Burbank to Buena Park

Wednesday of our vacation was a busy driving day.  We met Grandma Jackie and Aunt Susan for lunch at 11:30 in Burbank at this tasty place, Don Cuco’s.  We had such a good time and talked for hours, literally.  Then, due to pre-Thanksgiving traffic, it took us two hours to get home.  When I saw 3:30 quickly clicking closer and closer I knew we were in trouble with expecting the kids to be back in the car by 5:00 to head to dinner in Buena Park.  So, dinner was a solo mission on my part.  I met some good friends at Chili’s and we had a great time catching up and laughing about the good ole’ days.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera.

Keeping Old Traditions Alive

Before Nathan and I moved to Utah, and before any of us had kids, we used to get together monthly with three other couples and have dinner.  Well, times have changed, but the friendships remain strong.  Last night we went to dinner at the Black’s home for great food and amazing company.  There was a lot of laughter and the kids got along great.  While I forgot to get a picture of the adults, here are a few of the kids.  I have snuck an incriminating picture of Nathan in, shhhh… don’t tell!

Thank you Aaron and Amanda for hosting a wonderful evening, it was great to see you and Darren and Megan.  Joe and Amanda, you were missed!

The Happiest Place on Earth

I really don’t think Avery thinks that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth.  This picture pretty much sums up the majority of her day.

Dylan did pretty well, as long as we kept him on rides that were outside, and not inside and therefore “dark and scary.”  Both the kids loved the Astro Orbitor (we went on those twice) and Autopia.

The kids (and I) loved the Christmas parade.  They somewhat patiently sat and waited for it, while eating their treats… and then it came, and they were so excited and waved at everyone and everything that passed by.

We got to see a few characters around the park, Tigger being the favored.

When all was said and done, 11 hours later (which I think is pretty good for little kids), Dylan’s favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Avery’s was (no surprise) King Arthur’s Carrousel.

We had a great time and thank Shannon for getting us signed in and coming with us.

California Here We Come

We are currently on our vacation in California and having a good time.  We drove straight through Friday night, in my Camry, with the dog.  It sounds horrible, but it actually wasn’t all that bad.  We got in Saturday morning about 2am.  Saturday was a pretty laid back day, Nathan tested out Chloe’s new dog crate.

On Sunday, we had a birthday dinner for my wonderful sister and her sweet friend, Roberta.  It was a nice evening, with a Motherload of a cake for dessert.  Yummmm!

Pumpkin Shooting 2010

Yesterday we kept a Smith family tradition alive by going pumpkin shooting (though you will see no actual pictures of pumpkins…I’m a dork).  Dylan and Avery both shot for the first time, Nathan’s 22 rifle.  They took a couple turns each and spent the remainder of the time running around with their cousins, while Nana supervised.  It was a fun day!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last night I noticed the magnets arranged to spell an unusual word, especially for a 4-year-old.  So, I asked Dylan what the letters were for.

D  -is for Dylan

A -is for Avery

M -is for Mommy

N -is for Nathan (“Because Mommy we don’t have two Ds, so I couldn’t do Daddy”)

C -is for Chloe

Thanksgiving Memories

A brief history of this picture.  First, it is my all-time favorite picture of my kids.  It was taken Thanksgiving day 2008, Avery’s first Thanksgiving.