Potty Party

Well we bit the bullet this weekend and stayed at home (mostly) and worked on training Braedyn how to use the potty. We've been reading up on it and watched a DVD for Potty Training in 1 day. We weren't totally sold on the theory but we thought we'd give it a try. That first day was pretty exhausting on mom and dad and seemed like we didn't make any progress. I (Talisha) was ready to burn the book in the back yard! Braedyn, however, thought the whole day was a party because he got tons of juice and sweet treats and mom and dad's total attention, minus lots of pee pee clean up. He even thought the practice runs were a fun game and came running for the potty all smiles and giggles. At least we managed to keep the accidents contained in the kitchen and other hardwood floors. We continued on the second day and only had two accidents but still no self initiation, just good timing. Monday (day three) arrived and Braedyn was magically trained. He started telling us when he needed to go, and going to the potty on his own, pulling down his pants and going! Amazing I know and I'm sure there are still a few more accidents coming our way but the difference from day 1 and day 3 is mind blowing! We are on day 7 now and only a few accidents since and he is staying dry for most naps and nights. Also amazing since he used to wake up with one soggy diaper. Anyway we are so proud of all his progress so quickly and hope it continues. Go Braedyn. You rock kid!

Our House

We're getting pretty well settled into our house in Carpinteria. I took some outside shots of it and stiched them into panoramas. If you want to have some fun, I also created a Synth of all of the outside photos and got some decent results from it. Check that out here (You may have to install Microsoft Silverlight if you haven't already). Photosynth is a really cool product that came out of Microsoft labs, it creates a 3D world out of 2D images. Many of us at MS have just been waiting to be able to use it to create our own synths. Check out some of the better synths that have been created like the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, or the Roman Coliseum.

Visiting Nicole

Talisha and Braedyn headed out to the desert to visit her long time friend, Nicole, from college days. Who has twins babies and almost twin dogs. Braedyn seemed to prefer playing with the dogs over the babies but the babies were pretty cool too. He will have a lot more fun with the twin babies once they are up and running around too (which isn't very far off). The difference between nearly one and approaching 3 is huge at this age but in a few more years I'm sure you'll hardly notice the difference in age. It was great seeing Nicole and her very cute babies and very BIG dogs as Braedyn dubbed them. Remeber we have a 5 lbs. dog so any dog over 20 lbs. is a very BIG dog!

Reality Carpinteria

We've been attending a local church here called Reality! It is just a short bike ride from our home in Carpinteria. This particular Sunday was the 5 year anniversary of the church so they had church outside, down at the Carpinteria State Beach Park. Braedyn has been talking about Outside Church ever since, luckily they are having another outside service for the Avacado festival in a couple weeks. This was a great service with good music, message, and a BBQ with bouncy castles afterwards.

 
 

Zoo-B-Q

The Santa Barbara zoo held the annual Zoo-B-Q and so we headed back to the zoo for an evening of checking out the animals, eating some other grilled animals, and then listening to Hot Lava (Rock Music for Kids). Hot Lava does quite the reved up version of Wheels on the Bus and Green Eggs and Ham but Braedyn loves it. He usually comes home and rocks out on his little drum set for about 30 minuts, VERY LOUDLY!! It was a nice second visit to the zoo. There were lots of animal characters walking around, some bouncy castles, and some little mini plays happening on stage. But the music was the highlight for Braedyn who had lots of other kids dancing with him tonight!

 

San Ysidro Trail

We went for a hike on Saturday up San Ysidro trail in Montecito. It supposedly headed up to a waterfall, but we didn't get that far, or went the wrong way or something... But it was fune none the less and was a very pretty hike with a nice stream along side, and lots of mountain and ocean views. We stopped for lunch at a nice little spot with a small waterfall and threw some rocks in.

 
 
 
 

Santa Barbara Zoo

We spent a day at the zoo in Santa Barbara recently. We were pleasently surprised to find that this small town has quite the zoo! We didn't even get through the whole thing in the time we were there. Braedyn liked the trains a lot, but also spent a lot of time watching penguins and the tigers. We ended up getting a membership so that we could go back anytime.

 
 
 

Chase Palm Park

We headed into Santa Barbara for mommy to do some shopping for new running shoes and then go to the zoo and we got there quicker than we expected so the store wasn't open yet. We found a nice little playground area at Chase Palm Park that made for a perfect layover at which we spent ample time for the stores to open...

Arrival

These are actually some arrival shots at the Santa Barbara airport. Braedyn was really happy, which only surprised us because we had woken up at 5:00am that day. We had some fun playing in the trees at the airport while daddo went to get the rental car.

 
 

Arts & Crafts

This is actually a little older picture from when we were living in the hotel in Redmond. Mom wanted to find some things to do since most of the toys were packed up so crafts it was. Braedyn had a lot of fun putting the stickers on this crown as well as making a get well card for MeMa. He wore this crown around for the next few days until he had picked all the stickers off of it.

 

Home Depot

The house we are renting in Carpinteria was in need of a few things so we headed out to the Home Depot to look at waher/dryers and other items to blow our money on. Braedyn scored a work apron and had a blast pushing every button on every machine in sight.

 

Potty Naps

We are not sure why but Braedyn has preffered sleeping "by the potty" over his bed as of late. He even asked to "hold the potty" over blackie (his stuffed bear) for his nap today. This only seems to be his preference at nap time which has been a bit of a struggle lately so whatever at least he's getting his much needed rest even if it is "by the potty". This bathroom attatches to his bedroom in the new house and since he is in a big boy bed he can sleep where he pleases as long as he stays in his room/bathroom. Mom will just have to make sure the toilet stays extra clean.... Could it be he is giving us major signals he is ready to be potty trained or does he just like mommy's new soft rug? Odd, yes; Kinda cute, of course!

Karaoke

Well the music was terrible, but it had a beat so Braedyn had a blast. We had headed to a Carpinteria local pizza Joint, Giovanni's Pizza, and wound up in the midst of local Karoke night! There certainly we're no potential American Idol winners there this night, but Braedyn drew some cheers for his dancing ability. And the Pizza was pretty good too!

Sand castles

Braedyn loves knocking down sand castles. He always wants to make sure we bring his buckets and shovels so we can build up a nice castle so that he can have the joy of demolishing it completely!

Blackie

Braedyn's favorite stuffed animal is his little black bear from Whistler. He always wants to make sure that Blackie is able to see while we read books and falls asleep with Blackine in his arms each night.

pilfering pennies

Mom and dad are so stingy with their money that Braedyn has to reach into the fountain to have coins to toss back in. Of course all the coins in there came from mom and dad anyhow which is why they have no more...