Valentine's Day/California

Prepare to spend awhile on reading this.
For V-day this year, I thought it would be fun to get a heart shaped pizza, sparkling cider, and eat on nice dishes by candlelight. The kids thought it was the coolest day ever and want it to be a new tradition. We went around the table and said something that we loved about everyone.

Last week our school had a winter break. (Yes this was in addition to a Christmas break). So we opted to use our Christmas money and hit Disneyland. It's a tradition for us to go every year. We thought we would try a less crowded time. We got a room with 3 beds because B's awesome step-mom Susan came with us. The hotel ended up being super nasty. Maybe we'll take a year off next year and save up enough to stay at one of the Disney hotels.
Fri.-packed everyone's stuff (except dad's shirts that he was very particular about) and car.

Sat.-left the house at 9 am (which was my goal). We hit Costco for gas and Burger King for breakfast. Made it to Vegas in 10 hrs. including stops-which is great considering it's a 9 hr. drive. Hit In 'N Out for dinner. Stayed overnight with Susan's brother and SIL. They're super awesome and we so appreciate that they let us stay every year. The boys played their antique slot machine until both JP and Bubba hit the mega jackpot-which never happens.


Sun.-Coconut woke up at 6:30 am so B found a Veggie Tales they could watch on his phone. They made us a big pancake, bacon and egg breakfast. We left close to noon-ish. Made it to the OC in early afternoon and headed straight to my grandma's house. We visited with her and my Aunt Janet and they got us KFC for dinner. We hung out until late evening and then hit the road to settle in to the hotel, which we quickly discovered was icky-wallpaper peeling off, hole in the wall where the doorknob hit, grout missing in bathroom tiles, mildew and stains in shower, door not set on hinges right so big crack at the top. At least there was a fridge, microwave and the bed wasn't hard.






Mon.-Actually made it to Disneyland first thing when they open and hit Indiana Jones before the line got long. Even though it was President's Day, we never stood in a line longer than 30 min. because of the couple of fast passes we got. Lucky for us they were open until midnight and had fireworks that day. It wasn't very crowded. We met my best friend from high school, Desiree and finally got to meet her new husband, Cory. We ate in Downtown Disney where they have lots of shops and restaurants. They treated so that was a super nice bonus. We visited for a couple of hours and the kids were so patient even though they were really excited to get back to the park. Next time we'll have to drive to San Diego where they live so we can visit longer.




Tues.-took a day off and hit Newport Beach. It ended up being the best day to go because the sun was shining and it was warm. We walked the pier, took a million pictures, got an ice cream which I always look forward to (a big square block of vanilla dipped in chocolate and sprinkles), played in the sand, found "she-shells," and put our toes in the water. It was cold at first, but not once your feet were in for a couple of minutes. Coconut had his pants rolled up and was sticking his feet in the water when the tide came in a little further than the time before and it freaked him out and he started to run away. I'm sure you can guess the rest. I was taking his picture and had to hurry and get over to him running and crying, "Mommy!" I didn't make it in time and he face planted into the wet sand. Mouth full of sand and soaking wet I carried him over to the freezing shower and stripped him down and got the sand off the best I could. I got a new diaper on him and took off my sweatshirt and wrapped him in it. His poor little teeth were trembling.




Wed.-to CA Adventure to celebrate Susan's b-day. They give you a button and print your name on it. My favorite ride is the Tower of Terror. It's basically a giant elevator that drops you and goes back up a little bit at a time. The boys all love the roller coaster that goes upside down. I can do it once, but will get a headache if I do it any more than that. Another favorite of everyone is the Toy Story ride where you get to wear 3-D glasses and play carnival games. Coconut liked the Bug's Land rides. They close at 8 pm and we went to D-land to go on the Nemo Submarine ride because it wasn't open the last time we went with Susan. Then back to the hotel where Susan and the boys had a snack party and B and I went on a date to In 'N Out and IKEA.





Thurs.-D-land again. We celbrated Peanut's b-day since it's today and he got a button and picture with his favorite character Pluto. It was uber crowded. Why on earth were there so many people there on a Thurs. in Feb.? A worker told Susan that they don't really have an off season anymore since there are so many year round schools. Lame. We stayed until close that night too. Gotta get our money's worth right?

Fri.-left at 9 am and drove straight thru to home. Originally we planned on staying overnight in Utah with some friends, but a snow storm was coming and we didn't want to be rushing to our piano recital on Sat. night so we drove thru. We made it to Ely, NV before it started to snow and then had to drive about 45 mph for the next few hours. As we got closer to home there wasn't any snow at all. So we ended up getting home at 3 am instead of around 12-1 am like we thought. We ate at In N' Out at Vegas one last time so we could get our fill of our favorite place.

Sat.-slept late, watched tv in our jammies most of the day, and then B and I went out to the mall so I could pick something up and he could get a break because he was so knotted up from the drive. At 7 pm we had Peanut and Bubba's first piano recital. They each played two songs that they memorized. They looked so handsome in their ties and did such a great job!

This week I'm trying to catch up and also do a b-day tonight. We've only invited neighbors for cake so it's not high stress or anything, but I'm still running around. And Peanut started swimming lessons last night. Coconut was supposed to, but wouldn't go with the instructor, so he'll be waiting a year or so. His lessons are at 5 pm and JP's are at 6:30 still, so I think at least on Mondays we'll just go and stay the whole time so I'm not driving back and forth. On Wednesdays though the big boys have scouts so that won't work. Baseball assessments are this Sat. The season will start some time after swimming so we'll take a break from that for awhile. Prepare to get even busier-3 in baseball this year. I have no idea how we're going to swing that, but they all want to play and it's not fair not to let Peanut.

B-day pictures and Ode to Peanut coming soon...