On Thursday, January 19th, we celebrated Jordana’s 5th Birthday at Bogey Macaws in York, PA. We rented out a small room for two hours. Guest list included Mommy, Daddy, Max, Gram & Pap, Omi & G, Grandma Bonnie & PopPop and Uncle Jason & Aunt April.
We arrived there around 5:45 and told everyone else to arrive around 6. We needed to show up early so we could order beverages and so the kids could get their goody bags. We placed the order for 3 pizzas and then people started showing up. While waiting for the pizza, Mommy and the kids hit up the game room.
Once the pizza showed up, we all ate and dove into present opening. Jordana ended up with a TON of new clothes and toys. Toys included the Yellow Fijit she’s been wanting, the Crayola Explosion Glow Dome and Glow Board, Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints, a new box of crayons, coloring books and My Little Pony Friendship Express Train Set. Present opening was followed by cake eating. After that, we had a solid 45 minutes left to devote strictly to game room. With all of us playing games, we ended up getting the kids a combined total of 1682 tickets.
After getting a slew of prizes, we packed up and headed home. The kids stayed awake the whole ride home (a 20 minute trip) and stayed up till around 10 or so that evening. Jordana said she had fun and looks forward to turning 5 on January 26th.
Yesterday was Jordana’s first day of her second year of Pre-School at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Spring Grove. She went to bed and woke up very excited to go. Mommy got her a new Hello Kitty skirt and matching shirt for her first day. She got a new backpack from Grandma which has a kitty princess on it. She was ready to roll.
However, Mommy got sick. I was able to leave work early and take Jordana to school. Since she is in the older class now, her school days start at 12:15 pm and go till 2:45 pm.
We got there with 10 minutes to spare, so we hung out in the car for a bit until they opened the front doors. We eventually jumped out of the car and I snapped some pictures real quick.
Once we got inside, Jordana fell right into her old rhythm. She placed her backpack on her table, said hello to her friends and started playing in the toy room. She left Max and I in the dust as she was so excited to start pre-school again.
When we went back to pick her up, they were just wrapping up their day. The teacher let the students out one at a time when they saw their parents. While at school the class made yellow school buses out of construction paper since the color of the week was Yellow. Jordana’s bus had freckles on it. Jordana grabbed all of her items and placed them into her backpack and we headed out.
I asked about her day. She told me how there are now TWO Ava’s and TWO Alex’s in her class. This seemed to stump her as she couldn’t wrap her head around two kids having the same name. I asked what all she did in school, but all she could say was, “I’m just so confused that there are two Ava’s in my class”. She did however remember how delicious her cookies at snack time where.
As we left, we swug by Rutter’s to grab some First-Day-of-School Slushies. Jordana made a Cherry-French Vanilla-Blue Raspberry Slushie (which she drank all of). Today is her 2nd day and she is still excited to go.
In August of 2011, we took a day trip to Inner Harbor, Maryland to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore and various stores at Harborplace Mall. This was our first long trip out of state as a family. Tons of fun was had.
After arriving to Inner Harbor, we parked at a Parking Garage which amazed the kids. All the cars in a tall building blew their minds. We eventually found a parking spot on the 5th level. We then had to walk down the stairs due to Mommy’s fear of elevators. Once we reached the ground level, it was only a two to three block walk to the aquarium. The kids were digging the city. We got to the aquarium and got our tickets.
We first walked in and Jordana was excited to see everything. Max was tense and didn’t want me to put him down. We first saw a BIG fish tank which was filled by a waterfall. We then headed up one level and walked through the bird section of the aquarium. We saw a bunch of different birds but were unable to get any decent pictures. After that we headed over to the water section. We saw all sorts of Sharks, Stingrays and multiple tropical fish.
Moving on we checked out Australia’s Wild Extremes. They had large snakes, alligators, turtles and more. Jordana enjoyed the turtles. After leaving “Australia”, we walked over to the dolphin area. The aquarium has scheduled shows where the dolphins do tricks and entertain visitors. While we didn’t attend the show, we did go below the show area to watch the dolphins. They had a big room where you can stand and watch what goes on under the water. Jordana and Max would both laugh hysterically whenever they swam by.
After checking out the dolphins, we came to Jordana’s favorite part of the Aquarium, the jellyfish. Recently becoming a big Spongebob Squarepants fan, she was extra excited to see all the different kinds of Jellyfish. She also asked if she can catch them in her jellyfish net. The room with the jellyfish was dark and Jordana was running all over it. It was by far her favorite experience at the aquarium.
After visiting the jellyfish, Max was starting to get tired and hungry. He didn’t want to walk anymore and was becoming extremely grumpy. So we hurried through one last exhibit consisting of various fish, crabs and ect. This section was so crowded and long that we just walked through it without looking at much. After eventually getting out, we walked over to the Harborplace Mall to enjoy some lunch at Phillips Seafood.
We then checked out various stores in the mall. Mommy purchased a few bottles of perfume at a shop and then we moved on to a candy shop called IT’SUGAR. Here the kids went NUTS! They saw all their favorite candies and then some. We purchased a pound of mixed candy but Jordana also saw a giant gummy bear, an over sized Rice Krispy Treat and Daddy laughed at the Stay Puft Marshmallows. We left IT’SUGAR and walked over to The Cheesecake Factory to grab a cheesecake to take home. However we weren’t sure where to order and no one attempted to help us, so we bailed.
To conclude the trip, we walked back to the parking garage and walked up five flights of stairs till we arrived at our car. We then buckled in and drove home. Both kids feel asleep in the back of the car on the way home. Overall it was a very fun trip and one I’ll never forget.
On August 14, 2011 Jordana and the rest of the family went to The Turkey Hill Experience in Columbia, PA. Jordana has an awesome time.
After getting tickets, we peeked into the cafe/gift shop area. Then we went up a huge set of stairs and entered the tour. We actually saw the cow milking area and did that first even though we discovered that was the last part of the tour. After that, there was a Turkey Hill Tea area (my favorite beverage). We got samples of Strawberry-Kiwi Lemonade for the kids after they lounged on some bean-bags then continued on.
We then entered an area where you learn about the various bacteria and germs that get removed before turning the milk into ice cream. We played with the exhibits they had there then jumped in line to create your own ice cream. After standing in a never ending line for 5 minutes, we bailed out of that and found something the kids loved, A BALLPIT!!!
After coaching them out of the pit, we went into an area which explains the mixing process of the ice cream. There was a huge room with a giant mixer in the ceiling. The mixer was attached to a pole which people could spin. If you spun the mixer fast enough, it would eventually create a breeze. Also in this room was a set of tube slides which Max couldn’t get enough of.
Once we left that, we hit up an area which explains how the flavoring is added to the ice cream. It was a neat area where you take big white contains of “flavoring” and pretend to dump them into this vat of ice cream. The vat of ice cream was actually a series of LCD screens that reacted to the flavor you were dumping in. So if you dumped strawberry flavoring into the ice cream, the ice cream turned pink and strawberries flew everywhere. It was pretty neat.
After we dumped gallons of flavoring into the ice cream, we were treated to a sample of ice cream. Jordana enjoyed some Touchdown Sundae while the rest of us sampled some Whoopie Pie Ice Cream. We destroyed our samples and made our way back down to the cafe/gift shop. We all ordered some ice cream. Jordana enjoyed a nice large cone of Orange Cream Ice Cream.
That wrapped up the tour. We left there and headed to Park City to hit up Build-A-Bear so Jordana and Max could make some new stuffed animals. Once that was wrapped up we left, had Arby’s for dinner and came home. It was a most excellent day.
I was looking forward to this day SO much. Since Jordana was a tiny baby I told Sara, “I can’t wait to take her to the movies”. That day finally arrived on June 30th, 2011. Jordana and I went to see The Smurfs in 3D.
I ordered the tickets through Fandango.com due to the fear that on a Saturday afternoon, the show MIGHT sell out. So we go to the kiosk to pick up our tickets, and the kiosk is broken and it says “pick up tickets at ticket booth”. So we get our tickets and 3D glasses and I take Jordana to the snack bar. Amazed by all the treats, we grab a medium popcorn and a large Sprite and head to theater 10.
As Jordana and I are walking to theater 10, she keeps asking for popcorn. We arrive and she’s blown away by the size of the “TV”. My fear of a packed theater is put to bed as there is a total of 8 to 10 people in the theater (including us). We grab out seats and I open the glasses, pop’em on as the lights go down and we wait…and wait…and wait. The digital projector crashes (see picture below)
After 10 or 12 minutes of the projector being down, they restart it and the previews begin. Jordana is amazed by the 3D. During the 3D glasses demo, a bee “flys out at her” and she jumps a mile high out of her seat. The demo ends and the theater goes quiet and Jordana exlcaims, “DADDY!!! THAT BEE JUMPED OUT AT ME AND SCARED ME!!!”. Everyone in the theater laughs.
We get though all the previews (which Jordana enjoyed) and the movie finally starts. Jordana enjoys what she sees, but about 15 minutes into it she asked me how much longer is left. I told her probably about an hour or so. She looks at me and says, “ok, well lets go”. I inform her multiple times that if we leave, we can’t come back in. She says ok and we leave.
We were at the theater for a total of 30 to 40 minutes after getting tickets, food, projector problems, previews and actual movie time. Even though her first movie trip was short, she had a good time, which is all that matters. Hopefully when she’s 6 or 7, we’ll give it another go.
7 days after posting about her very loose tooth, Jordana’s first tooth came out.
I was picking her up from Grandma’s house, got her and Max buckled into the car and as soon as I’m ready to start the car, Jordana exclaims, “DADDY MY TOOTH FELL OUT!!!”.
I jumped out of the car with a wad of napkins expecting her mouth to be gushing blood, but there was little to no blood at all. It had been very loose for days prior, so I assume a simple push of her tongue against her tooth pushed it out. Very excited, we came home to show Mommy and I gathered this video below…
She already has her 2nd loose tooth. I expect that one to pop out within 2 weeks. We shall see.
The other day at Grandma’s, Grandma realized Jordana’s bottom tooth was loose. Actually both front teeth on the bottom are loose, but the one in the video is ready to pop out any minute. Then Jordana will get her first visit from the tooth fairy. She enjoys showing everyone how far she can bend her tooth down. Video and/or pictures will follow when the tooth comes out!
For the 4th of July, Sara and I took the kids to the York Fairgrounds to watch the Fireworks. This was Jordana’s 2nd time watching fireworks (first time was back in 2009). She loved them and I think she enjoyed sitting with Max as well since this was his first time at the Fireworks. They both laughed the whole time. Now they want to go see Fireworks every night.
