National Train Day 2009- Union Station

Who knew that there was a National Train Day? I didn't. My mom saw it in a paper and told us, and off we went! They had a whole celebration at Union Station downtown so we decided to take the Subway in so Bennett could have his first ride on the Subway. He LOVED it. Union Station had a bunch of festivities..bands, model trains, tons of free stuff, and big trains on display. We got to eat lunch across the street at Olvera Street...good Mexican food!

Entrance to the Subway (on the way home ...I forgot to take a picture when we got on at Universal Studios)

Bennett's first ride on the subway...of course he found a bunch of girls to flirt with on the way there! That's Bennett for ya! Riding back to the car with Grandma and Grandpa.

One of the trains on display...Bennett loved climbing all over that thing.

Ardis, Nick, Dan and Bennett at Union Station.

Some Artwork on the side of one of the Amtrak Trains. Makes me want to go to the beach! Or listen to the Endless Summer Album from the Beach Boys. :o)

Disney had a train there that they had on display that was a promotional for their new movie "A Christmas Carol". Neat train...but they had fake snow blowing and Christmas decorations up around it and Christmas carolers singing....hard to get into the Christmasy mood when it is 90 degrees out!

Our adventures at California Adventure!!

We had such a blast at California Adventure this week. We met up with Amanda and Joe and Sam and Max and it was Sam and Max's first time ever to California Adventure. All 3 of the boys were in heaven all day...such a fun day.

Bennett being shy about taking his picture with his favorite Disney characters EVER!

Sam, Bennett,and Max sitting on the tractor seat bench. Sam and Bennett on an old farm truck near Bugs Land.

Joe and Max looking at the Ferris Wheel.

Dan, Bennett, and Sam watching a ride at Paradise Pier. Must have been interesting. :o)

Dan showing off that he can carry more than one kid at a time. (Can you say sore back the next day!)

Bennett and Dan playing in the Brother Bear Wilderness Area in the Tree Log.

Sam donning his 3D Glasses for the Toy Story Mania ride.

Bennett playing peek a boo with his 3D glasses and a cute girl in front of him. The flirting has started at an early age. :o)

Bennett and Sam on the Heimlich Caterpillar ride.

Amanda and Max watching the bumper cars.

Video of Sam ridin' on the tire swing.

Part 1 video of Bennett and Sam excited to ride on a ride in Bugs Land.

Part 2 of the above video. The kids just loved the whole day!

Day Out with Thomas the Train 2009

Two things that Bennett loves and cherishes in this world are cars and trains. Loves trains! So we took him to the Day Out with Thomas the train in Fillmore. He thought it was a blast. Such a great day! We rode the big train that they hooked Thomas up to for about a 20 minute ride up the tracks, then played on the multiple tables that they had set up with Thomas tracks. I think this day might have been the most perfect day ever for Bennett. He was in Heaven!

Easter 2009

This year for Easter we went to Amanda's house for Easter brunch and an egg hunt for the kids. This is the first year that Bennett really got any of the concept of hunting eggs. The older kids helped him out. He TOTALLY got it when he opened them up and there was candy inside....then the whole next week he wanted me to hide eggs for him again. I'm not fallin' for that trick!! :o)

Margaid, Sam, Flynn, Bennett, and Max. Ready to hunt down those eggs.

Margaid and Flynn and their mom and dad Lisa and Brian are family friends that drove in from La Quinta for the weekend to celebrate Easter.

Bennett finding his first egg...with a little help from Dad! Me and Dan in our Eastery colors. :o)

Ardis, Nick and Dan.

Amanda, Ardis, Nick, Dan and Me.

Bennett showing Cheryl his new eggs!

Hanging Out.

We were hanging out with the family one night and the kids were very cute. Just thought I'd put a couple of pics up.

Bennett giving Max a hug...or a chokehold...you decide. :o)

Smiley Max.

All the kids were watching Veggie Tales in the Living room...they all have to sit the wrong way on the back of the couch!

Daffodil Gardens in Running Springs

Last year my mom discovered that there was this beautiful Daffodil garden in Running Springs near our condo in Lake Arrowhead. Mom, Cheryl, Bennett, Riley and myself decided to take a trip up the mountain to see the garden. It was beautiful. Sadly we just discovered this garden that the nice folks have been doing for the public for over 40 years, and this will be it's last year. The couple that maintains it said that they need to retire from doing it. It was beautiful...flowers up and down the winding paths on the moutainside, a gazebo, several benches for sitting and contemplating life in general, and beautiful artistic displays of flowers everywhere. I however didn't do too much sitting and contemplating as I chased Bennett and tried to keep him on the paths and not trampling flowers...he is 3 after all! I can dream of such relaxing pleasures though! All pictures are courtesy of Cheryl...I forgot to charge the battery in my camera, so I didn't get very many good shots.

Bennett pointing out the bees that were flying around in the flowers.

Cheryl with the barrel displays of flowers.

Daffodils on the mountainside.

Bennett's face framed perfectly in the heart windchime.

Mom, Bennett and myself in the neat garden bench...seats face each other.

Twinkie Cars

My brother Craig came to visit at the end of March for a week while Joey was on spring break. While they were here we thought it would be fun to recreate one of Craig's childhood creations. When Craig was in the boy scouts they had a cake baking challenge and he came up with the idea of making race cars out of Twinkies to put on the cake. He took home the top prize. So we got all the makings and had a contest to see who could make the best Twinkie race car one night. Joey had so much fun with this (we voted him the winner!). Craig had his long time friend Dominic over for dinner the next night (Dominic was in the boy scouts with him too!), and they did the Twinkie Car Creations again. Lots of fun...but for some reason the adults weren't too interested in eating the Twinkies! My mom said that she hadn't had a Twinkie in 40 years!

Bennett and Joey

Bennett and a Twinkie Car ( I don't think he really made his own, but he tried!)

Craig with his second Twinkie Race Car.

Joey with his Twinkie Car that even had flames coming out the exhaust!

Getaway Trip to Paradise Point

For Christmas, one of the presents Dan gave me was an overnight stay at one of my favorite resorts in San Diego called Paradise Point. I love it here..right on the ocean in Mission Bay and so peaceful and relaxing. We had a great time just relaxing, having dinner at the Barefoot Bar and Grill on the water, and walking the beautiful grounds at the resort. Mom took Bennett for the weekend so we were footloose and fancy free.

Not bad for self portraits!

Hanging out in the adirondack chairs by the lagoon that is near the lobby.

Can't resist a picture on a pretty bridge.

This is the entrance to our room that overlooked the bay...I'm standing on the beach taking the picture. Such a nice place to stay.

On the way down we stopped at Legoland and got a shopper's pass and walked around for an hour. Couldn't resist having Dan pose next to Indiana Jones.