Fun all week long

This week has been an exciting one. We did so many fun things that I have to make sure to remember and list them all.
Monday.
It was like any other day, I suppose. Lydia and I shopped for groceries, did some laundry and some other everyday things.
Tuesday.
That was one full day of fun. First, in the morning, in the company of some friends from our ward, Lydia and I took a trip to the San Jose Zoo. Aside the fact that it cost us next to nothing to get in (as we found out, every Tuesday of the month is a discount admission day-$1), we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The zoo part is relatively small, but the area also included playgrounds, rides and a puppet show.
After we arrived we strolled through the zoo, pointing out monkeys, birds, donkey, goats and all sorts of other animals to the kids. Lydia loved seeing it all, especially the bigger animals. She would run next to the petting area, pointing to the sheep and goats, but when I tried to bring her in close enough to pet them, she would just climb on me and hug me really tight. Lydia sure liked the huge rodents (I don't remember where they come from and what they are called, but they looked like giant furry rats without tales). Every time we passed, she would climb on to the overlook area and point at them. I would have been fine with taking just one short peek at those things .
When we've seen all the animals we wanted, we headed toward the puppet show. On a way we came accords a little area full of children's rides. We had time, so I jumped in on a carousel with Katrina and Lydia. It took a little while for them to start and my little girl was getting short on patience. But when the ride started she seemed to enjoy it, probably not as much as her little friend Katerina who kept telling her mommy how brave she felt riding a horse.
At around noon kids turned their attention to their snacks and puppets. The show lasted about 30 minutes and then we were off to the playgrounds and one last ride. This time, Lydia shed some tears. The ride was small and I could not climb in with her. So we put our two little girls in a car and let them ride. Lydia got a bit scared and started to cry, but was fine by the end of the ride and, I think, would have even gone again. By then, it was time to head home since naps were in order. But what a fun day we had!
Well, it does not end there. On Tuesday night Paul and I headed to our Valentine day date. We dropped Lydia off at a friends house which she welcomed with a excited squeal since that meant she will be playing with some of her favorite friends. And we enjoyed a salsa dance lesson for about 2-3 hours. It was so much fun. Paul and I started in the beginner's class which was farely easy, tough at the end they showed us some great moves. Then we stuck around for the intermediate level. That was a challenge, but a great one. When we first saw what we were about to learn, I thought there's no way I can spin this much, and I have had some serious previous dance training. But by the end of class we seamed to manage to do what we have been shown, maybe not as gracefully as we would have liked, but we managed. We just figured we need practice. So we came home excited, energized, but also tired. My back does not take abuse like that very well especially since I am about 3.5 months pregnant, though I look like I am a lot further along.
Wednesday.
Was another regular day since we already celebrated our Valentine's. So Lydia and I just played and did our everyday things. Paul's meeting was cancelled for that night, after our little girl went to bed, we watch a movie-Marie Antoinette. It was a pretty good show, though not our favorite. It depicted the life of a Austrian girl from a royal family who married into the French royal family, later becoming a queen alongside her husband, the king. We learned more about her by looking her history up on Wikipedia. It was very interesting.
Thursday.
That was our day of our Gymboree Music and Play excursion. They offer classes for little kids. Basically it's a gym that has a lot of fun, padded equipment for toddler play. Also, they a bunch of other tools to create interesting activities for children's development. Classes cost a fortune, but they offer one free class where you can come and see what they do. Lydia and I jumped at that opportunity of a free class. When we got there, little munchkin could not wait for me to take of her shoes, so she could run and play. She probably checked out and used every single piece of equipment they had. Lydia is especially good at climbing-it is one of her favorite things to do. The funny thing was that she basically ignored the group of excited kids and adults who where enjoying the rhymes and activities that went along with them. It might just be overwhelming the first time, but yet she has never showed interest in activities like that. The bottom line was-it was sad to know that we probably will never go back there with her because its way out of our price range. Yet I could not believe how much she loved it. We tried to use every minute we could so she could get in more play. We really were last out of the group to leave. But the great things is, watching the leaders gave me ideas of what I could do on my own with Lydia.
Friday.
Once again we left Lydia with some nice people who volunteered to watch her while we go to the temple. It was a great trip. We got back sort of late, but it is such a wonderful opportunity to go to the temple, especially since we don't make it there too often.
Saturday.
This day we truly did something that we might not have a chance to do anywhere else. Escondido village is a community for Stanford Graduate students and their families. They organize great activities. Yesterday we went ice-skating in an outside rink in the 75 degrees weather. We even put skates on Lydia. They were a couple of sizes too big, but she enjoyed sliding around with us as we held her upright on her feet. Paul and I had to switch often so we would not get too tired. Well after Lydia got tired of us dragging her around and feeding her snacks, we went back unto the ice pushing her in a stroller. Paul maneuvered the stroller in all sorts of crazy ways which at times made me a little nervous, but it seems like they were having way too much fun out there to stop them. This ice-skating trip was one of the most exciting things we did as a family in a long time, though our lives seem to be full of all sorts of exciting things lately.