Valentine Activities

We celebrated Valentines throughout the whole week.

Mike gave me this beautiful box of chocolates

Nora participated in a Valentine exchange at preschool. She put her name in both the "to" and "from" spots. Hehe.

Mike and I went out to dinner to celebrate the Friday before Valentine's, since it is so hard to get into a restaurant on the actual day. We went to P.F. Changs, and it was soooo good!

For dessert, we got the "Great Wall of Chocolate" to share

After we finished the cake (and boy, was it delicious), the waitress brought us our check and some fortune cookies. I opened my cookie and had to laugh at my fortune - "It would be good to treat yourself to dessert". One step ahead of you, buddy.

Mike had these pretty flowers delivered - lilies, tulips, and hyacinths. They smelled wonderful.

Evie and Nora wore these shirts on Valentine's Day. Grammy got them in Disneyland.

Kate brought some supplies to Mom and Dad's house to make pink gum ball necklaces with the girls. They were delighted.

Nora modeling her finished necklace

Posing with Kate

A few days after Valentines, we made baked some heart cookies. Here are my little "helpers".

The next day, Kate came over and we decorated the cookies.

Kate and her lovely cookies.

Nora loved the colored sugar.

When Evie woke up from her nap, she joined in the fun.

Nora with her creations.

Now that's a SUGAR cookie!

Happy Birthday, Jon!

Jon's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and we had a little party. Jon is a big fan of the show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (which ran in the 80s and 90s), so we made a cake with his favorite character on it - a robot named Tom Servo.

Jon with the girls

Opening a present

After the girls went to bed, we watched an episode of the show. It was pretty funny. Happy birthday, Jon!

Disneyland: Part 2

Mike, the kiddos and I stayed two more days in Disneyland after my parents and Kate went home, before we went home. Things are a little different with this adult to child ratio, but we had a lot of fun.

Nora wanted to go on Big Thunder Mountain again

We had some yummy pretzels for lunch - cream cheese filled

Riding the Monorail

Nora pretending to be asleep - what a character

Mike took the girls back for a nap, and Sam and I went and looked in the shops, and had a relaxing afternoon. Sam is doing his foot thing again in the Castle Heraldry shop.

Mike and the kiddos in Adventureland

Riding the caterpillar train in Bugs Land

Getting one of our favorite treats - Dole Whips!

Small world had been closed, but opened up on our last day there. Whew! It is my favorite ride and I was glad to get a chance to ride it before we went home

The girls had a blast in Toontown!

Sam took a little snooze

Uh oh, a pile up on the slide

A peeking Evie

Nora and Mike on Donald's Boat

Sam's first time meeting Mickey!

Breaking out of the dog pound!

We visited the "Blue Sky Cellar" in California Adventure, and they had just put up some new displays featuring plans for the new Little Mermaid ride that is under construction. It looks like it will be fabulous!

They had this cool little model of what the ride will be like

Nora's favorite part was taking a quiz on this little computer screen. She took it over and over...

Riding Monsters Inc!

We had dinner at the Pizza Port. I brought some gluten-free pasta for Evie to have.

Yummy salad and parfait

On Main Street, we stopped and watched a lady making caramel apples in the candy shop. The girls were fascinated.

Making some wishes in the wishing well

We got the chance to see a new show at Disneyland. It is called, "The Magic, the Memories, and You" and is done with projections on the small world building. It was really neat.

At the end, some fireworks go off

Before heading home, we decided to quickly check out "ElecTRONica" - a Tron themed dance club type thing they have in the evenings in California Adventure. It was very loud, but cool.

This is what Sam thought about it all. Must be bed time.

Nora faded out before we got to ElecTRONica (and slept through it - loud music and all!), but Evie was going strong all the way back to the hotel.

It was a great trip, and it was hard to say goodbye to the beautiful weather and head back to the snow.