Quite the Week!

Sorry we are a day late in posting- mom and I just got so into the holiday spirit that we needed to take a day to catch our breath!  We have had a fabulous Christmas season so far.  

Dad has been off work since December 19th and he and I made the most of his first week off.  On Monday, it was warm enough that we got to have a Daddy/Daughter camp out with Mr. Mike and Madeline.  Both of the moms were left behind and let me tell you, they were VEEERY disappointed.  I think my mom spent the evening eating pizza and ice cream and watching chick flicks.  Rumor has it that Madeline's mom did about the same thing.  Sounds kind of boring to me.  Anyhooo.

I knew it was going to be a good adventure when the first thing we saw was a big old tarantula crawling around our campsite!  Ooh aah!

 Madeline and I spent plenty of time goofing around and eating really healthy food.  You can tell when the moms didn't come camping because there wasn't a veggie in sight, unless you count the corn in our Doritos and Trix cereal.  I think I had this bag for dinner and it was great!

 We spent some time hiking around and found a trail out the edge of the cliff where we got to see some rock climbers.  Loved it!  We pretty much wore ourselves out and headed off to bed around 7 but not before we got to see the moon rise.

True to form, I was up before the sun and we got to see an amazing sunrise and enjoy another healthy meal.

After a fabulous trip, I got home with just enough time to take a bath before Grandpa Vern and Grandma Sue came to pick me up for a movie and lunch- without mom and dad!  We went to my favorite grilled cheese place and then went to see Tangled.  I loved it and was so good for Grandpa and Grandma.  Most importantly though, we also made a stop at the toy store.  ( I know, mom and dad couldn't believe it either, so close to Christmas!)  I talked my way into a huge box of dinosaurs because this box had dinosaur eggs and  I don't have dinosaur eggs yet.  Life is good ain't it?

On Wednesday, we helped dad celebrate his birthday.  We made him steak and brussels sprouts with chocolate lava cakes for desert.  It was quite the manly meal and we all loved it.  Dad got the shop vac he requested and spent the rest of the week looking for things to vacuum.  Our fire pit and garage look great!

On Thursday, the Christmas fun started.  Mom spent all day in the kitchen, making and decorating 4 different kinds of cookies, baking banana bread, getting dinner ready etc.  Nana D and Mr. Walker rolled in around 2 and then we headed out to Winterhaven.  This is a neighborhood in Tucson that has been decorating for at least 40 years and the displays are pretty amazing.  There was even Tucson's version of the Dancing Waters from the Bellagio in Vegas.  Maybe not quite as extravagant but still cool.  We also found Santa's naughty and nice list.  If you look closely, you'll see that Uncle Adam and I are on the naughty list and if you look even harder, you will see that mom made the nice list. ( I think if you click on the picture, it will enlarge so you can really see mom's name)  Hmmppff- I wonder how that happened??!

On Christmas eve, it was more time in the kitchen for mom and Nana, finishing up cookies, so Mr. Walker and I headed to the park for some swing time.  It the afternoon, we all headed to church, where I took a nice long, much needed nap.

When we got home, I cracked open the hot chocolate and mom uncorked the wine bottle and we all put our feet up while dad whipped up some delicious green chile stew.  So finally, after putting out Santa's cookies and milk and reminding everyone to be very quiet so I could listen for reindeer.  I swear I saw them before I went to sleep.

So here is the crazy thing.  Dad had to wake me up on Christmas morning.  Everyone was up and wandering around with nothing to do, waiting for me to get up.  Finally, around 7:30, dad got me up and I was still a little slow out of the gate.  Once I got warmed up though- it was all good.  I asked Santa for Dinosaurs and he delivered.  I got this awesome remote controlled dino,

these awesome dino shoes, that light up and make velociraptor tracks and a Boris the tyrannosaurus, that talks and roars.

Dad also got me some rockets that he built (with a little under the breath cursing) and I decorated.  We then marched to the park and got to launch them over and over.  It was so cool!

We headed back home and enjoyed a relaxing evening at home by the fire pit.  It was a fabulous day!

Nana D and Mr. Walker had to head out on Sunday and we spent the day trying to adjust to not much going on.  It has been a crazy, busy holiday season but we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I got to make use of my new snuggie and watch a movie.

We are looking at a low keyed week ( and maybe snow in Tucson!)  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Daddio's birthday.  He is pretty much the best daddy on the planet and we love him bunches!

Glad you had a nice, bike filled day!  Enjoy your year....

Lots more Christmas Fun!

We are making the most of this Christmas season- I just can't get enough of it!

On Wednesday night, we met my friend Madeline (not camping Madeline), her older brother, Remington, and their parents for a Christmas concert at Remington's school.  He's in kindergarten you know, so he was pretty interesting to me.  There was a middle school wind ensemble and a choir, cookies and hot chocolate.  I had a great time running around with Madeline and Remington but mom and dad decided that you can't truly enjoy a middle school concert unless your kid is actually performing.  They can hardly wait for me to take up music.....

I got to sleep in Thursday because it was the start of Dad's annual 2 weeks off of work.  He doesn't have to got back until January 4th!  Mom is jealous as always, but he's earned it.  He and I spent the whole entire day together and had a ball.  We started out at the Good Egg for Mickey pancakes with whipped cream, butter AND syrup.  Nothing like a little sugar to get the day off to a good start.  After we fueled ourselves up, we hit the hardware store for more Christmas odds and ends and then we went to the mall to finish up our Christmas shopping.  After that, we went to the movies and then out to lunch.  We got home just before mom did and I was worn. out.  Completely.  But man, what a great day!
It was back to reality on Friday and back to school for me.  It was OK though because the weekend was just around the corner.
Saturday night, we had Ms. Audrey, Mr. Mike, Madeline, Uncle Brian, Aunt Christina and baby Camryn over to celebrate dad's birthday.  Madeline and I had a great time and took pretty good care of Camryn.  We had an actual kids table to sit at, but we kind spent more time playing under the grown up table.  Good thing it was a casual affair!
Aunt Christina is pregnant and due very shortly.  I was little shocked by the size of her tummy (mom says it really isn't big at all for a second baby) so I asked her how much food she had to eat to be THAT full.  She told me it wasn't food- it was a baby.  Imagine that!  Maybe mom should stop talking about her "food babies" when she eats to much.

Sunday was another busy day.  Mom and I went to the park in the morning and then hit the dog store to get Haile a birthday present (She's 12 today) and some Christmas treats for the dogs.  When we got home, I had to help dad get the trailer ready for our Daddy/daughter camping trip and then I ran a bunch of errands with him.  By the time we were done, it was time for dinner, a bath and bedtime.
I have another fabulous week ahead and will tell you all about it!

A "Relaxing" Weekend

We are wondering why even our "quiet" weekend always seems like we are running around non-stop!  Our week went very fast, which was a good thing- the faster work goes, the better!

On Friday, we branched out away from the grilled cheese place and went out for pizza.  ( I really like it but I'm not going to say anything!)  After that, we went down to the zoo for Zoolights.  The zoo is all dressed up in lights and Christmas decorations.  It was beautiful and it took a lot of convincing to get me out of there at the end of the evening.  Mom and dad get a little cranky when it gets past 7 PM.

On Saturday, mom went to a baby shower and dad and I headed to the park.  We met Grandpa Vern there and I got to show off my swinging skills again and throw leaves into Grandpa's hair.  Good times.  We spent the rest of the day enjoying the amazing weather and enjoying a little down time.

Sunday, mom and I went to church and then I had my school friend, Madeline, over for a few hours.  Mom thought that if we had each other to entertain, she would get a tiny break but I guess we made it worse.  Now it was two of us pulling on her shirt sleeve every 30 seconds asking for something.  She did manage to squeeze in a walk and then came home and got us to decorating Christmas cookies.  She will be finding red and green sugar sprinkles for months to come.  I do think we ate more sugar than ended up on the cookies but we had a good time.

After Madeline went home, I spent the afternoon pretending I was "Abby, the naughty dog" and putting my dog self into time out.

Dad only has 3 days of work left for the year.  He doesn't have to go back until January 4th- lucky daddy.  He's feeling pretty good right about now!

Here are the promised pictures of Gingerbread house master piece.

Have a great week- Christmas is only 14 days away.....

A Christmas Kind of Week

We sort of got ourselves adjusted to being back at work/school after being off for a week.  It was kind of a difficult transition since dad had to work late every night and mom had budget meetings all week.  These kinds of weeks make retirement look pretty enticing!  Lucky for us, it was another short week though.
Nana flew into town on Thursday afternoon so mom and dad could head out for their second annual "Grown Up Christmas Shopping Weekend".  I think it is a little bit easier to do marathon shopping trips when I'm not tagging along.  Not that they don't love shopping with me, but since I insist on picking up EVERYTHING I see and I insist on examining EVERYTHING I see, I tend to slow things down a bit.  Mom and dad came back loaded up with stuff, so they must be close to done with the whole shopping thing.  ( Dad is because he's a planner, mom still needs another couple a months to get it all wrapped up.  But to be fair, dad's birthday is 3 days before Christmas, so she is doing double work.  So there.)

Nana and I had a great time and really enjoyed to beautiful weather too.  I spent Thursday night riding my bike and Nana spent Thursday chasing me around on my bike.  On Friday, we slept in and then headed out to the park so I could show Nana my new swinging skills.  Then she surprised me and took me to the grilled cheese place for lunch and ice cream after.  That night, we went up to the fancy mall for the "snow fall".  It is kind of weird because the snow only falls at the fancy mall on Friday and Saturday nights at 6 and 6:45- and it isn't even cold.  I'm thinking the mall owners must be pretty important to get a deal like that!  We got home and I collapsed into bed.
We slept in a little on Saturday too but had to hussle in the morning so we could get to my school for the breakfast with Santa.  I had a great time introducing Nana to all my friends and showing her around my classroom.  I sat on Santa's lap and told him that I wanted dinosaurs for Christmas.  He told me he likes dinosaurs too so I think I'm golden- you know, having something in common with the man in red himself!
Mom and dad got home around noon on Saturday and we spent the rest of the day decorating for Christmas.  Dad and I went and got the tree and mom and Nana did some of the more "delicate" decorating.  The house looks really festive now and I LOVE our tree!
On Sunday, mom and Nana left for the airport before I was even awake.  We mom got home, we headed out to do some yardwork.  It was another amazingly beautiful day.  When dad got home, he and I tried our hand at making a gingerbread house from scratch.  Definitely not as easy as it looks.  The walls only fell down a few times and the roof only caved in once but once we got it standing, it looks great!  Orange frosting and blue sprinkles are really quite festive and more importantly, it tastes great!  I'll post pictures soon.
We have a full week coming up, so off to bed we go!

DISNEYLAND!!!!

WOW!  I have had quite the week!  Mom and dad spent a lot of time talking about Disneyland but I had no idea how very cool it would really be!

Mom and dad were up at 3:30 AM Monday morning and we were on the road by 4:30AM, drove 8 hours, straight to Disney land and spent the next 6 hours galavanting around. (If you add a touch of a cold and a beer or two back at the hotel, it makes for a really good night's sleep! Or so I hear)

It was such a fun way to spend Thanksgiving week.  It was a great idea and you know how we know?  Because the ENTIRE UNIVERSE was at Disneyland this week.  Mom swears she saw a few aliens wandering around.  We did not let that slow us down at all.  We spent the first day just getting our bearings and trying out the kiddie rides.  Those were fun for the moment but nothing compared to what I had in store the next few days.

We rode the Toon Town Roller Coaster and hit the Swiss Family Robinson's Tree house amoung other things.  We finally called it a day around 5:30 and headed to the hotel to catch up on some much needed sleep.

We woke up semi-refreshed and ready to go on Tuesday morning.  Breakfast was another bit of a challenge.  The hotel we stayed at has free breakfast ( and a free happy hour!) but since the entire universe was also staying there, we had a long wait.  We eventually got to Disneyland and spent all day long there.

We were smarter today and got us some Fast Passes for Auto-topia and I got to drive a car around, then we headed to Buzz Lightyear, where I got to shoot down some bad guys.

We took the boat to Tom Sawyer Island and I spent a ton of time running in and out of the caves and forts....

But the real thrill of the day came at the end when we discovered I was tall enough to ride the big rides!  We started with the Thunder Canyon Railroad roller coaster.  Holy Cats!  That was a great time!

But my favorite ride of all the weekend was Splash Mountain.  Tuesday was pretty cold and rainy, so we saved it for last and it was a good thing because we all got soaked- Poor dad was sitting right in front and got the worst of it.

This is us going down the big final drop- notice the huge grin on my face!!?  Definitely my favorite!

We learned our lesson for Wednesday and were up at the crack of dawn, to beat the breakfast crowd and to get a jump start on the crowds at Disney.  We were able to knock Peter Pan, It's a Small World and StoryBook Land out in record time.  Those all kind of paled next to Splash Mountain though.

After 2 1/2 days at Disneyland, we decided to try our luck at Disney California and wouldn't you know it, I found 'Mater and Lightning McQueen!

I also found another water roller coaster that I loved, but not as much as Splash Mountain.  Have I mentioned how much I loved Splash Mountain?

 So we kind of feel like we came, we saw, we conquered Disneyland and we can't wait to come back!

On Wednesday night, we managed to catch up with Uncle Jim, who lives in LA and is currently teaching at USC (amoung other things).  We dragged him back to Downtown Disney and he was a little awestruck by the chaos but he was a good sport about it.

We were up early again on Thursday to head home.  Mom and dad figured the traffic wouldn't be to bad, being Thanksgiving day and all but it was like the whole state of California was heading to Phoenix.  So many cars.  We stopped at 2 gas stations but they all had lines of 2-3 cars at each pump- craziness!  But we made it home safely and that's all that matters.  Our dog/house sitter is one of mom's friends from work.  Her original career choice was to be a Disney animator, so she left this great Welcome Home sign for me.  Pretty cool, huh?

On Friday, mom whipped up a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  The turkey was actually very juicy and mashed potatoes were smooth.  The gravy needed a little help, but overall, it turned out pretty dang good.

On Saturday, because we weren't tired enough, we went to see the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast.  It wasn't quite my style and I didn't like sitting in my dress so much but it was a nice afternoon anyway.

Finally, Sunday.  We didn't do anything.  We had the neighbors over for dinner and we are all hitting the hay waaaay early.  So tired and 5:30 comes early!  Have a great week!