Anheim and Santa Clara

After leaving southern California we headed up to Anaheim for two nights.  My Aunt and Uncle live there. They had a huge meal prepared for us on Sunday and three rooms for us to use!  It was heavenly.  Aunt Patty said she wanted to keep Abby home with her the next day.  (I was going to stay home with her because I was worn out, and a day at Disney with a toddler seemed like death!).  But Aunt Patty took her.  We had a great day.  I enjoyed myself so much.  I remembered all day long how nice it was to not have a busy little toddler to take care off.  

Tyler got to be a Jedi.  He fought Darth Vader on stage.  He had to buy a great light saber after that.  

We did some fun rides.  My stomach was turning in circles after the second ride.  But I loved seeing Toontown.  I have my picture with my sisters at this same spot 20 years ago.  And I loved Tarzans Tree house.  Which use to be the Swiss Family Robinsons place.  I still love the idea of living in a tree!  Disneyland was covered in lights and (fake) snow.  It was magical.

The kids both loved this ride.  Driving their cars around.

After Anaheim we headed to Santa Clara.  Darren had to go to a conference for two days.  So we went to a great Childrens museum one day.  (Abby got her shirt totally soaked)  and we explored for several hours.

The next day we went to a park and played and went to the intel museum because its sounded cool.  Pretty high over our heads but still cool.  We spent sometime in our hotel room, watching movies and playing games and taking naps.  I loved all of it but Abby not sleeping at night.  One night at 4 after battling with her for over an hour... I finally went out to the car and slept with her.  She slept great until 7.  But something about cribs and seeing us in the bed next to her makes her want to not sleep!  It was so bad by the end of the trip we opted to just drive home straight the 14 hours.  we arrived home at 5:30 AM and all went to be for a few hours.  Why pay for a hotel when we knew Abby would keep us awake anyway.

This vacation was amazing.  Something about peace, love and the beach.  We didn't argue or fight.  we just all relaxed and it was great.  We needed time with our Daddy.  Time to just play and run around and have fun.

San Diego

We decided to head to California for a  long vacation.  It started off with saying hello to our Aunt Nellie and Grandma and Grandpa for a quick lunch.  Then we said good bye and headed out on the road.

 We stayed in Oceanside. And with kids not quite on California time we got to see some great sunrises since we were all awake then!

  

 We arrived in Oceanside on Thanksgiving afternoon. We headed right to the beach.  After all those hours in the car we were ready to play.  It was a happy moment for me, relaxing.  Watching my kids.  Watching my husband play with the kids.  We say our family motto is- Work Hard- Play Hard--- I was ready to play!  We spent 3 days playing on the beach.

One day we went to San Diego to Point Loma and saw the lighthouse there.  We were off on the tide pool times which was so sad.  There were tombs grave sights from the veterans lining the road.  It was beautiful.  We rented a bike and rode around Coronado.  I LOVED Hotel del Coronado.  People were out iceskating next the beach.

We headed north after a few days but we stopped at Laguana Beach and walked around.  We had great weather while we were at the beach.  We were so grateful.  It was cooler the next few days.  

November hardly has any pictures!!!

If there aren't very many pictures to post it makes it a lot easier to get it done!  I feel like I post a million pictures of Abby but she kind of is my life right now.  We do just about every thing together.  She is into bracelets and jewelry now.  She loves to dress up.... be a princess.  She likes to brush hair and teeth.  

She also likes to get into everything.  Naps sometimes dont happen very well.  She reached over and got all her books out and read them in her crib for one nap.  She knows good food is stored up high in the pantry and tries to climb up the shelves.  She likes to talk about her friends.  Her cousin Liesel and her got to share some popcorn.

 Most of our weekends in November were spent doing yard projects.  Building garden boxes.  But I did run away to Pocatello one weekend to see my sister in the Idaho Symphony.  We had a great relaxing weekend.

Another day Candace took my two oldest to the aquarium.  Its kind of nice to have older kids who are  a little more independent.  

Abby and I went and got a haircut.  Her first.  If I had just taken Ella there with me I think it would have gone better.  But there were lots of tears and distractions.  But the outcome is adorable, even if the picture is her right when she woke up from bedtime.  

Tyler had his second ever Pinewood Derby.  He enjoyed it.  ... and Abby did too.  she wanted to sit right by the track.  Tyers is a Bear now.  So he doesn't do scouts with me every week. But I still love having that in common with him.  

 We are getting ready for ski season.  We got out all the gear and sorted it for the new year.  Abby though it was all too fun.

 We did finally get one day of snow.  The kids just bundled up and had a cozy day.  Listening to Tyler play is so nice.  He is amazing.  He sets his alarm for 6:00 or 6:30 every week day and gets up and practices.  Some days he has to get me out of bed... he's amazing!