Panda Bears

 One of our main goals with this trip was to take our sweet Gemma to see her beloved Panda Bears.  So on May 1, that is what we did. The boys AKA James D. and James went deep sea fishing and the girls went to San Diego Zoo for the day.

 

 This is Bai-Yun (white cloud)

 Gemma was kind of in shock that she was actually going to see panda's after wanting to for so long.... We went through the first time and I don't think she quite processed it, so after we went and got a bite to eat at the Panda Cafe and then I took her back through to see them again.

 This is Gao Gao (means Big Big) He was found in the wild injured 18 years ago. He is a double rare Panda in that he is Left-Handed.  Gemma thought that was the neatest thing because she is also left-handed. I was really glad I took her back through because Gao Gao wasn't out the first time.

Time for vacation

We just got back this week after spending time in Southern California with our good friends The Fishers. We spent a week in the city of Newport. It was a fantastic vacation. We stopped in Las Vegas to partake of Fat Burger, then we stopped to see the Mermaids. Gemma was pretty fascinated with her.

 I don't think I have ever driven to California and not stopped at the Calico ghost town.  Jade, James Fisher and James are panning for "gold"

 We went to a beach that is known for Sea Glass. I found some lovely pieces.

Random pics...

James' ans Cisco's birthday cake
We had a whole bunch of robins in our backyard one rainy day.
Gemma's favorite monster high doll "Abbey" and the gingerbread house she and Jade built.
Waterfall braid on Gemma's hair.

Kangaroo Zoo

Mark came in town from New York and we went to Kangaroo Zoo for the day with Joey and Cerissa and their kids and Grandma Rory.

Money Machine

Jade earned a fun reward at school by selling fundraiser cookie dough. there were 9 students in the whole school that sold enough to take a spin in the money machine.
Gemma and I went to watch. It was quite funny they used a leaf blower to blow the money around and it took the kids a good 3 seconds to recover from the shock. It was loud and windy.
Jade did great though and she and one other ended up with the most money. It was all one dollar bills and she caught 10.

Gemma is 5!!!

It is so fun , yet kind of hard to believe that my baby is 5.
Some fun facts about Gemma are:
She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Panda's
Her hair is gold and she wants it to be long like Rapunzel.
Gemma is very artsy, she draws, and colors and creates all day long.
She has quite a way with words and really is fun to listen to when she is describing things.
She is left handed,
Scorpio
Girly, very girly. She wears a skirt or dress every day.
She loves Monster High
She wants to tell time really bad and works at it every day.
Her favorite time of day is when Jade gets home from school.
I can take this kid-let any where and she is so good.
Very Sweet
Very Stubborn
Excellent sharer
Organized, likes things to be where they go
loves shoes and dresses
loves vegetables, artichokes in particular
Favorite color is gold
favorite food is Hot Dogs and Spaghetti
Loves her Uncle John-Paul, Says he is hers and Jade can have Uncle Markie
Gets so excited when we go With Grandma Rory
can ride a two-wheeler and scooter
She enjoys seeing movies in the theater
She is the boss and knows it
Going to the Library and reading
Fun friend to all
Great helper, so much so that if I am not careful she will do the laundry herself.
She always has a kind word for everybody, and I mean everybody, in the store she will compliment random people on their hair, jewelery, shoes, clothes..... everything.
Very observant she notices everything! Not sure if this is because for the majority of the time she is essentially an only child...
Great Horned toad catcher
Appreciates all the animals
Loves her dog Sampson
loves her Dad
Awesome Little sister to Cisco and Jade
My Best Buddy

Kangaroo Zoo

We had sandwiches and Gemma chose Pumpkin Pie for her cake.
Gemma decided she wanted a birthday party this year. So after much thought we decided on Kangaroo Zoo. It ended up being quite a large party we reserved the Flora party room and had our friends and family come. The Kangaroo Zoo mascot even came. If you aren't familiar with Kangaroo Zoo it is a huge indoor bounce house play zone. Very much a kid fun place.