The Moment Where Time Stood Still (Day 5)

Months of planning, saving and preparing... and it all came down to this moment. This is what Rob, Mee Maw, and myself all wanted to go to Disneyland to see. The moment where Leeann got to meet her best friend, her favorite princess... Cinderella! She just about knocked her over when she ran up to give her a big hug. Her eyes were huge and she was so excited, I wish all of you could have been there. This moment made the 40 hours in the car and the months of scrimping and saving absolutely worth it!

The hug.
She was showing Cinderella where she was at on the front of her princess autograph book.
Cinderella etched her name in Leeann's book, so she'll never forget the moment they met!
Leeann got up and started dancing and twirling her dress. Cinderella thought that sounded like a great idea, so she got up and danced with Leeann! I've replayed these moments in my head over and over again since we've been back. I think this is one of those moments that a mother will never forget! My only regret is that we didn't get to spend more time and Disneyland. We've decided that we will definitely need to make sure we can go for another day or two on our next trip. Two days in the park just weren't enough! I wouldn't trade seeing that moment in Leeann's life for anything in this whole world! I love being the mommy of a princess!

California Day 4

On Sunday, we once again woke up later than we should have, but that's okay! We originally wanted to go to church at Saddleback on Sunday morning, but it was an hour from where we were staying, so we decided to go to the Museum of Tolerance instead. This museum has a great Holocaust exhibit, and Rob and I have greatly enjoyed our studies of the Holocaust. We recently learned about this museum from the movie Freedom Writers, and we decided that that's what we do on Sunday afternoon.

So, we ate brunch at Denny's again. There was only one other white family in the whole establishment, that was a new experience for me. We did a little shopping at Target to gear up for the rest of our trip and we stopped at Starbucks (see Rob's blog). We also dropped Rob's tux off at Men's Warehouse and went to a grocery store.

Well, I guess by the time we did all this Titus was tired and cranky and didn't want anything to do with... well, anything. We got on the freeway and missed our exit, so we had to improvise by taking the next exit and trying to back track. By this time Titus was irate, tired, irritable and... well... screaming at the top of his lungs. He couldn't be consoled for anything.

So, eventually after feeling desperately lost Rob pulled over and pulled Titus out of his car seat an snuggled with him in a small patch of grass on the side of the road.

I couldn't tell from the AAA tour book whether the museum closed at 4, or started doing it's last tours at 4. Since it was already after 3 we decided that if it closes at 4 it's no longer worth the effort to try to find it. I bit the bullet, used some roaming minutes and called the museum. Good news, it's actually open until 6! Bad news, the Holocaust section was under construction. Yeah, well, maybe I should have called BEFORE we set out on our wild adventure!

So... we ended up here... which wasn't such a bad detour!
Yes folks, I can officially say I drove down Rodeo drive!



This says the Beastie Boys just in case you can't read it. I was taking all of these pictures out the car window as we were driving!

Titus eventually fell asleep and we slowly made our way to the hotel in Anaheim. When we got to the hotel Rob looked up where we had been in relation to the museum. We were running parallel to the street it was on, only a few blocks away.

Oh well, it was an adventure!

California Day 4 Continued

After such a long day we checked into the hotel and got our swim suits on as fast as we could! The kiddos loved the pool. In fact, I think they would have been fine just playing in the pool all day. Hey, who needs Disneyland?
This is Titus trying to climb over the pool chair. How do little boys ever grow up to be men? I'm surprised any of them live to see their 12th birthday!
What can I say, he's handsome! He loved swimming in the pool, especially with his daddy.

Mee Maw and I ended the night by taking the shuttle to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping and grab a bite to eat. It was great fun, and it really built up the anticipation to bring the kiddos to Disneyland the next morning!

California Day 3

Okay, so I'm a little late... since our vacation has come and gone... but here's my commentary on Day 3 of our California adventure!

We had a lazy day, woke up at nearly 10:00 in the morning, did a little shopping and got ready for the wedding.

At brunch (since we missed breakfast!) we were entertained by a clown at Denny's. He was quite fun, and the kid's loved him!

The wedding was beautiful, and it was so great to meet Mike's beautiful bride. Mike has been a good friend of Rob's since they were in late elementary school, or middle school. He's one of the greatest guys you will ever meet, and he's waited more than 3o years for this big day, which made it extra sweet!

I don't know why I took this picture, but I'm posting it because I think Titus just looks so sweet in this picture!
This is Leeann's tatoo painting from the clown at Denny's.
Rob kissing his good friend Steve, who was also in the wedding.
And, Rob kissing Titus. I guess love was in the air. We were at a wedding afterall!
A family portrait? Well, I'll take what I can get!

Day 3 Continued

This is Mee Maw and Leeann smelling flowers, or something girly like that!
This is Judy and Dick, Steve's parents. We like them :0)
Titus was getting a little anxious for his dinner!
The bride and groom!
This is Leeann 'toasting' with me. Apparently it made sense to her to share her water with me. That's what toasts are all about, right?

Day 3 Continued (again)

Ah, a dance with her daddy. It's hard not to think about her dancing with her daddy on her wedding day. Oh, why oh why can't they stay this age forever?
Dancing with Micah, Steve's little boy. The kids couldn't help but dance to the music... they were so cute!
Leeann gave Mike some money to cut in during the infamous "money dance." It was adorable!

Princess Jasmine

This is Leeann with Princess Jasmine. She was quite excited to see her and get her autograph, but the next princess in line for her to meet was Cinderella, so Jasmine had a tough time keeping her attention.

The way that Disneyland allows you to meet the princesses is actually quite cool. After you stand in line with hundereds of other little princess for upwards of an hour you get to go behind this wall to an enchanted fairytale land where 3 princess wait to meet you (they don't guarentee which 3 you will meet). You get a few minutes one-on-one with each princess to get your picture taken and to get their autograph. It's quite cool actually, so it's not like your being pushed to hurry by the anxious parents behind you. They truly do make it so magical for these little girls! I did find out that if you are dressed like a specific princess, that she takes more time to make you feel extra special! And boy, did they ever make Leeann feel like the princess she is!

The PICTURE that's worth a thousand words (or dollars...smiles...memories...)

I don't have time right now to blog all about Cinderella... but I promised a picture of "the magical moment." And, I don't like to dissapoint my blog readers :0) I'm sure I'll post more soon, but I just haven't had the time to blog all about California yet. I'll keep you posted!

All I can say, is that we're already trying to figure out how soon we could afford to go back! We're looking at February of 2009. Yeah!!!!

Year of a Million Dreams...

This year Disney has launched "The Year of a Million Dreams." Basically, they empower regular cast members to help random guests have their dreams come true. There are a few big ticket items, like a stay in Cinderella's Suite and a trip around the world, but for the most part they do super-special things for regular people...

... like give a four year old dressed as Snow White a private back stage meet and greet!

California Day 2

This is me, outside of our Super 8 Motel in Sacramento. We got up and out early, before 9 even, and headed to Southern California. It was a pretty uneventful day... breakfast at Starbucks, lunch at Jack-n-the-box... ridiculous traffic on the 405, making us fashionably late for the rehearsal dinner.

It was a nice rehearsal dinner though, and I finally got to meet Mike's then soon-t0-be wife, Becka. I also got to catch up with Heather (the wife of Rob's good friend Steve), which is always nice. I ended up making it back to the hotel just after nine while Rob hung out with the guys. I came home to this...













Titus wearing daddy's t-shirt, which I thought was too cute not to photograph. Apparently while Mee Maw was babysitting, they had a little too much fun and spilled drinks all down the front of Titus and onto the floor :0)












Leeann couldn't let a photo opportunity go by, so we had some fun with the camera.




















And, she also couldn't stand to let Titus sleep there looking so cute without trying to wake him up with some kisses! Her favorite pastime :0)

Where all your dreams come true...

I still plan to blog a day-by-day adventure log, but I simply haven't had time. So, here's a picture from today, waiting in line to meet some of the princesses at DISNEYLAND! Yippee!

We're back at the hotel and the kiddos and Mee Maw are napping. I wanted so desperately to blog a picture of Leeann meeting Cinderella today, but the card reader that let's me download pictures in MIA. This one is from Mee Maw's camera since my computer reads hers automatically. I tell you what though... Leeann's reaction to Cinderella... priceless!

California Day 1

Yesterday was day 1 of our trip to California. We got an early start and found ourselves at the Applebee's in Roseburg for lunch. This is a cute picture of Titus enjoying his meal...















A little touristy family picture at the state-line.















We met Jenny and Breanna at In-and-Out for dinner. It was great to see them--they are sisters that Rob grew up with and they live in Redding so we got to see them for a quick hello. Thanks you two! Jenny is Suzy's best friend... note the "We miss Suzy" napkin!
















This is Kacia and Leeann. They are only two months apart, and both are princess loving girly-girls. Leeann makes friends pretty easily, but she really has no concept of personal space!















I'm not sure what they were doing, but I'm sure they were being mischievious!

Day 1 Continued...

This is Rylin and Titus, they are only 3 weeks apart. She's little like him, so that's kind of fun! It's cool to each have two kids both so close in age.















This is the kiddo's make-shift bed on the hotel floor between the two beds. I think they kind of liked it! Of course, Titus ended up sleeping snuggly in Mee Maw's arms at some point during the night.













Take note of the fact that Titus has the phone. Rob, the world's coolest daddy, gave him the reciever to play with. He loves "talking" on the phone.













And, last but not least, my little princess snug in bed. It was past 11 by the time we took these pictures at the Super 8 Hotel in Sacramento. It had been a long drive and a long day.

We're in Southern California now, I'll try to post about day 2 at some point tomorrow.

Sudoku

Mee Maw brought a Sudoku book along with her for the trip. I've done 3 puzzles today, they are addicting! I accidently started out with an intermediate puzzle... it took me 45 minutes. I just did another one that took me only 25, so I'm getting better?

I've seen Sudoku, I've heard of it, I've heard people get addicted to it, but somehow I never thought I'd become one of them!

Tony, Byron and Krista are hanging out at our house today too, so we've got a full house. They come at 4 in the morning, which is far too early for my little brain to function. Thankfully though, they do that often, so they're trained to go right back to bed. They're fun to have around, and quite helpful even. Tony will do just about anything for X-Box minutes... including dishes and sweeping :0) Krista loves to play with Titus and Byron loves to play with Leeann, it's nice to have them around, the kids really enjoy it!

Right now Rob took the boys running and Leeann and Krista are curled up on the couch watching a movie while Titus and Mee Maw sleep. And me, well, I'm blogging. Now I might have to see if I can squeez in another Sudoku!

A Little Bit of Cleaning

Today was a wonderful lazy family day for us. I say wonderful mostly because Rob is scrubing upstairs bathroom while I'm down here "folding laundry". :0) I did fold a load, and now I'm taking a break!

We've just been continuing our trek of putting our house back together, and now we're preparing for company. Mee Maw will arrive tomorrow in preparation for our trip! The countdown is officially down to one hand!

Let's just say, I'm a little excited. Unfortunately though, any trip typically means I have to tackle Mount Washmore, which I've been doing ever-so-dilligently these last couple of days. Rob's trying to train me to fold a load right as it comes out of the dryer, it's good advice! Deep down inside I know my husband really does love the 4 baskets of clean laundry that are sitting on our bedroom floor at any given point in time :0)

I know I've said this before, but for some reason, laundry has always been a hard one for me to keep on top of. Such is life, we all have our down sides, right?

Weather forcast for Southern California for the next 10 days--79-85 degrees and sunny. I was fearing 110 degree heat, so I'm rather excited about that forcast! I did go to Ross to buy a couple of new tank tops last night, I love Ross!

I don't even know why I'm posting right now, I don't have anything good to say really. With that, I should go work on the next load of laundry before I get caught! :0)

I'm a Big Girl Now!

At last... the Princess Bed!



The polly pockets (and princess polly pockets) have gone to bed with her several times since her birthday. They're a huge hit, but the pieces end up everywhere!