Disneyland

Last weekend, Kyle got his 2nd visit and Gavin got his first ever trip to Disneyland! Michelle was so sweet to invite us (again!) to be her guests for a complimentary day at the Park and work dinner party at Club 33. We learned from our experience last year and planned out our day differently (more kid-oriented) this time. We had so much fun!

One thing we learned was to maximize our use of the train that circles the Park. 

First stop was Mickey's Toontown and straight over to meet Mickey. It was great to get that done first as there was virtually no line! ;) Kyle loves Mickey.

Kyle was tall enough to ride his first ever real roller coaster!! (He rode a mini one on his 2nd birthday at the OC Fair). This one was pretty fast and had a drop in the beginning. He LOVED it and said, "My tummy went wheeee!!!" Later he said this was his favorite ride. :)  And yes, my son dresses himself and loves his ties!!

Then on to the classic/you gotta do it, "It's a Small World." As you can see, Gav loved it! :)

We were passing Fantasy Land to get to the rocket ride in Tomorrow Land when Kyle saw the Teacups. He forgot all about the rocket and wanted to ride this. I gratefully passed this one off to Michelle. ;)

Pure happiness.

Except when we had to wait. Disneyland is all about walking and waiting. And boy, did Kyle learn what it means to wait! Here he is on one of his other favorites.

We thought Kyle would like Tom Sawyer's Island Pirates Cove and boy did he!! He could have stayed there the whole day going from one bridge, pulley, lever, pump to another. He was (and always has been) fascinated with how things work.

Exploring.

Gav got to enjoy some of the island action, too.

Watching the pirate ship go by.

Captured in a "booby trap!" 

Love.

Just before dinner, Rudy came to pick up Kyle. Then, we headed to the exclusive Club 33 where you have to know a "member" to gain access. Apparently a member knows Michelle's boss and has granted the company access for its Christmas parties. The minimum plate charge was over $100. It goes without saying, the meal was delicious! It was even more enjoyable because Gavin slept through it all! (Thank you, son!)

Thank you, Auntie Michelle! And now, Kyle is asking when we'll go again! Hmm... 

Our New Year's Day Adventure

We started the new year by missing our flight home. :( Crazy. Who does that? How does that happen?? Well, let me tell ya, it did! We flew to Chicago on buddy passes from Gina but thought it wise to purchase tickets home in order to actually get home when we'd like to. Two years prior, with only 2 of us needing seats, it was absolutely insane and we barely made it home! So, with 2 kids in tow, we decided to bypass what would have been crazy and instead, insure a stress-free, direct flight home. Yeah, that was the idea anyway. 

We'd been up late almost every night during our vacation and were pretty sleep deprived. On New Year's Eve, Gavin got sick. He didn't fall asleep until around 5 am. We were so tired we missed our 5:30 am alarm. I woke up around 7 am to see it was light outside and my heart dropped! Dread. But what was done was done and we had to move on. I was actually pretty proud of us for how we handled it, seeing as how we'd just thrown away hundreds of dollars.

At the airport, someone took pity on us, with our two little ones, and booked us on a later flight (instead of flying standby with the hope we could all get home that day, and get home together). We were thankful, but we later learned that we'd been booked on an all day, 3 flight itinerary. Eesh. So, we waited around and eventually got to Phoenix. Three hours later, we were told our next plane was delayed. After wandering the airport for quite a bit, I suggested we go back to our gate "just to be sure" and not miss another flight, even though we were told the plane wouldn't be there yet. Well, surprise! Somehow the plane came 45 minutes earlier than expected and they were boarding!! Yikes! From there we flew north to San Francisco and then back down to the great OC. Ah, home sweet home. Twas a long, long day. 

However, there was one bright spot in it all. A flight attendant and pilot felt badly for our ordeal and befriended us. We were the only 4 people to continue on that same plane (who else in their right mind would book a flight from PHX to SFO to SNA!?). Kyle stole the show and got to do some pretty cool things! First up, was a visit inside the cockpit. Both pilots encouraged Kyle to press this button and pull that lever, etc. etc. He loved it!!!! Then, Kyle got to stand with the flight attendant and greet the passengers as they boarded the plane, saying, "Welcome aboard." Finally, Kyle got to help the same wonderful flight attendant give the PA announcements. It was adorable!!!! The first time he said something like, "Ok, now we're going to go really high and really fast. So buckle up and hold on tight!" The people cheered and Kyle had the cutest smile on his face. He loved seeing and doing what his GG does for a living. It was awesome and almost made up for the super long day of travel. :)

Welcoming the passengers aboard!

Yay for friendly flight attendants and pilots! Yay for happy Southwest ticket agents, too!

Chicago Christmas Highlights (part 2)

On the 27th, Rudy and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. We got to sneak out for early morning coffee at a local bookstore and that night we were treated to a room at the Pheasant Run Resort. (Thank you!) During the middle of the day, we went sledding near Grandma Sally's house. Though there wasn't much of any snow, we were determined to make it happen with what we had. Kyle loved it and was super eager to go down the hill by himself. His bravery both amazes and scares me! :)

Uncle Ryan

Then, we warmed up with coffee and cake at (Great) Uncle Doug and Aunt Carol's house.

At the Pheasant Run Resort

The following morning, while at the hotel, we woke up to snow falling!! A first for Kyle!

We took a little tour of St.Charles and stopped at the Fox River

The evening of the 28th was spent with our friends, the O'Donnells and the Norths. Always fun.
Kyle and Gav with their friends, Delaney and Addyson. Strangely, we've each had 3 kids, all exactly 2 months apart from each other, including our losses. It's beautiful to see our newest blessings together in the middle there... it was a much better Christmas this year! :)

On the 29th, GG gave us the wonderful treat of watching our boys so we could go use a gift card for a delicious anniversary meal. We enjoyed our time out immensely!

The 30th had us in the city where we brunched with the Norths and then spent the rest of the day with Rudy's siblings (or now more popularly known as "Kyle's aunt and uncles!"). Funny how our names change after having kids.
Auntie Ray and her nephews (at Rachel and Ben's house).

"Riding" Uncle Randy's bike

Dancing with Auntie Ray

Ru and his brothers

Trying some delicious coffee at Uncle Randy's former workplace.

Gav got passed around a ton. Lots of love (and spit up) shared! :)

Uncle Love.

The 31st was spent back at Aunt Donna's house. We saw Grandma Sally again and then spent the rest of the day with Mike and Allison. New Year's Eve was celebrated twice. The first time was 3 hours early thanks to Donna's brilliant plan of setting the clocks ahead! After the kids were down, the adults got to enjoy adult-conversation and games.

The trip was a perfect mix of this and that. We got to see everyone and enjoyed many things that are unique to Chicago. Kyle was pretty sad about leaving. He cried when we left his aunt and uncles and still mentions going back sometime "soon." 

Chicago Christmas Highlights (part 1)

As I mentioned before, we had a lot of fun spending Christmas in Chicago. Kyle had been anticipating this trip for quite some time. It was fun for us to cross off the days on his calendar, counting down to the day we'd get to wake up when it was "still dark" and fly a "GG plane." Our first stop was to GG's house. In every room there was something (or many things) that she had bought or prepared for us that welcomed us in a special way. Kyle loved everything and verbally appreciated the special touches all around him. It's so sweet to hear him say how much he likes things/people/or experiences.

The flights went super smoothly. Both boys were excellent travelers. Hooray for that! :)

GG's house

Big Smiles!!

After spending a night with her, we packed our bags and headed to Aunt Donna's house to celebrate Christmas with his immediate family and the following day with his extended family. On the way over, we stopped by Mike and Allison's place. It's nice to be able to see my brother more often because he's minutes away from Rudy's Aunt.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were a lot of fun. It was especially nice to be with all of Rudy's siblings for an overnight "sleepover." Kyle absolutely loved being around his aunt and uncles. It touched both Rudy and I to see the love between them all. He also played nonstop with Rudy's cousin, Donovan. So fun. :)

Grandma Sally :)

Our Santa Baby :)

Uncle Randy and Gavin

Kyle and Donovan writing their letters to Santa.

Christmas morning! Kyle made out like a bandit.

Merry 1st Christmas, Gavin!

We're back!!

Happy New Year!! We sure started ours with an adventure! I'll have to post about that later. We're back from a wonderful trip to Chicago. We always pack our days with family, friends, and fun and this one was no different. I love all that we get to do and especially, most importantly, getting to see family. It was a great trip. Since this blog has turned into our family photo album/journal... I'll be going on a posting spree to recap our vacation. First things first... this mama needs a cup of coffee!! :)