sisters

awww.....

cousins!

We had an awesome visit with David and Eric and Mike and Alicia today!! It's been about 2 years since we've seen the boys and MY boys were WAY excited to spend some time with their cousins! Eric showed the boys how to shuck (and eat) raw oysters...NOT a big hit at this age...They say it looks too much like snot. Which I guess I should be thankful! haha
I just wish everyone didn't live so far away...

New Years Eve

...This New Year's Eve, it looks as tho SOME of us were more in the party mood than OTHERS! haha It was just like Christmas, quiet, rainy and yucky...but the best kind of sleeping! ...Once Zach's energy finally wore off!

Merry Christmas!

Well, we had a very nice and quiet Christmas! We tossed out some reindeer food before going to bed Christmas Eve...and put a few cookies on a plate for Santa! I think Patrick woke up first and came to get me...he already knew Santa had come because it was after 6:00! haha So he woke Zach up and we all went downstairs! The first thing Zach saw was his RED curtain on his new stage! ...You'll have to stay tuned for homemade movies! haha Patrick's big thing from Santa was his PSP with a couple of games. Everyone was happy... It was a yucky rainy day tho, so after going to Deb's for a little bit, we came home, changed into our sweats and RELAXED ALL DAY! THAT was my merry Christmas! haha ;)

Santa Train!

I had heard about this Santa Train for a couple of years, so I thought all 3 boys would be at a fun age to try it this year...I think we ALL had a great time! It was about a 45 minute ride and Santa came thru 2 cars and sat and talked to each and every boy and girl! Patrick asked for rollerblades and a basketball and Zach wants a fish and "town"...I guess he needs to build a town around all his flags!

No more birthdays...just "celebrating" ;)

OK, I've decided I'm not having "birthdays" anymore...just "celebrations"...haha This year tho, Patrick was sick and had to go to work with me for a few hours, so there wasn't much celebrating. The boys did make a wonderful cake for me tho! It was chocolate (of course, I had to put it in the fridge like Granny!) and since we couldn't decide on the icing, we did half and half! ...with purple decorations! Debbie made a surprise visit for a few minutes on a "break" from work. :)

Coming home!

Although we had a wonderful trip and enjoyed every minute of spending time w/family, we were ever so happy to come home! We saw an amazing sunrise as we left Palm Springs (on the little puddle jumper plane)...got to LAX and ended up delayed so we got sent to Chicago! We werent rushed this time...with a 2 1/2 hour layover...so we walked around and saw the "people mover" and ate dinner watching other planes come in. The view leaving Chicago was breath taking! Saw the Grand Canyon and snow covered mountains! Patrick got to watch another movie and Zach passed out again. ;)

The Living Desert

The Living Desert was awesome! There was a HUGE model train display!! We saw lots of desert animals from North America and Africa...including the 'happy zebra'! And the boys finished the afternoon with a drum session with Grama Bonnie!

Apple pickin' and Date Shakes

We were a DAY LATE for apple pickin'...so Auntie Donna quietly took the boys across the parking lot to pick a couple since they had been looking forward to it for so long and heartbroken when they thought they missed out. ;) We called it "preserving the apples" because if WE didnt pick THOSE apples, they would have just rotted and fell off the tree! So wouldnt that be considered teaching a GOOD thing?? haha We ate apples all the way home...they must taste better when you pick them right off the tree yourself!
And as you can see, we crammed so much into just a few days, the boys took advantage of riding in the car anytime they could! They really did well being so off track with the time change tho.
Dates grow on the palm trees in California so "date shakes" were the most popular snack for us! ...I think I had 3!! YUM!!! You could see ladders and bags at the tops of the trees from where the pickers would collect the dates!!

Windmills and dinasours!

Stopping by these dinasours was hillarious!!! OH NO! They're chasing us!!! ;) hahaha



We went to the windmills and had some good laughs on the "bumpy" way over! ;) Stopped at this really cool auto shop on the way back where this "spider bug" was!

The San Andreas Fault & Flamingos

We had SEVERAL day trips!!! One was to the San Andreas (did I spell that right?!) fault...really cool. Had a little picnic and meet 2 Indians who ran the little visitor center and before we knew it, ended up on top of this mountain that looked like some kind of cool Indian spiritual thing!
We also went to the famous Marriott to see the flamingos...and met a parrott named "Cowboy" in the lobby!