Getting Ready for Christmas

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas for the last month or so. Our tree is up and decorated. Our Christmas cards are made and sent out. We had our neighbors over for a brunch.
We made Christmas presents (more blog posts on those will be coming). And most of our presents are wrapped.
Now that most of that stuff is done I feel ready for Christmas and ready to reflect on the coming our Savior and the meaning of the Season.

Disneyland Day 3

On Saturday we were able to get into the park at 7am. And since it was my birthday we wanted to spend as much time at the park that we could. We took advantage of there not being very many people in the park by taking some pictures and walking onto rides. It was so nice to be in the park and have it not be crazy busy like it was on Friday.
When California Adventure opened we went over there to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride. It is such a fun ride. It is a lot like the Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster where each person has a gun type thing that they use to hit targets. Only the Toy Story one is in 4D and you get to wear some great glasses.
By then it was time for lunch. We went to the Wine Trattoria restaurant and shared a wonderful lunch. Then it was time to go shopping!
After some time in Bug's Land we went to the Blue Bayou for my birthday dinner. My family has a tradition of going to the Blue Bayou every time we go to Disneyland, but this was the first time we were able to sit next to the water. We had a nice dinner and time of celebrating.
After our dinner we went to Main Street to watch the Candlelight Processional. We were lucky to be at the park on the day they did the processional. It ended up being my favorite part of our whole trip. At first the choir members walked down Main Street signing sacred Christmas songs. Then when they got to the train station they formed into a living Christmas tree. Jon Voight was there to read the Christmas story from the Bible. It was amazing to see so many people hearing about our Savior's birth!
Overall it was a wonderful 30th birthday, and I don't think it could have been any better.

Disneyland Day 2

On our second day we woke up early so we could be in line before the park opened. Then we headed for some rides. First, we went on Finding Nemo subs. Andrew didn't seem too impressed.
After a morning of getting on as many rides we could, we headed to our character breakfast. I thought Andrew might be a little afraid of the characters, but he actually did pretty well. At first he ignored the characters and became engrossed in his breakfast. He was even taking his blueberries and placing them on top of his waffle. When Chip came over he was imitating Andrew, it was so cute. When Captain Hook came by we told Andrew he is a pirate, so Andrew did his sign for pirate. Capt. Hook thought that was pretty funny.
Then it was time to go to California Adventure for the Playhouse Disney show. Andrew had fun sitting next to Nana on the bench watching Mi mi. We rode some rides, then headed to the hotel for a nap. After we rested for a few hours we headed to Disneyland for the Jedi Training show and Toon Town. For dinner we met my parents at the Golden Horseshoe and watched the show while we ate. The rest of our evening was spent going on a few rides and then saving a spot for the Fantasmic show, only to have it canceled. It was a big bummer!

Disneyland Birthday Trip

Since Disney was doing the get in free on your birthday promotion I wanted to go to celebrate my 30th birthday. When we started planning the trip it was just going to be me, Micah and Andrew going for one day, and then it ended up being me, Micah, Andrew, Justin and my mom and dad and we all went for three days. It was a wonderful trip, and so much fun to see Andrew's reactions to everything.
For the first time we took the Disneyland Express bus instead of renting a car. It ended up working pretty well, and we didn't have to bring a car seat for Andrew which was nice. We got to the park around 1pm. And when we walked in we got to ride in one of the fire trucks. Then we walked through the castle to find Alice and the Mad Hatter. And Alice was the first character I got my picture with on my first trip to Disneyland. So it was fitting that she is also Andrew's first character. Then we took Andrew on some of the Fantasyland rides. We ended up running into my friend Starr, who we knew was going to be at Disneyland the same time we were. It was fun seeing her and her family there.
Later that night we met up with some family friends who live in Southern CA for ice cream sundaes. While we were eating them the castle was being lit for the night, so we went into the middle of Main Street to watch. After the castle was lit it snowed on us. Andrew loved the snow, it was priceless watching his reaction!
And a great way to end our first magical day was to spot Mickey and Minnie on our way out of the park. Before our trip I had Andrew watch a Disneyland sing along video and told him who the characters were. And right before we left whenever he saw a picture of Mickey he would say Mi mi, Mi mi. And when we were waiting in line to get our picture he kept repeating Mi mi, Mi mi. It was so cute!

So You Think You Can Dance

Last Saturday Micah and I got to go to the SYTYCD show that came to Everett. My hairdresser and I always talk about the show when I get my haircut, and she happened to have tickets to the show, but found out she couldn't go so she offered the tickets to us for FREE! We had such a great time watching all of our favorite dances from the show. The dancers are so amazing! It is one of my favorite TV shows, so it was fun to see the dances performed in person. And it was their last show on tour, so they threw in lots of silly things that weren't "planned".

It's Signing Time

Before we even had kids I knew I wanted to teach my babies sign language. I saw how it helped little ones communicate before they could talk, and thought it was a great idea. So when Andrew was just 6 months old we started teaching him some basic signs (all done and more). As he learned those we taught him more signs (thank you and please). And just recently we found some DVDs at the library that are wonderful! They are called Signing Time and have an adult and two kids teaching signs and doing songs with the signs. They are very well done, and Andrew LOVES them! Since we have started watching them he has really started doing lots of signs. It is so fun to see him communicate with us this way. He is starting to talk, too. Here is a list of the signs and words he knows (I may have forgotten some, but these are the ones I can think of).

Signs Andrew does:
All done
Please
Thank you
More
Airplane
Helicopter
Car
Bus
Shoes
Clean up
Water
Boat
Eat
Milk
Sign
Night-night
Light
Bye-bye

Words Andrew says:
Mama
Mommy
Dada
Ah Dun (all done)
Pane (plane)
Bo (boat)
Coter (helicopter)
Cah (car)
Buh (bus)
Shhhu (shoe)
Bubble
Cacker (cracker)
Ball
Nana
Papa
Kitty
Hello
Ha (hot)
Baa (bad)
Down
Oh Woah (oh wow)

Little Getaway

This last week Micah and I went to downtown Seattle to have a little getaway. It was our first time leaving Andrew overnight. We decided to stay at the Inn at the Market right at Pike Place Market. It was a wonderful hotel, and since it was a Thursday night and one of their suites was open they decided to upgrade us! It was soooo nice. We had a two floor suite with a view over the market and the Puget Sound. It was spectacular. After dropping our stuff in our room and checking it all out we headed to the Seattle Art Museum to see the new Michelangelo exhibit. Then we had dinner at a crepe restaurant in Pike Place. We had a strawberry and nutella crepe for dessert, oh so yummy!
The next morning we were lazy and ordered room service and laid in bed for as long as we could. It was so nice to wake up whenever we felt like it. And it was our first time having room service, so that was a fun experience. We had a crab omelet and a bagel and cream cheese.
It was such a nice, restful time for us to spend together. And Andrew had lots of fun staying with Nana and Papa. While we were gone Uncle Justin made a little house for him out of boxes, and he loved playing in it.

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween we dressed Andrew up as a cowboy. He wasn't too happy about wearing the hat and bandanna, so they didn't last for very long. We stayed home and passed out candy to trick or treaters and then we headed over to my mom and dad's house so they could see him all dressed up.

First Trip to McDonald's

This week I met one of my friends at McDonald's to chat while our kids played. It was Andrew's first time in a McDonald's. He didn't know what to think of the Playplace, but had fun running after the other kids. After playtime it was time for lunch, and Andrew got to experience his first Happy Meal. He enjoyed the apples the best, and only had a few bites of his cheeseburger. Going out for a Happy Meal is one of my favorite memories as a kid, and it is now fun to pass that along to Andrew.

Pumpkin Patch

On Tuesday my MOPS group had an outing to the pumpkin patch. It was Andrew's first year going. When we got to the Schotlz Farm the kids played on a big wood chip pile. Andrew really liked all the little cars. Then we went through the cute corn maze.
After that it was time for some lunch and then we went in search of some good pumpkins.

Laundry Basket Fun

Lately one of Andrew's favorite toys is the laundry basket. He loves to have us give him "rides" in it, and even whines when we are done. So after I refused to give him ANOTHER ride he decided to give kitty a ride. And Leo was nice enough to let Andrew pull him around. It is so fun to see Andrew and Leo play together.

Hawaii Day 6

In the morning we drove to Diamond Head to hike to the top. It was a warm day, and a good hike with LOTS of stairs. And poor Micah had to carry Andrew the whole way. But once we made it to the top we knew it was worth it. What an amazing view! The water is so crystal clear and blue. And while we were hiking we had more Japanese tourists who enjoyed taking pictures of Andrew, and even wanted to get in the picture with him. They were too cute! At one point we were almost to the end of the hike and Andrew had had enough of riding on Daddy's shoulders so he was reaching down to anyone who would grab him and put him down. So one Japanese lady reached up and took him. Then she had her husband take pictures. She thought it was so great that Andrew wanted her to hold him.
After all of our hard work we stopped for some shave ice to help us cool off. Then we headed to the Kailua Beach for some relaxing in the sun.

Hawaii Day 5

On Friday we headed to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. On our way we stopped at Blowhole to watch the waves come up through the lava tube. It was an amazing site.
We weren't quite sure this was going to be the perfect day for snorkeling since the water was kind of choppy, but we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of us in our stylish snorkel gear. But we did snorkel around the bay and saw lots of fun fish. I am not a big fan of snorkeling. I just do not like the feeling, and I have to see something in order to forget that I am wearing the uncomfortable mask and have to breathe through my mouth. Once I am seeing fish I am okay. Micah was great and really helped me. But this wasn't my favorite snorkeling experience. For one thing we had to swim over the reef to see the fish, and I get nervous I am going to touch the reef, or an eel is going to come out, or ... And the water was choppy and the further we went out the scarier it was. But Micah, Bob and Patti all got to see sea turtles and swim with them for a bit.
In the evening we went to Waikiki to watch the sunset. We got there right when it was setting, but it wasn't nearly as beautiful as at Sunset Beach. While we were at Waikiki we walked around and looked at the shops and stopped for some ice cream. Then it was time to head home and get some rest.