.

Cullen posed for some more photos.

Since the carousel wasn’t open, Debbie decided that she wanted to go and do the zip line! Our first mission was to find Mick. We knew he’d probably be somewhere on the pool decks, so we headed up to Deck 15. We searched for a little while and finally found him basking in the sun. When we got to the zip line, we saw Melissa’s parents and learned that Melissa and Jason were waiting to take their turn on the zip line! We had to wait a little bit, but we could see that the carousel was running again (since we were directly above it). Gabe and his mom took the kids back down to the carousel, and I took video of Melissa and Jason ziplining.

The zipline experience is very short (less than 10 seconds), but it’s a pretty cool thing to do. Melissa, Jason, and Dad were the only ones who ended up actually doing it. Debbie was ready to do it, but they closed the line RIGHT before she stepped up to wait her turn. She was disappointed! Some of the rest of us thought we might do it, but we never got around to it or made it a priority. Oh, well. That’s something to do next time, I guess!

The kids took a few spins on the carousel before the “Move It” parade.

We might have gotten our money’s worth for the cruise based solely on our rides on the carousel. Seriously, this was the greatest thing for the kids. They could have ridden it all day for 7 days.

Next up…the Move It parade and cupcakes and the rest of day 2 (maybe I can fit it in one more post? maybe?)…

I still haven’t posted my favorites from 2011 (that post is coming), but I think I have found my favorite thing of 2012. That’s right, a mere 20 days into 2012, I’ve discovered The Coca Cola Freestyle machine. I was coerced to give Moe’s a try. I’ve declared that I hate Moe’s which is quite the unpopular opinion! I think I’m just not a fan of their burritos, but the steak quesadilla was fine. So, perhaps I won’t refuse to go there next time…but what may tip the scales is the Coca Cola Freestyle machine.

I was thrilled to find that they had Caffeine Free Diet Coke, a rarity in restaurants. Little did I know what choices I was about to encounter! It has one dispenser and a big touchscreen.

And that’s just the start! After you pick your base soda, you can have it plain…or add delightful flavors.

My first thoughts were, “um, can I buy one of these for my house??” I chose the Raspberry Caffeine Free Diet Coke. YUM! I hear that all of our Firehouse Subs now have these as well. Awesome!

So, when I win the lottery (that I don’t play), then I think my first call will be to the Coca Cola headquarters to see about installing one of these in my house.

It’s time to wrap up Day 2, finally! After we dressed in our formal clothes, we went to find the Madagascar photo opportunity. This was one of the designated professional photographer character meet and greets. They will not allow you to use your own camera for these, and this photographer did a great job to take a ton of photos of Maddie interacting with King Julian.

We had a tough time narrowing it down! We especially had a rough time choosing between Maddie kissing Julian and Maddie dancing with Julian. After a vote of our friends, family, and the ship’s photographers…we went with the kissing photo. She really had a great time interacting with King Julian.

Cullen wanted absolutely nothing to do with King Julian, but somehow we managed to get our best family portrait on the trip. Of course, that’s not saying much.

We then headed to our show reservations, Ice Games in Studio B (which doubles as an Ice Skating rink). After our last experience in Studio B with the muster drill, we didn’t have high hopes of being able to see the whole show. We weren’t able to get advanced reservations. Between meeting King Julian and the ice show, we realized we left the camera in the room. Gabe and Maddie ran back to get the camera, and Cullen and I headed to wait for them outside of Studio B. I really thought we weren’t going to be able to get into the show because we were pushing it very close! Gabe ended up getting there just in the nick of time, and we entered the theater at the last minute. We were thrilled to get in without reservations.

Cullen wasn’t happy before the show started, but fortunately we didn’t have to wait very long. Once the show started, both kids were entranced. This was Cullen’s first experience with any type of show or movie, and he did wonderfully! He seemed to love it.

The ship really started rocking quite a bit during the show. I was impressed that the skaters were able to keep their balance and perform all kinds of tricks. The show had a monopoly theme with the characters moving to different spaces on the board representing venues around the ship. It felt a little like an advertisement for some of the extras on the ship, but I thought it was pretty neat, too. We loved this show, and we were really glad that we were able to see it.

Cullen just stared at the skaters for at least 20 or 30 minutes. During that time, I looked over at Maddie, and she was looking at the floor, like she was sad about something. I went to ask her what was wrong and realized she was falling asleep! We couldn’t believe with all the music and flashing lights that she was able to fall asleep, especially considering that she rarely naps when she is with us. I guess that there was something about the comfortable seats, rocking of the ship, and the darkened room. She snoozed in my lap for the rest of the show. Cullen was a little restless towards the end of the 45 minute show, but he made it through and did great.

We headed to dinner and attempted to get a formal portrait of our family, but none of them turned out too well. Others had better luck with their portraits.

My parents had several nice formal portraits.

Melissa had many fancy dresses for the cruise. They took the opportunity of formal night to get their photo with the car. I’m not actually sure if this portrait was taken on the first or second formal night.

We made it to the dining room, and tonight our tables were joined together. It was nice to have all 10 of us together and not worry about splitting into two tables.

Cullen was restless through the meal and didn’t have much of an appetite. He played a lot of Monkey Lunchbox on the iPhone with his Apptivity case. We were thankful for the iPhones once again. He was starting to get really good at the minigames on Monkey Lunchbox. By this point, he could do almost all of them by himself.

We took the kids back to the room and realized that we had accidentally left our “do not disturb” sign on the door. We were able to easily find the stateroom attendant so that he could freshen our towels and clean the bathroom. I read stories to Maddie, and Gabe put Cullen to bed in the other room.

Gabe headed out to the casino for a couple hours with his parents and Jason. He came back in time for me to head to see Chicago with my parents and Jason and Melissa. Gabe played video poker with his mom, and they started out badly but ended up even. That’s a win in our book!

I thought Chicago was great, but I was very tired as it didn’t end until about midnight. The version on the ship was an abbreviated version of the Broadway show at about an hour and a half. It was the first time that I had seen any version of Chicago, so I am not sure how it compares to the original show or movie. I thought it was great, but wow, I was tired!

Whew, we had an incredibly long day. We weren’t terribly excited about Nassau as a port, but we still had a wonderful day.

Our favorites from Day 2:
Kerry: Ice Games
Maddie (according to her): the carousel
Gabe: Ice Games and playing poker with his mom
Cullen (my best guess): either Ice Games or playing Monkey Lunchbox on the iPhone

Something I’m hoping: Well, when I first started writing this, I said that I hoped that Gabe and Cullen were better soon and didn’t spread their germs to me. Unfortunately, they did spread their germs to me, but after 24 hours of the stomach bug I felt a lot better. We are crossing our fingers that Maddie stays healthy.

Something happening around the house: We were supposed to have been out of town of this weekend, but we had to cancel our trip to Atlanta since the boys were sick on the way down. Our house might have been tidy, but instead it’s the usual disaster zone.

Something I’m reading: I finished the 4th Percy Jackson book, and I started and finished The Kitchen House for book club. I enjoyed it and look forward to discussing it at book club! I started the 5th (and final) Percy Jackson book.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished The Lightning Thief in the Percy Jackson series and started on the 2nd book. Unfortunately, the Percy Jackson series is no longer “always available” on the kindle at the library. Darn! It was so convenient. Oh well, we have the 2nd book in paperback, and we put Gabe on the waiting list for the 3rd.

Something I’m watching: We sorta watched Red, but it didn’t keep my attention too much. I took Maddie to see Puss in Boots at our dinner theater on Sunday afternoon. She really loved it! Mostly, we wanted to get out of the germ infested house with Gabe and Cullen and their bugs.

Something I’m playing: Go Away Monster and Kids of Carcassonne. I played a few minutes of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Something I’m creating: I have been creating more blog posts than anyone wants to read. I don’t have any lined up, so I’m going to have to work on those this week, I suppose. If I get the motivation… I am finally getting around to our Christmas thank you notes.

Something about both kiddos: The kids are very cute together this week. Sometimes, they can play together so well. Of course, they have their share of fights (and things can escalate so fast with siblings!).

Something Maddie is doing (46 months old): We went to her first movie at our dinner theater, as I mentioned. She also had her first in a series of ballet classes. Work is offering another set of convenient classes after work on Thursdays, so we’re giving those another try. She participated very well in her first session. She listened to the instructor and followed all of the instructions. This is quite a change from her first class last time. It helps that some of her friends are in the class!

Something Cullen is doing (23 months old): I took a cute video last week of Cullen singing almost all of the words to “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” He’s quite the cutie! He’s had a stomach bug for most of the past week and a bit of a cold, too. Poor little guy. He’s also still working on those eye teeth. He has been in the booster instead of his high chair at the dinner table, and he’s done with high chairs at restaurants. He kicked the table last week and toppled his chair backward. It’s one of those things that happened in slow motion for me, but I couldn’t stop it from happening. Yikes! The top of his chair (and his head) landed on the carpet, which I think helped. Fortunately, he was fine, but it was scary for a moment! He has had some bad nights in the past week between teething and being sick and has done some waking in the middle of the night to fuss a bit and then goes back to sleep. He’s still using the paci at night.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I might book not just one but two Disney trips…one for me and a girlfriend (without kids!) and another with the family in October. Woohoo! I can’t believe that I’m planning to go to Disney without the kiddos, but I’m looking forward to doing some of the adult and less little-kid-friendly things.

Something I learned: Gabe and I are getting more educated about fructose malabsorption (something he was diagnosed with a while back but we haven’t been diligent about).

Something I’m looking forward to: We have dinner and games with friends, a balance bike date, and another ballet class, assuming that we are all healthy enough by then. Cullen’s birthday is Sunday. I can’t believe that he’s going to be 2! We are going to find some special ways to celebrate on Sunday, and the kids are having a small joint party this year in a few weeks.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

I’m woefully behind on the blog, due to an awesome 5-year anniversary photobook that I made for Gabe for Christmas. I included photos from our wedding day to our 5th anniversary. I think it turned out great, but it took a lot of work (including two vacation days to get it done in time). I didn’t have time to sort through any photos since then between that and then the cruise and then Christmas. Whew!

So, I wasn’t able to give Coquette Brasserie a proper review, considering it has now been two months since our meal. I’ll see what I can remember.

We made reservations at the last minute since our original plans fell through. A friend had recommended it, and French cuisine always sounds like a fancy place worthy of an anniversary dinner. Our criteria for anniversary dinners is that it has to be fairly fancy (somewhere that we wouldn’t want to take the kids is best) and somewhere neither of us have been (preferably, though in later years we may change our minds).

When making the reservations, I just happened to mention that it was our anniversary. I remembered that when we ate at Second Empire, they made us a custom menu, and other places have recognized our anniversary.

We arrived a little early, and they were not very busy and seated us right away. We were a little disappointed as many of the tables are quite close together. It’s not a great place if you want a private meal. We were seated right next some other people who finished up not long after we arrived. We had two small tables on either side of us. The hostess tried to seat other people next to us, but everyone requested a different table, fortunately. I wish we had thought to do that! We were happy that nobody wanted to sit close to us.

I’m glad we mentioned our anniversary, because they brought us complimentary champagne to celebrate soon after we were seated.

I wanted a glass of wine, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. The waiter brought me 3 different samples (at least a third of a glass each) to try before I ordered a full glass. One of the wines I hated, but I ended up liking the one I ordered, especially with my entree. I wish I had written it down so I could remember what it was! We were impressed with the service and their attention to our special day.

We had a cheese plate, and I think we’ve both decided that while we love cheese, we’re not sure we love ALL cheeses (especially most blue cheese type cheeses). At least one of the cheeses was yummy. I had the Onion Soup Gratinee and Beef Bourguignon. Gabe had a special soup (we can’t remember exactly what it was, but it wasn’t a regular menu item) and one of the fish dishes (probably salmon). I think everything was good, but nothing has compared to our experience at Mo’s Diner. I’m pretty sure we had dessert, too. It was a nice experience, and I would recommend it for a special occasion.

In late October, we went to Sofie’s birthday party at Marbles. We had not been to Marbles since Maddie was little, so we were excited to explore the museum a bit after celebrating Sofie’s birthday.

The birthday girl!

Yay! Cupcakes!

Icing is yummy.

Everyone has a different method.

Clare’s method was a messy one.

Cullen tried to steal Sofie’s presents.

He looks like such a big boy here. He was trying out cars on the ramp.

Daddy helped the kids build a house out of giant blocks.

Cullen took a doggie for a walk. It was quite a drag for the dog.

Considering that I’m usually the one hanging out with Cullen while Gabe is with Maddie, we almost always end up with more photos of Cullen. This second child should have no complaints about their photo coverage! Cullen loved playing with the farm animal figures.

We had a fun morning!

Maddie’s 2nd bike day was held in early October (yes, you’re going to be seeing some old posts as I get caught up on photos). She couldn’t decide the day before which “bike” she wanted to ride. She was trying to choose between the tricycle, balance bike, and scooter. She ended up choosing the tricycle at the last minute, and we were pretty sure it was going to be her last bike day with the trike. She is almost too big for it! She will be getting a bike with training wheels for her birthday (we thought we could skip that kind of bike with the balance bikes, but I guess we need both?).

I wasn’t happy with the photos this time (despite taking many), but here are a few from her second bike day.

She wasn’t the only kid with a trike, but most of the kids have training wheel bikes. A few kids zipped around the circle without training wheels.

She was excited that we came to watch her (and proud of herself!).

Afterward, we went to have lunch at the cafe with Keira.

She has developed this goofy, new smile.

Then, we left the girls to play together on their playground! BFFs!