Airplanes! Airplanes! Airplanes!

Nearly every day for the past 6 weeks (kind of since our Mexico trip), the first thing Angelina says when she wakes up is "I want to go on the airplane!"

She's fixated on it. I think part of it is that when we went to Mexico it was early morning and dark...and by the time we came back the sun started rising later, meaning it was more often dark when she woke up. So I think she associates that with flying on the airplane.

Or, she just wants to travel.

So, this has been constant. Until Sunday. On Saturday we had a party for our friends Dawn and Rich visiting from Phoenix. Angelina was a little convinced the party was for her...and of course Miss Party Girl had a blast. So, first thing she said when she woke up Sunday was "Mommy, where are all the people? I want a party!" Well, at least we were past the airplane craze.

Or so I thought.

Later that day it was the beach. "I want to go to beach!" (it's 2+ hours away so not something we do often).

All day Monday "I want to go to the beach!"

Monday night, she puts 2 and 2 together "Mommy, I want to take the airplane to the beach!"

oops.

This morning she wakes up, throws the blanket off her head and asks "Is it time to go on the airplane now?"


I wish we had a trip planned soon, but we have nothing planned for quite some time!

We're going to China!

Not really. We're not actually going to China, but Angelina begs to go daily (along with the beach).

See, we've discovered Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. My friend Trudi's almost one year old loves it, so she lent us a DVD. I now have a love/hate relationship with Kai-Lan myself. That's because Angelina loves it so much, she asks to watch it over and over and over and over and over.....We don't have network/cable TV, so it's not like she's a TV hound. But all I hear these days is "I want to go to China!" which really means the episode where Kai-Lan, her grandfather Ye Ye, and all her friends fly to China. She could easily watch it 5 times in a row if we let her. of course, though, she also loves all the other episodes.

It's a cute show - not unlike Dora. Kai-Lan speaks Mandarin and English, teaching her friends lots of Mandarin words and Chinese culture. Each episode teaches them about behaviour - they sing "When you feel bad, what do you do? Calm, calm, down." Or when one friend is grumpy because he doesn't like his role, they talk it out, learn to fix the problem, make everyone happy. Or in another, one doesn't want to try the Chinese noodles because they're different, but they convince him it's good to try something new.

All in all, not bad lessons. But if I have to hear about going to China one more time, I may scream!

And on that note, it's all about the airplanes.....

A belly shot

Here I am at almost 31 weeks pregnant with my good friend Dawn, almost 29 weeks pregnant.


Unfortunately Dawn lives in Phoenix now so our kids won't be playing together as often as we'd like. We were lucky to have this visit!



On the plus side, Baby Desmond (Kyle and Marisa's new baby) will only be a few months older than Allegrini #2, so there will be another playmate around. (angelina took this photo...)


Angelina is so looking forward to being the Big Sister. She's still convinced she's having a brother. Maybe she has some sixth sense about it?

Finally in her own bed

Ok, so this isn't really her bed and she DOES sleep in her own bed now. But for some reason she loves to lay in this blanket box.

Kind of like Chakapu I guess, who always seems curled up in a basket....

Princess or ?????

(sorry for the fuzzy pic, another camera pic)

She has discovered the treasure trove of costumes at our neighbor's house. So I walk in and she's looking beautiful and sweet as ever in a Snow White (Neige blanche?) costume. Then I take out my camera phone and as I try to take a picture she shoots me an evil look....

A Day at Sea World

One of the perks of Frédéric’s work is that every year they have a "Family Picnic." It takes place either at Six Flags Fiesta Texas or Sea World. For $7 each, we get free parking, admission to the park, lunch and at Sea World, a special show. Not a bad deal! So we happily take advantage of the opportunity.

We otherwise probably wouldn't go, too expensive and too exhausting. But Angelina loves it!
I forgot my camera so these are just from the phone. They have a kids playground with lots of cool stuff.


The kids' water area was tons of fun, but nothing compared to the rides! I was skeptical, but when she saw the sky tube> she was hooked. As soon as we came down, she said "I want to do it again!" Alas, we didn't want to wait in line, so we checked out the wave pool, river tubes, more slides.....

needless to say, it was a long and exhausting and totally fun day!

Making Pizza

We've finally discovered the trick to getting her to eat. It's not that she's picky, as at some point or other she'll eat just about anything (except meat), she just doesn't *want* to. Well, that is unless she helps cook.

So now, she cooks with us. This is a challenge, a big mess, and sometimes a risk (hot stoves and all), but with care and caution and lots of patience, it works.

Especially fun was rolling out pizza dough with Papa.


And apparently peanut butter sandwiches at the volleyball tournament were a big hit too.