A Quick Trip to Happy Hollow

We haven't been to Happy Hollow in a while so after preschool today, Peyton and I drove down and spent a couple hours there. We only had about an hour and half before it closed - they have limited hours when the school year begins.

We started off at the carousel where Mr. P-Rex (my Mom's nickname for him) chose to ride the Triceratops. :-)

From there, we jetted on over to the roller coaster (it was only open for 30 more minutes). I apologize for what you're going to hear in the following video. There's a reason why James usually rides the "scary" rides with our daredevil son. I dislike heights. I don't like roller coasters or anything super fast, other than cars. But, as it was just me and Peyton today, I had to suck it up and ride that roller coaster...TWICE! He had a ball, of course. Gotta keep him happy. :-)

We made our way over to the Danny the Dragon ride which was set to open at 2pm which gave us a few minutes to eat lunch.

Then he wanted to ride on the Kiddie Swings which he rides alone. I wish I could have gotten pictures or video while we were waiting in line. He was dancing to the beautiful Brazilian music playing. We lucked out and got the same music for the ride. Enjoy!

He wanted to ride it again, so he stayed on and went around a second time.

Then we headed over to his other favorite ride: the Frog Hopper. I mistakenly called it the Frog Jumper which he like and now it's the Frog Jumper in his mind. I got lucky as we were behind a mother with two girls in line, and the mother sat in the only adult seat on the ride, so Peyton had to ride it without me - oh darn! ;-)

From there, we only had about half an hour before the Park closed, so I gave him the choice of playing on the slides or feeding the cow (both of which he wanted to do). He chose the slides. I feel bad that he already knows that I won't climb up those structures, but he's a champion climber!


He went up the "easy way" the next time.

He just always comes out smiling. :-)

We're really trying to work on the concept of time and consequences of being late. He gets upset if we leave school to late (because he runs around with Naoki and refuses to go to the car) and misses the northbound train at the station. And, today was another learning opportunity. At about 2:40, I told him that if he wanted to feed the cow, we had to leave the slides soon. He refused. I asked again for the next 10 minutes and he kept refusing. So, when the announcer came on the speakers at 3:00 throughout the park saying it was now closed, I had a little meltdown to deal with as he wanted to feed the cow. Oh well, he'll understand eventually.

Overall, it wasn't bad for my first solo trip to Happy Hollow with Peyton given that we only had 90 minutes and he normally likes to spend 3-5 hours there. But we packed in a lot of fun. :-)

At the Car Wash

My Dad likes to keep his car very clean and goes to a place where they hand wash your car (exterior only) while you sit inside. I thought Peyton would love to watch this, so James and I took Peyton to get Papa's car washed on Saturday.

Our Little Fish

Last week's swim lesson was one of my favorites. Peyton is getting more and more confident in the water and just has a ball in the water. Here are a few pictures taken throughout the lesson.

 

 

 

 

 

At this lesson, he was in a very silly mood and wanted to make lots of "bubbles". His teacher, Carrie, was able to work it into a lesson in kicking.

More bubbles!

And then, this happened....

Yes, that's right! Peyton was SWIMMING! All legs, but still, swimming! And, he did it again.

And again!

I immediately sent one of the videos to James and he was sooooo happy! Way to go Peyton!!

The California Academy of Sciences

Peyton's preschool changes their curriculum every two weeks. Since he started in Mid-May, he's learned about a variety of subjects, including Dinosaurs, Under the Sea, American History, and, for the past two weeks, Vacations! The parents were asked to bring in pictures from a recent vacation (or day trip) that the child would remember, be able to talk about and describe the pictures.

Due to Peyton's rigorous therapy schedule (not to mention how terrible the traveling portion of our last two vacations went back in 2010), we have not taken any formal vacations with Peyton (and won't until he asks us to fly on a plane or ride on a train to somewhere far away).

But, he's great with day trips! And we're very lucky to live where we do and have so many options of places to visit!

We haven't been back to the California Academy of Sciences in a couple of months, so we decided that we could go there and take a ton of pictures for him to share at school!

As usual, Peyton goes nuts as soon as we walk in the door and immediately wants to jump onto James' shoulders to see the T-Rex (a replica) and try to reach its very sharp teeth!

Then, he always tries to reach its tail.

I love this picture! My two boys and their T-Rex. :-)

Next, we went over to the Philippine mangrove.

Peyton quickly pointed out Mr. Teacher Ray and Bruce the shark (he's big Nemo fan).

The Academy of Sciences recently opened a new Earthquake exhibit and is showcasing some baby ostriches too. Ostriches are living dinosaurs!

Aren't they so cute?!

Peyton is really fascinated with the planets and was happy to see a giant replica of Earth on display. He quickly pointed out America and Africa.

We noticed divers getting ready to feed the fish (the first floor of the academy includes the open tops to the giant tanks full of amazing fish in the Aquarium downstairs). He got to wave at one of the divers through the glass.

He loves the blue whale skeleton that hangs over the Earthquake exhibit, though Peyton calls it a white whale...

The Earthquake exhibit includes a presentation of the history of Earth and the plate system and then we move into the Shake House which is a beautifully decorated Victoria room, with gorgeous hardwood floors, china in the cabinets, paintings hung on the wall, books on the shelves and a bay window that has a video screen behind it. They then replicate the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, though it's different from what I remember it, and then give us a 30 second taste of the 1906 earthquake. Wow, that was a very strong quake and actually lasted 2 minutes!

Peyton wasn't too happy about going through the exhibit until the house started shaking. :-)

From the exhibit, we made our way back to see the white alligator in the swamp.

Peyton likes to climb up on the seahorse railing and look at it.

The closest we got to the Aquarium on this trip was to the entrance to the stairway above which "lives" a prehistoric shark jaw. We tried to get Peyton to show you how big it is.

There's a new exhibit of tortoises at the Academy. Peyton tried to climb this one, like he does to the stone ones at Happy Hollow, but we didn't let him.

Then, we went back through the Philippine mangrove, where Peyton spotted...

 Dory and Marlin!

We made our way to the African Hall where Peyton enjoys looking at the animal replicas such as the lions:

And the cheetah:

It's fun to spot the Jaguar in the tree:

Zebras are beautiful:

And lots and lots of antelope!

At the end of the Hall, they have a live penguin exhibit.

Peyton loved watching them bathe and swim and dive through the visible tank.

Hi little penguin!

At the entrance to the Hall, you are greeted by a lovely gorilla.

Then it was back to the T-Rex for a few more pictures.

And then we went to the atrium to feed Peyton lunch. They have a water show every half hour which is set to music and is amazing to watch.

Peyton loves it!

Then, Peyton asked to head to the roof. The Academy has a living roof. That day, they were holding an information session and Peyton was excited to see her holding a picture of a hummingbird.

I love all the grass on the roof!

And finally, we headed outside where Peyton played with the seal statues.

But then, his true calling was revealed. Peyton took it upon himself to chase away all the birds from the eating area where they were scavenging for food. This can be done by chasing them away, but Peyton adds a high-pitched squeal (think a piglet on helium) to it which makes it hilarious.

I couldn't take a video, sorry, because I had to make sure he stayed out of trouble. Most of the restaurant patrons were amused by his actions, but there were a few who seemed to think that we should win the deadbeat parents' award for allowing our child to run like a maniac. Whatever, he had fun, and we did too!

We love the Academy and can't wait to go back again. We're members, so we can bring in two adults with us (children under 4 are free)...AHEM, just saying.... :-)

Play Date with Naoki!

A few weeks ago, we were invited over to Peyton's friend Naoki's house for lunch and a play date. Peyton was so happy to see his best buddy from his early intervention class and Naoki was happy to see him too!

We went into their backyard for some outdoor fun.

Naoki's little brother Koki joined in the fun. He's just so darling!

Peyton practiced dunking the basketball in the hoop.

While Naoki was having fun filling up the wheelbarrow with water.

Koki helping his big brother.

Peyton decided he enjoyed watching Naoki, so he would dump out the water just to let Naoki refill it.

Then we took a walk to one of the play areas in Naoki's community.

James and Aki, Naoki's Dad, were pulled into chasing the boys around. (Koki stayed home as it was his nap time).

It got hot, so we went back to their house and, since Koki was asleep, Aki brought out the "special trains" - a motorized TOMY train set from Japan that is just awesome. Satoko, Naoki's Mom, and Naoki built one track.

Look what the engineers built (Aki is also an engineer)!

Naoki and Peyton loved watching the trains zip around.

We want to thank the Matsuda's for having us over that day. We had so much and look forward to doing it again soon!