Day 2- San Diego vacation

On day 2 of our vacation we headed over to Knott's Berry Farm. The kids had never been here and M & I have not been here since we were first dating (about 18 years ago). We had a good time. The kid's favorite ride was Montezooma's Revenge which is just like the Tidal Wave at Great America. This was S's first upside down roller coaster and she loved it. When T first came off the ride he said, "Yea, that was awesome!!". Within 5 mins both kids were asking to go again. We did go again, but later in the day. I think that I'm getting older because I used to be able to go on these type of rides over and over with my dad, but my stomach did not feel so great after going on this 2 times. We also enjoyed 2 water rides and the new pony express ride even though it smashed my chest area a bit;))

After a day at Knott's Berry Farm we headed to Baja Fresh for what we call "LaDinner" = lunch and dinner together; can either a late lunch or early dinner however you look at it. We have been doing this for many years on vacation to save money. We just have a decent size breakfast, snacks along the way and then LaDinner and then snacks/dessert later in the evening.

After LaDinner, we went to the Anaheim Disney Outlet.

Then we drove to San Diego. It was a nice drive and we saw 5 hot air balloons near the ocean along the way.

San Diego Vacation- DAY 1

We just returned last night from our San Diego vacation. Over the next couple of days, I will post entries from each day of our vacation as I kept a journal during our vacation. This was our first time on a San Diego vacation so everything (except the zoo) was new to us and we had a blast.

DAY 1- September 6

Soccer and travel day

Today the kid's had their first soccer games and both won!! T's team looked awesome! After S's 1pm game, we headed to San Diego. We decided to stay in the L.A. area on the way to San Diego to ease up on the long drive. Since we arrived in the L.A./Anaheim area around 8:45pm, we decided to head over to our favorite Starwood Anaheim hotel to watch the Disneyland fireworks from the parking lot (this is the best place to see the fireworks as the hotel is right behind where they ignite the fireworks). We met a father & son from Australia who gave us lots of travel ideas for our dream trip (someday:)).

We stayed at the new Aloft hotel. This is a very modern, contemporary hotel! I really liked the change to the traditional hotel. There was interesting blue water "goo" (kind of like liquid slime) on the floor board of the elevator. The hotel was organized like a loft type dwelling. I would definitely stay here again!

September 6 is also my little sister's 39 forever birthday!! Happy Birthday, Sis!! Love ya!!

The Twilight Series is now over for me:((

I finally finished the last Twilight series book, Breaking Down. My favorite books were Twilight and Breaking Down of the 4 in the series. I know that the author, Stephanie Myer, says that this is the last book in the series, but I think that there could be another book to continue to story. For example, we never experienced Bella's mom meeting her daughter or seeing her after she transitions or seeing how Jacob and Renesme react when she gets older. Do they get married? Are they able to have children? Maybe, I just don't want it to end?? Can't wait for the movie in November and the 2nd Twilight book in Edward's eyes to come out.

Okay, I know it's been a long time!!

Okay, I know, I know.. it's been a very long time since I've posted anything. I guess I've been busy? Actually, it feels like Summer break since my kid's just off-tracked yesterday afternoon and will be off for the next 5 1/2 weeks. Since I'm not working full-time anymore, it really feels like yesterday was the last day of school and it feels great! I've been busy with the following:

• Taxi Mom- S is now seeing a tutor 2 days a week, S & T both have soccer practice 2x a week
• San Diego travel plans- we leave for San Diego in 7 days and I always get so involved in planning our trips from reading reviews, spotting out great, interesting places to eat, etc.. I now have our who trip planned out by date. We decided to go with the Go San Diego Card and I've booked our days to get the most bang for our buck. The kids can't wait to go to Legoland & the Zoo. I'm looking forward to Belmont Park (like Santa Cruz) and having family beach sunset pictures.
• Substitute teaching- I've worked a couple of days a week. I now have to say that 3rd grade is my favorite grade to teach! It's strange now that I run into students in town that know me from subing and say hi Mrs. W. It's kind of a neat feeling!
• Pet Sitting- I'm watching my friend's 5 animals. I've been worried about the 2 outdoor dogs since the last 3 days have been 100+ days. My kid's have been wanting a dog for so long and I'm not sure that they want one now since I have been having them help with the responsibilities in the evening. They want a cat now, but our agreement before we got married was no cats. I guess they will have a wait until they move out:((
• Royal Pirates 2010 Cruise- prices and more information just came out for our group cruise for June 26, 2010 to the Caribbean. A few of us just booked our rooms thanks to being repeat RCCL customers. It seems that all I can think about is this awesome upcoming cruise!
• Breaking Dawn- I only have 80 more pages to read! I'm trying to make this book last since it's the last one in the series. Unfortunately, I know I'll be done before we leave for San Diego and will need to find another book to bring. Any suggestions??

Wow! I did not expect to write so much. Sorry to ramble on.

Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend! Hubby decided that he needed a weekend break from working lots of overtime over the last couple of months! On Saturday we went and saw Disney's Wall.E. Is was just okay for me. I prefer the very colorful Disney animation films, but there was 2 messages in this film that were tastefully done. The love story between Wall.E. and Eve was cute! After the movie we did some shopping in the Dublin/P-Town area and then headed over to hubby's cousin's house to bring over the new incredible "Oasis of the Seas" brochure that I got in the mail from our travel agent. We can't wait for our 2010 Royal Pirates Group Cruise!! We love spending time with D, TC, R, & S!! It's funny how D. is family, but I would have picked her as a friend; we have a lot of fun together and get along well!
On Sunday, hubby got 4 tickets from his old boss to the Raider Nation Fan Celebration at the Oakland Coliseum! We were able to go into the coliseum an hour before the general public. We went all decked out in our Raider's gear and had a blast! The kids got lots of freebies. In the evening, celebrated my inlaw's birthdays. I can't believe that my oldest nephew (age 12) is now 5 inches taller than me and wears size 11.5 shoes!!! He is playing tackle football and looks like an adult!! Scary to think that my own kids will very soon be taller than me too!
Picture of Silly S. on Friday night before we starting watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies!

Red Sky At Night!

We had the most gorgeous RED sky last night!! It was so beautiful. I'm so partial to colorful sunsets. Is the old saying “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning” true, or is it just an old wives’ tale? Well, in our case last night, it would have been a sailor's delight in sailing this morning.

Breaking Dawn

Okay, I'm obsessed! I did something that I've never done before on Friday night (or should I say Saturday early morning). Some friends and I went to the book release of the final book of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer at our local Barnes and Noble. Boy, I felt so old being around all these teeny-boppers at the release party. I just finished book 2 and I'm starting book 3 today.