Disneyland and Much More!!!

We are back from our vacation!!!! It was sooo much fun. We wore Grandma and Grandpa out. Honestly I don't think they would say yes to going with us again on a trip like that. Lots and lots of walking. We did every park we had time for so there wasn't much down time. The kids did awesome and loved every minute of it. We started out the first day just hanging out at the pool all day which was so nice and Nixon loved the pool it was his first time. Then we hit The Labrea Tar pits in downtown LA (dinosaur stuff) with a visit for dinner with Angela's Great Uncle Arnie and Tom. Then we did Universal Studios, then 3 days at Disney and California Adventure, then Sea World, then Legoland with a visit to our good friends and God daughter, Perlita and Kayla. Then we ended our trip with the last day hanging out at the pool most the day and then going to a dinner theater called the medieval times. It was awesome Paige loved all the horses and Simon loved all the sword fighting and jousting. Not to mention you have to eat with your hands. See what I mean by not much down time?

Our resort we stayed at was great. It was called the Dolphin Cove Resort only 3/4 of a mile from Disney. As you can tell by the name it was Dolphin themed so they had dolphin statues and benches and stuff. One of the employees let us in on a little secret which was great fun, he told us if we went to the back stairs of building 5 and stood at the top we could see the Disney fireworks each night without anything in the way. So the nights that we weren't at Disney and were home in time we would run, even in our jammies, over to building 5 to watch them. The resort had a fun game room and snack shack by the pool which the kids really enjoyed. They also had craft times for the kids which was fun too. 2 of the mornings they had a continental breakfast served poolside which was nice also. It was just a wonderful time and nice break from all the moving stuff we have been dealing with. A much needed distraction.

We took 3 days coming home so it wasn't over whelming trying to get home. We went down I-5 but came back 101 and 1 for a change of scenery. We got to stop and have lunch at Cannery Row in Monterey and stopped at a taffy store which was of course a big hit with the kids. One place we stopped at was a place where you could look at elephant seals which was cool but the most entertaining thing there were these small squirrels of some sort that were not afraid of people at all. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. There were probably 15 or 20 of them and they would walk right up and beg for food. At one point Tim sat down on a log and I kid you not 3 of them got on his lap. Of course all I could think about, being a Mom, was can't those things have rabies???? There were tons of other people all letting them get on their laps and feeding them and they didn't bite or anything but I didn't let the kids touch them just to be safe. Pretty entertaining though, you actually ended up forgetting all about the elephant seals that were there.

Here are just a few of the 250 or so pictures I took on our trip. This will also be my last post for a couple weeks and my last one from Eureka. Tomorrow morning (Monday the 2nd) the movers come and Saturday we take off for Washington. To all my friends here in Eureka I will greatly miss you thank you for everything and thank goodness for email!
Enjoy our photos.


Disneyland


The Crothers Family in front of the big C at California Adventure


Paige and Simon with Mickey


Recognize this? From the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. Only we didn't roll around in it! We even got to see Captain Jack Sparrow and he really looked like Johnny Dep I have to say.



Sword fighting after riding Pirates of the Caribbean.



The kids loved Mickey's Toon Town



This was about 10 pm. The boys were out hard. Daddy and Paige were off buying popcorn and Grandpa and Grandma were at a show. Paige was pretty proud that most the time she outlasted the boys. If she crashed it was in the car on the way home. Aren't they cute they look alike.



It was Star Wars weekend at Legoland and Simon was in heaven. He is just like his Dad a huge Star Wars fan. Simon would eat, sleep and breathe Star Wars if we let him.



Paige and Simon loved the trampoline at Kayla's house.



Paige rode the Jurassic Park ride at Universal. We were so proud of her. We got soaked and she said she loved it but wouldn't ever go on it again. The dips tickled her tummy and she didn't like that part.



Can't go to Universal without taking a picture with Jaws!



Nixon loved the water play area he was drenched from head to toe and Mommy didnt' bring a change of clothes. Good thing it's hot down there and he dried up after a while.



See that huge roller coaster in the back ground with the big drop into the water? It's called Journey to Atlantis and yes Simon did it. Simon is now addicted to roller coasters. He takes after Mommy and Daddy. We are very excited that he loves them as much as we do.



Sea World was a blast. The kids posing just like the trainers did in the show with the real thing.



This was our last night at the medieval times dinner.

Well it's 11:30 pm and the movers are coming at 9 am. I suppose I better go finish laundry and packing what I want to stay with us!

He did it!

Well Nixon finally did it. I have always heard of kids doing this and I knew he would be one to try it. I turn around for a second and he is up standing in the middle of our dining room table proud as can be. Talk about give me a heart attack! He is by far my most daring of the three and the most work to keep safe. He is the reason they make, cord holders, plug protectors, cupboard and drawer locks. Yes he has tried to stick his finger in a socket, he has popped the mini blind cords in his mouth, he opens all the drawers in the kitchen, and those cupboard locks, he yanks on the cupboard door until it opens. He also pulled open the stove the other night (thank goodness it wasn't on), lucky for me it is a self cleaning one so it has a lock which has since been put into permanent use. He will climb up on anything and everything he can as high as he can. He is too smart too, he will move things over to where he can climb up on things. He cracks me up to watch him figure stuff out. Oh, and one of my new phones is missing. I have looked everywhere, it's been gone for a couple weeks. I am now thinking Nixon threw it in the trash and I didn't notice. I am still hoping it just shows up but I am starting to lose that hope.
Simon's my big helper, his new job is to make sure all the dining room chairs are pushed all the way in at all times. Paige helps a lot with Nixon too she can pick him up and carry him if needed. It's cute when he starts getting into her stuff she picks him up and takes him across the room, then he just follows her right back like a little shadow. Paige has 2 little brothers who just adore her but sure can get into her things. She is a trooper though.
Needless to say Nixon is keeping me on my toes and nice and busy! Okay on that note I need to go he just threw a brand new bottle of unopened catchup in the trash that he got out of a cupboard. Yeah I am really afraid that is where my phone went.

13 Wonderful Years!

Monday we celebrated our 13th Anniversary. Thank you to our wonderful friend Anne who offered to watch our kids so we didn't have to pay a babysitter. She also brought dinner for the kids so we didn't have to worry about that. We went down to Ferndale which is a really cute Victorian Village 20 min. south of Eureka. We ate at a restaurant called Curly's. We first discovered Curly's when we first moved here. Mom and Larry went there with us. And we noticed they had a table for 2 seated in it's own little room in the front of the restaurant and thought it would be so neat to go to dinner there sometime and try and get that table. Well 4 1/2 years later we finally made it back and Tim reserved that table for us. They call it the fish bowl because it's right in front with all the windows but then there are walls all around you so you are secluded from all the other tables. It has a nice view of main street. Ferndale is like stepping back in time. If you remember the movie the Majetic with Jim Carry that was filmed in Ferndale so the main street in that movie is right where we were. We had a wonderful time. When we got home Anne had surprised us by making a mini wedding cake for us. She made it to look like the top of a wedding cake. She had offered Tim to make a replica of our wedding cake top but we never had a wedding cake and Tim forgot to email her back and tell her that. So she designed one for us. It was so cute and yummy might I add. I told Tim look I finally have a wedding cake! Look at the picture how beautiful it is. She even took a candle holder and plate and glued them together to make a mini formal cake holder. Thank you Anne for the cake and thoughtfulness. It was a great treat at the end of a wonderful evening.