Happiest Place on Earth

For Thanksgiving this year, my parents took us and my sister's family to California! We all love any family vacation where we are all together and spending one day at the Happiest Place on Earth on Thanksgiving made it that much sweeter! We already celebrated Turkey Day with the Lamis' side that past weekend and were happy to forgo a second round for Disney rides and churros!

Elise and Camille waiting to get into Disneyland on Thanksgiving Day! 

Camille was SO excited for Disneyland but wasn't 100% prepared for what to expect. Our first ride was the Jungle Cruise and she wasn't so excited anymore! It didn't help that our next ride was the Pirates of the Caribbean. Once we got off, she announced that "I no like Disneyland!" 

 

Luckily, my mom took the little ones on rides like the tea cups. This ride makes me green just looking at it!  

The cousins! 

Thanks to our (Suzanne and my) love for adorable matching outfits and a little  help from Etsy (for the decals), I made these matching shirts for the girls. The cool boys are not as keen about matching anymore but are still just as cute! 

LOVE this picture of Camille and Will. They are so cute together and always had so much to say/share to each other. 

Bobo, Ronnie and Julia waiting in one of the many lines. 

*The troopers- Ron, Chet and Pat 

Self portraiting (not a word, I know) from 'It's a Small World". What a good looking bunch!

 

Our sneaky group somehow found this front row spot for the holiday parade- we were in line for Its a Small World and found a little exit spot perfect for us just as the parade was starting! 

The BRAVE ones (me, Chet, Pat and Ron in the 1st 2 rows) went on Space Mountain twice in a row! 

After a little rest from our marathon day at Disney, we were off sightseeing and to the beach!

Bobo and Ronnie's 6 blessings

Aunt ShuShu and the kids- eating their bribes for all the "say cheese!" demands. 

Next stop- Balboa Island. I had never heard of Balboa Island but its now my next vacation destination! Its a quaint, quiet little town full of beautiful sea side cottages.

Chet and 3 of the kids- Braden needs to master the Lamis pose to hang with us! :)

Doing what kids do best! I could have watched this scene for hours. 

SO happy to call this clan my family! Love You!

My beautiful sis Suzanne. 

Or as Chet likes to call us- the "masterminds" behind this trip. He says we begged for Disneyland "for the kids" but it was clearly for her and me!

LOVE this picture of the 'big' cousins- they fell asleep while watching a movie and fell asleep all touching each other. How sweet!

Watching the Disney channel was a favorite way to wind down since none of us have cable anymore! 

The Buchanan clan had to leave a day before we did so we spent the last day missing them..

stuffing our faces with Brazilian pizza.

sightseeing...

My beautiful mommy   

and enjoying the beach a little more...

Julia wrote everyone this email (I didn't even know about it) on our ride home. 

I couldn't have said it best!

"Hi guys,
I am just emailing to tell you how thankful I am for that trip! Bobo was right, it was the best Thanksgiving! Anyway thank you thank you thank you for making this trip happen!"

Wild World of Nascar

Chet got free tickets (front row!) to the Nascar races and even though we know nothing about Nascar or ever wanted to go, why not enjoy the race and all that goes with it? We arrived at the races and were in shock at the world of Nascar! The sheer amount of fans, logo'd gear and $$ that comes with these races is INSANE but so much fun to sit back and watch. We all had a blast and it will forever be one of those "remember when?" memories!

Our front row view!

*It was too loud so we moved back a few rows. :-) 

*Even though we bought ear plugs, they didn't cut it for the kids. Some really nice fans behind us (2 different groups) let us borrow their head phones for the kids. Chet and I, on the other hand, can still hear ringing in our ears. ;-) 

Halloween Happenings, 2012

Happy Halloween from Julia (the Queen of Hearts), Bella (the Olympic gymnast) and Camille (the Monarch butterfly)!

We had a great Halloween this year! My brother and sister in law, Kyle and Melanie, came to visit this last week and joined in the Halloween fun (and helped eat Bella's candy with nuts). :-)

TOTing at one of the 'fun' houses!

Kyle, Mel and the girls

Goofy Uncle Kyle!

Our week in pictures

Julia before her 'tween' Halloween dance

Julia and Ashlynn and their new BFF necklaces

Cousins' dinner! This was the only shot where camera hog Camille was not directly in front of the lens!

Since my mom could stay home with Camille, I surprised the girls with a Taco Bell lunch at school.

Bella loved sitting with me at lunch. Julia on the other hand thanked me for the lunch with a hug and kiss and skipped off to her friends' table. :-)

Both girls were recognized at their school assembly for their straight A's!

To finish our our fun week, we met up with Melody (my friend since 2nd grade) and her family for a BBQ. It is so fun to see our kids play together! Their kids are Julia's age- Ashley's twin brother quickly ran off to a friend's house in order to avoid playing with 4 girls! 

Camping 2012

Camping is not my favorite activities- I'm more of a running water kind of gal. :-)  BUT, the girls and Chet love camping so I tag along for the memories. We recently went camping in Oak Creek Canyon with the Lamis' side and as usual had a blast.

 

If I have to camp, this is the ideal camp spot. What a way to wake up in the morning!

Brennan and Bella

The kids wanted nothing more than to explore....

 

"chop" wood, 

(Issac and Bella spent a lot of time carving this fallen tree!)

hike 

 

Cuties! Camille and Keeley waiting for s'mores!

  

 and sit by the fire!

Nanny with the 'baby" grandkids

And just to prove that I am not void of all outdoor skills, here I am contributing to the wood cutting for the fire!  

More camping fun....

My tiny tumbler

Bella is constantly in full gymnastics mode- she talks about it, is always tumbling and learning new skills. She LOVES her team and finally (I think) found her 'thing" for the next few years. Her passion and ability come naturally to her- I wish I could say they were inherited. 

 

 Bella is the one in her full splits, on the left. We joke that she may be missing some of her ligaments!

Can't wait to see watch her compete starting in January. Go Bella!!