Pumpkin Patch FHE

We had so much with last week with Blake, Andrea, and the three little cousins! We enjoyed the cow train, barn animals, corn maze and hay maze, tricycles, playground, bounce house, and other games!

Disneyland (last Tues and Wed)

So we got to the park about 5 minutes after it opened (I was so sure I could make it 15 minutes before opening). It was not very busy so we went straight to Pirates of the Caribbean and got right on. Might not have been the best first impression to make on Henry, since it was dark and a little scary. Then we began our quest for fast passes and more fast rides. We went to Big Thunder Mountain (Henry had to wait, and I got the switch pass), the day continued on with us collecting fast passes on riding rides.

 

The Jedi training show was fun to watch (we did not make it in time to have Tucker participate). We squeezed everything we could in before 6 (they closed early for the Mickey's Trick or Treat party) then we headed across to California Adventure for a couple more small rides (Tuck and Roll's bumper cars and the Monster's Inc ride). before heading back to the hotel where we all promptly crashed.

Wednesday morning we headed back to Disneyland a few minutes after opening again, this day was much more crowded (but I'm sure nothing like on weekends or peak hours- which is important as Trent hates to wait for anything and isn't particularly fond of people in general :) ) We went on just a few rides there before heading to California Adventure for the rest of the day

On the rocking car ferris wheel at night.

. It was lots of fun for everyone, probably a little too much waiting for Henry (at least he napped in the stroller both days) and probably a little scary for Charlotte a few times.

Some favorites: Tucker loved basically everything. I think he is saying Space Mountain was his favorite, but after almost every ride he would say "That was awesome!" and continue to give me a play by play.
I think Splash Mountain was the  favorite for Charlotte and me.
Henry liked the Buzz lightyear ride the best ("shooting the bad robot") but still would have rather been at the beach.

Waiting for the Matterhorn

Buzz Lightyear line

Henry HAD to drive this car.

The Disneyland train

Splash Mountain

We did miss a few things that I would have liked to try. You really can't squeeze everything in! I have to say, Charlotte never complains, what a doll!

California (2nd day)

We woke up to a cool, foggy morning. Ate, checked out of our hotel and headed to the beach. We were close to Balboa island where we had the bonfire the night before, so we just parked around there and headed toward the ocean. In hindsight, we probably should've headed over by Huntington or closer to Newport pier, because our spot had a pretty steep slope down to the water, but we had a lot of fun and it wasn't crowded.
It was cooler than the other days we were there and we weren't really planning on getting wet, but some of the stronger waves got us while we were dipping our feet in

. Henry was in heaven. He didn't care much for the water, but loved shoveling sand into his dump truck. We also flew our kite.

Then we were all wet and cold and hungry and Trent was ready to do some body surfing. He was so cute and grinning like a little kid. He always says he doesn't see why I like the ocean so much, but clearly he does too! Goes to show he can have fun without motorized vehicles!

After the beach we got cleaned up, grabbed Sarah and Gabe and lunch and headed to the Balboa fun zone where we rode the ferris wheel, then watched Trent bounce on the trampoline bungee thing. It was a fun day.

Our trip to California (first day)

 We drove down Sunday morning, after a tearful goodbye to Paisley (who was cared for by amazing friends and family). We were joined by Sarah and Gabe. We, of course, stopped to see the dinosaurs and stretch our legs. That evening after dropping Sarah and Gabe at their friend's we went straight to the beach where we had a great time eating hot dogs and s'mores around a lovely bonfire! The pictures aren't great, but it was a lot of fun.

What are the odds, there happened to be a cute little blonde 2 yr old girl named Paisley there!

We're back to our home, our baby, and reality

tons of pictures to come. . .

Blog Friend

Since my blog is mostly a place for me to put pictures of my kids, I know that it is not a huge draw for people who don't know me to read it. And since I get very few comments I always assume that hardly anyone looks at it. It always makes me smile when I find out about someone who reads or has popped in to look at my blog. It was very exciting to me to strike up a little blog friendship with a very amusing and lovely woman in Australia named Elizabeth. She commented on a post of mine and I began reading her blog. I got to make her a necklace to wear to her brother's wedding! It was really exciting the day I received a bottle of perfume in the mail that she had sent me as a thank you gift.

Anyway, there is no exciting or even really a point to this story at all. Some of the blogs I read I just add to my google reader, but sometimes I just want the ease of clicking the little Follow button on the sidebar. So the other day a blog I wanted to follow didn't have a follow button and I was annoyed. That prompted me to add a little Blog Followers Icon to my sidebar. As you can see I have a whopping 13 followers. My point is, if you want to follow my blog now you can do so by clicking a button. And then I will see who you are and I can read yours. Fun for everyone.

Back yard progress

This weekend Trent go some work done in the yard. This is inside the pool gate directly behind the house, not the side of the house where he did the pavers and the grass. Henry loved being in the skid loader so much!

 These "Before" shots were taken after a large portion of a large dirt/rock pile was already hauled out. And months ago Trent removed the orange tree and hot tub that were there. Trent has beautiful plans for a large storage shed, gazebo and new hot tub. Who knows how long it will take. But I have no doubts that he will do it.

After Friday and Saturdays efforts.
And to finish this post a picture of my darling Paisley. Okay two pictures.

If you look closely you can see that Paisley may be getting a mole in her smile line like the one I used to have. Cute.