Unfortunately I did not get a lot of pictures in this year. After going to bed at 2am and being woke up at 5am I was just too dang tired. The girls had a great haul and are busily playing with their new things today. My dad drove out from Utah to join us and we had our traditional Honeybaked Ham for dinner. Quite the mess to clean up. Our decorations have been up since before our Disneyland trip at Thanksgiving so I am anxious to take them down New Years Day and get back to normal.
Though I think all huge fully grown trees in Kansas are really neat and offer a lot of shade. I am sure glad that this is all the leaves our two little trees in the front yard shed that need to be raked up.
I have wanted to see Disneyland all dolled up for the holidays. So we decided to use Thanksgiving week to do that so the girls would only miss 2 days of school instead of 4 during Labor Day when we usually go. We picked up the rental car and headed down to San Diego. I could live out the rest of my life in that city. We of course had to drive by the San Diego temple. I think it is the prettiest the church has ever built. Then it was on to Coronado Island. Man I love that place. This place is my favorite to roam around. A bit rainy today so it was pretty quiet and not a lot going on. Our hotel was cute. It was a resort type place with a couple of pools, fitness area, and a really good restaurant. Rooms weren't that luxurious but it was a fun place all the same. And oh all the palm trees! Wish they would grow in Kansas. Ate downtown at Old Spaghetti Factory and it did not disappoint. Looking forward to a fun week.
Sea World. It was rainy and cold! I'm certainly glad we didn't bring shorts on this trip. I've been in California (high desert) in the fall/winter and that gets cold, but I didn't think San Diego would be this way. Needless to say there were not a lot of people there that day. I made the mistake of going on Atlantis and just couldn't get warm after that.
First day at Disneyland! It was busy. Come to find out that all of California schools are out for the entire week. Guess we should have checked on this before planning the trip. The park was decorated to the nines. It was spectacular. Our family block had been cleaned up and looked better than it did last year. The parade was really neat and the castle lights at night were amazing.
Knotts Berry Farm. Since we didn't want to hassle with a car we used the awesome OCTA transportation system. Just one bus change and we were there. Pretty slick. Even took the bus up to Fullerton to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory. Today was pretty crowded too. It was a bit chilly so we didn't even attempt the water rides. Had a great dinner at Mrs Knotts Chicken then went back to our hotel.
Today we spent most of the day in California Adventure. I thought Worlds of Color was pretty cool but it would be nice if they had everyone sit down. Us shorter adults couldn't even see the whole thing so I can't imagine was a kick in the pants it is for the kids.
Today we finished up what we wanted to do again. It is also the day after Thanksgiving. The freaking place was PACKED! We will never go to Disneyland on a holiday again. By this time I was pretty much pictured out so we got some of the Christmas Parade in the evening.
The middle school did their first ever theatre production of this play. Cute Savannah is Marcello the dog. Her costume was darling and she did a fabulous job. They have another showing Thursday night. She was a little disappointed that she did not get a speaking part, but I just encouraged her to be the best dog that you could possible be. Everyone has to start somewhere. Good job Savannah!
Boy do we love halloween at Worlds of Fun. ! The weather is always gorgeous and its not as crowded as the summer time. It is a Cedar Fair park so the decorations are similar to Knotts Berry Farm which I totally adore. They do an awesome scare-free afternoon for the kids during the day and then at 7:00 the real scary stuff begins, starting with a parade of all the ghosts, goblins, and ghouls down the main avenue. Because we had the girls we left, but Mike and I were able to get to the extreme haunts last year and they are scary!
Took an afternoon to our favorite pumpkin patch. Such a fun farm to visit! However, we do stop and get our pumpkins at WalMart because I refuse to pay double for them at the farm. The girls fed the animals, dug for dinosaur "bones", played on the slides and strolled through the country store. Gotta love fall in Kansas!
Had an awesome time Friday night at the balloon fest in Overland Park. There were 36 balloonists that participated. We arrived around 4:30 for the festivities and food. About 6:00 half of the hot air balloons lifted off. Then more food, fun, and music. When it got dark the other half stuck around for what they call the Night Glow. This is where the balloons are fully expanded but they run the propane fire to light them up. What a spectacular view. Can't wait until they do it again next year!
Once again we have a 3rd grader that had to do an insect display. Needless to say I left this up to Daddy. I can handle the monarch butterfly but everything else was just too gross. However she did get an A!!!
We bought tickets back in April for the BYU/Air Force game this past weekend. It is only a 9 hour drive from here so it was doable. Mike didn't get out of the hospital until late so we drove as far as Salina KS on Thursday. Up on Friday to go the rest of the way. We wanted to stay in Manitou Springs and had this fun little motel called the Rainbow Inn. It was on the main drag into Manitou Springs and allowed pets. Since Lacie will have to stay in the kennel when we go to Disneyland we decided to take her with us on this trip. She loves roadtrips. First day we went to explore the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Let me tell you, I am so glad for modern conveniences, though they were pretty cool. Went to this place called The Mason Jar which claims to have the best country fried steak in the nation. It was pretty good.
It seems weird to spend Labor Day at home this year. This is normally the time we are doing our annual Disneyland trip. However, we are doing that later this year so we spent the holiday at home. Our ward had a breakfast at the lake at Shawnee Mission Park. We had pancakes, breakfast cassarole, fruits, muffins, donuts and juice. We however cooked up some of our own bacon and brought it with us. We had an inflatable jumer for the kids, volleyball, and the guys played touch football. It was an absolute beautiful morning!
Haylie is starting school today at Cedar Creek Elementary. She is now officially a 3rd grader. She has Mrs Harris for her teacher which I am totally stoked about. Savannah had Mrs Harris when she was in 4th grade and I'd go to the school one day a week to help out with both teachers for an entire day. Had a blast. Looking forward to doing it again this year.
Today starts the first day of school for Savannah. Mission Trail Middle School Timberwolves. She is so excited. They had a pancake breakfast for the 6th graders done by our local Chris Cakes. We got to meet the wolf mascot and our local Fox 4 news station was there for the story of this brand new school. Its going to be an awesome year!
Our sweet 11 year old got her braces today. She was so excited. She chose BYU blue, pink and lilac for her band colors. Here's looking toward the next 24 months!
We were able to spend a week with 21 of our 23 extended family members (including my 94 year old grandmother), cruising the caribbean. This was #10 for me but the first time on Carnival Cruise Lines. Our ship was the Carnival Legend. Our family got into Tampa FL early on Saturday morning so we spent the day at Busch Gardens. But for the life of me I can't find what I did with the collage! Needless to say it was hot, humid, and crowded. At one point we were actually ready to leave. However, we got in on a really good deal. With each ticket we also got an all day, all-you-can-eat/drink wristband for no extra charge so that was pretty nice. Once we got on the ship we went around to take pictures before it got too crowded.
