California

I am really late with this one, but we've been busy getting ready for Christmas and I have been adjusting to my new job.  I figured I better update it now before Christmas comes and I'm even further behind.

We had so much fun in California.  A huge thank you to Grandma EJ and Burny for making it all possible.  The Disneyland hotel was great, it was so convenient to just walk to Downtown Disney and hop on the monorail.  We spent everyday but last in at least one of the parks.  I loved that we were able to easily bounce between both parks.  Alli's favorite rides were the Tea Cups and the Matterhorn and Paige's favorites were Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. This was a perfect time of year to go.  They park was all decorated for Christmas Disney can even make it snow on demand.  After one of the fireworks shows it started snowing all over the walkways.  Too bad our snow at home isn't like that.  I also loved the facts that there were hardly any lines!!


Club 33 was great and the food was amazing!  It's so hidden I would have never known it was there.  The inside is nicely decorated with dark woods and a very cool phone booth and french lift.  We had our own private little room for our group off 33 and the sign on the wall said max occupancy 33.  33 was all over the place that day.  The service was excellent and we left with some cool Club 33 gifts. I think Mike had a pretty good birthday.  I know he loved spending it with family and friends.

We were also able to have dinner with my Uncle Richard and Aunt Anita.  It was so good to see them and I'm amazed at how well my Uncle has done after his heart transplant.  I just wish I was able to see them more.

The day we went home we decided to head to the beach instead of the parks.  So we headed to the Santa Monica Pier.  This was Allison's first time at the beach.  She loved playing in the sand, but wasn't thrilled about putting her feet in the cold water.  

 We were able to sit in both the very back and the very front of the monorail when we went.  You get a pretty good view of the parks from those seats.

We also saw lots of Disney characters and the girls had fun getting autographs from all of them.  They loved them all. Well, Mickey made Alli cry because he covered her eyes with his huge hand and it scared her a little.  As we were leaving the area Mickey was in Alli was crying, "I want Minnie!"  Poor Mickey felt so bad and tried to make it up to Alli, but she wouldn't budge.  Love that red headed stubborness. 

 We had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen on Mike's Birthday.  The girls loved it!!  It was a tad pricey for a buffet, but the food was good and so was the entertainment.  They had all sorts of Disney characters walking around and every half hour or so they would play music and the characters would dance with the kids.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.


Our Club 33 Pics....

 I love this picture of Alli.  As we were walking on the pier one of the random guys trying to make money put this bird in Alli's hands.  She wasn't sure what to think of the odd guy with all the birds, but humored him and me while I took a picture.  Paige on the other hand is always happy to see an animal.  We gave him a few dollars and off we went.  I love all the odd people you see at the beach!

We had an amazing trip that I will never forget.  I'm so happy for the friends and family that we able to join us, but really missed those that weren't able to make it. 

The Countdown Has Begun....

The kids are getting so excited to go see  Mickey again.  I have to say I'm pretty excited myself!  I have been to Disneyland more times than I can count, but I love taking the kids there.  Alli has always been a really big fan of Mickey and Minnie.
Even though we have been there tons of times we will have a few firsts this trip.  We have never stayed at a Disney property and this time we will spend our 5 nights at the Disneyland Hotel.  I can't wait to see the inside.  They have remodeled the rooms recently so they should be awesome.  We also have 6 day Park Hopper Passes so it's safe to say, we will get our fill of the mouse.
Another first will be going to Club 33.  Honestly I had never even heard of the place until I met Mike.  I'm glad that it actually worked out because you have to be a member to eat there (or a member makes the reservation for you) and there is no way we could afford that.  Burny and Grandma EJ came through with some help from one of their friends, who just happens to be the head of Disney Feature Animation.  So exciting and I'm thankful that he was kind enough to help us out.  So on 11/11/11 we will celebrate Mike's 33rd Birthday at Club 33 with a reservation for 33 people.  It should be a great party at  Club 33! Click the link to read more. It's not an official site, but there isn't any info on the Disney site.
 Last night we received a phone call from a couple Disney Characters.  The girls loved it! Alli was convinced we needed to leave right at that moment.

I love this picture from our last Disneyland trip!

 I love this one too, but this was in Orlando.

Halloween 2011

I'm to sure where October went, but I don't recall most of it.  It went by so fast that it's all a blur.  I wasn't really ready for Halloween to be here, but we made it through alive.

Paige had a Girl Scout Halloween party that she went to the Monday before Halloween.  That day I got an email from the room mother of Paige's class.  She said that she would be moving that weekend, and would not be able to do the party.  I had signed up to help so I was afraid that I would be left doing the entire party and of course, the other volunteers wouldn't return phone calls.  Not that being in charge of the party would be bad, because I love helping out at the school.  I just had no clue when I would fit it in.  Luckily, a very sweet mother volunteered to be in charge so I lucked out and only had to come up with a game.

We decided to hide toys and candy in different boxes and the kids had to try to find them buried at the bottom without looking.  The boxes had everything from toilet paper (mummy wrap) to rice (maggots) and noodles (worms).  I loved watching the kids faces as they dug through the rice and noodles.  We also had grapes (eyeballs) that were equally disgusting.

Allison also had a party at her school.  She made cute art projects and brought home lots of candy and little toys.

After school we ran to ice skating for a quick lesson for Paige and then headed up to Mike and Robin's house for white chili and trick or treating.  This year Robin and I took the kids out. Last year it was cold and raining and Mike had to carry Alli most of the way.  This year I lucked out and Alli walked the whole way and although it wasn't warm, it wasn't freezing either.

Carving Pumpkins with Grandpa Old Guy, Grandma D, and Uncle CJ.

Pictures before school.... The Princess and The Nerd...

Paige's school party

Getting ready for Trick or Treating.  

Reflections 2011

This is the program that Paige put together for this years Reflections contest.  Nice job honey!

Diversity means...

By the way, an hour and a half before we recorded this Paige had 6 baby teeth pulled.  She is such a trooper! The tooth fairy was very kind and paid for all 6 teeth even though 1 ended up her her tummy.