Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

One of the rides at Disneyland is called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. You go through the ride and shoot at targets with a laser gun. It's a lot of fun. And they take your picture while you're on the ride, too! Here's Wendy and Kristin. I love how you can barely see her face. She's such a wee thing!And here is my photo with Sean. It's like the least flattering photo of me ever taken, but I just HAD to show off my killer score! 232,200!! I am amazing! (Just not that photogenic.)

Kristin's Disneyland Birthday

Disneyland had a special deal this year where you could get into the park for free if you went on your birthday. Since Disneyland admission costs so much these days, we definitely wanted to take advantage of the savings. Kristin's birthday was on a Monday this year, so we had to pull the kids out of school. (Sometimes it's worth it!) My mom offered to watch Simon for us, since Disneyland and toddlers aren't the greatest combo.

Here are Matt and the kids walking in from the parking lot. Kristin skipped most of the way.When you go to Disneyland on your birthday, they give you a big button with your name on it. Here's Kristin showing hers off. Also note that she's wearing the new Cinderella shirt she got for her birthday.Aww, look at Joey and Kristin getting along! This really IS the Magic Kingdom!Here is a photo of Kristin, Matt and Joey at lunch. We ate at The Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It's our favorite place!Wendy and Sean were also able to join is for our day at Disneyland. The more the merrier! This photo cracks me up because Sean purposely pulled the basket of bread over to be in the photo with them. Hooray for carbs!On thing Kristin really wanted to do during her visit was to meet Minnie Mouse. When we got over to Toon Town, Minnie was at her house but the Disney worker said that the line to meet her was closed because a parade was going to start soon and Minnie had to leave. I begged them to let Kristin in. I even pulled the "but it's her birthday!" card. They said no. Kristin was so sad. But then they asked Kristin to wait over on the side. Minnie came out of her house and went right over to Kristin to give her a hug. Kristin was so excited! Minnie insisted that Joey and I take a photo along with her.Here's Wendy and I in Toon Town. I just love how all the buildings look so cartoony. In this photo, we're waiting outside of the boat where Donald Duck lives. Joey and Kristin were running around inside.And there's Kristin on the bow of the ship, waving. I love the look of excitement on her face. And this was at the end of the day! That girl never ran out of steam.Of course, once we left, she was fast asleep in the car before we'd even left the parking lot.

Kristin's Turns Five

Here is a photo of our birthday girl. She's all smiles because she loves parties, princesses, and presents - and this birthday has all three! How old are you going to be, Kristin?Oh, that's right. Five years old. That's a milestone year. Especially in our family because when you turn 5, you get to go to Disneyland! But for tonight, it's just a simple family dinner. With cake and presents at the end, of course. Kristin's cake had Cinderella and Prince Charming on it. Cinderella is Kristin's favorite of the Disney Princesses. Auntie Alicia even gave her a shirt with Cinderella on it. Hooray for Princess Presents and cake!After dinner, when everyone went home we tried to get some rest for our big day at Disneyland the next day. Of course, Joey and Kristin were far too excited to get much sleep. I think they were both up until almost 3am!

Alicia's Birthday

We had our traditional family dinner in honor of Alicia's birthday. Her actual birthday was Monday October 5th, but we all got together the night before. Something about her wanting to spend her actual birthday at Disneyland or some such. Anyway - we had a big BBQ at our house. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken, potato salad and corn on the cob. Matt got a new grill for Father's Day and he is quite the backyard chef. Everything was delicious!

This was Korinne's first family birthday celebration. We all took turns holding her. Babies are so much fun. Here's Korinne and Grandma. Korinne was just learning to smile at this point. It sort of looks like she's starting to get fussy in this picture - but it was the tail end of a smile, I promise!And here's Kristin with her baby cousin. Kristin is completely smitten. She loves holding Korinne and singing to her. It's so sweet to see them together. Occasionally we let Korinne's dad hold her, too. Here's Kory and his "Mini Me." And, of course, I had to take a turn. Korinne was smiling and cooing at me. It was awesome.Okay, back to the main event: Alicia's birthday! Every year for her birthday, Alicia requests that Mom make her a German Chocolate cake from scratch. Doesn't she look excited to dig in?I love this picture of the smoke left behind after blowing out 27 candles! (Kristin insisted on helping.)Alicia got several nice gifts, but the one she was most excited about was this electric toothbrush. What can I say? We're a family that takes dental care very seriously.
Happy Birthday, Alicia!!

Oktoberfest!

Sorry it's been such a long time since I posted. Time gets away from me. And October is such a busy month for us! It all starts with La Mesa Oktoberfest! It's the first weekend in October every year. Our family has been going every year for as long as I can remember. It's a fun street fair. Lots of craft booths and delicious food. And a Beer Garden, though that's not exactly our thing. When we first started going, it was mostly a craft show. It's grown in size and is now more commercial. But we still go every year.

The last couple years, since Joey and Kristin are getting older, we've spent lots of time in "the Kid Zone" where they have rides and big inflatable slides. The rides are your basic rickety carnival rides, but the kids have a blast.

Of course, the number one thing we look forward to at Oktoberfest every year is THE FUNNEL CAKE. Oh, sure: it's just a big plate of sugar and fat. Nothing good for you. But it's so, so delicious! Here's Sean enjoying his funnel cake:Kind of a funny thing about funnel cake is that even though I look forward to it and plan on having some, and even though I know it's covered in powdered sugar, I end up wearing black to Oktoberfest every year. EVERY YEAR! When will I ever learn?

After a few hours of walking around, shopping and eating and having fun in The Kid Zone, we're all pretty tired. Simon was wiped out early on:(Thanks, Wendy, for taking photos! It's nice to have some pictures to remember our annual tradition!)

Korinne

Tandy had been dragging her feet about sending out birth announcements for Korinne because she didn't have any photos of her that she really loved. So last night, she had Alicia (photographer extraordinaire) take some pictures. Here are a few that really caught my eye:I really love Korinne's eyes in this second photo. They look so soulful. Korinne has the prettiest eyes!Here's Korinne and her mom. I just love Tandy's new hair cut - and that she's finally embracing her gorgeous natural curls after years of trying to straighten them out.

More from Idaho

Here are a few more pictures from our Idaho trip. We finally got them all uploaded onto the computer from the camera! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the main reason we went to Idaho on vacation was so we could attend the 90th birthday party of Matt's Grandpa. Here's Big Grandpa Joe on the first day we got there, relaxing in the backyard while the rest of the family ran around like crazy people trying to get ready for the party.
The party itself was also kind of a family reunion, with folks flying in from all over. Here's a photo of Grandpa with his three kids: Steve, Joe and Lynn (Matt's mom). Steve came up from the San Francisco Bay area, Joe came from Georgia, and Lynn from Seattle!
And here's the whole family (well, the whole group of us that were there, anyway!)
During the party, Simon discovered that if he was careful and tried hard enough, he could climb up onto the lawn chairs by himself. He was quite excited about this new feat of dexterity, and would give himself a hand whenever he turned around and sat down.Here is Joey with his Grandma Lynn, taking a break for a "Kodak moment" during the party.

Here's a photo of Kristin playing with her cousin Alyssa. Alyssa is the daughter of Matt's cousin Missy, which technically makes Alyssa and Kristin second cousins. But who keeps track of that stuff? At the end of the day, Kristin climbed up on Grandpa's lap and fell asleep. It was so sweet! It reminded me of when the kids used to take naps on my dad's lap.