Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Goats and Sheep are back!

I discovered yesterday that the goats and sheep are back at our local park to mow down the weeds so when I picked up Hannah at school yesterday we headed straight over there to feed them some weeds. It is our yearly tradition and we always look forward to them coming back each year.



After that we decided to go home and weed our front yard so we had additional food to give the goats. Now let me clarify, I should say I went home to weed...Hannah was drawing on the driveway with her sidewalk chalk:



By the way check out the "H" and the "A" that Hannah wrote under her feet. Granted they are in the wrong order but now all she has to learn is to write an "N" and then she will know how to write her name! I was so proud and surprised she knew how to write those two letters.

Samantha was chillin' in her bouncy seat all bundled up and supervising my gardening.
Doesn't she look cute?



During dinner Tulip thought she would keep Samantha company and laid down next to her..I thought it was really sweet.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Our final days at Disneyland

Since it rained on Monday we waited and went to Disneyland on Tuesday for our second day...although it rained on that day too...well at least it did in the morning. But as soon as the sun came out so did the characters and Hannah was once again in heaven!









Hannah is finally tall enough to ride the Matternhorn Bobsleds and Adam was so excited to take her on it. She loves roller coasters and can you tell she is so excited to be in line for the ride...



Unfortunately the scary snowman on the ride scared Hannah a lot and I don't know if you Ican see her expression in this picture as the ride comes to an end but she did NOT like it...



Next it was onto a few rides with Mommy...first Autopia and then the Spaceships that spin round and round. Apparently I have a stronger stomach then Adam which is why I was the lucky one to go on this ride...luckily my lunch stayed in. Just before the ride started I yelled to Adam "Hopefully I don't vomit!". Later in the evening at our black tie Masonic event when people were asking Hannah about her day in Disneyland she said "My mommy didn't vomit on the spaceships". Proof that you need to watch what you say around your kids.





In the evening the black tie event we went to with the Masons was held on the backlot of California Adventure. First we had a nice formal dinner and then we went off to see Aladdin. Hannah of course loved the play, but it was a bit too loud for Samantha. So I spent the evening behind a wall that muffled the sound for her as I paced back and forth to prevent her from crying...good times for me. Luckily I have seen the performance of Aladdin at Disneyland before so I wasn't missing anything. At our dinner a formally dress Mickey & Minnie came in to take pictures with everyone and Hannah and I got in and out of line three times to take pictures with them...here is just one of the many pictures we took with them.



The next day was Wednesday and this was the day we were meeting Hannah's cousins in Disneyland because Adam's Dad and his Wife brought the girls down during their ski week. Hannah was so excited to see her cousins...it was too cute. But of course while we were waiting for them we had to catch up with some more Disney Characters...





Since this was our last day in Disneyland this was our marathon day there too...we were there from 9am to 9pm! EXHAUSTING! Hannah was a trooper but she did get tired at one point and decided to take a nap in the stroller...



And look! Amazingly Samantha was awake!



Here is a cute picture of Hannah with her cousins, Krystina and Kathryn...



Our final ride of the night was on "Small World"...Adam's favorite ride...ha-ha. Here is Adam enjoying the ride...



And look!...we took a princess home...Snow White (Hannah's one purchase and BIG purchase) She loved this dress and loved wearing. She even lifted up the dress as she walked so she wouldn't ruin it. She looked like she was going to a ball.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Day One of Disneyland Fun

Day one of Disneyland was so much fun. But first a little update about our "tropical dinner" last night. The instant we walked in Hannah found a friend...she is a teenager named Alissa but Hannah and her were buddies all night long. Here are a few pictures of them...



Here is Alissa's family "adopting" Hannah:



Not only did we lose Hannah for most of the evening but as you can see from the following pictures, we even lost Samantha for a large part of the evening because many of the ladies at the event (most of them grandmothers) wanted to hold her:







It was great! It gave Adam and I some time to socialize and the girls clearly had fun too. In fact besides sitting down for dinner and taking this picture right when we entered our girls were off enjoying themselves. :)



Then on Sunday it was off to Disneyland. Hannah was so excited in the shuttle bus as we pulled up to Disneyland. She was yelling out "Disneyland!" and jumping up and down with excitement...it was incredibly cute. Right when we walked in we ran into Pluto which was great b/c Hannah had kept saying she wanted to see Pluto first...what luck!



Then Adam and Hannah went on the Dumbo ride while I hung out with Samantha who was in the Bjorn sleeping.



Next it was off to ride the carousel all together. As Adam was taking this picture the carousel started to move...can you see Hannah's excitement:



Then it was off to "It's a Small World" where Adam suggested they sell beers to the fathers in line...he thinks they would make a lot of money b/c more dads would be willing to suffer through the ride. After we went to Toon Town where we all had lunch...Samantha woke up just in time to have lunch there too. And while we were eating Goofy just happened to come by. He grabbed Hannah and off they went for a walk through Toon Town to Goofy's house. This is quite a coincidence since the last time we were in Disneyland Goofy took Hannah for a walk through Toon Town to his house also. Hannah loved it! She was talking up a storm with Goofy and kept yelling out to me and pointing out to me that she was on a walk with Goofy...as if I couldn't see that. There was a mob of kids and parents following Hannah and Goofy waiting for their chance to see him so I kept trying to tell Hannah that we needed to go so she wouldn't hog all of Goofy's time but Goofy would not let her go. In fact at one point he even shook his finger at me to tell me no he was not letting her go. So I just gave up and took many pictures of their adventure. Here is one where Goofy is playing with Hannah.



Next it was Daddy's turn to have Samantha sleep on him in the Bjorn and for me to go on a ride with Hannah. Since Hannah is now big enough for most of the rides, including the Toon Town roller coaster that is what we did. Granted I was a little nervous b/c I hate roller coasters, Hannah was so excited. Here we are at the start of the ride:



I was a little scared on the ride but Hannah loved it! She is definitely going to love roller coasters...thank god Adam likes them b/c I am not going on those monster coasters with her when she is older.

After Toon Town we went over to the "Winnie the Pooh" ride which is always a guaranteed no wait in line. And then Hannah was beyond excited to visit with Eeoyre and especially Tigger.







This is what Samantha did most of the day in Disneyland:



After our big adventurous day we went and rested a bit in the hotel and then it was off to a fancy dinner with the Masons at the "White House Restaurant" where Hannah was wondering if we were going to see Barrack Obama...too funny. Here is a picture of our fancy napkin and menu.



Today we are resting at our hotel b/c it is pouring rain outside while Adam attends a few Masonic lectures...sounds like fun...not! Then tomorrow it is back to Disneyland and we hope for no rain!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Arrived in L.A.

So we have arrived in L.A. We are down here for Adam's Masonic Conference in Anaheim for the next 5 days and since we are here we are headed to Disneyland for 3 days! Yay! We flew Southwest on the way down and because it is Valentine's Day they offered a free vodka and cranberry juice drink and I happily accepted. Traveling with a 3 year old and an infant will do that to you. Adam asked for one too...I guess we both really needed a drink! Anyway when it came both of us took a sip at the same time and both of us just about spit it out! It was soooo strong! Granted we both needed a stiff drink but not that strong! We would still like to be able to walk off the airplane. Apparently they ran out of cranberry juice so they were putting in the whole mini bottle of vodka and not that much juice...thanks but no thanks! I think the pilot may have had a few of those free vodka drinks though b/c our take off and landing were so horrible...very shaky and wobbly. I was sitting next to a teenager who hated flying and poor thing she was freaking out. Hannah on the other hand thought she was on a roller coaster ride. When we took off that girl was giggling up a storm! I told Adam we don't need to go to Disneyland we just need to fly back and forth between Southern CA and Northern CA.

Tonight we are going to our first Masonic event...it is a tropical themed dinner and we are suppose to dress the part. It would help if it wasn't 50 degrees here to help us feel more willing to dress tropical but it should be an adventure. Hopefully tomorrow it is not raining cats and dogs and we will be able to go Disneyland for our first day of adventure. I of course will post updates as I am here. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Hannah "Breastfeeds" Her "Baby"

O.K. so I have heard about this from many moms and seen it...the older child "breastfeeding" a baby or animal of theirs after seeing their mom feeding their younger sibling...but Hannah had yet to copy me in this respect...until the other night. She sat down on the couch, put my breastfeeding pillow around her, clicked it closed, lifted up her shirt and even made the clicking noises while pretending to unsnap her breastfeeding bra and then put her "Lilly Bear" up to her chest and started "breastfeeding" her. It was the cutest and funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Clearly she pays attention to what I am doing when I feed Samantha. Here is a picture of Hannah in action:



Another funny thing Hannah said the other day as we passed "In & Out" was "Hey! There is the french fry store!". I thought this was also hilarious as (A) we rarely go there...which may be hard to believe considering I love cheeseburgers so much but really we don't...and (B) that she would remember the place as a "french fry store".

Kids are too funny!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Princess Dinner

So at the "Princess Dinner" that I took Hannah to on Tuesday night, Hannah went dressed as Sleeping Beauty.



Isn't she cute?! Her friend Sydney went dressed at Belle and here are the two of them before we went inside Cafe Italia:



Once we walked into Cafe Italia waiting to greet us was Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, Pocahontis, and Prince Philip. For those of you that don't know Prince Philip is Sleeping Beauty's prince. I pointed out to Hannah that her prince is here waiting to greet her and she instantly became terrified! She didn't even want to look at anyone and was hiding behind me. I kept pointing out the princesses and the prince and Hannah kept telling me that she was Hannah now and hiding in terror behind me. Now for those of you that also know Hannah you know that this is completely out of character for her. I could not figure out what was wrong with her and I worried we were going to have to leave. I was also beginning to worry b/c in 2 weeks we are going to Disneyland and I thought is she going to be afraid of everyone there? Prince Philip was in charge of seating people and as he brought us to our table Hannah clung to me absolutely terrified! I finally figured out she wasn't afraid of the princesses but rather the Prince, which was kind of ironic since he was technically her prince since she was dressed up as Sleeping Beauty. Throughout the night everytime Prince Philip would bring someone into our section to seat them Hannah was closely watch his every move or just look straight down at the table. Here is a picture of Hannah not making eye contact with the Prince and if you look closely you can see the Prince in the background...my camera did not capture a good picture of him.



Several people we knew there commented that they are shocked that Hannah is not afraid of Gunrock but terrified of the Prince. I thought it strange too until later that night at home we found out the real reason she was afraid of him...she said she expected the Prince to look more like her Daddy...isn't that sweet!!

Several of Hannah's friends from school also attended this Princess Dinner and here is a gathering of the little princesses.



By the end of the night Hannah was happier b/c the Prince seemed to disappear so she took some pictures with the princesses that were walking around and greeting all the little princesses at the tables.



Now that is the Hannah I know. :)