Motorcycle Riding in Littlerock

The day after Thanksgiving, after getting the deals for Black Friday, we all went riding out to the desert. Since my uncle broke his back a few weeks earlier, it was just my immediate family that went and we had such a great time. It was a little cold in the morning but warmed up nicely and no wind at all. Driving out there, was a different story since we were getting blown sideways off the road, but arrived happily to find no wind at all. We rode all day and then headed for home.

Note: I'm still bummed these pictures are just so tiny, but there has to be at least something to show for our trip. We should be back to normal size for December pictures.

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1. Addison all bundled up. She didn't protest.

2. Kelsey on her motorcycle. Once grandpa and dad set up a mini track for her to follow, she was confident and she had to be pried off to take a break.

3. Katelyn giving a ride to Aunt Jessica, again.

4. How many people can you put on a quad?

5. Katelyn still doesn't like to get off "her quad" and share. If she got off, Addison wanted to ride!!

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1. Addison hanging out in the trailer. She actually did take a nap in grandma's car for a while too. It took her awhile, she didn't want to miss anything.

2. Hanging out with Micaela.

3. Alyson and Jesse came out too

4. Dave and I headed out for a ride

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1. Katelyn could actually roll and move the quad.

2. After her nap she was ready to go again.

3. Micaela and dad

4. Just having a little lunch break.

Sitting on the laps of two of their favorite aunts. When family is around it's instant babysitting for us. We're the last people they want to see.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

We started out our Thanksgiving weekend right by heading down for our annual trip to Disneyland. The girls were so excited especially since this year we had Rob & Jess and even Micaela come down from school and join us for the day in the park. We had such a great time even with the few bits of rain we got in the evening. We all did the park hopper passes since it had been so long since we were in California Adventure and Rob and Jess had never been. There were so many fun things and great memories made. We didn't get very many pictures because we were too busy having fun, but everyone had a blast. I don't think the girls ever went on a ride with us, they were always switching back and forth who they sat by.


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So apparently, the girls changed the settings on their camera without knowing it and resizing these pictures makes them all blurry so you're just going to have to do the best you can. The captions for these pictures are as follows:


1. Waiting in line for Splash Mountain. Katelyn has never been on this ride and hearing Kelsey and her dad talk it up like it's the best ride, she of course wanted to go on it. And with it being overcast and in the morning, there was no wait.


2. Kelsey and I in the very back. Katelyn wanted to sit in the front with Rob. I told her he better not let her fly out.


3. The picture taken of our boat. You can't see Kelsey in the back but she is smiling so big. Katelyn's face is the best if you can see it at all. She was gritting her teeth the whole way down. Definitely not her favorite ride.


4. The results of the ride. Katelyn is soaked to the bone and didn't dry out until after lunchtime when the sun finally came out a little bit.


5. Katelyn still smiling after the ride and Rob was so proud of her. He could only put up one hand up since he was holding on to her with his other arm.


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1 & 2. Katelyn loves the teacups and got to sit next to both Rob and Micaela.

3 & 4. Addison pulling out her bow and trying to put it back in and running under all the chain fencing not wanting to wait in any more lines.


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The 3-D glasses were a big hit for the kids once they got close enough to get them for the ride. This Toy Story Mania ride was so much fun for everyone. Had the line not been so long, we would've ridden it again. Addison just liked dropping them, hearing the sound they made when they fell.


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After we spent most of the day in California Adventure, we headed back into Disneyland so we stopped by the Christmas tree for our picture. But there was no way we were going to unpack them to stand in front of it.


This trip was a lot of fun and had a lot of firsts.


1. We found out how deathly afraid of heights Jessica is. Unfortunately for her, she didn't tell this to any of us until we were nearly at the top of Mickey's Fun Wheel and Kelsey wanted the swinging one too.


2. Katelyn doesn't like Thunder Mountain. Her exact words after getting off: "I never want to go on that again."


3. Kelsey went on Tower of Terror and doesn't like that ride, but was willing to go on it and try it out since Rob loves stuff like that and it's Dave's favorite ride too. She wanted to try Screamin' but wasn't tall enough yet.


4. Both Kelsey and Katelyn went on Soarin' Over California for the first time and loved it so much they went on it again with Dave.


We had such a great time with Rob and Jess and Micaela and hope to make it a tradition every other year when they come to California for Thanksgiving.

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!

These are a bunch of pictures taken all throughout the holiday weekend. The top favorite on my list were the fabulous pumpkin pancakes we made for breakfast before all the festivities.
All dressed and ready for the Track-or-Treat. Well, except for Addison. She again did not want her picture taken. I really don't know why she gets traumatized when the camera comes out.

While the girls were trick-or-treating at the park, Dave snapped these of Addison. Apparently it's just me that gets the sad, crying side of her. All smiles for her dad.

Our cute little cat. She had some ears too, but wouldn't even keep them on long enough for a picture. Oh well.

Once she got one piece of candy, she had it all figured out. She was so cute, everyone just let her pick her own piece of candy. She's not shy!!


Returning home from the Track-or-Treat. At least she's smiling in this one. Aren't they all so cute?
Dave couldn't resist taking this one. After her costume was off, she was much happier

Addison loves this little chair and the pumpkin that sits on it. I don't know what it is, but all my girls have loved this little guy to carry around. He's seen much better days, I doubt he will last many more Halloweens.

Look at me, I know I'm cute!!

This year we decided to let the girls draw their own faces on the pumpkin and they did a great job.

Katelyn made hers into a girl pumpkin with eyelashes and all.

Then it was Kelsey's turn. We made it a double-sided pumpkin.

Cleaning out the insides.

Katelyn's pumpkin. If you look close you can see the eyelashes Dave tried to give it.
Kelsey gave hers eyebrows.
The big night.

After the girls got back with all their loot, Kelsey decided she wanted to push the button for the air cannon. Dave told her the line to wait for the trick-or-treaters to cross before pushing it. This is the huge smile on her face when she would send people away screaming. She decided that next year she will stay and scare everyone and I will go trick-or-treating for her. I tried to explain that moms don't go and get candy for their kids who want to stay home, but she wasn't hearing of it.

This year with Halloween being on a Sunday, we didn't put out very much at all. And it was so nice. It's fun to make it scary but honestly this was so nice to have a relaxing day and not be rushed to get everything out, dinner eaten, costumes on and out the door before it's 8 o'clock at night.

Movie night

A few weeks ago, Dave had a great idea to blow up the aero bed and watch a movie on it. We made caramel popcorn and the girls had a blast. They thought it was such a great idea to have the mattress in our living room, in fact they wanted it kept up all weekend. At first Addison was patient enough to wait for us to give her bites of the "wonderful stuff" but then she took matters into her own hands.

Nevermind, I got it handled.

If you look close enough, you can see a piece of popcorn hanging out of Addison mouth as she's crawling away. Obviously bit off more than she could chew!

The end of summer

As summer is drawing to a close, very rapidly, I might add, our vacations are too. Or so we thought. We headed up to Pine Valley (again) this past weekend for one last short trip. They were having carpet laid so we went up to help and get out of the heat. A few of my cousins were coming too, so the girls would have someone to play with.The new carpet. We love it so much and makes it really feel like it's done!! Can't wait to be able to spend some more time up here, maybe in the winter now.
Addison had so much fun being down and once Amelia showed up she actually had someone her size to play with.We left Addison asleep for about a half hour so we could take the girls shooting. We came back to this. This poor girl's been left or taken so many times this summer by so many different people I think she's just learned to deal with whomever she's got. That is, until I show back up and then she thinks she's been picked on and abandoned!!
Kelsey, Maddie, Katelyn, and Becca hanging out on the porch.

Going on a nature walk.
Just goofin' off.Even though they'd ridden the bikes all day, they didn't get enough of the motorcycles. Guess that's not a bad thing, right?

Even Addison had her turn this time. And she wasn't scared at all. He warmed her up to the idea by starting the motorcylces so this was a piece of cake. I love her arm resting on his leg, as if she totally trusts him to keep her safe. Such a sweetheart.

Katelyn.

Kelsey

And this trip the girls officially rode all by themselves. Kelsey even bailed on the motorcycle trying to race Dave and had him beat for a minute too. She didn't think her battle wound meant something good like everyone was trying to convince her of.

I love this picture because after riding on her own, she ran into his arms and she was so proud of herself. Nothing like a dad's love for his daughters!

Playing follow the leader. This right before she fell, but had to gas it to beat her dad. Such competition, those two.