Sunday Afternoon Roadtrip!

We went on a Roadtrip on this fine Sunday Afternoon. A roadtrip that combined our family with our friends, The W***** Family. Rachel was beyond excited when we piled into their car and headed up to the San Bernardino Mountains, with our destination being the Lake Arrowhead Village. There are all kinds of things to do...shop, eat, play. Rachel was especially excited about the carrousel. As mentioned in a prior post, she loves Merry Go Rounds and Carrousels, and this one located right on the shore of the lake was no different. She especially enjoyed this one because unlike the ones located at Disneyland, this carrousel actually had reins to "guide" your horse.The majority of the stores were already decorated for Christmas, the only evidence of it being Fall, was this lone scarecrow and adorable turkey. Our two families had a great afternoon, and needless to say, Rachel was disappointed when our time together came to an end.

Pretty in Pink

Disneyland with Uncle Bart and Peggy

Hannah was off from school today in recognition of the American holiday, Veteran's Day. What better way to spend a day off from school than heading to Disneyland. Today we met my Uncle Bart and his girlfriend Peggy. All three of us girls were really looking forward to today's trip. Rachel had such a great time today. Having extra hands and eyes with me, we went to Tom Sawyer's Island, where Rachel had a blast exploring the island and climbing the stairs, looking through the telescopes, and going across the rope bridges. She really warmed up to Uncle Bart and had a ton of fun letting him chase her around. Disneyland was extremly crowded this morning. So we headed across the way to California Adventure in hopes of it being less crowded. While it was less crowded, it was still extremely busy as well. I guess everyone had the same idea of spending their day off from work and school.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. A fun adventure trail consisting of hollow logs to climb through, slides, rope bridges, and lots of other fun things to do. Rachel had so much fun exploring and climbing. One of the things that really excites Rachel is simply the sight of the Merry Go Round in California Adventure or the Carrousel at Disneyland. She loves these rides and is so cute in her excitement. Very rarely are we ever able to ride it just once, because if you try to dismount her, she will protest, and it's not a pretty site. LOL. As always, we had a great day. Leaving, looking forward to our next trip, especially now that the official Christmas season has arrived at Disneyland. One of my favorite seasons at Disneyland.Disneyland's Christmas Tree for 2006.

A Year Ago Today

It is a year today that Rachel had her palate repair. A whole year. Where has the time gone??

It's hard to believe it's been a year, but at the same time it seems like much longer than a year ago. Rachel has changed so much the last year in her appearence, her speech, her attitude. Reading the archived posts of a year ago, I'm thankful we have all that behind us. Praise the Lord for all He has done with Rachel since then. The night following her palate repair, suffering from a complication of having her tongue swell up.
A year later, as cute as ever.

Speech Update

Rachel had speech today, not our normal speech day, but due to a scheduling conflict we met today instead of on Wednesday.

Rachel has really progressed the last couple of weeks with her speech. She talks all the time, and lately not just in jibber jabber, but in actual words you can understand. Leaving me questioning why it was we were going to speech once a week. So when Rachel's speech therapist called a few days ago to rescedule our appointment, I talked to her about the possibility of perhaps only meeting once every 3-4 weeks. And our therapist agreed.

So for now, Rachel will go every 3 weeks to speech therapy. I am so looking forward to not going every week!

"Like My New Teeth?"

Starting our morning off with some good laughs having had Rachel discovered these teeth in her bag from last night.

Trunk Or Treat

For the second year in a row, we went to Trunk or Treat with our friends next door. There are about 15-18 cars for Trunk or Treating, and it didn't take long before Rachel knew exactly what to do. When she approached a person at their car, more often than not, they gave her extra candy because she was so darn cute! In addition to the Trunk or Treating, there are about 10 different game booths that when played, earns you even more candy! Rachel did pretty darn good at some of the games. Heading to the car, holding very tightly on to her bag of candy.

Preschool Parade

Following Hannah's parade at school, Rachel, Mommy, and Gramma went to see Cousin McKenzie in her Halloween parade at preschool. It was fun going and being a part of the special event as this is the preschool that Hannah went to for two years and is also the preschool that Rachel is already on the waiting list for for next Fall. It was nice seeing and saying hi to Hannah's old teachers. They also enjoyed getting to see Rachel, as she was just a baby and wasn't even walking when Hannah said her goodbye to preschool.

Rachel loved this Motorhome, as did Hannah when she first started attending this preschool. It was hard to tear Rachel away from it. Next year's Halloween preschool parade will be tons of fun with McKenzie, Rachel, and probably even Haylee participating in it!

Anyone Need a Nurse??

2006 Edwards Air Force Base Airshow

Today we went to the Open House and Air Show at Edwards Air Force Base. It's about a 2 hour drive from our house, and with that said, it's a strong possibility that the girls will be getting individual DVD players that hang over the headrest for Christmas, for long car rides such as these.

I think it's safe to say that Rachel probably didn't enjoy the airshow. The flyovers and demonstrations were extremely loud and sometimes frightening to her, as determined by the way she clutched onto you as they flew overhead. She did, however, manage to take about an hour nap in her stroller despite the noise. The U.S. Army Parachute Team - The Golden Knights Heading to the car.
Having had a beautiful, bright day, the evening sky was just as beautiful.

Disneyland with Jonathan

Today we went to Disneyland with my friend, Cathleen and her son Jonathan. Jonathan and Rachel are buddies from the nursery at church. And what was so special about today's trip, was that it was Jonathan's first time to Disneyland! Jonathan has become quite a fan of Mickey Mouse because of cartoons on The Disney Channel, and when Jonathan came face to face with Jonathan, he opened his arms right up for Mickey to hug him. It was so cute. The kids, and us moms, had such a great time. It was fun and relaxing, we didn't have to race to get everything seen and done, nor did we have to do any of the 'good' rides because neither of the kids were big enough for them. As often as we go, everytime we go to Disneyland is a different experience.

Is She a Cutie or What?!?!?

2 Years of Blogging!

I can hardly believe that today marks the 2 year anniversary of this blog for Rachel!

When I created this blog, we were only just at the beginning of our journey with Rachel. At that time the journey seemed so overwhemling. But knowing we'd get through it with the help from our Lord, and our family and friends, made it a little easier. Here we are, 2 years later, Rachel has come so far. She has three surgeries under her belt, with more to come. She's talking more and more each day with the help of speech therapy. And is a normal 2 year old complete with the tantrums and attitude. LOL. Thank You to those of you who continue to come and follow Rachel, even now when our journey is slow and uneventful when it comes to the things revolving around her birth defect.

Disneyland with Friends

We've been frequenting Disneyland quite a bit the past few months with Hannah being off track the last month and the trips that just Rachel and I have made together. Today we went with friends who've not been to Disneyland for a couple of years and had a great time!
Having some fun in Toontown.
With one of her favorite characters... Minnie Mouse.
In New Orleans, posing with Terry, after just having gotten some beads.
We got to the park before it even opened and stayed until closing. Rachel having missed her afternoon nap, fell asleep in her stroller, clutching on to her box of Mickey cookies as we walked to the tram loading. She stayed asleep through me getting her out of the stroller, the tram ride, me putting her jammies on once to the van and remained asleep all the way home.

The Griffith Observatory

We went to The Griffith Observatory this afternoon for a special preview for Friends of the Observatory in anticipation of the grand reopening next month after a four year closure for remodeling and an expansion. Rachel wasn't particulary interested in any of the exhibits, although she did keep requesting to see the "big ball", the moon. LOL. We learned that her weighing 30lbs on Earth, meant she'd only weigh 6lbs on the Moon, which is less than what she weighed even at birth! It had been a cloudy and overcast day, so the night sky wasn't too clear. But just being up on Mount Hollywood, overlooking the city of Los Angeles and Hollywood made for really nice pictures.