Disneyland for Cheryl's Birthday

For the first time in my life I purchased an annual pass to Disneyland and somehow managed to talk my mom and sister into doing it also. We are making the most of it this year! Cheryl decided that was where she wanted to go for her birthday. It was beautifully decorated with all the Christmas decorations and was just such a fun day. I'm loving the Christmas season this year!

Cheryl and the tree on Main Street.

Cheryl and Bennett in their Santa hats.

Bennett LOVES to ring that bell on the Fire Truck!

Bennett "hanging out" with Grammy riding on the Autopia. She is a wild driver I tell ya!

Bennett in the Toady car. I never realized how many people like to take a picture in this car. Never knew it was such a picture spot before!

Cheryl riding the Main Street Trolley.

Bennett and I riding the rockets.

My mom and I waiting to ride on the monorail.

Mom and Cheryl.

Mom and Cheryl hanging out with Mickey

Happy Birthday Nick!

December brings many birthdays in our family. My sister In Law Amanda's birthday was on the 3rd - and we celebrated, but I forgot my camera! On the 5th, it was my Father in Law Nick's birthday. I had the distinct honor of making his birthday cake. He owns a 1969 MGC GT, so I made an MG emblem on the cake. We had a lot of fun celebrating with the relatives that day! Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick and Ardis

The kids were "helping" grandpa blow out the candles. :o)

Dan and his Dad.

Dan, Nick , and Amanda

My mom thought it would be funny to get Nick a Viking hat since anyone who knows him knows that he is a huge Vikings fan (football that is. :o) The hat was hilarious! and somehow she found a card that sang opera as well to go with it!

Ardis sporting the newest in Viking attire. :o)

The kids were attempting to "fix" grandpa...think they may have banged him up a bit more than they fixed him though. :o)

Metrolink Christmas Train

A few years back, our neighbors told us about the Metrolink Christmas Train and we have made it our annual tradition to take Bennett to see it. Metrolink converts a passenger train into a holiday train complete with Christmas lights, Santa Claus, Reindeer, and even blows snow! When they stop in the station they do a little Christmas show and sing some carols, then the characters get off the train and hand out candy canes and pose for pictures. Bennett was a little sick this year, so he didn't get in to it as much as usual, but he absolutely loved watching the train pull in and out of the station. Cool free thing to go do in Southern California!

Picture Day

Everyone on Dan's side of the family went to Sears the other morning to take our family portrait...which mind you is a giant feat when there are 3 kids that are 6, 3, and 2 years old. The kids just looked so cute that I had to take a few pics of them.

Bennett and Sam playing cars in the lawn.

All the guys acting like they are pushing over the giant Christmas balls...which incidentally I guess the mall didn't have it in their budget to change the 2008 to 2009 on the ornaments!

Bennett playing on the front steps of Nick and Ardis' house. Loved the vintage truck in the background though!

Bennett's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

I got to help cook for Bennett's Preschool Thanksgiving Feast. What a fun day. All the classes got together and had lunch in the same room. Of course, the turkey of choice was really chicken nuggets, but the kids loved it! We made tons of mashed potatoes, nuggets, and fruit. I am just in awe when teachers can get 30 preschoolers to sit in one room and that the wiggleworms don't get up and move around the whole time!

Bennett and his pals Christina, Marina, and Samantha.

Bennett's Class at the Feast.

I just loved the turkey hats on these kids...so funny! Bennett and Samantha cracking each other up after school. I just thought that this was a Kodak moment (taken on a Canon camera :o)

Travel Town November 2009

One of Bennett's favorite spots in the world is Travel Town. We decided to meet up with Dan and hang out at the trains for the day. Just so happened that the model trains were up and running that day, and we could not get Bennett to leave! He loved watching those trains go round and round. We also got to ride on the LA Live Steamers...totally cool little trains that they run on Sundays. Fun outing!

Lake Arrowhead...a Touch of Fall

Went for a drive up the mountain to mom's place in Lake Arrowhead, and got to see the actual change of seasons there. The trees were all changing and just gorgeous. It was VERY chilly weather, and the trees were all shedding their leaves, but I caught a glimpse of fall here. Just so pretty that I wanted to share a few pictures.

Lake Arrowhead..Riley and Bennett Best Friends

Took a trip to mom's condo in Lake Arrowhead in November...and my mom and sister were there too. Bennett is just in love with Cheryl's dog Riley and can't seem to get enough of her. We had a good time just hanging out at the condo and at the village.

Bennett and Riley touching noses. Not sure if Riley liked this too much, but she dealt with it for a cute picture. :o)

Bennett waiting ever so patiently in his PJs and slippers for the birdies to come and take the peanuts off of the railing...a favorite pastime of ours in Arrowhead.

We went to eat at Papagayo's Mexican restaurant, and they had these cool toys that they gave the kids to play with called Wiki Stix.....you can bend them into anything you like. We made eyeglasses! Might I say...Awesome thing to give kids while waiting for a meal!

Disneyland - October 2009

We stayed overnight at Disneyland after the Mickey's Trick or Treat this year and went to Disneyland the next day. All the fall decorations were up and it is such a fun time to go there. I love seeing the pumpkin carvers carve all sorts of Disney characters into the pumpkins. It was hotter than usual that day for October, but a gorgeous day.