Family day and tea for two.

Now that Lilja is going to school ( already two days!!) I feel we need some family time.. No phones, no Tv just the three of us doing our favorite thing.. hiking. We ended up at vallecito lake and hiked for a pretty long time.. Lilja wanted to keep going.. pretty tired girl at the end. But the fun part was, we found lots of raspberries and thimble berries ( my first time tasting those.. yummy!! we also played in the creek and raced to see who was the fastest to the top of little hills. Lilja won most of the time!!
 me: great job following the trail Lilja!   Lilja: "that's what they are here for momma.."

 

ofcourse we can not deny lilja's favorite thing to do... playing in the water!!

The three of us.. Yeah, cute picture!! This was our resting spot.. yummy granola bars and apples were on the menu.

what a smiley girl!! and she loved the raspberries..

 



our view at the end.. with a pretty tired girl.. How lucky are we to live here!!

 

Ok so this was our tea party after Lilja's second day of school. No baking cookies today, but she decorated hers from yesterday and we had some hot chocolate in the cups... and all over the counter.. Why don't they make those little kettles easier to pour??

 after we drank some, she would go ahhh..

 

 



happy girl having some one-on- one with her momma.. wow, how I am going to miss this smiley face 7 hours out of the day!!

 

First day of school!!

Ok, today was Lilja's first day of school. I would have loved to have waited one more year until Kindergarten, but Lilja was oh so ready for it. Let's just say , she was leading my Tumbling Tots classes and would get upset if I did not sing one of her favorite songs.. Arguing with a 4 year old in my class is not the ideal situation. so... here it goes, her first day of school of the rest of her life.. She did amazing.. We got her clothes and lunch box ready the night before and Lilja was very particular in what she wanted to wear. Her Minnie mouse dress, her snowflake leggings and best of all her "light-up" shoes. We had to wake her up as we had a busy day the day before, but she was so excited from the minute she woke up. Aran also came with us, so it was a family affair. we were ready at 7:30.. and waited, drove slow and almost even got coffee as we were ready way to early.. we were the second ones there and followed all the protocol of cubbies, signing in and saying goodbye.. Lilja gave us big hugs, kisses and blew us some kisses for us to save for later just incase we were missing her and then... we walked away. No tears, just an empty feeling and a feeling of hope that she is having a great time. Forward to 3 o'clock.. I was holding myself back to pick her up early. Mind you, I do not have to work till September so this is going to be interesting.. Time?? what time? for myself.. Noooo. so I went to the classroom and talked to the teacher for a little bit.. Ms Penny: 'she is so sweet and polite. You can see you have worked with her, she is so confident, smart and such a happy girl. I WAS BEAMING!!! Yep, the first day was an success. The only thing is that she is the only one that is a non-napper.. Oh well, if that is the only thing.. I told Lilja the story about when I was younger and my mom would be ready with tea and cookies when we got home. And that I wanted to do the same.. Lilja's face was beaming too. So we got home, baked cookies ( yes, we made them from scratch.. just throwing a little extra in there) and talked about her day.. it was so fun to hear her talk so excitingly about her school. We made the right choice. Lilja's favorite thing of the day? Playing outside and learning a lot about apples.. enjoy the school girl pictures.

 

 

proud momma

proud daddy

 

unfortunately she did not need this beautiful backpack.. they made their own totebags in class. but I know we will get some good use out of it somehow.

 

here she goes!!! Lunchbox ala tante Brigitte!!

 

Ms Danielle and Ms Penny. They are such sweet teachers. Very nurturing and calm. Lilja said she loves Ms Penny ( the blonde one) the most because she teaches her stuff. Good girl.. gravitating towards people that will expand your mind..even if it is about apples. 

albuquerque!!

Aran's annual Native American Wildlife conference was in Albuquerque this year at the Isleta casino and Hotel and Lilja and I got to go with him.. Great hotel, wonderful pool and I even got to work out every morning,, Oh this momma is getting sooo healthy!!The one thing I wanted to do with Lilja was going to the Zoo. I love zoos and Lilja loves animals.. so great combination.. wink, wink...


Lilja and I lived in this pool. In the morning and afternoon, and then Aran would get off and we would swim some more.. the pool was great, because it was a shallow entrance, so perfect for Little ones.

 

this was my view when Aran would get off.. yes, those are my toes, and no unfortunately no drink in hand..

the zoo!!! Lilja loved sitting on all the statues.

there were a lot of babies.. here is Jasmine... the little baby elephant.. Did we have a conversation about who we knew with the same name.. too funny!!

OK, this "watering hole" was by far the favorite thing to do at the zoo. We had only done 1/2 of the zoo and Lilja was getting hungry and tired.. what better thing to do than to get wet.. and let's just say there was not a dry part on Lilja's body!! You have to wait and water shoots out from the bottom in different areas at different times. We kind of figured out the pattern so Lilja got soaked!! see the previous video for more fun!!

yep, SOAKED!!

 

OK, second favorite was feeding the giraffe!! yes, she got to feed her.. Lilja was a little timid.. understandable as the head was as big as her.. but she fed her.. Oh so cool!!

 

 

 

This guy wanted food and Opened his mouth for us too when we stood really close.. I was so impressed I forgot to take a photo when we were staring in his mouth..

Yep, the two silly girls.. on a train tour..

 

another animal to sit on

and the real ones to watch

But the highlight of this zoo, and the reason why we came is this guy.. His name is Luke and as you can see he is a koala. Lilja has been watching this show called Koala Hospital.It is a real show about this vet office that takes care of Koalas in Australia. She is obsessed about koalas right now.. and lambies ofcourse..  I found out that this zoo had a koala and so we saw him first on the list.. When we walked up he was asleep ad we only saw his bum and I was so disappointed for Lilja, but when we walked away he woke up.. kind of.. Thanks Luke, for making Lilja's day!! 

He is right there behind us!!

The feeding pond was pretty cute. You could feed the "fat" ducks and the huge carp.. Lilja was loving it..See all these experiences, I love seeing them through Lilja's eyes.. I turn into a little kid and have as much fun as she is having.. sometimes maybe more:) We also went bowling and shopping for school clothes.. She got some lightup shoes.. so excited.. It was a great trip !!

summer fun! and the Fair..

Sorry for the delay in postings.. we went t Albuquerque for a conference with Aran for a little vacation and we have just been busy doing fun summer stuff. so here are the photos to proof it.

the children's museum usually has the same stuff and Lilja will play with the same things.. this time though, she really gt into making a robot.. great job Lilja!!

Wall-E!!







this rocket launcher is always a big hit..

it went way up high.. You have to pump air into the rocket and then push a button and it will fly high into that tube. very cool!!

There is a "tree" that you can climb and on the first level is a "jail".. Lilja put herself in jail..Hopefully the only one she will ever be in!!  But there is a way out ...

 

I love catching Lilja in these moments  just being her.. 

does she look like she is just growing up so fast, or is it me? the pool, floater and water table were played with every day.. I feel sad saying goodbye to such fun.. it is pouring rain outside now and seems not to let up.. I think end of summer is here..

 

Ok this is Lilja first, REAL roller-coaster..Lilli-beth is sitting next to her and seems more scared than Lilja.. When Lilja got out she had a big smile on her face and said :" Mom, I was freaking out, but it was soooo fun" 

 

this was her start face though and I almost pulled her off the ride... so serious!



the ferris wheel is becoming the daddy-daughter annual event.. Who is having more fun??

 

Lilja LOVES animals and is not afraid of them at all.. Lambies are of course her favorite, but this cows butt was pretty soft too.