Winter Vacation - Disneyland (day 2)

Toontown AGAIN!!

Decorating cookies.

It is the end of the night and the castle is all lit up!

The second day at Disney was just as fun. We did a lot of rides and of course spent time in Toontown. We walked around Disney and discovered some fun activities. In one part they had cookie decorating and a magic show. Lauren thought that was great. They also had the turkey that President Bush just "pardoned" at Thanksgiving. I guess they all go to Disneyland to spend the rest of their life.

That night we watched the parade and the fireworks were much better. The castle was so pretty all lit up after the fireworks.

I would recommend Disney at Christmas time to everyone. The good thing was that is was not that busy and none of the rides had a wait of more then 15 minutes. We are going again this summer with some good friends and I think the waits are going to be a lot longer. We have been so lucky each time we have gone with the crowds.

Winter Vacation - Characters (Day 2)

Lauren walking down the street with Pluto and Goofy.

Lauren and Minnie

Lauren and Mickey

Lauren and Goofy

Lauren and Chip and Dale

Lauren and Pluto

Lauren and Donald

Lauren was so excited the second day when we walked in Disneyland. There was all the characters ready to have hugs and have pictures taken. Lauren had to have her picture taken with each one. She did not want to meet any of the princesses but all she talked about was Mickey and Minnie and etc. Last year it was princesses all the time and this time she did not even want to go to where the princesses hang out.

I love the first picture of Lauren and Pluto. Pluto is her favorite and she was so happy when he took her hand and walked across the street with his hand in hers. She thought that was so great and talked about it all day.

I love the Christmas outfits on each of the characters, they looked so fun.

Winter Vacation - Disneyland (day 1)

Lauren in Toontown

Lauren with Santa

Toontown

Pluto's bed in Toontown

High School Musical parade.

Lauren and Mickey

Lauren and Minnie

Dinner with Goofy.

Lauren and Jasmine

Dinner with Goofy banging pots and pans.

On our second day of our vacation we went to Disneyland. This was our second time at Disneyland. It was quite something to see Disneyland all decorated for the Holidays. Everything looked so pretty and fun.

Lauren's favorite part of Disneyland is Toontown. She could have spent all day there. That is the first place she wanted to go when we got to Disneyland. She loves to play in the houses and all the cars and other things they have there. She won't go on the rides in Toontown but she will spend hours there if she could. Usually after about an hour or so I am ready to leave and I have to pull her out of there.

We went on a few rides. One of them was It's a Small World. They just finished refurbishing it and on top of that it was totally decorated for Christmas. It was fun and our first time on that ride. Last time we were at Disneyland they had it closed to decorate it for Christmas.

We also got to visit Santa and a few of the Disney characters. The best part of the day was the Goofy Dinner. That was so much fun. It is great to have the characters come to the table. I think we had about 6 different characters at the dinner. At one part of the dinner, Goofy comes out with a bunch of pots and pans and starts to make a much of noise. The kids then join in and they have a great time. Lauren was a bit concerned about this because she thought it might really make some people mad who were having dinner and she did not think they would like all the noise.

Another part of the day that Lauren thought was pretty fun was the High School Musical parade. Lauren got picked to join the dancers in the parade. She thought that was so fun and had a great time.

We stayed for the fireworks which were interesting. Since it was very foggy that night you could not see the fireworks. The sky would just light up in different colors. Lauren still liked it. It was a great first day.

Winter Vacation - Sea World

I love this picture of Lauren. She was so happy that we took a vacation that was just the two of us. There were so many times she told me "today is the best day I have ever had". It was fun to share this time with her.

The weather was great. A little foggy in the morning but by mid morning it was clear and a great day.

This was the Clyde and Seamore Christmas Show. Lauren thought it was really funny. We have been to Sea World at least once in the past four years. They have not changed the shows in all that time. I know the shows pretty much by heart now but Lauren still loves to watch them.

Lauren with the seals

Sea World had a great Christmas tree. It was really something to see.

Last year Lauren and I went to Disneyland during Halloween time. It was so fun to see Disney decorated for Halloween. I thought that if they decorate that much for Halloween, they must do a great job for Christmas. So, I planned a trip for Lauren and I to go to Disney during the Holidays. I also thought it would be a great start to Christmas.

I decided to start the vacation in San Diego. I did that because we had free tickets to Sea World. This summer if you bought a ticket for Sea World you could come one more day during the rest of the year for free. So since we were headed over to California I thought we would just start at Sea World and use the free tickets.

Lauren loves Sea World. It was all decorated for the holidays and they even had a few special holiday shows. Lauren's favorite show continues to be the Dog and Cat show however she is starting to like the dolphin show a lot. We had a great day and it was a fun way to start our winter vacation.

It is always fun to go on vacation and we did have a good time, there was a bit of a dark cloud over our vacation. My brother and his wife had their second child, Jacob, on Saturday morning (12:04 am). We stopped by to see him before we headed over to California. However, Jacob was not in Diane's room so we only got to see him through the nursery window. He was having problems with feeding and was making some grunting sounds and they thought he might have some fluid in his lungs. Well, while we were on vacation, the doctor continued to be concerned when things did not clear up and they decided to move him to a hospital with a special children's unit. He is now in ICU. He has some heart problems that has kept him there for now. Brian and Diane hope to be able to bring him home this weekend but he will still have some problems that they will need to deal. If he does not improve then he might need a heart transplant. Keep him in your prayers.

Thanksgiving

Lauren and Sammie.

Cousins

Lauren and Elaine

After dinner game.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I think it is great that we have a day to think and reflect on what we are thankful for. I am so thankful for so many things. One of the things that I am most thankful for is my family. I have great family. I love that we can have a great time when we spend time together and that we actually enjoy each other.

Thanksgiving this year was at my sister, Janine's house. We usually have Thanksgiving at my brother's house but my sister-in-law is about to have a baby (she was due yesterday). It was a nice day. We had a great meal, good conversation and a fun time joking and playing some games. The cousins all get along even though they are different ages. They have fun with each other and seem to enjoy being with each other.

This year I am thankful for so many things. As our world is going through so many problems I am thankful that I have a good job that I enjoy. I am thankful that I have a nice home to live in. I am thankful that I have good friends. I am thankful for my faith in God and the church I attend. But what I am most thankful for is my little girl. She is the best part of my life and I just love her so much. Everyday I think that I am the luckiest person because I get to be her mom.

Thanksgiving Cards

This morning before we went for Thanksgiving dinner, Lauren decided to make cards for everyone. She worked so hard on them. She put glitter and wrote the names on each one. She also added "by Lauren" on each card, in case the recipients didn't know who made them. She was so proud to hand them out.

Ice Skating

One of the parties that Lauren went to this weekend was an ice skating party. Lauren has only been ice skating once before so I got to go with her. Things have changed since I learned to skate many many years ago. They now have this "walkers" that the kids us to keep their balance. By the end of our session Lauren was doing pretty well. I am sure we will try it again sometime.