The Happiest Place on Earth!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

I am taking pictures again! Not a whole lot but a start is a start and I decided to debut my comeback with the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland! Allison is growing up so fast, I was surprised when we pulled into the parking structure and she yelled out, “Mimmie! Mimmie Mouse!” She was right; we were parking in the Minnie Mouse section.  She notices so much but just recently she has been able to articulate a few of her thoughts about all that she notices.  

We met up with Uncle Tim and participated in the first ever Easter Egg hunt at Disneyland and California Adventure. We got a map for each park with a location clue as to where 12 eggs hidden and stickers to correspond with the Disney characters decorated on each egg. The hunt was on and as we found one egg after another Allison noticed them too yelling “EGG!” whenever she found one.

She is not only getting more mature she is also growing up! Up, Up and Up! She is now 36 inches tall and she rode her very first roller coaster, the Gadget Go-Go Coaster with Terry.  This time she enjoyed the Teacups because she could see out of the cup and waved at us as she swirled by. The Egg hunt took us into Critter Country and she decided to ride with Uncle Tim only getting a little bit scared when it got very dark at one point, she just grabbed his hand and sat closer. And of course she rode her very favorite ride King Triton’s Carousel. We all had a great time and Allison can’t wait to got o Disneyland again.

Remember this vacant lot? Well it's not longer empty, someone has filled the entire space with a humongous house. They have left the broken bottom half of a gargoyle, I hope they keep it for memories. 

We are going to Los Banos this weekend to spend Easter with Aunt Rhonda and Uncle John. Last Monday I was texting Aunt Rhonda and reminded Allison that we were going to go and visit, this is the face she gave me. I just had to snap a picture. 

Enjoy your Easter weekend everybody! Jenn

Weekends are full!

Weekends are full!

I still have not been taking pictures. I have been running around like a crazy person, I work a lot more these days and in reaction to that I have been trying to live my weekends to the fullest. I do nothing but make dinner and then go to bed on the week nights, so from Friday night to Sunday night I am literally cramming as much of the REAL things in life as I can into that small space of time. So in my hectic race to love life I forget to pull out my camera and capture it.

So what have I been doing since the last time we spoke? Well I turned 36 on March 23^rd; I celebrated with lunch at Storytellers Café at the Grand Californian Hotel at the Disneyland Resort with my family and then Terry, Allison and I hurried over to celebrate her friend Zoe Caldwell’s 2^nd birthday at Seascape Kids fun.  A short little lament for my birthday lunch that I really wanted to be a birthday brunch, Knott’s Berry Farm Chicken Dinner Restaurant no longer has Sunday Brunch Buffet. They have it once a month on the first Sunday of the month starting; you guessed it, in March 2014. Oh the humanity! I was lost and a drift, I wanted a fountain of fried chicken, biscuits and broccoli salad for my birthday but it was not to be. So I called around to other brunch buffet options that I know of in Orange County and I could not get a reservation. Since I was trying to get a table for 11 the pickings’ were slim. Then I got a reservation at the Storytellers Café and was very excited, soon I would be able to saddle up to the carving station and get fresh roasted turkey, prime rib and ham. When the day finally arrived we got there early and waited patiently for our table and then I noticed it … the buffet was NOT set up! On No! Again my dreams of free flowing vegetables and meat were to be squashed because the buffet does not run through lunch. There is a breakfast buffet and a dinner buffet. ARGH. Now the Roasted Turkey Sandwich and Crab Cake appetizers that I ordered were outstanding but I was really looking forward to scooping treasures with silver tongs and deciding that a second bowl of corn chowder was a good idea.  Although this story sounds like it may have a bit of a melancholy ending it in fact has a glorious rainbow and a pot of gold at the end. The very next Sunday I went out to Sunday Brunch Buffet at Casa Gamino and all of my expectations were fulfilled. I had the best chicken floutas, ever. It was fun and loud and everyone got their fill. So next time I get a craving for brunch buffet I will make sure that I put a little more planning into it and make sure that I have a list of buffets that includes Casa Gamino on it.

Back to the happenings, it was Gabriel’s 10^th birthday on 03/29/14. He is now a double digit and an entire decade old. AMAZING! On the day of his birthday it was baseball bonanza at the West Garden Grove Little League we went and watched Gabriel play his game first and then ran over to see our cousin Jax play his game and then Xander’s game rounded out the afternoon. Afterwards we went to Blake’s BBQ for Gabriel’s favorite ribs and chicken wings.  Then the next day he took 3 of his friends to Knott’s Berry Farm, boys and roller-coasters. Emi came to play with Allison for the entire day. We went to brunch at Casa Gamino, went to Sephora to pick out birthday makeup and came home to cook Mac n’ Cheese while we watched Bubble Guppies. Those girls had the best time together.

To kick off the month of April I went to see “Kevin and Bean’s April Foolishness” which is a charity comedy show that the radio station KROQ has yearly around April Fool’s Day. So I went with my friend April because OF COURSE who else would I take to a show name APRIL FOOLISHNESS? Well I did take her brother Tom and my husband Terry but really it was imperative that April go. We had a really fun time; April’s chair was broken so we got to move to an area that was much less crowded. More leg room is always a good thing.

So that pretty much sums up the fun I have been cramming into the weekends. I’ll catch up later and HOPEFULLY I will have taken some pictures.

Oh and Happy Rex Manning Day!