Disneyland Day Three

 Plaza Inn Breakfast (sometimes it pays to be the last ones there)

 Santa

 That reindeer you've never heard of: Pluto

 Queen and Mater

Steamboat Willie Mickey - love it!

Day Three was loads of fun. We played at the park for a while and then ate a late breakfast with Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn. As one of the last to leave, we ended up getting a picture with all the characters that were there that day. That's never happened to us before. We also saw Santa, Mrs. Claus and Pluto as a reindeer. We ended our day with the trip to Mickey's house and got to see Steamboat Willie Mickey this time - also a new one for us. We did ride a bunch of rides between seeing characters - Sam loved driving the car in Autotopia.

Disneyland Day 2

 Tea cups!

 Having fun!

 Duffy Bear

Gabby and Ariel

 Sam finally warms up to the princesses.

We celebrated Gabby's birthday since Daddy will miss her 8th birthday.

Christmas parade

Day two was another full day of fun. We enjoyed the rides and had a wonderful lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Since Daddy will be at NTC on Gabby's birthday, we celebrated her birthday early there with cake and singing. We caught the Christmas parade and fireworks at the Magic Kingdom to end our day.

Disneyland Day 1

 Meeko

 Jesse and Green Army Man (we got in line for Woody but it changed to Jesse while we were in line.)

 It's A Small World Christmas Edition

 My little boy on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

 Tigger and Eeyore

We always get the cutest pics on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train

We started Day One at the Critter Breakfast at the Grand Californian. We saw Meeko, Koda, Kenai, Chip, Dale, and Brer Fox. We hit California Adventure before it was officially open to snag our Fastpasses for World of Color. Then we hit the parks running. Gabby was tall enough for California Screamin' on this trip and she LOVED it! Sam was tall enough (barely, and I do mean BARELY) for Soarin', Big Thunder and Space Mountain. He loved all three eventually. Being last Nov all the Christmas decorations were out in the parks so we enjoyed It's A Small World - Christmas edition and Haunted Mansion - Christmas edition (Nightmare Before Christmas). Loved them both. Too bad they don't do them at WDW. Y'all are missing out!

We're Going to Disneyland!

Do you think they are excited??

We had been planning it for weeks but we finally told the kids we were going to Disneyland. Yeah, they were a little excited. Here's the video link for their reaction.

Skating Firsts

 First Skating Class Test

 First time on the ice

Getting help from Sissy

Since Veteran's Day happened to fall on a Thursday this year, Robert had the day off and was able to go see Gabby's Thursday morning skating lessons. This week was her first end of session test. We all got out there for the free skate afterward. It was Sam's first try at ice skating. By the time we left he was running on the ice on his two-bladed skates.

Video Links

I have added a page for video links. You can access it through the words "Video Links" at the top of this page. I'm working on adding a bunch of videos to YouTube and will keep posting the links on that page. If you have a minute, check out Sam's Mother's Day song. It's very cute, if I am allowed to say so.

Disney On Ice

I love that the Zamboni even has a face.

Daddy missed Disney on Ice last year. This year we went to the Celebrations show. It was a good show and the kids enjoyed it, as always. My favorite part was the skating brooms from Fantasia.

Mount Hood

Always up for a snowball fight.

We finally had a chance to go on a Strong Bonds Retreat together here. We stayed at the Resort at the Mountain (Mount Hood, Oregon) but drove up to Timberline Lodge on Saturday to see the snow. It was cloudy all weekend so we never really saw Mt. Hood well. We did get a good look at it when we were moving here so we have seen it before.

Sam's Soccer

Showing Daddy my skills

Award time

Sam loves Kidz Love Soccer. He started over the summer and we did it in the fall. He's at the parent/kid level here. Daddy made it by to see his last fall soccer lesson. Yes, Sam loved it.

(I do realize how long it's been since I posted. I am trying to get back in the habit.)