A 3 Surprise Trip

We had a super exciting end of the week/ weekend. Lance had a Thursday meeting in Anaheim on Thursday so we decided to join him and plan a super fun trip. We told Kai there would be 1 big surprise a day and boy were they good surprises.

Thursday:
While Lance was at his work stuff the kids and I did some exploring around the hotel, got some lunch, and then went swimming in the hotel pool. Our kids really are fish and would happily play in the pool all day everyday.



Around dinner time Lance got back and we went to go find the Thursday surprise. We told Kai it was waiting for him in a room down the hall. He went in the room and found Grandma and Grandpa Utah. What a surprise! That night we headed to a Woodranch in Anaheim Hills for a super yummy dinner. Woodranch was one of our favorite restaurants by Pepperdine so it was a great treat and just as good as we remembered. That night we told the kids about their surprise for the next day by giving them these pj's:



Friday:
Friday morning we got up early and rode the shuttle over to DISNEYLAND. We were all super excited. The kids had never been there before and it had been years since the rest of us had been there. We were there when the park opened and rode about 4 rides in the first 45 minutes which was awesome. I think going on so many rides so fast really helped Kai and Rori get even more excited about what we were doing. Lance had used a program suggested to us by our friends the Pearce's which basically gave us an itinerary to follow based on what rides we wanted to go on, average line times, etc. It was awesome and really seemed to work well. I'm sure it also helped to be there in February on a school day. I can't imagine going and waiting in forever long lines in the heat with a 2 and 5 year old. This was so much better!

Waiting to get in:






Kai and Rori did great with the rides. Kai rode on all the big rides like the Matterhorn Bobsled, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Before the trip I had tried to suggest that he might still be a little young for some of those, so both Lance and Kai were pretty proud to prove me wrong. Although he enjoyed those rides I think he really like Autopia, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Buzz Light Year.

Rori held her own on rides too. She rode on all the Peter Pan type ones and even did great in the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean without any tears or need to be held. She did like to be seated next to her Mom with an arm safely wrapped around her though. After exiting a few of the more scary rides she happily exclaimed "I did it". I think her favorite activities may have been It's A Small World (loved all the dancing dolls), the Tiki House birds singing, the Dumbo Flying Elephants, and climbing the tree house. Meeting Minnie and Mickey Mouse was a big highlight too (she LOVES Mickey), although as you can tell from the pictures she preferred to keep a safe distance all the same.





































It was really fun to be there with Lance's parents and get to enjoy seeing things through the kids eyes with them. They were troopers to happily put up with our itinerary and the fact that we were there from about 8:30am to 8:30pm. We loved getting to spend some time with them in such a fun place. Thanks for making the trip to join us!



We had a great time at Disneyland and it really couldn't have gone any smoother. At the end of the day we really felt like we had done everything we wanted to without much waiting in line or frantic running from thing to thing. In fact I think our longest wait was probably just over 1/2 an hour on 2 rides. Kai pretty much summed it all up by saying "Disneyland is even better than I imagined".

Saturday:
Saturday's surprise was that my parents and Whitney came up and joined us to watch some more swimming and have some lunch. It was fun to have both sets of our parents together- especially since the occasion wasn't planned around me just having gone though having a baby. Mom, Dad, and Whit had been sick the weekend before and even taken a trip to the emergency room so we were glad to see them feeling much better in person.









We drove back to Vegas Saturday afternoon and got home in time for some dinner and beds. We were all beat but grateful that all our surprises had gone so well. It was a great trip that we had really been hoping to make happen before baby #3 makes its appearance in a few more months.

100th Day of School

Last week they celebrated the 100th day of school in Kai's class. They did all sorts of fun activities and apparently had a blast. All the kids came out dressed liked this for pick up which was pretty cute:

Mt. Charleston

Two weekends ago we headed out on a little adventure to explore nearby Mt. Charleston. We'd had several people recommend it to us. We checked out the snow, the mountain town, and the ski resort. It is amazing to go from the desert landscape to a moutain landscape so quickly. Now we are looking forward to going back again when the snow melts for some hiking.

Valentine's Day 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kids had a Valentine's Day party that some Mom's from Church put on at our local park. They had a blast playing with friends, decorating sugar cookies, and trading Valentine's. Here they are back home with their loot:


We had a big weekend- pictures to come.............

Nesting Time Again

*Picture by Kai

The first month of the year has already passed by with great speed. My pregnancy nesting instincts are already starting to nudge that it is time to get some things done around here (those things that you want to get done but always put off for another day). Projects like organizing closets, putting photo albums/ blog books in order that have been neglected for quite some time, and actually preparing items for the new baby. Picking a boy and a girl baby name and getting Rori potty trained are high on the priority list for example and cause me some good stress when I think about taking on either one too much. So far totally avoiding both hasn't gotten us too far.

I've got about 15 to 20 such projects on my list at this point- and many are rather massive in terms of time which is why I usually put them off. I'm sure Lance is grateful to be living in a more updated home this time around since the last time we went through this we lived in our 1940's house where there are constant home projects one could tackle when nagged to by a crazy pregnant wife. He's a little busy with school and work anyway...........so he's free of most of bigger time items on the list. His list is more about the activities we should accomplish before May- like taking Kai fishing, getting through another semester of his school, figuring out a next car with more room for 3 car seats, etc.

Unfortunately I've been side tracked some on my list by a nasty cold/ sinus thing the last week or two. It is the kind that just lingers with a pounding head feeling that is just enough to be annoying. Only being able to take certain medicine due to being pregnant hasn't helped tons- especially since most "allowed" medicine seems to be recently recalled. Lovely..... Anyway, Rori had the cold first but it never seemed to develop much for her. It has only lingered with an on again off again drippy nose.

So now we're on to February. We've got some fun things planned and some list items to check off so we're hoping for good health, bursts of energy, and some inspiration.

Visitors

The Wilkinson's came for a visit towards the end of the January. Rob had a conference in Vegas so we were super excited that Amy and kids decided to join him and come hang out with us. As usual the kids had a blast together. We tried out a few new things with them and just enjoyed getting to hang out like the old days. Man how we hanging out with them all the time.

Tried Out an Indoor Playground Place:




Hit the Neighborhood Park:




Checked Out Lake Las Vegas:










Walked around Town Square:


Were Super High Tech 2 Year Olds: