The amazing Jumping Bean..

Elyssa loves to jump. I guess all kids love to jump, but I just think Elyssa is sometimes obsessed with jumping. She even at 2 years old wants to jump rope. I hold the jump rope for her and she will jump over the rope. Now I only hold it about an inch off the ground but the girl loves to jump. Recently, on one of our many trips to Collin Creek Mall, Elyssa notices a new play object. They have something new that allows a person to be strapped into a harness and jump as high as they can. Elyssa of course when she first saw it, begged to go on the “jumping bean”. Jumping Bean is what she so loving calls anything she can jump on. The first time I saw it I told her no that she had to be “bigger” to get on it, to me it just looked a bit to dangerous for a kid her size and I honestly did not think they would allow her to go on it. So she was happy to do what we always do; ride the train, play in the play area, and ride the coin operated cars on the way out. Well the next time we went a few days later daddy was with us. Of course as soon as daddy saw the new “jumping bean” he was intrigued. As Elyssa was riding the train (it is in front of the area where the train is), he walked over and talked to the gentleman who was running the “jumping bean”. He found out that Elyssa was no only big enough they had actually allowed kids smaller than her to jump. Apparently the weight limit on the “jumping bean” was 20-150lbs and Elyssa is 30lbs. So after the train ride we walked over to the “jumping bean” and discussed what to do. As Eddie and I debated whether or not to allow her to jump Elyssa was standing beside me pleading “want to mommy, want to, please mommy want to” so of course as I looked into those adorable blue eyes and could not refuse..she got to ride the “jumping bean”. I won’t lie, I was scared to death that she would start bawling and hate it, but my little Elyssa was a real trooper. She not only did great, she loved it. The gentleman who ran the “jumping bean” was great with her and helped her the whole time. She was giggling and laughing as she jumped at least 10-13 ft in the air. All I could do was laugh with her and of course take a ton of pictures and videos of her first amazing experience on the jumping bean!

Of course since that first time jumping on the “jumping bean”, we now have to ride on the jumping bean every time we go to the mall, but I have to say her giggles and laughs make it all worth it…

Skateboards and Roller Skates...

Yes, I said a skate board and roller skates. I know she is only 2 but she was watching one of her favorite cartoons (Max & Ruby) and they were roller skating and on a skate board and she sooo wanted them as well. We did not exactly buy them at the same time. We actually went to Academy and got her the skate board first. We bought her a helmet, knee and elbow pads to go with it. In fact she insisted we buy them when we got her the skateboard. Of course it is a princess helmet with matching elbow pads and knee pad, what else would you expect? She did not do real well on the skateboard and pretty much just sits on the board and lets us push her around. We got her the roller skates about 2 weeks later at Target. They of course are princess roller skates and also came with matching elbow and knee pads. The kid is set for safety that is for sure. She did so much better with the roller skating. In fact reminded me of myself when I was learning to skate. She wears the skates all around the house. She does great on the carpet (does not roll as much…lol) and when she goes in the kitchen she does great as long as she is holding on to the counter and such. I’m really proud of her on the skates. In fact we took her roller skating at a real roller rink a week after we got the skates. She absolutely loved it and did a great job for a first time. Daddy was home so he went as well and Aunt Lisa went with us to. I actually think we could start skating more often … time will tell.

First Family Vacation...

Well we finally broke down and took our first and much needed family vacation. So we worked some magic with daddy’s horrible schedule, got the plane tickets, packed the suitcases and headed for the first Borden family vacation. Now what better place to take a well needed vacation than….WALLY WORLD…oh, wait that was the Griswold’s National Lampoon vacation I’m confusing this with, …we actually went to Disneyland or in the words of Elyssa “Mickey’s House”. Ok, really Disneyland was only a part of our trip, we took 8 blissful days and enjoyed the San Diego Zoo, a bunch of beautiful beaches, and 2 days at incredible Disneyland. Thanks to daddy working his horrible travel job, the plane tickets and the hotel were all free! Ok, since daddy sacrifices so much family time with us because of his job, I guess the tickets were not really “free”. Unfortunately daddy had to pay for all the “free” stuff with time he had to spend away from myself and Elyssa. There truly is a tradeoff for everything in life, nothing is every truly free!

We started the trip off by flying into Las Angeles and driving to San Diego where we spent 2 days. We went to the world famous San Diego Zoo where Elyssa had an incredible time visiting with all the animals and got to take her first Gondola ride over the Zoo and a tour of the zoo in a double decker tour bus. We also went to Mission Bay Beach, Ocean Beach and Dog Beach. At Dog Beach Elyssa got to run on the beach with all of the puppy dogs. She had an incredible time visiting with all the dogs. Dog Beach is an off leach beach that pet owners can take there dogs to play in the water.

After leaving San Diego, we made our way to Anaheim, CA to our hotel, Hilton’s Embassy Suites. We spent the rest of our visit there where we spent 2 blissful days at Disneyland, Downtown Disney and the rest of the time at Huntington Beach and Crystal Beach.

Elyssa had a wonderful time at Disney, and I have to say the most incredible way to see Disney is through the eyes of an inquisitive 2 year old. I had never been to any of the Disney parks so this was a first for me as well. The joy of seeing it through the eyes of Elyssa was more than any mom could hope for. At first she was a bit afraid of the characters but quickly warmed up to them and ran to great each and every one of them! She even really surprised us and rode all of the rides that she was able with us.

All I can really say to sum the whole trip up is….. MAGICAL!