December 3, 2006

• Let’s back up a bit to last week.  Monday Brian had some business stuff to take care of so I got the car all packed up and made sure we had everything. We were finally able to get out of Vegas around 2pm.  We made great time with no traffic.  We met up with Gary’s family at a little after 6 pm.  We got checked into our hotel room at the Marriot Residence Inn only to find it was not what we reserved and it smelled really badly of smoke.  I don’t usually complain but the smell alone was enough to ask for a room change.  They didn’t give me any grief and upgraded us a bit to a little bigger room that had no unpleasant odors.  We headed to Outback to dine on steaks.  After filling our bellies it was pretty late.  I think it was around 10pm and Gary’s kids dealing with a time change were fading fast.  Our kids are night owls anyway so we were up a bit longer but finally settled down to rest up for a big few days. 

  

  Here we are at the Outback.  Jacob is practicing for Pirates.

  The nice thing about the place we were staying is the full breakfast included in the price.  We filled up and then headed over to Disneyland, literally just a few blocks away.  We met up with Gary’s family again and spent the day being happy and the happiest place.  I am always amazed at how fun it is time and time again.  One of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time was Katrina and Serra~V~ on Tower of Terror.  The picture of those two is priceless. They are each hanging onto one of Brian’s arms like the world is ending with classic freaked out looks on their faces.  We laughed long and hard over that one. 

   

   

  

  Freaky

  

  I have to take a picture of her everytime.  She is awesome.

  

  The monster in the last picture said to the boys in front.  “Hey! You two in the front.  Nice ears.  Are you two twins or something.”

  

  Here are the freaked out girls. 

  

  Sophia’s first solo Merry-Go-Round.

  

  Something is not right here…

  

  When you get on this ride they hand you a “drivers licence”.  As we left the park the first night, Serra pulled hers out of her pocket and said.  “Look Dad.  I have a drivers licence.  I’ve been wanting one of these for my whole life.”   We asked her if she wanted to drive back to the hotel.  She agreed until she sat in the drivers seat and then said she would wait to drive when we were back in Las Vegas. 

  

  Where do they find these people?

  

  Caged Monkeys.

  

  All tuckered out.

  We watched the Holiday Parade the first night and fireworks and were glad we did because the second night it was too windy and they canceled fireworks.  It was magical as always but more so because of the holiday theme.  We also ran into some friends from the Santa Paula Ward.  The Butlers.  Holly was Serra’s nursery teacher and also the Primary music leader.  Brian served with Craig in the Elders Quorum and Serra and their daughter Abby were good friends.  The second day we ran into our current Bishops family there without him.  Brian texted the Bishop to tell him we saw them and he texted back that he didn’t even know they were there. 

  On the second day we had lunch at the Blue Bayou Restraunt which is the one you see while on Pirates.  It was really good.  I have always wanted to eat there but thought it was only for VIP’s ever since I was a kid.  It still is only for VIP’s with really cute kids and that is how we got in. 

  

  Both nights we said goodbye to the Arnells at around closing and then hung out at Downtown Disney and had a light dinner while we waited for the tram lines to die down. 

  We had such a good time and hated for it to end.  Especially since Gary’s family’s passes are expiring so they won’t be going as often.  We like tagging along.  The more kids the better. 

  It was so cold on the tram ride back to the car.

  • 7:17 pm
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