Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th actually ended up being a good luck day for us!  NO SCHOOL!  So, I got the day off and grabbed Cali's friend Em, and we headed to Disneyland for the day (of course!).  Now, this was the last time we get to use our Annual Passes.  We have been able to use them so much this past year and have had so much fun doing it!  We will miss having them.  Here's some of the highlights of our last day:

We Love Russell!  "A Friend to All!"

Toy Story Mania!

BUZZ!!!!

Pluto loves!

'Sup Trooper?!

Cali is a Jedi now!  Take that Darth Maul!

Last ride of the night!

 Every time we have left the parks  this year, Brody has asked for a balloon.  AND every time I tell him we will get one next time.  Well, this was our last visit so FINALLY.....

Brody's so happy...he got his balloon!

I will miss the Happiest Place on Earth!  I hope we will be able to get passes again someday.  I love hanging out with my kids and making all these special memories.  To see all of our memories of the day-Click Here.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

The Duck

 Gavin has been taking Drama as an elective this past semester.  For their performance, they chose "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".  They couldn't find a script that would work for their group, so they read the book and wrote their own script.  Thursday night was the show.  It was small...but so cute!  And, I know I'm the mom, BUT...he totally stole the show!  He was the only one you could hear clearly and well.  Plus, he was so confident up there and knew his lines so well!  I was very impressed.  He did such a great job!  He played 2 parts-a duck and The King of Hearts.  He really enjoyed this experience and wants to do this class again next year!

King of Hearts

 Here he is with his fans:

Gammy, Granny, Papa Carl, Nana, Dad, Luke, Cali and Brody

 The whole family really enjoyed Gavin's acting debut!  Can't wait for the next one!

Great Job Bug!  We Love You!

Mommy Date Night

 Last night, I picked up my mom and we headed for a special date night at the Happiest Place on Earth.  Our passes are almost up, and we have always talked about how we would like to do a night, just the 2 of us, going through all the shops of Disneyland.  It was so much fun!

We started the night with dinner at our favorite place, The Plaza Inn:

Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, veggies and grape juice w/ sprite

 Once our tummies were full, we went through each shop down Main Street.

 We also went through each shop in AdventureLand, New Orleans Square and FantasyLand.  We did ride one ride...It's a Small World.  We ended our night (around 11:30 PM!), at the new Jolly Holiday Bakery and Cafe.  We got Caramel Hot Chocolate and shared this delicious Matterhorn Maccaroon:

 I can't believe we shut the place down!  But we did and we had a wonderful time doing it!  This is another one of those special memories I get to have with my special mom!  Thanks Mom...I Love You!

January Summer...

This whole week has been in the upper 70's and lower 80's!

Today we had to get down to the beach and soak it all in....

Gavin is back in school, so I took the other 3 and we walked along the pier, had lunch at Ruby's and then I sat on the beach while they played in the water and in the sand.

Ruby's

 I've been counting my blessings that I get to live in such a beautiful place and that I have such fun kids to hang out with!

Movie Reviews...

 Great Family Fun!

This was classic muppets!

I think I had a smile on my face the whole movie.

Lots of Fun!

Adventure & Animation = Awesome

The kids said it was like watching an Indiana Jones movie, except it was animated.  I recommend ages 8 and up, though.  It was a little over Brody's head.  But he did like the dog!

Happy New Year!

 Since New Years Day fell on Sunday this year...we did not go to the Rose Parade (Boo!).  But we did get to have a  nice relaxing day after Church.  Today was the Federal Holiday for New Years, so Jeremy had the day off.  I wanted to do something fun and the weather has been beautiful, so we headed to Coronado for the day.  We got down to the pier around 11:15 AM, bought our tickets for the Ferry and then went and looked at some of the cool ships while we waited for our Noon departure.

Our Ferry

 The kids were so excited to ride on a boat!  Luke and Brody have never been on  one and Cali can't remember.  They were too scared to sit up top, so we sat inside on the way over to the Island.  We were starving when we got there, so our first stop was lunch at Village Pizzeria.

The View from our Lunch Table

 The food was yummy and the view was amazing.  We picked the perfect day to come to this beautiful place!

 After lunch, we headed down Orange Ave to the Hotel Del Coronado.  It was 10 blocks (almost 1 mile) one way!  We had such a great time walking down and stopped at Spreckles Park for some play time:

 The long walk was so worth it:

 And we all loved the little Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden at the Hotel Del.

Brody, Max, Luke, The Grinch, Gavin and Cali

 It really was a Picture Perfect Day....See?:

 We played on the beach for a little bit and then headed to the candy shop for some sugar to help us have energy for the walk back.  This candy shop was amazing!  It had everything!  And it makes all its caramel fresh everyday...Jeremy got the Coronado Crunch...rice krispies, marshmallows, peanut butter, chocolate chips, white chocolate and caramel...YUMMY!

 We had a fun walk back and almost missed our 4:30 ferry back to San Diego.  The ride back was so much better, because we rode up top this time and got to see the sunset!

 It was a little chilly too...

 I had to take a picture of the "Victory Kiss" Statue...

 Here's the sunset over North Island....

It was such a beautiful day and a wonderful start to the new year!  I really hope this sets the tone for this year.  2011 was full of ups and downs for our family, but ended on a high note.  Hoping our year is as wonderful as the day we had today!  Wishing the same to all our friends and family too!

Of course I took a lot of pictures...Click HERE, if you want to see them.

New Years Eve 2011/2012

We started our celebration at Boomers to party with Shaney for his 6th Birthday!  Then it was off to Mark and Tracy's for dinner, dessert and some Just Dance 3:

 To help pass the time until midnight, we headed into the culdesac and made a fun chalk greeting for the neighborhood:

 Some people slept to pass the time...

 When Midnight hit...we headed out onto the driveway to wake up the neighborhood!

 Happy New Year!

Check out all of our pix from the night...HERE!