Holiday Spirits At Disneyland

Yesterday, we went to Disneyland for the day to check out the holiday decorations. One of the good things about living in Los Angeles is that the happiest place on earth is only 30 minutes away. The bad thing is due to inflation it is really really expensive to enter this place that the world or a really good PR firm has deemed to be the happiest place on earth. Either way the price of one ticket is so expensive now a days and with 3 eligible paying family members we decided to pay a little extra and get annual memberships to Disneyland. Nancy gets bonuses from her work in the form of gift cards...so she had been saving up Disney gift cards. Most of the cost was paid with these gift cards, but we still had to shell out an extra $96 dollars. Here we are waiting in line to take our pictures for our annual passes. I have to say that Disneyland is more efficient and impersonal with this process than the DMV. If anybody wants free parking at Disneyland just take along Justin...we put on the free parking under Justin's annual pass. Here are a few pics of our day. Normally I would take a lot of pics if we had a family outing to Disneyland, but since we now have annual passes it didn't seem pertinent to take that "once in a lifetime" memorable photo at Disneyland because we will probably be there pretty often throughout the year. When I was a kid growing up in San Jose...going to Disneyland was a very very rare luxury. It would be our 1 and only summer family trip at times. Justin has been to Disneyland more times by the age of 4 than I had by the age of 30. Now that we have annual passes...Disneyland seems like a park I can take the kids to keep them busy. It's a larger and more expensive Kid's Space to me. Don't get me wrong though...it's still magical. Did I mention that they have kick ass caramel apples and smoked turkey legs. I also found out the the restaurant that you see people eating at on the ride of The Pirates Of The Caribbeans is called the Blue Bayou and that you have to make reservations in advance to get in. I think that will be one of my Do Things on my list for the year of 2008. Anyone wanna join us?

Building A Ginger Bread House

We bought one of those ginger bread building kits at Costco for Justin to have a Christmas activity recently. I have to say...it's not a bad kit. So for any parents with kids old enough to do it I give it a Pak Thumbs Up. The only thing I did was put on the icing to keep the house together, but Justin did all the decorating. Here are some pics of his accomplishment. I think he did a great job. Nancy and I are still debating if we should let him eat it. We are worried that maybe during the nights that maybe cockroaches might have walked over it. You never know for sure in these large apartment complexes. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean that they are not out there.

Justin's First Christmas Recital

On 12/12/07 Nancy and I attended Justin's first of many to come Christmas recitals. I don't know about you, but I actually remember those Christmas recitals I had to participate during the early past of my life. I remember how anxious I was and excited I was to be with my classmates. Justin's Christmas recital was a less structured format...it was more a potluck for the parents to get to know each other and the kids were thrown in there for entertainment. A photo opt for the kids. Either way...it was cute...loud...but cute. I was laughing most of the time so the pictures are not that great...plus getting in the right position to take good photos were hard because I didn't want to fight too much with other parents for picture taking position. Oh if you are wondering why these kids have red paint on their nose...think Rudolf. Of course Justin looks like he has Indian war paint on his face because he rubbed his nose.And now for the main show that all of you have been waiting for. Kids "singing" Jingle Bells like you have never heard before.

Putting Up Our Christmas Tree

On 12/9/07 we put up our Christmas tree. We were originally going to get a real tree this year, but due to time and the fact that we did not know how we were going to transport a tree on our small car...we ended up putting up our fake tree. This is not necessarily a bad thing because this tree has a lot of sentimental value to me. It is the first tree I bought and it has been with us through our marriage and the birth of our children. Plus, I think it is cool because the tips of the needles have fiber optic lights that change colors in intervals. Even the old looking ornaments were given to us by a former neighbor that she had kept over the years. So everything on this Christmas tree has meaning. Here is Justin and Dylan helping me unload the ornaments out of the box. They were having a blast. My father never really let me help put up the tree or ornaments when I was a kid because he thought I would break something and he wanted to keep full control of the design aspect. My first inclination is the same because you think a 4 and 1 year old can't really comprehend hanging ornaments using the space of the tree properly, but it's not really about the proper presentation...it's the joy and time spent doing it together. Justin actually was pretty good. Dylan was good at taking down the ornaments and knocking them out of the tree with his hands. Eventually, I had to opt for just Justin and I because Dylan was making putting up the tree impossible. Here is everybody watching the lighting of the tree. You can't tell due to flash washing out the lights, but the kids thought it was cool when I turned it on. Here is Justin and Dylan checking out their handy work. Finally, here is Justin doing his Christmas tree dance and Dylan trying to keep up with his brother. Seeing Christmas through the eyes of babes makes you remember how magical and joyful it is.