Hello Fall!

Monday morning Ariel and I walked down to her ballet class and I couldn't help but notice the smell in the air. It really is fall now, and the leaves are following suit very quickly into beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow. I think this is one of my favorite times of year, its so stunning.

So this particular morning I met one of 'THOSE' parents at Ariel's class. We arrived early and no one had arrived yet. I parked the stroller in the closest corner and got Ariel changed into her dance gear. She was eager to see her friends and was watching the window intently.

It was then a woman with 4 kids and a grandparent in tow came in. She approached me and I though, ooh she is coming to say hi... er no. When I smiled at her she snapped 'WE use this corner for our boys.' I was caught off guard by her statement. I am sure I looked like a dope... eh? 'We have 3 boys and this is a ballet class (like I didn't know) and we put them here to stay out of the way.' I glanced around the empty room and the 4 other corners available.... and without a comment I moved. Looking back now I wonder if I should have challenged her or at least questioned why she had to be so rude about it. Had she simply said please at least, I wouldn't feel so crappy. Geeze, what is with people. Perhaps I will bring LOTS of junk next week and use that corner. Hahaha... evil me.

Regardless of the wacko corner lady, Ariel had a wonderful time and danced happily with her friends. She is doing quite well following most of the exercises, and by far her favorite thing is dancing with the ribbons. Very sweet.


Today Stella called early to invite us to go down to the beach. Since the good weather will be coming to an end soon we jumped at the chance. We went to pick her up and Lala surprised us with some lovely gifts from her trip to Nova Scotia. I got some pretty Celtic earrings and a cupcake book. Ariel got a sweet t-shirt, story book and new lobster friend. (They later spent time reading together, awe.)


It didn't take long to get Ariel into picking up rocks and throwing them.


The day was just so warm that for a moment it didn't feel like fall. The water however wasn't so toasty, so maybe no swimming today.


She was so caught up in what she was doing. Must find rocks to throw.


I really like this shot.


After striping Ariel down from her wet clothes and changed into clean and dry ones, we scooted off to have lunch with Nana and Papa. Ariel again proved that she is one impressive eater. She polished off a bowl of potato soup, a croissant sandwich with coleslaw and then a fruit cup and cookie for dessert. Dang, where does she put it?

Tomorrow we are going into town to spend Mommy's gymbucks! I am hoping they have the Christmas dress I want to get her at our store. If not I guess I have to order it, but if they do, expect a fashion show tomorrow. Yay! Ok, off to watch Biggest Loser, woot!

Bloody Sunday

This morning Ariel came into our room around 6am, and fell asleep between us. At 8am I got up for a shower and Ken went to get breakfast ready, Ariel was still fast to sleep and we decided to let her sleep like we always do. While in the shower I hear a loud 'THUD!' I grimaced, knowing that couldn't be good, it was soon followed by 'WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!'

I poked my head out the shower to call her, thinking she just spooked herself mostly, but when she came running at me I froze. Her face was COVERED in blood! I jumped out of the shower calling Ken. I couldn't tell if it was her nose, mouth or both. I sat her on the toilet and started wiping her face, but the whole time she is trying to wipe the blood away herself with her hands. She would get a glance at the blood and cry louder and say 'BOOGERS, BOOGERS!' Its funny now, but at the time it was heartbreaking. I managed to see her teeth were still all in tact, and she just bit her lip and bumped her nose resulting in the one side bleeding.

Within 10 minutes the blood had stopped, pjs were being soaked to get rid of the blood and Ariel was somewhat happy. She ate her breakfast and was fine, such a trooper. I was a little shaky afterwards of course, and was thankful to be in the nursery today so I could watch her and make sure she was fine. Thankfully she is doing fine and is back to her regular self.

Ariel was even happy enough to pose with her little friends Maddy and Nicole, in their matching gymbo dresses from summer. It was our last chance to get this picture taken before it got too cold for the girls to wear them, so thankfully we pulled it off because they are TOO CUTE!


In the afternoon I went to a baby shower for a new gal at church. It was really fun and I won a candle for being able to figure out the 4 mystery baby foods. Lol, can I put that on my resume? Hehe.

This week was a blur... a big one. I am finally feeling more like my old self. On Friday I decided to go to the doctor to see if it was in fact food poisoning or not. After much discussion, she was pretty sure it wasn't but we still did a test to make sure. Haven't heard the results yet, but my stomach isn't sounding like a motorbike anymore so I know its much better. Woot!

Ariel watched ANTM with me this week while I was sick. Check out her 'Tyra eyes'. Hehe.


While I have been sick, I didn't cook nor really eat. Thus this somewhat left Ken and Ariel on their own and they had pancakes more than once. Ariel didn't seem to mind, and enjoyed helping Daddy.


When Saturday rolled around, Ariel and I went off to Dad and Rita's while Ken went to teach downtown. Ariel, being the pro after this week, helped make the pancakes.


Hmmm, yummy! I am a good cook!


Katie was over that day as well, so it was nice for Ariel to get some playtime since Mommy hasn't been much fun this week. Ugh. Ariel took a liking to this game with the pretty colored pieces... although not really playing it, Ariel thought it was great.


She also was showing off her excellent jumping skills!

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We came home for a rest and during that time Ken arrived home too. It was the big Riverdays celebration for BC's 150th birthday, so outside our place was a street filled with games and activities. I really wished I was up to going, but I ended up sleeping on the couch for a few hours.

After dinner I felt strong enough to go for a walk out to the night market. Ariel had a gift certificate for a free ice cream cone that she won at last year's Fall Festival, that was about to expire, so she happily used it up. Cookies and cream, ooh.


We ran into lots of friends from church and the community and had a good time, even if it was a bit crowded for my liking. It was a warm night and so relaxing. Ahhh.

Tomorrow starts a new week and Ariel has dance class, yay! Not planning too much, as I want to keep my energy up as I recovery still. This bug really took a bite out of me, so not cool. Ugh. Well, I am going to get back to editing our photopass pictures from Disneyland (the ones they take in the park). They got some BEAUTIFUL ones of Ariel in her Cinderella dress in front of the castle, I can't wait to show them here but I have to wait till the disc comes. Have a good week everyone!

News Flash!

Its not the flu! I have freaking food poisoning! Good grief! I talked to Dad tonight and he and Rita were also sick with the same symptoms this week. We all ate the same pizza on Sunday night... except Ken, who didn't have any veggie and he is perfectly fine! Soooooooooooo lame! I will be writing the restaurant to let them know about this, as it hasn't been fun.

Today was rainy day and I had no energy. I have been slowly eating again, and it hurts, so its still going to be a few days until I am back to normal. Anyhoo, so Ariel and I watched some movies and played around. I managed to do a few things like changing our sheets and cleaning the kitchen.

I took a few cute pictures of Ariel, so I will leave it at that. Enjoy and good night.

Ariel watched Lilo and Stitch for the first time with Ken last night.
So now she has a new friend.

I love Stitch!

Peak a boo!

Nap time with friends.

Feeling Icky

Ugh, I have crawled out from my bed long enough to let you all know I am still in fact alive. I think I have a stomach flu or something. Late Monday Ariel started having 'bottom issues' and filled some nasty diapers (sorry if that was TMI - my life as a mom, ha!) I thought that she ate something that didn't agree with her, that was until the next day I started feeling gross and needless to say I am pretty much camped out in my room across from the bathroom. Ugh.

However, the week did start well with Ariel's first storybook ballet class. It was so cute and she loved her teacher Miss Nicole. They did some stretches and songs, combining them with simple ballet steps. I really think Ariel will enjoy it, especially being around all the other girls. She kept calling them her friends, awe.


Her favorite part was getting to play with the ribbons. So sweet, hee.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After class we stopped by the quilting group to say hi and then went on to have lunch with Nana and Papa. It was then I kinda noticed Ariel wasn't totally herself. Not wanting to eat and being somewhat distracted. Poor little thing. She never did get worse, and except the nasty diapers, had no other symptoms.

Tuesday morning, since Ariel seemed perfectly fine (although I was starting to feel a bit ill) we joined Stella and went out to visit Kara on her break for lunch. We had yummy fish and chips at the dock, but by then I wasn't feeling so great and didn't eat much.


I came home and basically went to bed... for the remainder of the day. Thankfully Ariel was super good and sat happily watching a movie in my bed while I rested beside her. Daddy came home and took over. He picked up a copy of Sex and the City the movie for me on the way home from work,*yay*, so I watched the commentary while trying to keep up my fluids.

Today Ariel and Kara had a swim date at the pool. I was feeling strong enough to take her and then get a few things done around town. I took our pictures from Disneyland in to get printed and got some groceries. Not terribly exciting, but having child free arms was a nice break, and made it easier with not feeling well.

Came home for double nap time. Ariel crashed and so did I. Sigh, I will be glad when this bug is gone... I have lost over 5 lb from this! Not the nicest way to lose weight, yuck. I don't suggest it at all, ugh. Well, I think I am going to go lay down and watch ANTM, hee.

Yawn...

I think our trip is catching up with all of us finally. The past few days I have been barely able to keep my eyes open past dinner time. Guess that means a few early bedtimes to catch up.

Our living room is finally back to normal, all the suitcases put away and clothes sorted etc. I have put away all the goodies I got for Ariel's stocking. Since Disneyland was our family Christmas gift, I got a few things from the park for her stocking, and I will be making a scrapbook up as well for her. I will post pages as I make them up over the next few months.

Ken was back to teaching on Saturdays, only one course this time, which is a nice change. We will enjoy having him around more on the weekends. Yay. In the afternoon we got a call from Ken's co worker Gerard inviting us for dinner with his family. So we happily accepted, as our fridge is still empty, haha.

So we had a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and brownie and ice cream for dessert. Yum. Ariel had a great time hang out with Mary, their teen daughter. I think Ariel remembered her from our last visit.


Mary was playing with my camera and was taking some cute pictures of Ariel. I love this one of her on the piano. Hee.


Then Ariel managed to convince Mary and Leanne to help her practice her jumping.


Then we had story time... which had me nearly falling asleep as well. I was pretty relaxed I guess. Haha.


We packed up to come home to bed, and we were all out pretty fast. Somehow we managed to get up for church, but we were all pretty tired looking. In the afternoon we all managed to grab a catnap, and that was nice.

For dinner, Dad, Rita and her daughter Cynthia came over with a bottle of wine and pizza. We then watched our Disneyland video footage we shot. It was fun and it was neat to watch. I hope it helps Ariel remember the trip, but she still is talking about dancing with Snow White so I think it is going to stick for awhile at least. Hee.

Well, I want to get to bed, as tomorrow Ariel has her first dance class in the morning, so we need to be well rested. Yay! But I will leave you with the little video I made up of some pictures and video from our trip. Sort of a final installment and look back, hope you enjoy it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Good Bye California!

It was a sad morning saying goodbye to this trip. During breakfast I was somewhat mellow, being so close to the park and seeing people walk there and yet we were going the other way was depressing. I don't think we are going to wait another 6 years to go back again this time.

Our shuttle to the airport arrived at 940am and we got to LAX shortly after 11am, so that was good and bad at the same time since we had much more time to kill and it wasn't the most exciting place. No kids play area, so Ken let Ariel run around to burn off steam. She ended up meeting a little boy, get this, named Sebastian! His dad thought it was funny that they met, meant to be I guess. Hee. I ended up hanging in the news stand reading Tori Spellings bio book, and finished it (strange but entertaining). When I went to rejoin Ken and Ariel we all got a big surprise....



...there was MIKE AND JO! They were on route to Mexico, and were getting their connection at LAX. How wacky was that?! Had to snap a picture because it was too funny. Ariel got to show off some of her Disney loot. Have a great trip guys, and we will see you when you get back! Shortly afterwards we went to board our plane. The flight attendants were loving Ariel's crown (which she insisted she wear, I was hoping she wear the mouse ears, oh well). It was a royal flight indeed.


I am sure there were other princesses on the flight, as several people we saw were also carrying Disneyland bags like us. We even saw another family with the same letter art that we got done for Ariel. When we took off we saw the beautiful beach, and made a note that next time we need to visit it for sure.


It wasn't too long, in fact it was like 5 minutes into the flight, and Ariel was out. The flight attendants were calling her Sleeping Beauty. Hee. She slept the whole time and it was a nice break for Ken and I. While I read a few chapters of my book, Ken grabbed a short nap, very relaxing, ahhh.


The flight was smooth and non eventful, my favorite kind. We landed and made our way to customs only to realize Ken forgot his hat on the plane so he rushed back to get it. Dad met us at the terminal to pick us up, thanks again! Ariel was a bit groggy when we found him but soon started chatting up a storm about her Disneyland experience.

We are now home safe and sound... and with a big pile of laundry. Haha. Ah well, back to routines again, and perhaps a quite weekend to recover from our busy week. I shall end this trip with this picture, since I think it sums it all up. Thanks for reading along with our adventure, and I hope you had fun visiting the park with us. We now return to our regular scheduled programming.


(slide show will be finished this weekend, stay tuned)

Disneyland - Day 5

Today was our last day at the park... sniff. I tried not to think about it and concentrate on having a great day. I managed to finally get the perfect picture of the California sign with no people walking in front of it. Yay!

We started the day with our final character meal at the Disneyland Hotel. Such a cool hotel for history. Ken was enjoying checking out the wall of pictures as we waited for our time at the restaurant.


Goofy's Kitchen was really something special. Not only was the food totally wacky, it was very interactive for the kids. Every so often they would turn on some music and all the kids would run down and dance with the characters or bang plastic pots and pans together. Ariel wasn't too sure at first but by the end of it she was grinning saying 'that's fun'.


Getting back to the food, there was the regular breakfast goodies, but there was also all the kid friendly foods. So you could have hot dogs, macaroni, pizza or nuggets for breakfast if you wanted to. Ariel was thrilled to get to have pizza for breakfast, and gobbled it down pretty fast before having a cupcake... yes, there was a whole dessert bar too. We ate ourselves silly, and it was a great place to finish off our character dining experience.


For characters we saw 'regular' Belle, Alice, Chip n Dale, Baloo, Pluto and Goofy of course. Ken likes Alice, so he was excited to see her. She was cute with Ariel as she compared her dress to a mouse she knew. Hee.


When we were stuffed, we walked down to get into the park early with our passes. Ken and I did some 'big rides' where we each took a turn and got the 'child swap' pass. I must say that is so cool, and getting to bypass the line is great. While Ken has his turn on the Matterhorn, I took Ariel on the carousel and Dumbo for one last time. Those were her requests during breakfast, and we aim to please.


We finished off the few rides we hadn't gone on yet, including the tea cups (which she totally loved).


Then a switch into her Princess dress, we went back to the Princess Fantasy Faire to see if we could meet anyone else, and surprise, we got to meet Pocahontas. She was so cute.


Ariel was tired so we went to get lunch, but during that time she fell asleep. So Ken and I had a lazy lunch in California Adventure before going back to Disneyland. While she slept, we did a few more 'big rides' including Splash Mountain, as it was uber hot and we needed a good cool down. I got the front seat when I went down, and was pretty wet afterwards, but it was all good.

Ariel woke up and we took her to the story time with the princesses. It was a really nice place to hang out because it was cool and shaded.


Ariel liked listening to Jasmine tell her story with the other kids.


The big coronation happened shortly afterwards, and Ariel got to dance again with the princesses. When they did the maypole this time, Snow White came down and took her hand and walked with her. It was soooooooooooooo cute and when it was over she got a kiss on her forehead.


Then it was back to Toontown for some pictures and shopping. We got to see Minnie and Goofy together, so that was fun. We then ran off to have our big final dinner at the Blue Bayou. Such a beautiful setup and the food was fantastic. We had a dessert to share, the big cookie boat. Yummy!!!!


We finished just in time to see the parade the final time. Ariel was eager to wave at the princesses again. It was at this point I really started feeling sad, as it really was coming to an end. We had the most AMAZING vacation and so many memories that we are going to treasure forever. I am so thankful and blessed this was possible.

Here are a few highlights from our last day here, Ariel and Daddy on the teacups, dancing with Snow White and our favorite song from the parade!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ariel is finally asleep, but she was full of beans when we got back to the hotel. Tomorrow is a big day of traveling home. Pray it goes smoothly, and when I check in next, we should be back in our home.


I hope to post a little slide show of some of our favorite moments tomorrow night, so tune in for some pictures and video. Until then, its time to pack up the mouse ears until next time.

Disneyland - Day 4

This morning we went to the Grand Californian Hotel for breakfast with Chip n' Dale. Ariel was eager to get going, can't have her waiting for food thats for sure.

So far from what I have seen, that has to be the most amazing hotel. Its stunning, simply something that words and pictures can't explain. The huge open spaces, the attention to detail in the decor, it just is beautiful. I hope someday in the future we can stay there, save our pennies I guess. Haha.

The breakfast was super yummy (Ariel did some serious chowing down this morning)and the characters here were so fun. It was the critter party, so Chip n Dale of course, along with characters from Brother Bear, Tarzan and Pocahontas. Ariel really liked this one, not sure if it was because they were all animals, but she insisted on trying to feed and pet all of them. Big doggies I guess. Here are all her new friends...

Dale

Chip

Turk

Koda

Meeko

After breakfast we headed to the park. Its kinda weird because we keep thinking we should be already home, its such a long trip and I must say, its awesome. We are getting to take our time with everything, not rushing, go with the flow etc. Its great knowing if we are too tired to do something it can wait till the next day. So we started with Ariel's favorites thus far, a whirl on the carousel...


...and a flight on Dumbo (or Dimbo as she calls it).


As you can see Ariel was in her Cinderella dress at this point, as we heading over to the Princess Fantasy Fair once it started. It was really cute, starting off with waiting to have your picture taken with 3 princesses, but it was surprise who it would be. When you turn each corner you are surprised each time. We got to see Ariel again, which our Ariel was SUPER excited about. Then Aurora was next and finally the last one was Mulan! That was totally cool since we hadn't seen her. Gotta love the tough princess! Ariel was putting on her 'tough' look. Haha.


After the photos, we headed to the big stage and dance floor. They then introduce three more princesses that come out and all the kids get to learn a dance with them. I must say it was pretty cute. Pretty funny watching the poor dads trying to learn the dance too.


One of the maidens who help out at the faire, took a real liking to Ariel and stayed with her out out on the dance floor. She tried helping her learn the dance and would tell her about the princesses as they came out. Such a sweetheart, and I must mention that today we got the honor of encountering many super sweet cast members.


They then bring out a maypole so the kids can take a ribbon and prance around. The princesses come down and join with them. Jasmine was at our pole, and Ariel was spellbound with her. I must say its a little girls dream come true with the whole set up. Outside they even have the 'beauty parlor' where girls can get all dressed up and get hair and makeup done too, for a price of course. I should have looked for the shock value (I did see the gowns were $79 each - nothing close to what I spent to make both the Cinderella and Tink costumes for Ariel, thank goodness I can sew!) Ariel was ready to get going, she was ready for more rides and it was getting too hot for her gown, so I changed her into cooler clothes.

On our way down to find some rides, we ran into Woody...

...and Jessie!

Up in Critter Country we found Winnie the Pooh...

...Eeyore...

...and Ariel's favorite Tigger! She just wanted to keep hugging him.


We followed it up with a few more rides and then decided to head over to the California Adventure side for lunch. As we entered, we ran into some photopass photographers. We took our pictures with them and as we were leaving the one fellow gave Ariel her first pin! So sweet, a Stitch in an elvis outfit! We thanked him and headed off to find food. Had some yummy burgers and then went to the Bugs Life area to re-do some of Ariel's favorite rides...

...and watch the 3-D show. She really liked it, and the silly glasses.

Its too bad the Muppet one is closed, she would have really enjoyed that. Oh well, next time. We also managed to watch the full show of the 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse', after our first attempt ended with technical issues. Ariel enjoyed the show, and Ken really liked the puppets.


It was a REALLY hot day, so Ariel took a drink break with her fancy High School Musical 2 cup.


Then we stuck around to watch the parade again. It was great since it was super hot and they spray you with water. Ahh, refreshing. Afterwards we walked back to Disneyland and Ariel fell asleep in her stroller. Ken then took off to go ride Indiana Jones and I went to get Ariel a cute present for her room. They had these neat artists paint your name in characters while you watch, so I got a princess one for her room. It has glitter too, so it really sparkles. Ken came back from the ride to see the finished product and was loving it as well, yay!

Then it was time for the parade again, and Ariel was awake, so we grabbed some grub and settled to watch the show. I took some video and I will upload it a some point, but I am too tired tonight. We ended the day with a trip on the train around the park, which was cool in the dark. We then walked back to the hotel for an evening swim at Ariel's request, and now we are resting up for our final day in the park tomorrow. Its kind of sad, but we have so much to look forward to and then we can't wait to get home to share all the other pictures and video we took with our friends and family. So I am off to sleep, see ya tomorrow!