PenTatoniX

WOOOOOOOO!!!!!  Dave and I went to a Pentatonix concert this past weekend and it was awesome.  This was part of our 5 year anniversary celebration.  Yes, I know, our anniversary isn't until Dec. 22nd but it is always a busy time with birthdays, Christmas, and a wedding this year.  So I thought we would celebrate early.  And this was my first concert.  I have to admit I thought I would end up splashed with alcohol and smelling pot but it was actually a really nice experience (minus some swearing from some over enthusiastic fans).  There were actually children there so maybe that helped to keep the clean cut environment.  Anyway, Pentatonix is an acapella group that won a singing competition last fall on the TV show The Sing Off.  We headed to San Francisco with some friends and had such a fun time. 

We made awesome shirts.

Our friends, Michael and Jessica.

We're cool.

Pentatonix: Avi, Kirstin, Scott, Mitch, and Kevin!

Here's a link to Dave and I's favorite cover they performed, "Video Killed the Radio Star."  They sang this at the concert but this is their performance on The Sing Off.  Watch here.

They are AMAZING!

Randomness

Here's just a few random things going on at the Ricks residence.

The first time I tried to paint Jocelyn's toes, she freaked out after just one toe.  But this past week she let me not only paint her toes but her fingers too (it did almost take the entire day to get every toe and finger painted).  I think it helped that I had just painted mine so she wanted to me cool like me.

Don't drop a frozen block of meat in sizzling vegetable oil.  This is what happens.  You burn yourself.  And don't mind the flab. 

 

When our friends come over, we put on Baby Einstein to keep the kids entertained.  I just like their posture here.  So cute.

Fairytale Town

There are so many cool places for kids that I'm just discovering.  I love it.  Fairytale Town is one of those places, and Jocelyn is at a great age for it.  Dave used to go there as a kid and Jocelyn and I went with our friends Marianne and Sienna.

We walked the Crooked Mile.
 

There were so many slides and Jocey went down all of them by herself.  It surprised me. 



Jocey and Sienna sat in the Sherwood Forest in the seats of Little John and Robin Hood. 



 

The girls led the Pumpkin carriage on their horses.

 

 

The cheese stands alone.

 

 

I don't know what story this blue bunny is from but Jocelyn liked trying to climb it.

 

 

They also had animals there too.  It was a great place to hang out for a couple of hours.  Maybe when she is older we'll actually listen to the different stories along the way.

Child's Heaven

Jocelyn and I went to the Sacramento Children's Museum this past week.  We needed to get out of the house.  Scratch that.  I needed to get out of the house and Jocelyn needed to let out some energy.  We met up with Christine and Grant and played hard.

The kids played in the "3 and under" section for a little bit and then we moved on to bigger and better things, mostly because I wanted to play with some other things.

We played in the water section.

 

We perfected our art techniques.  And Grant even tasted the paint.

 

 

We spent lots of time playing with the balls.

 

 

 

We also played with the suction tubes, the play house, and a huge Lite Brite.  They also had a little post office, grocery store, and dress up area.  It's the perfect little place for kids and it wasn't too busy.  Jocey and I stayed for 3 hours, that's how much fun we had.  We'll definitely be going back again.

A Rough Couple of Days

This week hasn't been the easiest for Jocelyn and it's only Wednesday morning.  Here's the story.  Monday we went to grandpa's house to do laundry (for free).  We had some other errands to run so we headed out.  We walked around Bed, Bath, and Beyond while we waited for a couple other stores to open.  Jocelyn did the "dead weight drop" while I was holding her hand and so I pulled her back up.  While lifting, I felt something pop.  I checked her out and she was a little whiny but I thought, "we'll just keep going and see how she acts."  Well we went to another store and she was really clingy and whiny and I knew she was uncomfortable.  So we went to Urgent Care.  I feel like we have been to an Urgent Care every month for the past three months.  Oh wait we have (once for a rash and once for a crazy cough that she had for almost 2 months before it finally disappeared last week).  The doctor moved her arm around and took x-rays and everything looked fine.  She probably popped it back in place herself.  The rest of the day, yesterday, and today she has been a lefty.  Her right arm mostly just hangs by her side.  She's acts fine otherwise but it's hard to see her try to do something but can't because she doesn't want to use her right arm.  Poor baby.

Next, story.  Jocey finally had her 18 month check up yesterday.  Only 3 months late.  We changed Insurance companies, that's our excuse.  She was not happy about being in a doctor's office again.  She's definitely starting to recognize those places.  They weighed her, measured her height, checked her arm again upon my request, and performed other doctorly duties.  She got 2 shots and that was that.  She was quite the champ.  Of course there were tears but she took a three hour nap to recover.  What is it about doctor visits and shots that wipe little kids out.  I love it.  Is that wrong?  Anyway, here are her stats.  She weighs 22 pounds.  WOO HOO!  She gained more weight than I thought.  She's still only in the 7th percentile though.  She is 35 inches tall.  Holy cow!  They draw lines to measure her on the table and looking at that made me feel like she was a giant.  She's almost 3 feet tall.  She's in the 95th percentile there.  So she's still tall and skinny.

Folsom Zoo

We went to Folsom Zoo again.  We went with Christine and Grant.  It was a short visit but perfect for the little ones.  We saw lots of animals and then played at the park afterwards.  Here's a couple of pictures.  Jocey is starting to be the perfect age for these kinds of outings.  It'll only get better.

Monterey for Labor Day

We went down to Monterey for Labor Day weekend.  We had a grand ol' time.  Dave took off Friday so we could go down earlier and visit my old work and his old school.  Sadly his teachers were in class so he didn't get to visit but I saw a couple of people from work which was so fun.  We stayed with our friends the Gieslers.  Here's what we did.

We visited our favorite wharf by Breakwater Cove.  Seriously, you need to go here if ever visiting Monterey.  There are always tons of sealions and these weird birds and this time the water was really clear and we saw lots of jellyfish too.

We hiked at our favorite spot, Point Lobos.  We tried a new trail and saw whale bones that they have on display.

We went to the beach and froze our booties off.  Dave and Jordan braved the water and skim boarded for a little bit.  We had a picnic there and our friends the Wiests came too.

Our last day, we played at the park while the boys played tennis.

We ate so well while there.  The Gieslers should open their own restaurant.  Jocelyn enjoyed playing with Lou, their dog and she sometimes played nicely with Ames.  She doesn't like to share his toys.  We had so much fun and we can't wait for our next visit.  Thanks Giesler family!