Happy Birthday Mom and Back from Vacation and Catching Up

I haven't made it here in a while.  We were on vacation last week at Disneyland and in San Diego, and the week before I got busy wrapping up at work and getting ready to go out of town.  So lots to share today!

First my Mom's birthday was on Saturday. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

In honor of my Mom, who has been battling cancer since 1998, I signed up for the Arizona 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk that will be held in November 2011.  More on that in a future post. But I am excited to do this!

I did my ScrapTiffany assignments early since I was going to be gone. But never got my posts scheduled while I was away. So I am sharing my projects from the past 2 weeks.  

Last week the challenge was to Scenery Photos.  I choose one of my favorite photos taken when we camped at Pismo Beach a few years ago.  I had this one blown up and framed in our hallway. But I realized I had never scrapbooked it.

This week at ScrapTiffany is all about Banners and Pennants.  I made this to decorate for Fall. The pumpkins and frames were  sprayed with Maya Mist. I have it hanging on my patio door but it is on glass and doesn't photograph very well, so finding a way to photograph the whole thing was a bit of a challenge in itself.

Now onto our vacation...

Last Friday night we were deep in packing mode to leave early Saturday morning. The boys stuff was piled on the dining room table by Mike for inspection by me before it was packed up. I look forward to the day that we don't have to pack diapers. I packed each day's outfits and each nights PJ's in zip-lock bags which made it quick for getting dressed each day. I brought them all home and left them in our suitcases for the next trip.

This is Nicholas "helping" me pack Mike and my clothes.

After only 4 hours of sleep, we were up at 4:00 a.m. to get on the road by 6:00, which turned into 7:00 by the time the car was loaded. The kids were buckled in their seats and I was getting ready to pull the car out of the garage so Mike could put his car back in....I turn the key....and "click, click, click".  Yep, the car wouldn't start. So we called AAA and hoped and prayed that it was not the alternator.

I had to get the boys out of the car and spent about 20 minutes with Nicholas having a melt down because he thought we weren't taking him to Disneyland. I finally got the boys settled down watching TV while we waited.  

It turned out that it was just the battery and once we had a new one we were on the road. The boys are good travelers and we made it to California in pretty good time.  We checked in to the Embassy Suites by Disneyland and headed to Zubie's in Huntington Beach for my Dad's 65th birthday party.

Sunday morning we were up early and had the brilliant idea to walk the 1.5 miles to Disney from our hotel. The walk in the morning wasn't too bad, and we were soon on our way into the park.  The first thing we saw after entering the gates was a train pulling in to the station, making Nicholas one happy little boy.

We were quickly down Main Street, since Nicholas was directing traffic "This Way Daddy! This Way!" with pointing to emphasize. Stopping was not an option nor was getting any pictures.

First ride was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nicholas let us know he did not like waiting in lines. As crowded as it was during our trip, he was going to have to get used to that real quickly.

The merry-go-round was on Nicholas's request list, so we obliged. We also flew with Peter Pan and rode with Pinocchio.

After a popcorn break we headed to It's A Small World. Both boys loved it.

Nicholas thought he would make a call to Mickey Mouse with his new phone (the one we bought him so he would be entertained in line). Isn't that like talking on the phone in the movie theater? Good thing no one could hear him, since we were in the front of the boat and it is pretty loud in there.

Mike's brother's, Scott and Jon, live in Southern California and have annual passes to Disneyland so they came down to the park with their families. The boys loved hanging out with their cousins at Disneyland. This was very nice when we were almost at the front of the Winnie the Pooh line and it broke down. The little ones entertained each other the whole time and didn't seem to notice how much longer the wait was.

There were all kinds of Fall touches throughout the park. It looked like a pumpkin patch or something was in the Big Thunder BBQ area, but we never did make it in there to find out.

All the little one's fell asleep about the same time. I went on Pirates of the Caribbean with Scott, Lorie, Kaitlyn and Kylie, while Mike and Jon stayed with the kiddos. After the ride they needed to call it a day, since they had work and school the next day. But I did get a nice picture of Scott, Lorie and the girls before they left. 

Right after they left, the boys woke up. Mike and I decided to head to California Adventure to grab a glass of wine at the winery. We were also just in time for the parade, which you can catch a pretty good view of from the elevated level of the winery.

The parade featuring many of the Pixar movie characters made one little boy very happy. Nicholas knew most of the characters, since they are the stars of the movies he loves.

Jackson enjoyed the show too...

Every time Nicholas sees this picture now that we are home he tells me it's Jessie and Woody from Toy Story.  :)

Wow was Nicholas excited when he saw his hero Lightening McQueen and his best friend Mater.

After the parade we headed to Taste Pilot's Grill for dinner, but not before stopping at the train for a photo-op. This is one of the few pictures where everyone in the picture is looking at the camera and one of them isn't making a really weird face at me for taking the picture. I love my boys....

After dinner we went back to Disneyland and took the train to Fantasyland to ride It's A Small World again, then we drove the cars at Autopia.  We finished our ride just before the fireworks show. We found a spot near the Matterhorn and watched from there. It was a great show, but you couldn't hear the soundtrack with it. But we all enjoyed it anyway.

It was about 9:00 when the show ended, well past the boys normal bed time. So we headed back to the hotel. Remember I said we walked?  Well now we had to walk back, so that great idea wasn't so great at this point. Especially since we were slightly past the walking range most people would do. So once we passed a certain point, there weren't many people out and it was less than ideal. 

To be continued.....