Happiest Place on Earth

Since it has been a week and a half since we've been back from our vacation, I guess we should be sufficiently recovered enough to blog about it. Since I am not a professional mom-blogger, I was unable to cut back from 15 pictures to the best 1 or 2. Oh well!

We drove down to Disneyland where we were met by Grandma & Grandpa for 3 days at Disneyland! We had a very nice time. DT's favorite ride was the enormous ferris wheel that he went on with G&G and LT's favorite this time was the Grizzly Rapids. I would vote for Tower of Terror. :D

Let's see... the kids were very excited about the trip!



Grandma & Grandpa had a relaxing moment on Tom Sawyer's island


DT got to meet his favorite, Lightning McQueen


Can you spy anyone on this raft?


Maybe this boy can spy someone?


LT worked up his courage to ride on Big Thunder Mountain. Just once, though.


Is this a good look for us? Toy Story Maina was a hit with everyone.


Someone got tired!


Watch out, crazy driver!


Grandma & DT enjoyed the carousel


I was one of those moms who buys their kids bubble guns, thereby making all other kids whine to their moms for bubble guns. But they were really fun!



One last eye spy!


And an attempt at a family picture before we had to say good bye! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for going with us!

Note

This is from a few months back, right after Christmas I think, but too good not to share. I have a video from 2 weeks back that I haven't uploaded yet... Ack! A backlog of things to post. :)

Yay!

It was an exciting day yesterday. You'll have to click through for the video, but I promise it's worth it!

DT had fun yesterday, too... Splashin'

We took along the video camera yesterday, but alas! it was out of battery when we went to fire it up. Thank goodness for cellphones these days!

Work Day

We had a cleaning day in the backyard. The helpers were put to work. So many things that could be cleaned!





I must say they did a reasonable job. We need to take advantage of this willing labor while we can. LT even requested we have cleaning day every Sunday!

Monterey

Roadtrip

We went on a little road trip this weekend up to the state capitol. First stop was Krispy Kreme (hey, there are only 2 left in the Bay Area now or something!). Then a stop at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield to be sure we had maximum sugar content.

Who's too cool now to look like a jelly belly?

Not him!


After this we had an errand to take care of. TT had to finish it up, so I took the boys on my own to the California State Railroad Museum. It seemed pretty cool, but I was being pulled in two different directions. Will have to go back someday!


Our hotel was right next to the riverfront promenade so we walked around and enjoyed the area. This is the golden tower bridge.



After dinner we got an old timey photo in Old Town. The woman let us take some extra pictures of the boys, which was really nice. They enjoyed being cowboys!



Sunday we checked out the capitol building and then went to Berkeley where we had lunch with friends, I played in an ultimate frisbee tournament, the boys went to look at some dinosaur skeletons, we had dinner with another friend and then finally drove home...

Now what was our errand bringing us to Sac Town? TT got a new car! Isn't it pretty?

Happy Valentine's Day

LT & DT have a treat for you!



And from last weekend, DT & I made some treats for a Superbowl party. As you can tell, DT is a very willing helper. LT supervised the toppers and I must say they came out cute! We tried a new recipe... (okay from box/package, does it still count as a recipe??). You take the break & bake cookie dough and then break it up and stick it in the freezer for a while. Then you beat up your batter and put it in the cups and right before it goes in the oven, put a blob of cookie dough in each one. It doesn't cook through since it's frozen. Voila! Cookie dough cupcakes! Yum!

Kiwi PIckings

Still time to sqeeze in a January blog. It has been absolutely beautiful here while much of the rest of the country has been covered in snow. Last weekemd was especially nice, sunny and in the high 60s. We spent a beautiful day picking kiwis, or at least exploring the orchard, and hiking down to the beach. We finished it off with a campfire dinner in the backyard with friends. (Pizza pudgie pies and s'mores!)








These pictures are from our new(ish) video camera. Not bad for the non primary purpose!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it's true that it has been almost 2 weeks since Christmas. Which of course means it is time for a quick recap! We had very nice guests, 6 adults and 2 kids.



We all tracked up to SF. We went up to Coit tower and looked around. It was very beautiful, but you couldn't go to the top since they're renovating the elevator. Here's Jenn!

Here I am driving down Lombard street, the wacky curvy street. We were calling it the curviest street in the US, but we may have made that up! I did CSI zoom in and I only look like I am concentrating, not that I am terrified.

We even got a group shot at Ghiradelli square (and squeezed in a boat ride) before going to a delicious fondue dinner.

Somehow we didn't take pictures of present opening, but here is a mid-day Christmas nap.

DT playing with one of the gifts! I really wanted to make this for the boys even if it wasn't their top gift choice. I hope they will enjoy it anyways!

Then we all tracked down to Santa Cruz. The bigger boys had a blast on this ride.

The grown ups, meanwhile, rode the Giant Dipper many times. It was ride once, get a wrist band for unlimited rides, so we took advantage! It's usally about $5 for one ride, so it was great to ride as many times as we wanted, which was approximately 3 times each.

Before everyone departed, we did get some nice group shots. Mom & Dad with the girls

The T family

And the whole gang!

Happy New Year!