Sweep!

Just had to share... those that know us know we're a Dodger Family.  And by "we" I mean Dave and Drew, but me by marriage.  I'm a Twins Fan all the way - but have to be a "Dodger" too in order to stay married.  (You have no idea how difficult Dave would be if you liked anything but Dodgers...)

Well on Saturday we had my brother and sister-in-law over for a little friendly rivalry - Dodgers vs. Giants for game two of the series.

Rana made these cute (and yummy) desserts in an attempt to stir up a little more competition...

The result, that game ended 10-0 in the favor of the Dodgers.  And Sunday it was another win.  I do believe that would make a SWEEP!

Dave kindly sent my brother a text to rub it in...

Matt didn't take too kindly to that picture....

Around the World Party

Last weekend we finally had a formal get together with our neighbors in a progressive Around the World Party.  Dave and I came up with the idea with one of our other neighbors a few months ago and just roped the others into doing it with us.  Turns out it was a big hit - we're already planning our next themed party.

Well despite this being an around the world party - we only managed to get pictures starting at our house which was the 3rd stop in the "tour" (I didn't want to carry the camera around).

We started across the way with Drew's friend's mom's place... with Bloody Mary's and a Egg casserole.  She had a great spread and we sat out front for people watching and so the kids could ride things through the front yard.

Then we went next door to our other neighbor's for a Mediterranean spread and the best drink ever - Sgroppino, an Italian cocktail.  It was so good I'm making it this weekend with my family.  But we enjoyed appetizers in her backyard before heading to our house for Dave's famous tacos and  Kick Ass Margaritas (that's what they were called at the restaurant he worked at in Santa Monica).

That's when things started to get a bit rowdy....

Yes, feeling "happy" Julie and I start singing on our ladle mic

Our neighbor Lisa is holding the newest addition to the neighborhood... (the baby's family was stop #4)

Lisa joins Julie and I for our great serenade for the "audience"

After embarrassing ourselves plenty, we headed back across the way for stop #4, Vietnamese food with Vietnamese beer (which is really good I might add).  The kids were having a great time running through their house (they have 5 kids... 2 full-time, 3 on weekends).

After eating so much all day, we started to get restless and needed a walk. Someone suggested heading over to the pool....

 Our neigbhor Joe with Christopher (his next door neighbor and Drew's buddy).  I have no clue who the kid is in the background, but he is friends with Joe's family

Drew and Christopher... enjoying their cupcakes.

The temptation to just put their feet in got too great... everyone was soaked!

So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  All the boys went in fully clothed.

We've thrown out a few more themed party ideas... I think a 70's party is next on the radar.

4th of July - Part Deux

Since the 4th of July fell on a Wednesday this year we had to prolong the fun into Saturday.  So we went to my brother and sister-in-law's house for a fun day of eating, drinking and fireworks!  Matt moved earlier this year and we had front row for his town's firework show.  His neighbors blocked off the streets and it was a good old block party!

It was a hot day in the Far East Bay, and so while the older kids were in one neighbors swimming pool (we didn't bring suits because we didn't know) Drew stayed behind and kept cool in other ways.  Like a water balloon toss with the adults

Drew laughing at Uncle Matt who "lost" his balloon

Drew slip and sliding in his undies.  Yep we were "those" relatives.

Mr. Patriotic Dave trying to keep cool... or maybe bring out his gangsta side.

Auntie Rana getting into the patriotic spirit with a new do.

After dinner we gathered in the street - along with all the neighbors for some illegal safe n sane fireworks - shhhhh.  Then we enjoyed the city fireworks.

 Daddy and Drew getting ready for the action

The family:
Front L-R: GrampC, Drew, Grammy, Rana
Back L-R: Kent (Rana's Dad), Dave and Matt

And to prove I was there too....
Same shot, with me in Rana's chair.  Hmmm Matt wasn't as close to me.... perhaps I didn't smell as good as Rana?

And Drew getting into the Sparklers.

Most of my firework pictures didn't turn out... so that's about all you get.  The best part of the trip, Dave and I could drink more than usual since we crashed at their house.  We've already invited ourselves for next year - it was that much fun!

Big Damn Bug

Some people have fish stories... we have a bug story.  To get a full appreciation for our bug story I need to start at the beginning - unfortunately making a longer story. 

About 6 years ago after we power washed the backyard, I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Now I don't have to turn on the bathroom light when I go since we have a hurricane light from our neighbors which puts off enough light for me to do my business without having to hurt myself.  As I was doing my thing I saw the shadow of this thing scurrying across the floor.  I screamed waking up Dave.

I have no idea what it was other than it was the size of a mouse.  It ended up scurrying under our bathroom sink out of our reach.  We TP'd the heck out of the bottom so we could get some sleep.  Yeah right.  A few minutes later you can hear it clawing trying to get out... then a bit later you hear a "thud" as something falls from the top of the counter hitting our garbage can.

Armed with a shoe, Dave goes in (I'm right at his back, but protected by my strong, burly, shoe-armed husband).  Then we saw the biggest, ugliest critter ever.  After Google searches the next day we discovered it was a Jerusalem Cricket.  Needless to say that dude didn't live to see our Google searches.

Fast forward to Thursday night this past week.... I'm sound asleep and Dave shakes me awake "Are you awake?"  Um, no I was just laying there peacefully for my health at 11:45pm.  He proceeds to tell me that he found another Jerusalem Cricket and he's trying to catch it.  Knowing how little sleep I had after the incident 6 years earlier... I decided I preferred not dealing with it until the morning.

Then I woke up and walked into the kitchen and saw this...
 

Repeat after me... ewwwww!! It's also apparently known as a potato bug (which I always thought were Rolly Pollys)

That's when Dave proceeds to tell me his war story with this damn bug - which Drew named Cooky.  Dave said in his wrestling to avoid the crunch that would come... Cooky played 'possum and when he was flipped over just stayed still until Dave moved out of it's field of vision. 

The reason Dave saved the damn bug, he thought it would be fun for Drew to bring to school for share day yesterday.

Needless to say I refused to take Drew to school.

Ewww!!

Celebrating America

This July 4th we spent the afternoon Celebrating America's Birthday at Grammy and GrampC's. 

Actually we kind of sorta invited ourselves over to mooch their pool - of course the company is always nice too.

Adrina and Drew - the fish

They were having a great time together.  Here's a video of them doing their stunts. (and for those who are reading this only from the email - here's the video link).




And speaking of stunts....

... that's Adrina showing off making the rest of us non-flexible adults jealous of her moves.

L-R: Adrina's friend, Dave, Adrina, Drew

Uncle Matt hugging Uncle Sam.... I mean Dave.

L-R: Adrina's friend, Adrina, Rana and Matt

Dave and I

Then we took a walk to one of Dave's softball friends who lives about 3 blocks away.  I Love Love Love this next picture.

Drew and Grammy left fairly quickly because Drew spotted the park and wanted to play for a bit. I left shortly after and Dave... well I had to call him to come home.

Drew wasn't done with the pool.

He managed to sucker GrampC to throw him a few times.

And when Daddy made it back home Drew really got some air!

After dinner and dessert we had to pack it up and head home.  There should be some law against having a holiday like the 4th in the middle of the week without the extra day off....

Disney in a Day

When we do Disneyland, we manage to get it done in a day.  We're not one of those who spend three days taking our time with the lines, rides and avoiding meltdowns.  That's for woosies. Nope we're hardcore.  Last month we managed to tack on a few extra days to my work trip and hit up Disneyland for a day.  Thankfully we went on a Tuesday so the lines weren't that bad considering it was summer vacation season.

As I mentioned the other day we started the day at California Adventure (yes we did ParkHopper One Day passes) and got our FastPass for the big ride in the new Cars Land.  This post will concentrate on everything else we did at Disney that day, but you missed the Cars Land post - go here.

Since we were already in California Adventure we figured we'd the fun rides for Drew - in other words A Bugs Life - where the rides are geared for kids 18 months and up.

After we hit about 3-4 rides - including California Soarin' which only had a wait of 15 minutes (it's typically well over an hour) we went across the open area to Disneyland.

First up, Star Tours.  It was revamped a few years ago, but neither Dave or I have been on it since the enhancements.  

Drew liked it!  For those that are familiar with it... it's still pretty jerky but it's in 3D now and it's been updated from the 80's version.  Staying in Tomorrowland we talked Drew into Space Mountain (he made the height cut-off for the first time.  Last time we were at Disney he was barely 3 and we had to do the kid-swap so Dave and I could check out the ride - which was also enhanced.

If you ask Drew what his favorite ride is at Disney, hands down he'll tell you Space Mountain.  This makes for a proud Daddy.  While in line for Space Mountain - which also happened to be the longest of the day at close to 50 minutes we heard from my friend Angie and her son Luke who were also at the park.  We met up after lunch right outside Space Mountain.

They decided they needed a little Rocket Spray.
L-R: Luke, Drew, Dave

We asked the boys what they wanted to do and we hit up It's a Small World before heading over to Toon Town for a little playing and to see the "Mouse".

L-R: Drew, Luke, Mickey Mouse

We of course had to have a family shot with Mickey

Once outside of Mickey's house the boys played a bit more before we parted ways.  We had to head back over to California Adventure for our FastPass time at Radiator Springs.

After Radiator Springs was when we started to see meltdowns.  Dave spotted Elastigirl from The Incredibles.   This is one of Drew's favorite Disney movies so we were shocked he refused - and I mean refused - to take a picture with her.

Notice how he's turned away?  He's actually whining and half crying.  That proceeded into a 30-minute bout of how angry he was with us.  We decided to do some shopping and walking in the AC - it was quite warm at this point - and see if the cooler temperature and the walking would entice Drew to nap.

Mission accomplished!
He napped for nearly 2 hours and Dave and I found some shade - back on the Disneyland side in Orleans Square and just had a few snacks.  We were then plotting our next plan of attack once Drew woke up.

Dave was talking to one of the Cast members and found out there was an area designated for one of Drew's other favorite Disney movies - Up!

Unfortunately Drew slept a bit too long for us to see the characters but we brought him over anyway to play.  He started exploring through tree houses, slides and anything fun for kids to climb on.  But then he saw a "tire swing" thing that he wanted to try.  Thankfully he made the height cut-off (barely) and he swung across a line. 

Then he continued to explore.

After about 20-30 minutes playing and letting him wake up a bit, Dave gave him the pin he picked up while he was napping.  The Grape Soda pin is a staple in the movie up, and Mr. Frederickson gives it to Russ for his Wilderness Explorer Badge.  Well since we missed the characters, Dave pretended he received the pin from Mr. Frederickson while we went out to find the stroller.  Drew was so so proud to wear that pin the rest of the day!

Since we were already in California Adventure - yes, we did a lot of back and forth walking between the parks - we hit up a few more rides including the Ferris Wheel.

Drew was a bit nervous since we picked one of the carts that moved.  The family that sat across from us was from Colorado whose home was threatened by the wildfires there.  Just a little side story..

We grabbed dinner and hit a few more rides.  At Monster's Inc. we ran into Luke and Angie again!  They were a few people behind us.  The boys hung out for a bit while the parents caught up about the day and what we thought about various rides.

 L-R: Luke, Drew
Needless to say the boys like to make faces for the camera.

We parted ways again and headed back over to Disneyland where we needed to claim our spot for fireworks.

I always love how pretty the castle looks at night lit up. 

When fireworks finished we decided to get a few more rides in.  We still hadn't done Pirates or anything in Fantasyland.

We gyped Drew of the Dumbo ride - in fact I don't think he's ever been on the ride because the line is always ridiculous.  He was happy to settle for the stand alone Dumbo for picture posing.


After the carousal Drew had had it for the day.  We tried to get a few pictures in front of the castle

Needless to say Drew was less than thrilled to take yet another picture.  I mean it was only around 11pm at this point.

So it was a great trip.  Unfortunately Disney raised their prices this Spring so it was also a costly trip.  We managed to save nearly $20/ticket by getting them through the hotel vs. the gates, but still at over $100 each it adds up!  We did pretty good once we got in the park and the only souvenirs we walked out with were 2 Disney Pins - we collect, and both were for Drew - and a silhouette cutout of Drew.  Not bad!

Crazy for Cars Land

To try and break up the plethora of pictures from our recent trip to Disneyland I figured I would start with the hit area of Disney - Cars Land.  I think it's safe to say we're crazy for Cars Land!

This new "land" in California Adventure (CA) opened about a week and a half before our arrival, so we clearly weren't the only ones interested in checking out the new attractions!  In fact we were surprised to find out that CA opened at 8am rather than our anticipated 10am slot.  In our previous experience all guests had to remain outside the gates until the park opened.  My how things have changed in about 1 1/2 years since we were last there.

We arrived at around 7:45am and got right in line for the FastPass for the new big attraction in CarsLand - Radiator Springs.  Our original goal was to just go straight to the line and get the ride over with.  However we were told the wait would be 3 hours if we did that.  Needless to say we hopped into the FastPass line and took our 2:15-3:15 time slot.   They were out of FastPass tickets by 9 or 9:15am.... for.the.entire.day.

Here are a few shots from Radiator Springs.... the town (not to be confused with the ride).

 
It seriously looks just like it does on the movie!

Then it was time to get in line.

This ride is at the very back of "town" and it's kind of confusing where you're supposed to go - because the crowd of people appear to be all over the place.  Apparently there is a rhyme and reason... one wheel shows where FastPass folks return (and the time) and the other wheel in front shows how long the stand-by line is... yes it's 2 1/2 hours when we showed up.

We still had a 20-30 minute wait with the FastPass, but that sure beats wasting hours in line.  Each car holds 6 people - three in front three in the back.

Drew and I are all buckled up ready to speed through Radiator Springs.

The ride starts off with a semi-leisurely stroll through the realistic scenery and there's a little bit of a story going along with the movie(s).

And then we get to a point where we join another car getting ready to "race" our way to the finish line. Only one car wins.

Ironically this ride shut down for about 5 minutes when we got to this point.  After that 5 minutes we were off - here's a video I captured of that race.  (I apologize for the screaming by Dave and I - as you can tell it's "roller coaster-like").



Drew wasn't so sure during the race, but loved it afterward.

Needless to say we gave that ride a big 2-thumbs up.  We're lucky we got on the ride when we did, because shortly after we got off it was closed for the remainder of the day.  Apparently the "stall" we had while on the ride proved to be more serious.  We would've been so disappointed to miss out on that ride, since it was the only reason we paid extra for the Park Hopper pass.

We still enjoyed our time in Radiator Springs after the ride.  We were checking out the other rides which some had close to a 2 hour wait, but decided to pass and use our time more wisely.

We even had Lightning McQueen drive-by "parade-like" while we were in town.

It was a real car!

So if you're at Disneyland I highly recommend paying extra for the ParkHopper pass and giving Cars Land a glimpse.  I think it's worth the money.  And get there early to get your FastPass!

Here are a few other pictures of Cars Land...

 ...and in full disclosure I didn't take them.  They are courtesy Disney on our Photo card.