DEAR DIARY

We bought an annual pass for the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay so we've been going on frequent trips to see the 'fishy sharks' as Charlotte says. Her favourite thing is spotting the snakes that are lurking in one of the exhibits. I'm not sure what she sees when she looks at the jellyfish tank, but apparently through the eyes of a two year old it's a terrifying thing to behold. 

I spent the first year of Charlotte's life making sure she didn't eat any junk whatsoever. The only sugar she got was from fruit, her first taste of cake was on her birthday, and veggies were the order of the day. Now she's getting older and wiser the old food rules have long gone out of the window. With more than a little help from Daddy Charlotte's learning that there's a far broader spectrum of foods, and she's pretty excited about branching out. She's recently discovered crisps and as you can see she's very happy about it:

 Ryan's workload at school has gone down pretty drastically. He's busier while he's at school, but now that's he's in the clinic everyday with patients the book work is on the decline. Apparently he doesn't know what to do with all of his newfound time and he's taken to reading epic poetry. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say! He started with The Song of Roland and now he's branched out to Chinese philosophy, working his way through Tho Te Ching. He's just full of surprises

We have church at 1pm this year, which would of been a dream come true if I was 18. With a two year old it's not so wonderful, but the pure exhaustion that finds her falling asleep all over the house when we get home is pretty adorable. Walking in on Daddy- daughter Sunday afternoon naps always makes me smile

Once the teenager who bought a pair of shoes every time I left the house, my almost five year shoe fast came to an end this month when I bought my first pair of shoes since moving to America; my Mum and sisters will appreciate just how much a big deal that is! I discovered that the Topshop on the strip has a tiny corner dedicated to my favourite shoe shop, Office, which makes me much more open minded about facing the traffic on the I-15. Charlotte loves said new shoes as much as her Mum:

Charlotte can throw a tantrum like a good 'un, but when she's polite she's very polite. We get 'pleases' and 'thank you' and 'you're welcome.' We get 'bless you' if we sneeze, and 'are you ok?' if we cough. Every now and again she even treats us to a 'you're so welcome!' She even insists on a knife and fork at the dinner table. We just haven't mastered the not talking with you're mouth full: