More Pictures

The girls at the pirate showThe kids at Mickey's house

Jakey, Emma and I on the Jungle Cruise.

Violet with Princess Aurora and Snow White during our 'audience'.

Thanksgiving Week

Whew, it is good to be home!We have spent the last 11 days in California, seeing all the kid sights in the Orange County and San Diego area, and visiting with friends and family. Let me see if I can recap the highlights for you.

We left on Friday and drove with a stop at a rest stop, arriving in Anaheim in the afternoon. After setting up and cleaning up, we headed over to DH's brother's house for dinner. It was great to catch up and see how our kids had grown. We stayed and visited for hours.

The next morning we were up EARLY and off to Disneyland for the morning. It turns out that Myley Cyrus was filming her Christmas Special. We didn't get up by the stage but we did watch her perform a bit. We rode some rides, had breakfast with the characters, and planned on leaving at noon. Turns out the shuttle service takes a 2 hour lunch, and so we couldn't get back to the RV and on down to San Diego. AFter many phone calls, we changed our camping plans and stayed the rest of the day in Anaheim. When we got back to the RV we changed into PJs and then the kids and I went and watched the fireworks while sitting behind the RV on the pavement.

The next day we packed up and headed south to Oceanside. We pulled into Legoland and spent the afternoon riding roller coasters, and buying legos. Then off to our spot for the night.

The next day we drove down to San Diego and spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. That night we had dinner with my college roommate, Karen, and her boyfriend. It was so great to see her again and catch up!
The next day back to San Diego to the Children's Museum, then we drove north to Anaheim. That was an adventure. Traffic was TERRIBLE, and we took 2.5 hours to travel 50 miles. We got there, set up in 5 minutes, and raced to the Pirate Dinner Show. It was so fun! My niece was even taken up to participate in the show, and the acrobatics were fantastic.

Thursday was turkey day. Up early again for early-entry to Disneyland. We walked right onto the Matterhorn, and we met with Mickey himself. Then we took a nap and spent hte evening with Dh's brother and his family. DH's mom's sister and her husband was over and it was crazy how much she reminded me of my mother in law. It was nice to see them all.

Friday we were back to Disneyland for the day. We snuck over to California Adventure and saw Aladdin (very good) and rode Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones. While the twins were riding Indiana Jones with Daddy, a cast member approached Emma and I. Em was kinda sad right then and he started talking to us. I guess Disney is doing 'A Year of A Million Dreams' where they give away dreams. he gave us a private audience with the Disney Princesses in the afternoon.

We raced back over at 3:30 and were met by a page in teh ballroom away from the regular 'meet the princess area'. He asked Vi what her favorite princesses were, and then he went away. he came back and told me that they had gotten those two for us. We were taken back to a private room where the two princesses were waiting for us. We sat with them for a while and talked and visited. It was nice.

Dinner that Night was Medieval Times, where I made a memory by giving my dh a black eye! We were lined up to get a picture taken. For anyone not having been to Medieval Times, they give you all these paper crowns to wear. So I felt mine starting to fall off and I reached out to grab it. I connected with DH's eye. It started bleeding and then eventually he got a pretty solid black eye out of it. DH's brother was worried and it was totally embarassing.

Saturday we drove home and got back last night. I weighed this morning and - ta da - not only did I not gain through all the theme parks, families, etc - I have lost a total of 35 pounds!!!! YEAH!!!!!!

So back to work tomorrow. Pictures later.

Tackle It Tuesday

Well I'm having trouble loading photos right now, but I will get there. For the last week I've been tackling our spare room. We affectionately call it 'the Bat Cave'. Our house is built on a hill and from the street it looks like a one story home. Downstairs under the front of the house is a concrete foundation butted up against the hill. The room that is down there was storage when we bought the place and unfinished. We've been slowly transforming it, but with Mom moving in everything went on hold. Last weekend we went through and hauled tons of stuff to Goodwill, and then I started laying carpet squares. I didn't realize that I had that skill, but now I do. I spent a lot of hours in the middle of the night, but it is done. Now we have a beautiful workout room that I actually WANT to go workout in. If the rest of the house were only that simple! I took pics of the horrible pile, and I will get a shot tonight of the after effects.
Look for pictures tomorrow when blogger lets me upload pictures!

Tuesday

Just a short update. It is Tuesday, and I've lost 30 pounds. I'm pretty excited about that but every single day continues to be a struggle. I guess some days are more then others really, but they all are a challenge.
This weekend I promised myself that I would workout each morning for half an hour. Easy enough, we had the time change this weekend so 5am is really what 6am was last week. Theoretically I'm just going to work an hour later and its all fine. I got up Monday and did my 30 minutes of high intensity interval trainings (HIIT) and this morning, the alarm went off and I thought, 'Oh, I'll go for a walk later." Then I thought, 'how totally embarassing, I ask myself to do 5 days in a row and on day 2 I'm wimping out?' I got up, and I did it. Burned 380 calories in 30 minutes. I still went for a walk later with my friend, but I kept with the program. Anyway, just a snippet into the life of a heavy girl trying to get lean.
Monday was certainly a Monday in every way. Started the day with poor Emma slamming her thumb in the front door. Went to work and took the van keys so the Nanny had no car so had to run it home. Accidently ran a red light (luckily no one was coming, what was I thinking?)
Today was a better day. Well it was till I got home. I'd been telling Vi that she and I would go look for minature hedgehogs - there is a pet store in town that sells them and we wanted to see a real one. Well its going to be our 'girl' thing. Then she takes the nanny instead, and it totally hurt my feelings. It is hard to share your kids sometimes, not often but sometimes.
As to Tackle It Tuesday, I am tackling some stuff. I'm working on what we call the 'Bat Cave' which is a room where our exercise equipment is stored as were some other boxes. Last weekend we emptied all the boxes, and I've started laying carpet tiles. I have a ways to go, but I'm making progress. I suspect it will take most of the rest of the year to do it, but eventually our workout room will be a pleasant thing to be in.