Celebrating the big 3 - 3

Usually your 33rd birthday is not a big milestone celebration birthday so I will give you little background as to why we went to Disneyland today (not that you ever need an excuse to go to Disneyland :)):

Last August, about a week before my 33rd birthday, I made the comment that is was too bad we couldn't celebrate my 33rd birthday at Club 33. Kent thought that would have been a great idea, however, with only a week's notice before the big day there was no way that was going to happen. With a gleam in his eye, he did say we had 7 months to plan to get to Club 33 for his 33rd birthday though. :)

The stars aligned and we were able to get reservations for Club 33 on his birthday and we planned a very fast, crazy trip so we could celebrate one of the best days of the year in style. :)

So, this morning we woke up at Grandma Hinkson's house and started getting ready for a fun day together at the Happiest Place on Earth. :)

Grandma made special Mickey Mouse pancakes because that is what you eat for breakfast when you are going to Disneyland for the day. :)



Grandma's house is always stocked with Cutie California Clementines, but the goal before eating it is to get the peel off in just one piece. Below is proof of Kent's mad peeling skillz. :)



After a hearty breakfast and hugs and kisses to Kent III, who was spending most of the day with Grandma, Kent and I were off to Disneyland!





I made Kent go to the Main Street office and get a badge that said "Happy Birthday!" with a space where his name went, mostly because I wanted the badge. :) But, Kent saw what a kick I got out of all the employees and some of the guests, wishing him a 'Happy Birthday!' that he actually wore the button all day. :) It was great and I giggled and smiled every time some random person said 'Happy Birthday Kent!'. :)

We spent most of the morning walking very slowly, going on rides that were appropriate for big bellied ladies and getting pressed pennies to add to my collection. (Seriously, Kent is so sweet and kind and understanding when it comes to my collecting pressed pennies. Doesn't just tolerate it, he goes out of his way to get the shiniest pennies for me, doesn't mind standing in line to get quarters...again...and carries around pounds worth of coins in his pockets for me so they don't get ruined after they have been through the machines. :) Best Husband Ever. :))

A few thoughts on a few of the rides we went on:

Kent finally beat me at Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. :) It used to be the only game I ever did better than him at (and it was a shooting game, haha!). The first time we went through though, I was behind by several thousand points and then within seconds I somehow got hundreds of thousands of points ahead. I have no idea how I did it, but the look of shock on Kent's face when one minute he was finally winning against me and the next I was leaps and bounds ahead of him was great! :) The second time through he did beat me...but not by much. ;)

We went on Haunted Mansion and it was actually the Haunted Mansion not Nightmare Before Christmas like it has been the last few times we have been to Disneyland. I love Haunted Mansion and really dislike Nightmare Before Christmas so that ride was extra special fun. :)

Didn't get to go on my favorite ride, Indiana Jones, but for obvious reasons (if you have ever been on that ride) I was ok with that. :)

Did get to go see Captain E.O., it replaced Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. I've never seen Captain E.O. before, doubt I will again. :) Nice to say I have seen it but it goes on my 'I will be just fine if I don't ever experience that ride/attraction at Disneyland again' list. :) The bouncing seats were kind of fun though and a new addition according to Kent. :)

At 2:00 we made our way to Club 33 for our 2:15 lunch reservation. The food was divine and after walking around for most of the morning/early afternoon, I especially enjoyed getting to sit down while eating tasty food in an air conditioned restaurant for a few hours. :)



For those that don't know, at Club 33 you order an entrée and then visit their all you can eat appetizer buffet while you wait for your main course to come out. The appetizer buffet includes things like fresh fruit, exotic cheeses, various pasta and green salads, pâté, lobster, shrimp, crab, etc. Club 33 is a 5 star restaurant and I must say, they earned everyone of those stars! Kent ordered Colorado Lamb Chops and I ordered Roast Monk Fish. Both were very good! And we gorged ourselves on the appetizer buffet. :) Plus there is a dessert bar...so much tasty food! No wonder we can spend hours there! :)

Plus, you know, the restaurant is full of wonderful Disneyland memorabilia and nostalgia. ;) :)

But, back to the food. :) Here are a few pictures:









After we had stuffed ourselves to over capacity, one of the very kind cast members brought out a special birthday dessert. :) We were both so full but Kent felt obligated to eat it and I did my best to help out. :) (Luckily it was small. :)) It was a very rich chocolate dessert, almost too rich but the sauces they used to write 'Happy Birthday' and make the balloons were super good and went well with the chocolate.







After lunch (which was dinner time by then) we headed back to Grandma's to pick up Kent III to have him help celebrate Kent's birthday with us and to enjoy an evening with him at Disneyland.

I just have to say how very nice it was of Grandma to take Kent III most of the day. It made celebrating extra special to have one on one time with Kent at Disneyland. Thank you so much Grandma!

Grandma had a cake for Kent when we got back to her house and several extended family members were over for dinner so they sang to Kent. It was very fun and thoughtful. :) And we felt bad not eating dinner with them or even having a piece of cake...but seriously...we were so very full. :) They seemed to understand though. :)

Kent III actually had so much fun with Grandma, he didn't want to leave her house. :) Even after we told him we were going to Disneyland! *shock* :) We finally got him interested in leaving with us when we told him Disneyland had dinosaurs. :)

Here is Kent III on the tram 'looking' for Disneyland. He does this any time he is 'looking' for something. He sure cracks me up! :)



On our way into California Adventure, I stopped to see if my round belly could fill in the 'C' of the sign. Almost...almost... :)



Kent III wanted in on the picture taking fun and asked to stand in the 'O' while we took his picture. :)



Here he is 'being a dinosaur' while standing in the 'O'. :)



Me and my little man walking under the Golden Gate Bridge in California Adventure. (I have a button on my belly that says '1st visit'. Hahaha! I am so funny and clever. ;) :) Only one person commented on that all day...the cast member at the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. :))



We took Kent III to see 'It's Tough to be a Bug' since he recently started watching 'A Bug's Life'. He has been to this attraction before, however, we thought he would enjoy it again, especially since he now knows some of the characters from the movie. The spiders scared him as did Hopper. :) It was fun to watch him try to catch the 3-D butterfly though. :)



Another ride we took Kent III on was the new Toy Story Mania!. While waiting in line Kent III asked me to take a picture of him and the dinosaur. :)



Looking cute in 3-D glasses. :)



While Kent III has also been on this ride before, this time he got his own cannon and surprisingly managed to get some points on his own. :)

Here he is, ready for action, looking a little like Cousin Itt from the Addams family. :)



I told Kent to act like he was playing the game so I could take a picture. This is what I got:



No wonder I can never beat his score on this ride if this is his 'game face'! :) :) :)

When we got off the ride the line to get back on was half of what we had just waited in. So, we decided to go on the ride again. :) Kent III was more than happy with that. :)



Don't let his happy face fool you though...hitting the targets is serious business!!



And when we got off the ride the second time, the line was even shorter! So, of course, we went on it again. :) This time Kent III rode with Dad. :)



See the 2nd highest score of the day: 272,400? That would be Kent's score the 3rd time we went on the ride. :)
Nicely done Kent!



And even though I was never able to beat Kent's scores at this game (even the one time he used the cannon left-handed :/), my scores did improve nicely each time we went through. :) Maybe one day, if I keep getting better, I will be able to beat him...but I highly doubt it. :) Oh well, Disneyland is the land of dreams and a girl can always dream. :)



By the time we got off the ride the 3rd time, California Adventure was getting ready to close so we headed back to Disneyland. The first thing we did at Disneyland was head for Tomorrowland to get on the train so Kent III could see the dinosaurs. :) We went on a few more rides and then decided it was probably time to go back to Grandma's, it was 11:30 pm after all. :) We ended the day at Disneyland, as we always try to end the day at Disneyland, in the Enchanted Tiki Room. :) A wonderful way to end a wonderful day. :)



And although Disneyland is always fun, the best part of the day was just getting to hang out with my amazing husband, celebrating one of the best days of the year with him. :)

Happy Birthday Kent!!

Thank you for sharing this day and so many others with me!
I love you!

Traffic!

Because Grandma Hinkson didn't get out of church until 1:00, we thought we would take it slow and easy in the morning and hopefully get to her house around 2:00. That would give us plenty of time to visit with family, chill and get to bed early so we could be at Disneyland first thing Monday morning.

Yeah...didn't really work out the way we planned. We took it slow and easy in the morning which we later found out is a rookie mistake when traveling to California through Las Vegas on a Sunday (we usually travel straight through on Saturday).

We were making pretty good time until we got to the South end of Las Vegas. Then we hit a traffic jam. Ugh. From the South end of Vegas to the California border took us two hours! TWO HOURS! Usually it only takes about 1/2 hr. And things were still a little messy beyond that.

A trip that should have taken us 5 hours from Mesquite to Grandma's house took us over 8. :/ It was very disappointing because it cut into our visiting with family time and a lot of people we were going to get to see, we didn't because they couldn't wait around for us. :/

We did make it safe and sound though, although a little frazzled. And we had a lot of fun visiting with Grandma and other family who were able to stop by, not to mention getting to eat Grandma's famous Sunday Night Popcorn. Yum! Plus Kent's cousin Erica made him lemon bars using lemons from Grandma's tree. A very tasty and thoughtful treat for the birthday boy. :)

On our way to California

For Kent's 33rd birthday we were able to get reservations at Club 33 in Disneyland. So, we left this afternoon for California. (Kent had a Scout canoe outing he went on this morning so we left as soon as we could after he got home.)

Our plan was to travel as far as we felt like it (Mesquite, Las Vegas or Primm Valley) stay the night and then travel the rest of the way to Grandma Hinkson's house on Sunday. We are going to hang out and visit with family on Sunday, go to Disneyland on Monday and then travel home on Tuesday (Kent has a seminar on Wednesday he has to be back for).

Kind of a crazy fast trip, but it will be a super fun way to celebrate Kent's 33rd birthday! :)

We made it as far as Mesquite and decided we would stop for the night. :)

There was this little cabinet thing in our room Kent III decided was his 'house'. :) He was rather upset we wouldn't let him sleep in it. :)







Mr. G Q modeling for us in his towel after his bath. I love the little curl in the middle of his forehead. :)



On a little side note: The hotel room was very disappointing as it had huge parts of the linoleum coming up in the bathroom and other issues with it and none of the employees seemed to care. We are going to write a letter to the management and include pictures we took of the damaged room, maybe that way they will fix it up and some other family won't have to deal with it. Also, the bed was hard as a rock. :/ Not the kind of mattress a pregnant lady on a 600+ mile road trip wants to sleep on/deal with. Right now, I would not recommend for anyone to stay at the Oasis/Virgin River in Mesquite. Oh well, at least with Kent's military discount we only had to pay half the price for the room.

Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago my brother asked me to take some pictures of his family. However, the weather hasn't cooperated the last couple of times we tried to get together. Today, though, was great weather so we met up and I snapped a few pictures of Jerry, Crystal and Hayden.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Love that little Hayden's fuzzy hair! :)



I don't necessarily like the lighting (a little too harsh/bright) in this picture but Hayden's dimple is super cute. :)















After taking pictures of Jerry's family we stopped to feed the ducks. We were very surprised at how little the ducks cared about our food. Guess Sunday is the day to feed ducks and they were full by the time we got there. :)

Kent III cared more about trying to catch the ducks rather then feeding them and trying to fish with his 'fishing pole' (a willow branch he found). :) Kent and the girls had fun throwing food into the air and having the seagulls try to catch it. :)

Orchestra Concert

Savannah had an orchestra concert tonight. It was combined with another junior high so I wasn't able to get the best pictures of Savannah while she performed because of the altered seating arrangement. Oh well...the kids sounded great and that is what counts, right? :)







Good job Savannah! I am very proud of you!

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As is our tradition for St. Patrick's Day we ate 'green' food for dinner. :)

I decided to add a little color to our dinner so I made corned beef with red potatoes. (Corned beef is wrongly considered traditional Irish food but I find it rather tasty so I overlooked that little piece of information and made it anyway. :))

We had corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, avocados, sauteed zucchini and green salad (with green grapes, cucumbers, green peppers and celery in it).



Yum! Yum!

I hope you had a fun and festive St. Patrick's Day!

Cousins!

Today I was able to watch my nephew and two nieces. Kent III was in 7th Heaven having so many kids his age to play with. It was a wonderful day and I was amazed at how much extra time I seemed to have. :) We must invite the cousins over to play more often! :)