Disneyland in the rain is still the happiest place on earth!

Emily has been asking for over a year now to go to Disneyland. So we had a free day and decided to head up that direction. We didn't tell the kids where we were going and let them figure it out.  They had some guesses that we would be going there, but it wasn't until we were walking thru the gates that they really realized where we were.  This was after seeing loads of Disneyland signs, taking a Disneyland (Buzz Lightyear) bus from the parking lot to the park.  But it goes to show you what signifies Disneyland to 4 year olds.  Buzz Lightyear can be anywhere, but the iconic gates leading to the  front of Disneyland with the train station in the background is Disneyland.  Even though it started to pour about 45 minutes into our time there, it was still the happiest place on earth. 

Still in the car... Where are we? Doing our "something fun" of course!

The bus ride from the parking lot to the park

Entering the gates of Disneyland!



On the flying Dumbos!

Carousel just as it is starting to sprinkle... And then the ultimate downpour! We were somewhat prepared for it - jackets and 3 umbrellas.

With the rain, the park wasn't too crowded.  So Kyle took Emily to see her princesses which he promised her last time we were there (over a year ago).  Emily was absolutely thrilled and just all smiles.

I think Emily was so ecstatic she didn't know what to do with herself.  Kyle led the way to the princesses to say hi, while Emily stood back for a second in awe. 

And then, Emily's favorite princess... Princess Aurora spent so much time with the kids it was amazing.  She had a full on conversation with them.  At one point, she asked Kyle if he was Prince Phillip, who apparently is Princess Aurora's man.  Kyle gave her this look of "who in the world are you talking about?!?!"  Clearly it's the princesses we know in our house. 

She's so excited she can hardly contain herself!

Escorting Emily

Prince who??

No, I'm Prince Kyle!

Look whose learning to ride 2 wheeler!

Now it's Emily's turn to learn to ride a 2 wheeler!  She is making good progress riding.  She is getting her balance.  We just need to work on keeping the balance.  She will be back on her princess bike riding a 2 wheeler in no time!  Go Emily!!

Baking

Making cookies with my little bakers.  Yummy oatmeal cherry toffee cookies! 

Little swimmers

Kyle & Emily have been taking a few swim lessons this fall over at the gym. After the third lesson (and lessons for several weeks this summer), things are really starting to click for them.  So after this lesson, they decided that they could tread water.  So we went on an adventure to the deep end where they treaded water the entire way there and back!  It was really quite impressive!  So before we all got out, I took this little video of them treading across the shallow end to show off their new skills. 

Cubbie fun

The Cubs are in town!  As Cubs fans, we had to go to the Cubs game!  Nevermind they were in no danger of making the off-season or that the Padres could, we just wanted to see the Cubs!  But first a snack stop!

Kyle & Emily LOVE the sandy area seats!  And even more fun is digging with your friends!  Claudia & Sophie came with for some fun the first night.  It's really cute seeing Kyle play with Claudia - she's 8 - as he hangs on her every word.

And the next night, their friend Carter came with us to the game.  They all had a great time running around and playing in the sand which was quite a mess after some rain.  Emily was especially happy playing with Carter because he liked the necklace she was wearing. And the Cubs won with a run scored in the top of the 9th!  As it later turned out a few days and games later, the Padres could have had a chance at the off-season if they had held on and won this game.  Go Cubs!!

Monkeys

As you well know, Kyle and Emily really like monkeys.  In fact, Kyle often says he wants to be a monkey when he grows up.  He truly loves monkeys. When we were in Dominican Republic this past winter for Karen & Pete's wedding, Kyle and Emily were so excited to see, touch, and hold a real live monkey!  This little monkey's name is Gaby and I believe she is a squirrel monkey.  She was light as a feather.  I think they said she was only a pound or two.  Needless to say, she was a sweet little monkey and Kyle and Emily were thrilled to hold her. 

Howdy partner

After a fun dinner in Old Town with Jacki, we went through some of the shops. I love these Indiana Jones pictures of Kyle and Emily!

The Moser

Kyle is really interested in numbers. One day, he asked us what is the biggest number. We know infinity is the largest infinite number, but turned to Google to show him how we can look things up. And there we learned some large finite numbers: Googolplex (or as Kyle says, googleflex), then Graham's number. And the other night at dinner, Kyle asked which was bigger - a Googleflex or Graham's number - when we discovered another, larger number, the Moser. And we've helped to clarify that infinity is larger, but it's not a finite number.  And here he is 'counting'.  I unfortunately stopped the video too soon because when he was done, he declared, "I'm really good at counting.  And I am a monkey."  Of course!

Day at the beach

Jacki came to visit this weekend and we had a great time with her!  It was crazy hot out so we hit the beach one morning.  It was quite the morning for the beach as we were treated to a glimpse of dolphin training.  We don't know if it was Sea World, the Navy or someone else, but it was pretty neat to see!  Not very often that you go to the beach and see such a show!

More pictures from our Jacki weekend

A few more pictures from our weekend with Jacki.

We went to Michael's because they were doing an American Girl craft.  So Emily took I Love Crystal, her American Girl doll there to make her a birthday cake.  

Making silly faces into the mixing bowl

Hugs goodnight for Jacki

Hair dressers

How this reminded me of my childhood... Kristin, Karen, Tommy, Kimmy and I would put curlers in my dad's hair for beauty shop and play with his toes like we were doing his toes, but his toes were army men and we'd take them out for ice cream. This weekend, Kyle and Emily played beauty shop with my hair while we enjoyed the Bears game. Go Bears! (Who WON(!!) against Dallas). Emily very intently brushed my hair, which felt wonderful, except when she pulled it. Kyle joined in on the fun and even let me purr on Miko while he did some brushing. What a way to watch a Bears game!