trip to grandma's

holly and i took the kids to mom's for a weekend and we went to aunt aloha and uncle gary's 50th wedding anniversary

matt's bday

matt had a laid back bday at home with creepy crawly cupcakes! squeezed it in just before tony left for iraq.

southern california - first installment

Day 1: we met grandma at the airport (she flew up from oregon) and the kids had fun playing with matt's car and playing "river" with the different colored flooring in the gate area. we (all but matt who slept) saw a beautiful sunset as we descended into long beach. we picked up our rental car and headed to dinner at chens for some sizzling rice soup and orange bean curd (matt just had green tea ice cream!). then drove to our hotel in carlsbad to get ready for legoland.










Day 2: Legoland! the driving school and junior driving school were huge hits for the kids. they also loved all the playgrounds and matt loved the log ride (again and again and again and....). kaitlyn rode all the roller coasters (this made mom happy) and grandma's favorite was the indiana jones like ride that you got to shoot at targets. the kids had lots of fun with their new swords! kaitlyn extracted a promise from dad that he would go on the lego test track roller coaster with her the next day. that night back to the hotel and hot tub!

Day 3: Legoland - back to legoland - with the threat of rain there were no crowds at all - several times we went through rides 2 or 3 times without even having to get off. and the best part - it didn't even rain until 15 minutes before closing! matt got to join kaitlyn on the joust ride as we had coached him the night before that he was 4 years old if anyone asked (after all it was less than 2 weeks until his birthday). of course when asked, he replied (as he usually did) "i'm matt!" but kaitlyn told them he was 4, so he got on. and tony did do the roller coaster with kaitlyn. we headed north in a rainstorm that night to meet my friend for dinner (el torito) then up to meet the cousins at our hotel across the street from disneyland!

southern california - first installment section b

oops - forgot this picture

Southern California - second installment

Day 4 - Disneyland! after a night of very heavy rain, thunder and lightning, we hit disneyland in a light drizzle, which cleared to give us a nice day. we rode the train, did autopia, toon town, astroblasters and the less than exciting nemo submarine ride among others. blake and heidi joined us and he had lunch at the horseshoe review where matt had an unplanned inclusion in the show (a one-liner "why do people insisnt on bringing their kids to disneyland!" when he was being a bit vocal). kaitlyn wasn't quite ready for space mountain but i got to go on. she did do splash, which she wasn't too sure about, but all the kids liked the new pooh ride. back at the hotel kaitlyn was a little worn out waiting for in and out take out!

Day 5 -

Disneyland/California adventure. we hist disney for a few rides (caurosel etc) and then to kaitlyn and abby with holly, grandma and me went to ariel's grotto to meet the princesses and have lunch, while the boys hit bug's land. the bumper cars were fun as was the new monster's inc. ride. back to the hotel for a quick dip in the pool and hot tub and then back for holly jeff and i to take a few rides on california screamin (the roller coaster) before hitting disneyland for the fireworks, which had been cancelled the night before, and unfortunately were cancelled again! small world then hotel.

Day 6: Disneyland. the morning was spent with cousins and friends going on rides and visiting the petting zoo. we headed back to the hotel to say goodbye to cousins in the afternoon, have another dip in pool and hot tub and then back to disneyland for a night-time jungle cruise and some pirates (at the end of which we got stuck while they removed some rambunctious guests) and matt fell asleep!

Southern California 3rd and final installment

Day 7 - Disneyland. We spent the morning collecting autographs from mickey, donald and others and kaitlyn built her own mickey ears. then we headed up main street to adventureland - kaitlyn decided she would try jungle cruise and loved it. she also tried haunted house and wasn't so sure (matt was unphased). kaitlyn loved big thunder mountain railroad. matt really wanted to go on but wasn't tall enough so next we headed to fantasy land, then to toon town but by the time we got there the roller coaster was closed due to rain. we met mickey and minnie then headed to tomorrowland. By that time we were in a full blown orrential rain and many outside rides were closed. we did astroblasters, then the kids wanted to go back. tony rode indiana jones and the river ride at california adventure while we headed back for more hot tub time at the hotel. then we headed to dinner at kailtyn's favorite (old spaghetti factory).








Day 8 - California adventure. i headed to disneyland to ride indiana jones while the kids, dad and grandma rode monsters inc (3 times!) we had a beautiful day with sun and no crowds. we tried out the new toy story ride (4-D shooting gallery) - that was great! toured the tortilla factory, did soaring again, had lunch and headed to bugs land. took in the 3-d movie that was great then bug's land rides, then kaitlyn wanted to do tower of terror (while matt went on monsters inc - again!). kaitlyn loved it - i think i will have two roller coaster riders when they both get tall enough - yay! then back to the car, take out for the plane from pick up stix and back home.

kaitlyn's 6th birthday

kaitlyn had kitty cupcakes at school on her birthday then got to have a small all girls party at a paint your own pottery place. a hello kitty ice cream cake was enjoyed by all (especially grandpa when we had dinner with grandpa and cousins afterward).

day trip

we had an unexpected day off together in january without rain and decided to take a day trip. went up to bremerton and got to see them loading up the john c stennis aircraft carrier as it was getting ready to head out. then took the ferry to seattle and to pike place for cheese and donuts!