Back From MIA...Possibly

I've been missing in action for over a month now, but I'm back, at least for the moment. I've been out enjoying my life outside of the computer/blogosphere. I'll share a few of the things that we've been out enjoying.

My little boy graduated kindergarten. Proud of the wonderful job he did in his first year of school, but not so sure I want him to be out of kindergarten. He ended with mainly Excellent's and some Satisfactory's. This is Jayce on graduation day with his awesome teacher...


So next year he'll hit the big time for 1st grade, Taylor will be in 4th, and Alyssa will be in her very last year of Jr. High, 8th grade. Ugh.

My husbands two oldest kids came out for a week's visit. While they were here we took them to Knott's Berry Farm and the beach in California. We had a wonderful time...minus freezing our asses off at the beach in the morning. My hubby is the only one who enjoyed it regardless of the frigid temp and water. But once the temps rose in the afternoon then we all enjoyed it. Seriously...when Ryan got out of the water in the morning HE WAS PURPLE. Mmm hmm...purple.

Ryan, Siara and I....our LOVELY 2 hour wait for Knott's Berry to open since Miss Siara woke us up at the crack of OMG because she wanted to get going...that and she's an early to rise girl to begin with...which kind of clashes with a "don't you dare wake me" me.

We ran into some hot fellas...

Ryan was just overjoyed that snoopy stopped by for a visit...

And here's my crazy family in the freezing waters of Newport Beach...

Siara, Ryan and I

Wondering if this sea urchin will poison me or something...

My hubby and I catching a wave...

Ooooh that was fun!

We went out on a ranger/quad ride....

Up front is Grandma Sheryl and Jayce, in the back is Alyssa, Siara and Taylor.

And here is my hubby and Ryan...

My hubby and I...

"I vwant to bite you"

And we've done some swimming...but I'll save that for another time. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Our Day At The Beach

So on our trip back home on 2/21/10 from going to Disneyland we decided to go to the beach before heading out. But first I have to share a funny breakfast story. We stopped for breakfast and when we were being seated the waitress asked if we would like a special menu for Tate. We were thinking it was specials they had, so we said sure. Nope, that wasn't it at all. She brought him a KIDS menu! Now the thing that's funny about that is that they only brought him a kids menu and not one for Alyssa. Tate is almost a year OLDER than Alyssa! Ya, he wasn't very happy about that one! The misconception probably was due to Alyssa is taller than Tate.

So here was our day at Huntington Beach...

We let the kids get in the water with ALL their clothes on...

They would wait for the waves to come crashing in and then they would run for shore...

She looks so serene standing there...

My macho man ;)

I think I was enjoying our day!

Ok..so it was semi-streaking...I didn't want to sit in the car with wet clothes on!...Pants came off, but my shirt was stretchy enough to cover the goods.
We made the kids change pants in the parking lot!

These were taken while we were seashell hunting...

Hi..meet my nephew Tate..who wasn't patient enough for a tissue. Yes, that's some sick snot hanging from his nose! He did that and I told him we have tissues ya know. So he asked for one...and I told him ya and grabbed the camera first..and then got him a tissue...

We ate a Joe's Crab Shack for lunch...

Mmm Margarita!

I just had to take a pic of this truck on the way home...

And the kids didn't fall asleep until about 1/2 hour from home...

And that is the conclusion of our California adventure for Alyssa's 13th Birthday.

Our California Adventure Part 2

On to Day 2 of our trip to California/Disneyland for Alyssa's 13th Birthday. We got up bright and early in the morning...ok, so I got up bright and early in the morning and had to peel them out of bed...and we headed out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. That's where we ate most of the time since it was the closest. On this particular morning there was a very large group of women there eating. It.sounded.like.a.cackling.hen.house. We seriously couldn't hear ourselves think. Noisy. We thought about throwing our tabasco sauce bottles at them...it was just a thought.

But anyirritating...

I guess I missed it in the morning when I was in the shower. I guess Alyssa and Tate were play fighting...and she got 'em good! That's my girl!

We spent the majority of Day 2 at California Adventure Park, and then ended up back at Disneyland in the evening so we could ride Splash Mountain again and buy some more souvenirs. Like we needed any more of those. Necklace, anklet, jackets, shirts, coffee cups, hats. We.were.broke. Not really, but I think we funded them for a while. We spent just over $200 on the pictures that they snap of you while you are on the rides. We must've lost our minds. But it's good memories, so it's worth it.

Here is Day 2 in pictures...

Here is the nice serene beginning of the Ferris Wheel ride...

And here is when it started to go...

It's not your normal Ferris Wheel people. The cart you are sitting in goes around on it's own little track while the Ferris Wheel spins around. Add height to it...and this is what you get!

Getting ready to get on the Hollywood Horror Tower Hotel ride...

We loved this ride...we rode it a few times, and at one point of time there was this guy that couldn't get up, looked like he was gonna pass out. We were nice about it...we didn't bust up laughing until we were well out of earshot.

When we got back to the hotel we let them jump on the beds...

We spent the evenings at the hot tub and heated (ya right) pool. The hot tub was very relaxing. I was the only one that didn't get into the pool...it wasn't heated enough for me. I don't know...pretty sure that I've mentioned before that I.don't.like.to.be.cold. Jason and the kids were the only crazy fekkers in the pool. They still had fun though.



I think we came to the conclusion that Disneyland is more visual than big ride oriented. It has a ton of cool things to look at. I was amazed by the animation and what they came up with. And on the other hand, California Adventure Park was more ride oriented. Loved.the.roller.coaster. It starts of reeeeaaally fast instead of a slow start. It's fun standing on the sidelines watching people's faces when they get shot down the track!

Well that was our final park hopping day. Tomorrow I will post about our trip home and our stop at the beach. There may have been some streaking involved...