2008, Part I

When it rains in San Diego, you do what you've gotta do to enjoy it.

 

Last week I mentioned a broken thumb that I couldn't find a picture of.
Apparently I had the timing wrong - it was in January of '08.
Bagged and ready for a water ride.

Bumping into friends at Disneyland is always fun!

The Lesson:
Don't get in a fight with your older brother
or you might walk away with a torn cornea. 

Hikes with Dad!
(I don't hike.)

Bon Jovi!

John's 12th Birthday

Little League:
The only time that a San Diego girl can say, "Go Dodgers!"

Despite the goofy uniforms, I love my
AWANA Bible Quiz winner!

Speaking of goofy uniforms....
Whatever it takes when you're an All Star, right?

Manning x2

The things that Dad teaches them...

VIP's for a day at Petco.
It. Was. Awesome.

A little blurry because she moves around alot...Amy Grant!
It was the 20th anniversary reboot of the Lead Me On tour,
which I indeed did see in 1988.  Such a fun night.

Not sure why we all took a turn in the hat.
Probably Matthew's idea.

Love.

Our big family, all together!
If I've counted right, there are eight more of us now.
(This isn't extended family or anything - it's Andy's folks,
his siblings, and their children.  I know...there are a lot of us!)

Sigh.

I've mentioned that we love Disneyland, right?

The year that our Christmas picture looked like a band photo.

She was surrounded....

It wore her out.
Merry Christmas, Sophie.
(I miss you.)

I love pictures.  I called this Part I...
In the summer of '08 the Mr. and I went to Europe. 
Next time I'll do a Part II with some of our vacation highlights. 

That would have made this post entirely too long! 

Words To Live By

Hello! Welcome!

Apparently, as evidenced by the post that you're reading, I've decided to take another stab at NaBloPoMo. In looking back at previous years' posts, I realized that I successfully do this in even numbered years. This being 2011, I shouldn't make any guarantees. However, if you have nothing else to do, and you don't mind hearing stories about my family most of the time, I invite you to join me each day as I diligently work to get something written.

On the off chance that you find yourself with me for the first time, I should probably introduce you to my immediate family; I promise that they'll be referred to often. Andy is my fabulous husband, John is my fifteen year old Junior, and Matthew is my fourteen year old Freshman. There. Now you know everyone.

Today I want to share some advice regarding Halloween. I know that there are 364 days until it rolls around again, but this was imparted to me yesterday and I want to pass it on before I forget.

As we were eating dinner last night, we were discussing that many of the kids who were trick-or-treating seemed too old to be knocking on doors and begging for free candy. John said that one of his teachers had shared his thoughts on that very subject during class that afternoon.

According to Mr. X., there are three questions for a boy to ask himself when trying to decide whether or not to go trick-or-treating:

1. Are you still waiting for your voice to change?

2. Are you unable to drive yourself to the store to buy candy?

3. Do girls have cooties?

If you answered "yes" to all three questions, then it is appropriate for you to dress up and go from door to door. If you answered "no" to even one of them, you're too old.

Brilliant.

Flashback Friday, Thanksgiving Style

Good Evening, Friends and Fans!

While today is indeed Flashback Friday, I didn't feel right moving on to another year of pictures. It is, after all, Thanksgiving (for me). In fact, I'm still quite in the middle of Thanksgiving, Day Two! We're having a lovely day with my family. I was proud of myself yesterday...I didn't overeat. I was quite comfortable. Today? Not so much! I feel like a slug. A content slug, but a slug! :-)

I thought I'd combine a Flashback with Thanksgiving and offer this sweet picture. It is from October of 1982; I was seven years old. I was the best dressed pilgrim on the block! Note the sweet cornucopia for candy collecting? Oh yeah, baby...even my accessories matched!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Join me next Friday for my regularly scheduled Flashback. Hmmm. 1987. I'll bet I can dig up some winners!

Halloween Time

Since several of my buddies have Halloween themed posts today, I'll jump on the band wagon and share our Halloween with you.

I mentioned a few days ago that we were planning to break tradition this year and spend Halloween at Disneyland. It seemed like a good idea. The kids didn't want to dress up, they're kind of big to go out and trick or treat, and no one was thrilled with the harvest festival idea. So AC game home from work at around 11:30am last Friday, and we headed up to the Magic Kingdom.

It was perfect; we had so much fun. We ended up staying until midnight (I'm getting too old for that!). It was a bit crowded for a while, but not too bad.

Here are a few pics that I took. Enjoy!

We started out in California Adventure. Note the sincere smiles. Ha! They were actually quite irritated at me for bringing the camera; we'd just spend the whole previous evening smiling for our annual family pictures. So when I made them stop for a picture about ten feet from the entrance, they weren't thrilled.

Have you been on the new Toy Story Mania ride? It's so much fun! Especially the sweet 3D glasses they give you!

Not bad for a self portrait.

Matthew loves the water rides. We even talked AC into going on the Rapids with us!

After a few more rides at California, we decided to get the real party started and head over to Disneyland.

When I walk through the tunnel and round the corner onto Main Street, I can literally feel the happiness. I love it.

So cute!


My three men, on a mission to get to the restaurant. Apparently, everyone was hungry.

Snow on the castle, proof that Christmas is coming.

Ah, tradition. Dinner at the Village Haus.


I love the decorations.


The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!


Fall Flowers Everywhere


I don't really like the Haunted Mansion when it's decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Matt wanted this picture; we were trying to catch it mid-transformation between nice snowman to spooky pumpkin man.


A tired John, trying to get comfortable while Matt and I went on Splash Mountain.

It was about 10pm.


Happy Halloween, Disneyland!