Disneyland!!! Day 1

Disneyland...Happiest Place on Earth, right? Well, we had a good time, and so did every other school-aged kid from California! We've been trying to go to Disneyland for months and have rescheduled the trip FOUR times. Edward's work scheduled changed a lot, and the last time we had planned to go, we had a death in the family. So, we finally got to go on Veteran's Day. We expcted the park to be crowded for Veteran's Day, but we didn't expect it to be as crowded on Friday...wrong! All of the California schools ended up being off both days, so the park was a zoo. We heard people say it was like the 4th of July. Nonetheless, we had a good time, and the kids LOVED seeing their favorite characters.

We got up and drove over Thursday morning. Disneyland is about 4.5 hrs. from our house.

The very cool thing turned out to be that the park was decorated for Christmas! We also got to see the first Christmas parade of the season.

Madison asked over and over to see Sleeping Beauty's castle, so here it is! She was delighted with it.

Our first ride turned out to be the carousel. All three kids were able to ride.

The line for the teacups was really long, so we decided to ride them first thing on Friday morning. Here, the kids are posing at the entrance to the ride.

So, we spent most of the first day looking for princesses. Madison got an autograph book and waited in line to meet the princesses. She loved it.

She was a little unsure this was Ariel since she wasn't in her tail and swimsuit costume.

We both agreed Tiana had the prettiest dress. It's hard to see from here, but the beading was really good.

Princess show

More princesses...

...and, this was how Alex enjoyed his day...walking under the line markers.

Luke had been begging to go on the "space ship ride" all day.

Alex really didn't care about the rides (or his shoes...as you can see, he kept kicking them off).

Sleeping Beauty's castle at night and decorated for Christmas

A happy boy

Beautiful Chrismas tree!

We headed off to the Embassy Suites and another day of Disneyland. We weren't at the hotel much, but apparently, Luke liked it. His preschool teachers asked him what was his favorite part about the trip, and he kept telling them the hotel. It's funny because the second night he fell asleep before we even got back to the hotel!

Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Andrew, and Tanks

No trip to an Army post is complete without a visit to the tanks. I was home making dinner, so I didn't have control of the camera :) There are a TON of tank shots...here are a few to start.

Brothers

Maybe someday little guy you'll be an Army Officer yourself.

Thanks for coming to visit, Jennifer and Andrew. We had a blast!!! We can't wait to come and visit you in Death Valley this April. The kids are already asking if it's almost time for our trip.

Daylight Savings

Just to remind all of you that while you got that extra hour of sleep last night, we here in Arizona did not. Arizona doesn't honor daylight savings, so after you all adjust your clocks, we are now back on Mountain Time and TWO HOURS behind all of you on EST. While two hours makes it easier for phone calls, it totally messes up most of our tv. Most of our Directv stuff comes out of Los Angeles, and they are now on Pacific Time, so our shows are now on an hour later. Confused?? We were the first year we got here too!

And, since we live less than a mile from the California border, that means that when we cross over into California, we fall back an hour. Strange, huh? If I want to go to the mall (which is in California...no real mall here in Yuma), which is an hour and 15 minutes away, I would have to leave my house no earlier than 10 to get there at 10:15, right after they open.

Gotta love it...the only good thing is we don't ever have to mess with the clocks!

Playtime or Kitchen Help?

Before trick-or-treating started, we had a quick dinner. Alex decided to help.

Uncle Andrew came to Alex's aid. He and Aunt Jennifer came down that afternoon for a visit. They got to the house just in time for trick-or-treating.

And, at the end of the evening, the kids decided to play with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jennifer. Here, they are playing hide and seek. They found a good spot to hide by pulling the bins out of Madison's dresser and climbing in.

Church Trunk or Treat

I had trouble getting pictures off of my camera, so sorry for the delay on the Halloween ones. Sunday afternoon, before regular trick-or-treating, our church held a trunk-or-treat. We were excited to go this year, as in years' past, they've always held it during trick-or-treat, so we haven't been able to attend.

Cowboy Alex ready to go

His bag is almost as big as he is!

Looking for more candy...

Cowboy Luke

The Cowboy Crew

They look very authentic with the cactus and sand in the background!

All of us

Cowboy Luke decided to take a siesta before trick-or-treating on post. He was passed out!

I must say that I loved these costumes! I really think they turned out even better than I could have imagined. They wore really well on the kids, and the kids played hard in them. Plus, with different activities on post, they wore them three different times (for long periods of time), and the costumes held up very well. Looking back, this might be my favorite Halloween costumes...we'll see.

Really Cooling Off...

Glad it's November. The temps are really dropping (insert sarcasm here).

Joyriding

It is FINALLY cooling off some to play outside more! When I say cooling off, know that the daily highs are still in the 90's. It was 97 yesterday. Sadly, that feels awesome after a summer of 120's.

The kids have been enjoying their bikes, scooters, and their Power Wheels. Our "winter" of closing ourselves up in the house is coming to an end, and we are able to rejoin the outside world. The weather has been much cooler for us. I've been putting all of my flowers in (it's too hot to grow anything in the summer here, so you put your flowers in during October, and they will grow until June). We are all so glad for the nice weather!

Sadly, the nice weather brings on the half million (NO LIE OR EXAGGERATION!!!) snowbirds that descend upon Yuma in the winter. It is unbelievable. They all come in RVs and setup camps in the desert. Some do have homes here, but many just camp for six months. It's crazy. So, trips to town are now dreaded, and we won't be able to shop at many stores like Wal-Mart or eat at places like Cracker Barrel until April (no kidding...too crowded). Luckily, the snowbirds aren't big fans of Target.

Comparisons...

This is too cute!

Madison-Halloween 2005 (4 months old)

Alaina, the kids' cousin, Halloween 2010, 7 weeks old

I do think you can tell they are related! I loved that costume.