CA Trip - Part II

Monday was the big day...Disneyland!  We got there first thing in the morning and the plan was to just go as long as we could. Since it was March and spring break for many, the park was fairly crowded although we really did a lot.  We started off in Fantasyland with Peter Pan. We quickly became...those parents.  You know the kind that forces their screaming child to wait in line to go on a ride while everyone looks and stares at you, thinking either how ridiculous we are or feeling totally sorry for us. Yep, that kind.  Logan didn't quite understand how it all worked.  He just wanted to run freely and since it was the first ride of the day he didn't realize what exactly he was waiting in line for.  Once we got through a couple of lines and rides he started to get the hang of it. I also have to remind myself that he's just two.  That's what two year olds do. 


This trip was a little extra special because it was the first trip to Disneyland that Lincoln was tall enough to go on the big rides.  Mom was a great help and took Logan while Ricky and I took Lincoln on the bigger rides.  Those big rides for Lincoln included, Star Tours (which was his favorite and he went on it twice) Space Mountain and Soarin Over CA.  While we were on Space Mountain Grammy took Logan on It's a Small World, which actually broke down and after a good hour they were evacuated. 


We did about a dozen or more rides, watched the parade, saw a fun Phineas and Ferb show,  the Star Wars show and even snuck a 90 minute nap in for the boys while the three adults rested in the animation building. I couldn't believe we had made it from about 7:30 am to 10:00 pm at the park.  It was better than I expected but those boys were sure beat.  Logan is now asking to go back to "Disneywand" but I think given how draining it was to deal with him at the park he may have to wait until he's three to go back! We had a fantastic day. It was a lot of work but also a ton of fun and definitely worth all the memories we made. 

 Welcome to the Magic Kingdom. 

 Grammy was a huge help all day and we loved spending the day with her. 

 Both boys really loved riding in the Casey Jr. train.  

 We were in with the caged animals...which was probably appropriate for that point in the day. 

 Lincoln's favorite ride used to be the carousel but that's now been replaced with Space Mountain and Star Tours. 

 Poor daddy can't do the rides that go round and round - they make him sick so I got to take both boys!

 I think by this point Logan was definitely on sensory overload and just decided to chill out. 

 The interactive rides were more fun for Logan. He got to spin our ship around. 

I love this picture.  He's just trying to figure it all out. 

Lincoln knew exactly what to do with his astro blaster. 

 Lincoln was excited to drive his own car. 

 Logan tried to help me drive but it didn't work out so well.  He couldn't see over the steering wheel so I ended up driving and Logan just enjoyed the ride.

Star Tours - Lincoln's first time. 

 Lincoln in line for his first time on Space Mountain. 

Daddy sat next to him to hold him in tight. 

 Even as a grown adult my favorite thing still about Disneyland are the characters.  I think it's magical to see children react and interact with them.  Logan too loves the characters.  He has no fear and loves to play with them. He would have been with the characters all day if we let him. 

 Logan, meet Jake. 

 He is a little rough with them but it's all out of excitement. 

 Lincoln was so tired he could barely stand up. 

 Tell me there isn't magic in this picture!?  Logan's happiest times of the day was when he was with a character. 

 After about 30 minutes of listening to the music in the animation building we had success. 

I was able to rock these guys to sleep and let them rest of the benches while Mom and I visited.

 Logan wanted to dance with them while Lincoln just hung out and watched. 

Phineas & Ferb

Logan and Daddy on the new Ariel ride. 

 On the Sun Wheel in DCA.

 Simply magical.  Logan loved Pluto. 

I love that he was trying to play with his tongue and look in his mouth. Too cute!

 Daddy and Logan watching the fireworks while Grammy and Lincoln were on Star Tours.  By the end of the day everyone was tired and ready to head back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. 

 Not a bad family picture for 10:00 pm after a full day and Disneyland.

We seem to never get donuts unless we're on vacation.  On the way out of town, heading home, we stopped by a Dunkin donuts for breakfast. Yummy. 

The boys systematically eat their donuts - bit only the top half of the donut so you only eat the part with the frosting. 

Lincoln picked a light saber as his souvenir.  Ricky helped him build it so it was exactly how he wanted it.  Logan ended up with the blue one as his souvenir so it could be like brothers.  Lincoln was just modeling both of them. 

CA Weekend Part 1

Logan has been walking around the house for months saying, "I wanna go Disneywand." We decided that last weekend was a good time to get away for a quick weekend trip to Southern Cali. We drove up on Saturday and met our friends, the Rizzo's for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was great to see them and Lincoln loved playing with Vincent who is just four days younger than he is.  Logan didn't feel well, (I think he had some tummy pains) so he struggled to be happy but he made it through.  Dinner and beignets in Downtown Disney has sort of become a little tradition for us and the Rizzo's now when we come to CA.


When we told Lincoln that we were going to California he asked if we were going to see the ocean. He's only been a handful of times but he seems to really love it.  We met up with Mom and took her with us. The weather was cold, windy and rainy so unfortunately we knew our visit would last long. We walked through the sand and put our feet in the water and after a few minutes Lincoln's lips were purple and he was shivering. He could barely muster up enough energy to ask to go back to the car. We staying for a few more minutes to play in the sand, collecting sea shells on the way back to the car. I wish it would have been a nice day so we could've had a longer more enjoyable visit although the boys seemed to have fun for the short time we were there.
Later that afternoon we went to Tevye's house for Sunday taco dinner. I almost didn't see Lincoln the entire time we were there because he was tucked away with his cousins in their room playing Legos. He was in heaven having boys his age to play Legos with. It was the first time that Rick and the boys had gotten to meet Danica.  The boys both said hi but weren't too impressed...they had Legos and other cools toys that they deemed more important at that moment.  It was pretty funny. It was a great visit with everyone and I'm glad we had even that little time to spend together. 


There are always more people in CA that we want to see and visit but unfortunately this was a short trip, specifically intended to go to Disneyland so we'll have to make the rounds next time. 

 My baby is growing up.  I love to look at him when he is peacefully sleeping.  Lucky guy ended up with a full bed all to himself at the hotel.

 Notice there isn't anyone at the beach. Such a cold and gloomy day.  I think is is almost identical to my picture from our CA beach trip in 2010 when we went for the boys birthdays.

 In the car getting ready to face the cold.  Grammy kept the boys entertained on the car ride to the beach with lots of little goodies.

 Lincoln really wanted to go in the ocean but he was sad it was so cold.  He's only 35 pounds so he gets cold fast.

 Caden (8) Lincoln (4) and Vance (5) and they all got along very well.

 Danica LOVED her Baby Banana Brush.  We brought it for her and she used that thing for a good hour straight.  She's teething and it was perfect for her.  By the end of that hour she was an adorable slobbery mess.

 What a difference two years makes. Logan wasn't so sure what to make of his baby cousin.  He just sat by her for a few minutes and watched her before he ran back for more toys.

 Tony and Ricky talking Legos.

Tony and Calee 

Dana working on tacos. 

Tev is going through a ZZ Top beard phase. 

Legos, Legos, Legos. 

Logan's School Pictures

This little adorable guy is growing up.  He loves Ms. Sandy's class at school and he is loved and adored by all the teachers.  (I'm not making that up, that's what the teacher's tell us.) He loves art, music and outside time.  These are this years spring school pictures.

Work Trip To CA

Last month I had a four day work trip to Southern CA.  I had job fairs to do in Diamond Bar and Pasadena.  It was fun to be back close to my old stomping grounds although I was so busy with work I didn't get a chance to visit with anyone.  I traveled with a co-worker from AZ and we ended up having a lot of fun together.  We did sneak in a few little tourist stops along the way.  A work trip would not be complete without a stop at a cupcake shop so we found some local winners of cupcake wars at Wonderland Bakery. We also saw a great comedy show at the Ice House in Pasadena.  I did get to see some old co-workers that met up with me at the job fairs and as always that was a pleasure to see them.  It turned out to be a successful trip!

 I love that they had mini cakes so that we could try more of the flavors.

This was our favorite comic of the night at Ice House.  He was pretty hilarious and I would go see him again.  I would tell you his name but I can't pronounce it correctly or even come close to spelling it right.

I See Cuteness!

Ricky recently got reading glasses (not because he necessarily needs them but he wanted them) and the boys thought they were pretty cool.  Daddy was a good sport and let them try them on.  I think both boys could rock glasses...they were SO cute! Nevermind the dirty faces and clothes, we were headed upstairs for a bath when we got side tracked with the glasses.

What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas...

unless you blog about it!  I spent most of last week in Las Vegas for work.  I took a couple co-workers/friends with me and we had a blast.  I only ever get to see Heather if we're traveling on business since she lives in Florida.  She had never been to Vegas so no matter what we did we were going to have fun.

Luckily my job fair was successful or I don't think I would've been able to enjoy myself as much.  The team at my Las Vegas site are super nice and fun to work with which always makes travel a little easier. We stayed at the MGM Grand, saw the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere and  also saw The Jabbawockeez. Both shows were fantastic although if I could only see one it would've been Mystere.  We made a point to east at some fun and yummy places such as Sugar Factory restaurant, Kahunaville, Cafe Rio and a nice little Mexican restaurant by the water in the Venetian.

I drug the girls up and down the strip, through the hotels and shopping centers and also up to Freemont Street in downtown.  Jennifer really wanted to zip line which sounded fun and adventurous so I was in.  We were 67 feet high gliding down 800 feet of cable reaching speeds of 30 mph.  Honestly we weren't as high as I thought it would be but it was still a blast and a great memory for the three of us.

Since Heather had never been to Las Vegas before she wanted to make sure we stopped to gamble for a bit.  Friday night (really it was like 1:00 am) we headed to the gambling floor to watch the hype of the roulette and black jack tables.  Neither one of us knew how to play but luckily we found a couple of nice dealers who were willing to teach us. Both games are fairly simple and by 3:00 am Heather walked away with $20.00 in earnings and after a few quarters in the slots machines I came away with a whopping $7.00.

The worst part about the entire trip is that I had to catch an 8:30 am flight on Saturday morning in order to make it back on time to take the boys to a birthday party. After only getting 2.5 hours of sleep I was quickly reminded I'm not in my early 20's anymore and I don't recover so quickly from a night of no sleep.  In the end it was all worth it to be able to have some fun with the girls.

 Dinner at Kahunaville.  Heather, Jennifer, Matt and Tim. 

 Flat Deanna came along for the ride.  (She's a co-worker who wanted to come but couldn't.)

 Heather and me at Sugar Factory. I think by the time this picture was taken it was like 1:00 am on Friday.

 Heather, Jennifer and Me at the top of the zip line.

 The zip line course. 

Heather and Me at the Bellagio water show.  I think I was as tired as I looked.  Not to mention it was SO cold the week we were there.

This was the last scene in Mystere and kind of gives the ending away. Oops.

 Jabbawockeez at the Monte Carlo

 At about midnight on Friday night we broke down and got a badly needed foot massage.

Good way to end the trip!

A Little Bit of Freedom

We've been experiencing an extra sense of freedom around our house. A couple weeks ago we took down the baby gates that were at the top and bottom of the stairs. Logan is now big enough that he learned if he pulled hard enough that he could eventually open the gate. He has also gotten much more comfortable going up and down alone -- or should I say Ricky and I have gotten more comfortable with his ability to be on the stairs unescorted. Because the gates have been up for almost three years, for the first several days of them being down there was a weird feeling like something was missing. I've now gotten over that and we're enjoying the hassle free environment.

Big Boy Bed

Logan recently got a new bog boy (full size) bed in his room.  We figured he would eventually end up in a full bed anyway and determined that it was better to get one sooner than later so that we could use it as an extra guest bed if needed. It sat in his room unused by him for about a month.  We tried to put him in it at night to go to sleep but at some point during the night he would get up and climb into his crib/day bed. It was cute at first but then I was starting to worry he would transition to the big bed.
Just this last week he's been wanting to sleep in it and has successfully made it through the night in the "big boy bed."  I'm excited that we may be able to be out of the crib by summer.  His room feels a bit cramped right now so to have one less bed in there would be really nice.  I'm hoping he sticks with it!

My sleeping angel.  He is so precious when he sleeps we could just stare at him all night.