Disneyland day 4

What a busy day we had. There is just so much to do in Disneyland, we were going the entire time.
We woke up early and had breakfast in our room. After that we went to the park at 8:00 am for early morning entrance.

The first rides we did were the astro orbitors in tomorrowland and after that we went over the finding Nemo submarine. I got motion sickness out of both of these, so I don’t think I’ll be doing these rides any time soon.


 

After that we went over Fantasyland, which was the kid’s favorite area of the entire park. Spencer and I enjoyed getting our first ride on Dumbo and the Little Engine that Could. This was Josh’s favorite ride. We had just read the book and automatically became one of his very favorites.  

Josh was followed by little blond hair girls. Here he is trying to be indifferent…BOYS!

Julia and I waited in line to meet and greet the princesses. She brought her Sleeping beauty dress and was so excited to get her autograph book signed. While Julia and I waited for 45 minutes for the princesses, Josh and Spencer took a ride around the Park on the locomotive.  These were both of the kid’s favorite’s things to do.

So between the merry go around, the mad cups and the Peter Pan ride we became quite tired and hungry. We came back to our hotel room, ate lunch and took a quick nap to recharge our batteries.

We visited Critter Country, New Orleans Square and Frontier Land. Went on some rides and met some characters.
We enjoyed dinner at Rancho Del Zocalo that night, which was very exquisite Mexican food
It was also the perfect night to pick some hats. Julia got a Minnie princess hat and Josh a pirate hat, A.D just modeled a little Mickey magician hat, he looked so cute I was really tempted on buying it.

On our way back we stopped by Autopia, which by the way, is so much better at night time. Josh had the laugh of his life time riding those cars. Spencer couldn’t stop talking and laughing about a Chinese man who kept crashing onto everybody as he was screaming and driving with his eyes closed along the road.

We took the monorail back to our Hotel that night, got the kids bathed and opened our balcony to watch the fireworks from the comfort of our room. This night couldn't have been more enjoyable and relaxing.

Disneyland day 3

Finally we made it to the Disneyland Hotel. What an enchanting place this was, full of magic everywhere. The kids loved our room. It had a picture of the park engraved on the TV console and the quilts had a picture of every ride on the park drawn on it. Josh and Julia loved finding the rides that they had already tried. Our room even had a balcony which Julia loved to play at. Andrew had the biggest laughs playing peek-a-boo with her sister.

                                            

I woke up early that day to get us tickets to the world of color show. I’ve heard terrifying stories about this, but I guess we were lucky. I got in got the tickets and was back at the hotel in 5 minutes.

This was our second day at Disney California Adventure Park. We headed over the trail Challenge Park where we had lunch and they played on the slides and rope bridges.

After that we headed over to the big rides. Josh was mad because he was too little for most of the rides on this side of the park. Poor thing kept telling me that he was a big boy. Oh well it’ll have to be next time. Andrew on the other side loved just lounging on his stroller. He loved putting his feet up and enjoying his stroll around the Park

We saw some characters this day like Pluto, Lightening McQueen and Meter, Woody, Buzz and Jessie who were so cute. Jessie made fun of the drawings that Josh had on his autograph book and Buzz even wrote Happy Birthday to him.

Andrew’s favorite ride was The Mickey Mouse Wheel. He stood up the entire time looking out and just bouncing out of happiness. For us it felt so good, after being on the sun for hours, to get on this ride and just relax and admire everything around us.

         

                            

That afternoon we went to see Aladdin. We had preferred seating so we didn’t have to wait too long to get good seats. What an extraordinary show that was. The production had such great performers, but I had to give the main credits to the actor playing the Gene. Phenomenal, just kept making people laugh. He would say things like: We need a blue president and during a scene when he was fighting with Jaffar he actually said Expelliarmus from Harry Potter, any ways I wish I could type up the entire story but it was definitely 40 minutes of great Acting.

That night we went to ESPN zone and played on the arcade until our table became ready at the Rain Forest Café.

The kids were really anticipating this dinner. A month ago I had printed out some rewards calendars. Every time they did a good deed they a stamp on their calendar and so when they finally got it filled they could wait to go eat at this special place that had jungle animals and had thunder storms while you ate. It was very special, but the waiting was a bit too long for us, therefore I was not in the mood to take pictures, but the food was pretty good and the atmosphere was worth waiting for.

The boys were done after our late dinner that night, bus Julia and I were still up for World of Color that night. The boys went back to the Hotel and Julia and I headed back to the Park. We bought a huge bag of kettle corn and Julia got a bubble gun that glowed in the dark.

We got to our show 15 minutes before it started and we got really good spots to watch it. No crowds, no pushing or cramping. It was just perfect. Julia and I loved the romantic scene. It had all the first kisses from all the movies and had the song “so close” from Enchanted playing on the background. I definitely wanted to kiss my hubby at that moment, it was so tender.

Disneyland day 2

Day 2

We had breakfast in our room, and were out of our Hotel in Vegas bright and early. We made it to California by 12:30. After a quick lunch in our hotel in Anaheim, we headed straight for the Park. It was a 20 minute walk and the kids never complaint once! They were all such troopers

We met Handy Manny as soon as we walked into California Adventure. Watching the kid’s reaction about everything around them made the long drive so worth it. It was love at first sight for them. They wanted to try every ride and were so excited when we told them that they could.

Bugs land was definitely the place to be that Sunday, very crowded, but having little ones pull you at the line faster. With the parent swap we only had to make the line once and we all four got to enjoy the attractions. The tricky part was testing the patience of the kid who got to do it second. Julia was great at letting Josh goon the rides first, Josh let’s just say he didn’t do so well at first, but after he realized that he was going to get his turn no matter what the waiting got better.

Rides seemed to be the favorite of everybody, so we spent our afternoon going from ride to ride. Even Andrew got to join us on most of them.

First attraction we went on our trip was The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Julia and Josh were in Heaven. They had a little show that had all of their favorite cartoons: Mickey Mouse, Little Einstein’s, Handy Manny. When we had cable Julia and Josh could spend hours watching these shows, but having gotten rid of cable 8 months ago they have been really missing them I guess, because seeing these characters so close really got them excited. The show ended with bubbles falling from the sky, what a great first starter show that was.

Within 1 hour of entering DCA we lost one of Andrew’s sandals. Couldn’t find it anywhere, I guess you are meant to lose things on trips, right?

The only downside of the day was when we approached “it’s tough to be a bug”. Julia has never seen a 3D show before, specially with all the effects that they have on this ride.

The first 5 minutes were great. She loved wearing her silly glasses, but then came the part when a spider starts shooting acorns at you and the air effects are shooting right at your face, well this was the part where we lost Julia. She started screaming, she really though those things were coming at her. She stood up from her chair and dropped to the floor so fast. She army crawled to the exit, yeap! I was laughing, sorry it was just so funny to see my girl getting scare of this silly show. I mean this is Julia we are talking about, the girl who wants to ride the biggest roller coasters and puts her hands up on the air on the scariest rides while older girls are screaming.

Little to say, that ruined our attempts to enjoy other 3D shows at the Park, but got a good laugh with her after wards. She said to me as we were escaping from the theater: “Mommy I don’t like bugs, they are not nice, especially the spider, she was trying to shoot me with those things”.

We had dinner at the house of blues. This was such a great place to eat. The food and fries were humongous and exquisite. The environment was so vibrant and uplifting.

We came back to California Adventure after dinner and finished up going on all the kid’s rides. That night I had planned for us to go see the fireworks.

At 7:30 we headed over to Disneyland. As we are walking in you can see the castle all lighted up and looking so majestic over the Park. I knew this would impress the kids and it really did.

Seeing the castle made them realize that we were in Disneyland. They both started jumping up and down, holding each other’s hands and were just so excited screaming at each other: “The castle, the castle”. It is the Castle, that castle that you see every time you watch a Disney movie. Spencer and I we so moved by their reaction. How thankful we were that night that we could afford this kind of vacation for our kids and create this memory which we will be able to always remember and cherish.

We got a spot to see the fireworks. Josh was half sleep, it was 1 hour past his bed time, but he pulled trough and enjoyed it. The cotton candy helped a lot too.

After the Asian girls stopped harassing Andrew, he was able to enjoy the show as well. Julia loved it!

We battled the crowds and got out of there at 10:15, and then we had to take the long walk back to our Hotel.

Disneyland Day 1

Our trip to Disneyland was nothing else but spectacular. I got my miracle!. I felt good enough to enjoy our trip and our family had the time of our lives.
Definitely Disneyland is the happiest place on earth.

Day 1

We started our trip at about 8:30 a.m. with snow everywhere. The van was packed and full of treats and food for our next breakfasts and lunches. The kids were happy and ready for the adventure of our lives.

The drive down was such a breeze, the snow made it go by so fast. We arrived at St. George by 2:30 and spend about an hour relaxing and watching the kids play in their playground. We needed to stretch our legs.

We made the dash afterwards to Vegas where we spent the night at the Circus Circus hotel. We had the entire evening to explore that huge hotel. The kids loved carrying their backpacks through the Hotel

Went over to their adventure dome and played some games and got the kids geared up with some rides for Disneyland. After that long ride they deserved something fun to do. The bad part was that the rides were $5 a ticket, yikes! so worth it. We played some games and watched the circus performers. We called it a night at 10:00 p.m.

Here is Julia trying to explain to her daddy that she wants to go to the ride that flips her over and upside down to the top, and there is Spencer trying to explain to her that she is too short to go on it, thank goodness

 

We ate at the Hotel buffet, very convenient I may add, Andrew loved their crackers and apple juice

We had a great view of the strip from our room, after playing some hide and seek games the kids loved sharing a queen size bed for the night

Nine months

My little man is getting bigger and bigger. I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I would want to because of this darn thyroid, but it is amazing to see how much he has grown. At nine months:

-Has 6 choppers, 4 teeth on the top and 2 big ones on the bottom.

-He can crawl and is starting to stand while holding onto things. I don’t like it; he is too little for that.
-Loves cheerios, although only 10% make it down to his mouth
-Loves to play with Julia and Josh. He finds Josh’s screams amusing -Loves cables. Every time he is on the floor he crawls straight for it.
-He has finally given up his little bottles for bigger size ones, but he gets really happy when he sees his old bottles.
-He can say mama.
-He is sleeping through the night again. We went through awful nights where he didn’t go to bed until 12:30 am. I am glad to say he is back to normal sleeping A.D.
-Loves food. There is nothing that he would not eat. His favorites are still peas and carrots for dinner and apples for breakfast.
-We had to lower his crib because he loves to stand in it now.
-He is wearing size 12 to 18 months already. He is a big guy
-His shoe size has finally gone to a 3. He’s got small chunky feet.
-He loves bath time and we are not using a baby bath tub anymore
-Gave him his second hair trim on April 7th
Stats
weight: 21.38 lbs
lenght: 28.6 inches

March recap

March has been a tough month for me and my family but before I start on that let’s see the fun things that we were able to do. Spencer’s little brother came back from his mission in Tennessee. The kids were so excited that day. We went to the airport and waited for him. Julia brought a huge coloring page that she spent the entire day working on. It was her ways of welcoming her uncle Greg. At first the kids were shy, but after a minute or so, Josh had lost his timid expressions and even SMILE for a picture with Greg. After that we went to eat at the Training Table where Greg was the main attraction among all the nieces and nephews. Thank goodness he likes kids Here are the kids when he left
                      
Here are they now, 2 years after serving the Lord. We are glad to have Greg back among us.

Welcome Home Greg!

Thyroid news

I was diagnosed with a hyperthyroid and Grave’s disease a couple of months ago. To kill the thyroid they had to give me radioactive Iodine. The good thing I no longer have Grave’s Disease, the bad thing is that my body will have to endure a tough time before I can start getting better. So this entire month I have hit rock bottom. I feel miserable most of the time and when I am not miserable I am extremely tired. Every muscle in my body hurts, can’t walk, I am swollen all over. I feel like I am 90 years old and I look like a 60 year-old woman. Not a good combo! My family has been so blessed to have so many tender souls giving us a hand at this time of need. Spencer’s mom has been coming every night to put the kids to bed, neighbors have been taking them away so that I can rest and sleep and they’ve been bringing us dinner every night. Thank you all for your kindness, love and support for us. I am so glad to know that my Savior loves me and that he can show me his love through all these people. I can’t never re pay all their kindness, but be sure to call me if you ever need me.

Big 30 & 8-year anniversary

                                                 
March 18th was Spencer’s Birthday and our Anniversary I feel bad that he had such a lousy birthday, although he says he had a great time. We woke up and opened the only present I managed to get him. A garage door opener! His old one got destroyed by me, on an intent of performing a McGyverism, (note to self) I am not McGyver, but he just makes problem solving so easy. Yes, I am one of those weird fans. Anyways, I had told Spencer that I had bought him a golden watch to match his gold ring. He was really mad at me. When he open his bag and saw a Citizen watch holder he just rolled his eyes at me and opened it, just to find that he had been tricked. Inside the box was the garage door opener. If you haven’t lost yours, let me tell you, you just don’t realize the commodity of this artifact until you have lost it. So this was a great surprise for him.

                      

Julia made him a card that had her name, daddy’s name and a big happy birthday on the front. She spent hours creating her card, asking me how to spell everything she wrote on it until it was perfect. My neighbor offered to tend the kids that evening. It took a lot of my strength, but we made it to Famous Dave’s. I would have rather gone to Texas roadhouse, but it seemed so far away. We had a lovely evening. Just he and I like in ol’ times. Then we came home and we relax until it was time to pick the kids up again. What a great break, Thanks Maria, we needed it. Instead of cake that night we had root beer floats and we spent the night putting the kids to bed over and over again.
We love you Spencer. We are so blessed to have a man like you in our lives, to looked after us, love us and watch over us.
Your are a dedicated father and a sweet husband. This past couples of weeks I have come appreciate you so much. While I've been sick you have taken upon yourself to keep our family running. You have done dishes, laundry, clean the house cook for me, so that I can start my recovery. I so appreciate you, your love for me, your love for our family.
I knew most of those nights you were tired, but you went out of your way to get our family what it needed.
Spencer I love you more today than I did yesterday and definitely more than 8 year ago. Thanks for being in our lives.

10 years and counting
I also realized that last month marked my 10th year anniversary since I came to the United States, where does time go? A decade ago I was just a teenager lost in the Big Apple. Here I am now, the mother of three kids, hum crazy

March 28th.
Just went to the Doctor today who had good news for me. It seems that he might be able to put me out of my misery. I have all the signs of Hypothyroidism, which is what I needed in order to start my Hormone treatment. It is so good to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am happy and so grateful for this miracle to my Heavenly Father. It was beginning to seem impossible to reach the goal that The Doctor had set out for me and I don't think I could have taken another week of feeling so miserable.
It is all happening and just in time for our vacation, which by the way we had been planning and saving for the past 2 years. I would of felt so bad on not being able to enjoy myself and my family
on this special occasion