Friday, August 10, 2007

More from California

More pics from our trip:


Sea World - not my favorite place to go but it was worth it because Ellie got splashed.


On our way to Sea World I noticed San Juan Capistrano was on the way. I recognized the town because Karl does a lot of paintings of this incredible mission there. We stopped and toured the grounds. You can read about it here.


Karl had me print this image for him - he is thinking of doing a 30x40" painting of it. He said he might get too dizzy from painting all the lilly pads.


Can you tell who took this photo by the angle?




We spent the day at Laguna which was nice because there was grass and a playground right by the beach. Cody loves to swing!


Cute bum!

Playing in the bugs life splash area for kids.
I love the way she is running.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Mickey Mouse's House!


Last week we got back from a week long trip to CA. Justin planned the whole thing a few months ago and I have to admit I was quite sure that taking a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old to Disneyland was sure to backfire on us. I was totally wrong! We had such a fun time and both Ellie and Cody were great. Of course, we all had our moments - I probably had the biggest meltown of anyone (hundreds of people, hot and humid, crying hungry baby - you get the picture). Amazingly as I was making a bee line to the exit in my sudden need to escape I walked right to the mother and baby area, a building in Downtown Disney with A/C, soft chairs to feed your babies, change diapers, etc. After about 20 min. in there Cody was sleeping soundly and we finished our day with great success.

Besides, Disneyland, we also spent a day at California Adventure, a day at Sea World, a couple days at Huntington Beach where we stayed, and a day at Laguna Beach. We ate great food, and I got to run 5 miles down the beach on our last day - which was a huge highlight for me. But I think some of my favorite memories are of our hot, sticky hotel room where we all slept in the same room (some nights cody and ellie in one bed and us in the other, some nights Ellie and I in a bed and Justin and Cody in the other).


Sleeping in the same room was just so fun, frustraing, humid, cute, and exhausting all at once. I'll never forget the morning we were all eating breakfast in our room, and all of a sudden cody, who sleeps on his tummy, pops his head up and starts looking all around with a huge smile. He looked like a little turtle - it was so cute! Justin and Ellie were in 7th Heaven every morning eating all the sugary cereals as they wanted.


Here is a pretty funny video of Ellie in the hotel room. She is so weird sometimes. She wouldn't eat her peaches and was being a pill so I put her in the bathroom for timeout. She then locked the door and couldn't unlock it herself. She was in there for about 25 min. before someone could pick the lock.


Ellie was especially excited to see Mickey Mouse because she has watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV. She asked me, "We're going in the TV to see Mickey Mouse?" We made so many memories - our kids are sooooo cute! It's almost torture because I just can't squeeze them hard enough.



Our transportation, and everything we could possibly want; snacks, a tray for snacks, a ba-ba, a footrest, and blankies all around. All of Ellie's most important needs met.



waiting for Alice in Wonderland ride.


the Tea-Cup ride - one of my favorites. Ellie is sporting her daddy's shirt - cira 1980.


Cody sporting his uncle Cody's shirt.

More to come....