Saturday, August 1, 2009

Celebrating 4 Years with a Pirate Sleepover...

July 24th, Joe and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary!! I can't believe 4 years have gone by soo fast!! We started a tradition a couple years back of always going to Disneyland on our anniversary. Our passes expire every July 24th, so we always make sure and go (even though we always renew them!!). I was trying to think of something fun for us to do. All we have been doing lately is wedding stuff and I wanted to do something to take a break from that chaos! I have always thought it would be fun to stay at a hotel by Disneyland. One of my good friends, Jonathan, is the manager at the Howard Johnson across the street from Disneyland. I called him up to see if there were any rooms left because when I went on-line it said it was all booked. Sure enough he had a room left, a Kids Suite. It was two rooms, one with a king size bed and the other with bunk beds for kids. Hmmmm.......so I got to thinking....Shauna, Jaden and Bradli are in town and whenever they come, I always have a sleep over with Audrey, Carter and Jaden. There was no way I could get that room and have the bunk beds go to waste!! Joe wasn't going to stay over because he and Dave were going to do a trial run for their triathlon the next morning, so I couldn't stay be myself. So, I told the kids we would have a sleepover but at a hotel, with bunk beds and there was even a water park at the hotel!!! I am sure Joe was wondering how our anniversary turned into a kids sleepover...he's a good sport!!! We had dinner at Disneyland and then met up with Dave, Lisa and the kids there to watch fireworks and then walked back to the hotel. Shauna came and dropped off Jaden and then the fun began!!!







We got to the hotel and the kids each got a pirate hat. The theme of the hotel is Pirates of the Caribbean. Our room was SOOOOOOO cute!! There were tons of paintings from Pirates of the Caribbean. Audrey dressed up in a pirate outfit and all the kids brought pirate swords and guns. We had a blast hanging out in the room and the bunk bed was a hit!!! We stayed up until midnight watching The Wonderful World of Disney 10 Year Anniversary special. The kids got a kick out of how funny all the characters looked back then!! Jaden and Carter shared the bunk bed and Audrey and I slept in the other room

































In the morning, we had a quick little breakfast and then headed to the water park. We got there at 10:30 and were there until about 3. It was a pretty cool water park for kids. It is called Cast Away Cove. There were water slides, spray guns, a huge bucket that dumps over and a little pool for kids. My entire family ended up coming. We all had a great time. Jonathan, Lucinda and the kids showed up for a while, so it was fun to hang out with them too. We all had the best day!!!
















































































If anyone ever needs a hotel to stay in close to Disneyland, GO TO THE HOWARD JOHNSON!! It is the cutest hotel and is very reasonably priced for the location!! They have 14 kids suites and I strongly suggest if you have kids, stay in one of those rooms!! It is perfect!!! Thanks again Jonathan for letting us stay at your WONDERFUL HOTEL!! The kids loved it and so did the adults!!! Yo-Ho!!!!
Here's their hotel website: http://www.hojoanaheim.com/

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Catching Up...

I have really been lagging lately on updating my blog. I have been so busy with getting everything ready for our wedding and I am happy to say I have pretty much gotten everything set and now we just wait. I can't believe that it is just a little less then 3 months away!!!!

Lisa had a luncheon back in May for my grandma so that she could come and see her new house in Ladera Ranch. It was really fun and Lisa made a great quiche!!









Audrey had her first dance recital. She was sooo cute!! She has been really excited about it, so we all made sure we made it and she made us proud!!!











Before we went to Audrey's recital, I took Lisa, Audrey and Carter to Nainoa and Kaileo's birthday party. It was such a cute party. It was a jungle theme. Lucinda put so much work into the decorations and the food!! They even had crafts for the kids to do and instead of getting birthday hats, they all got safari hats. Audrey and Carter thought it was the best party they had been too!!!


















Lisa, Audrey and I had a girls night at Disneyland and we watched the Electric Light Parade. I took Audrey when she was real little, so she didn't remember it, so we had to have her watch it. It was our FAVORITE thing to see at Disneyland when we were kids. I just wish they had it in Disneyland. It's just not the same in California Adventure.






















We went the T-Street for the 4th of July. My Aunt Lori, Stephen and the kids came to visit for the weekend. It was too short of a trip but sooo glad they came. It was a perfect day at the beach but it got really cold and windy in the evening, so we left and went to watch the fireworks in Ladera.




























That's it for now....