Our Fall Break Fun

Being still sorta new at his job (with fewer vacation days) Dana was unable to take off work for fall break. Thus, I packed up half the house and the kids in the van and headed to my mom's house in Orange Co. Because it's where I grew up, of couse I still partly think of it as home. Ahh, and I love stepping out of the car after arriving. I love the smells in the air- all the flowers and the extra moisture in the air. And then walking into "home"-the smell literally brought tears to my eyes this time. I don't know why. I guess just all those memories and feelings flooding back to me at once. Maybe the kids can just sense my happiness but these are some reasons that they love it there too.

First, my mom has a cat which they are in a constant search of. On the flip side the cat (Stripes) is in non-stop hiding mode when we're there. I guess some cats just don't like their tails pulled by 20 month old toddlers. The first time she did it Stripes swiped at her and scared her half to death. She immediatly walk-ran to me as fast as she could with her arms up and tears flowing. I felt bad for her but was kinda happy knowing that she would have learned her lesson and not repeat the action. Well her love of the cat could not be overcome by fear. From that point on, her approach to the cat was accompanied by a loud scream (war cry) expressing her power and determination. It was super funny. Well to me maybe not my grandma and grandpa. Anyway..
Second, 2 grandma's and a grandpa live there (my mom and her parents) which is about right for three kids that are FULL of questions at all times. And of course whom my kids all love soooo much and get so excited to be around.
Third, the jacuzzi(sp) in the backyard which Eli insists was his favorite part of the whole trip. Fourth, Dessert every night.
Fifth, Barbara Joe my mom's neighbor who comes out everynight and sits on her porch with "Fritz" her dog. She has lived there since like the 50's and is the original owner of her house. She told me once they bought their house for about 20K. Talk about an investment!
Sixth, my mom has an beautiful garden with tons of flowers and little gnomes and cute stone bunnies and stone steps, etc. So their imaginations have extra food for thought back there.

We had extra fun in store this time though. Thursday we went to "Mickey's Trick or Treat Party" at California Adventure. Wow, that was really fun. Besides getting to dress-up in their costumes a little early, all the rides were open with very short waits. And there were little mini dance parties spread around the Park. Anyway, I would recommend it.

Here is our little group. I was lucky enough to have my mom and sister Sally come too.

Eli got to be scary

Holly got to be a "light-up" witch (the skirt has a few lights in it)

Me and Sadie on a ride in Bugs Land. She LOVED the rides.

Friday we headed down to Corona Del Mar. The surf was high and I tried to capture it in this picture. I was a little nervous at first but the kids were really careful and luckily Sadie was afraid of the waves and was happy playing in the sand and chasing seagulls. Who doesn't just love the beach. We were probably there for about 5 hours. When I finally got them all in the car to go (not an easy feat) Sadie fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot. It was a super fun time. I sent Dana 3 pictures on the cell phone to work and he was so excited to take part in our fun.

Happy in her little swimming pool
Emma asked me why she didn't have any pictures and I told her it was because she didn't sit still long enough for me to take any. They were all just running and digging and burying each other and jumping over waves and chasing away birds, all the things that make the beach so great for kids. Sadie's a much easier target.