Calories

I was going to take advantage of Haden sleeping and spend time with Regan. I asked her is she wanted to make a treat together. She asked if it "had a lot of calories in it?" Now I admit, we talk about eating healthfully on a regular basis, but seriously? Apparently a show on PBS, The Big Green Rabbit, had an episode about calories which Regan obviously paid close attention to. Upon further questioning, she didn't really understand what calories did, but that we got them from our food. So, never underestimate how much three year olds can absorb. (We did make a treat, but then I felt guilty eating all those calories!)

Question of the Day

Every morning in preschool Regan has to answer a question of the day. The other day the question was "How many sisters do you have?" The preschool teacher helping Regan was rather confused when Regan tried to put her name under the one. Regan tried to explain to her teacher that her sister was in heaven. Since Regan is a little difficult to understand, I'm not sure what the teacher understood. Luckily, I was still there and could explain. Regan has been begging for a sister for some time now. She was and still is continually praying for her sister to come down from heaven. She once told Clint that her baby sister was "growing right here" as she patted my stomach. In an effort to appease Regan, I offered her any one of my sisters that she wanted. (I have seven.) She quickly selected her favorites and I thought the sister in heaven would be forgotten. I was wrong. Regan tries to buy extra toys for her sister in heaven, sets aside treats for her, and will even bring me her outgrown clothes and tell me to save them for her sister in heaven. She will be a wonderful big sister, but what do I do if our next baby is a boy??

California

We spent last week in southern California with my sister. She is a travel nurse and is temporarily living on the beach just outside of Los Angeles. She offered us a free place to stay and cheap tickets to Disneyland. Who could pass up an offer like that? Regan was so excited--she could talk of little else the days before we left. We drove there and the kids were awesome, well, if you don't count Regan asking repeatedly if we were there yet before we were even out of Denver! We left Friday after work and made it to Green River, UT (Clint and I once broke down there on a trip back from Texas with a trailer full of antique furniture and miniature cows and donkeys--it's a long story!) Saturday we had planned on hiking in Zion National Park, however since it was raining, we continued on to Vegas. We haven't been there for several years, and they have really cleaned it up from what I remember. Neither of the kids enjoyed the volcano in front of the Mirage, okay that's an understatement. At the first boom they both started crying and didn't stop until the show was over. Regan did like the fountains at Bellagio and was mesmerized by the circus performers at Circus Circus. I think we'll wait until they are much older before we go back...

Both kids loved running on the beach. Regan, thankfully, did not inherit my motion sickness and was nearly fearless on the rides at Disneyland. After getting off Thunder Mountain, she told Clint that she was trying to be brave, but wanted to stick to riding the teacups! Despite her excitement to meet all the princesses at Ariel's Grotto, she was very bashful and adamently refused to talk or even look at them when they came to our table. She was much more willing to be friendly when we ran into them at the park. I think Haden was a little annoyed that he got left with the princesses while Clint and Andrea rode Space Mountain.

The days that we weren't at the theme park, we spent hiking through Topanga State Park and exploring the tidepools by Point Vicente lighthouse. I love lighthouses, there is just something mysterious about them. The legend goes that a woman lost her lover at sea, so she threw herself off the cliffs by the lighthouse and now her ghost haunts the area as she searches for her love.

I think one of Regan's favorite parts of the trip was visiting the grocery store. They had the little baskets just her size. She and Haden took turns pushing it around the store and adding groceries and then she checked us out using the the self check out. She scanned the groceries by herself, pushed the appropriate buttons and scanned the credit card. She is way too capable with the credit card for a three year old! I'm afraid the children's museum grocery store will no longer be exciting!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Clint got to hike, Regan got to go to Disneyland, and Haden got to play on the beach. Although Regan is already asking to return, Clint insists he won't go back to Disneyland for several more years.