Spring Break 2009 -- Grampie & Grammie Come to Visit!

In the early part of April, Brad had his Spring Break, and his parents came down to visit us during that week. Each one of us loved having them around -- everyday we did something fun together! It was a great week for them to come, because it was the only week in the past six weeks when we weren't sick! It's been a bit rough with the illnesses in this family lately, but hopefully we're getting over all that! Brad dubbed this post "The Eternal Post," because I started it so long ago and have slowly, oh so slowly, been adding to it. :o)

Here are some pictures from Dad & Debbie's trip out here:



The day after Grammie & Grampie arrived, we got up early and drove to San Diego, because Brad had an immigration meeting. The "Star of India" is the sailing ship you can see in the background. That is the world's oldest active ship, built in 1863. We didn't tour it, but it is a museum.



This picture makes me laugh because it reminds me of what happened here. While Brad was in his meeting, we walked around and amused ourselves. We stopped here, and December immediately jumped up onto the platform and ran into the water -- and as she did so, her feet slipped out from under her and she fell straight on her bottom into the gross water. We all thought it was pretty funny, and thankfully there was an extra change of clothes for her in the diaper bag, but she was completely soaked. I don't think her pants ever completely dried during that day.



We walked down to the ocean. Do you remember this statue from an earlier post? I had taken a picture of it up on the USS Midway, when we toured that a few months ago. This time we got up close to it and played in this park!



Just to give you some perspective...this statue is very large! Here's December playing by the shoes.



Grampie holding Isaac. Isaac loved being held by his Grampie!



After Brad's meeting was finished, we went to Coronado Island to have some lunch and explore. Here we are across the pond -- you can see Brad standing up, holding Isaac, and Debbie, December, and I are sitting at the table in front of him.



Walking back from lunch -- December is now holding a little pink thing. This area where we ate was filled with all sorts of cute little shops, and December went into one of them and fell in love with a stuffed animal, a little turtle that's pink and is wearing a fluffy pink tutu. Grammie and Grampie were very kind to her and let her have it, and she named it Pinky -- she loves it!


I think this is such a sweet picture. It's Grammie and Grampie catching some rays at Coronado Island. It is also the last picture my camera ever took before it died. Poor camera -- it had overcome numerous drops to the floor and the clutches of December as she would fling it around, but it couldn't survive the tiny grains of sand. We got another camera online, but it came to us broken, so we sent it back. So right now we still have no camera...but hopefully soon we'll get one!



Brad and December playing in the ocean.



The view from the rocks that Brad and his Dad were climbing on.



December, Isaac, and I playing in the sand.



I love this picture, too -- they're so sweet. We put in some big days, exploring the area and having fun together, so we would get pretty wiped out!




December at the Animal Park, in the beautiful sweater her Auntie Tarena gave her.

Stopping for a picture just inside the gates

December petting a deer, with Isaac watching in fascination.

Baby rhino, born around Christmas.

A giraffe picture Grampie took as we rode the tram.

The three cheetah sisters

Just inside the gates of Disneyland!

We had so much fun at Disneyland! It's a place I'd love to go to again and again. I had never been there before, and I was just as excited as December to go! Since it was Spring Break week, the park was really busy -- but even still, we were able to go on quite a few rides! Dad and Debbie were very kind, and they watched the kids while Brad and I went on some of the bigger rides together. It was a great, great day! This is Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

December seriously inspecting the Disneyland map.

"Adventureland," where the Indiana Jones ride was, which was one of our favorites!

Brad in the line for the Indiana Jones ride.

The entrance to the ride. I was so impressed at how themed everything was -- each ride had its own structures and fun buildings and themes. Quite impressive!

Brad and Debbie inside the above structure. The kids were waiting outside with Grampie, who kindly offered to watch them while we all went in.

These are the Jeeps you sit in while you go on the ride. It was great!

Us in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle

Walking inside...

The Carousel was one of December's favorite rides...she liked it so much that she asked to go on it twice -- on a white horse with a pink saddle, of course.

On the Carousel

Debbie and December walking around the kids' area.

Toon Town! December LOVED it here, because it was all so hands-on.

In a fire truck.

Another one of December's favorites -- It's a Small World. I thought the ride was really well done, and I'd say it was my favorite kids' ride! It was nice and long, and you sat on a boat and rode around in a river into all of these different "countries" with the dolls singing "It's a Small World" in their own language. This is a picture Grampie took of us in line for the ride (while he waited outside with Isaac). So that you can see us better, I put a red square around us. But now I realize that even the red square is hard to find...ha!

Us coming out of the ride, on the second boat that is just coming around the bend.

After lunchtime, both kids were super tired and fell asleep for a good, long nap. Here's the stroller-turned-bed. We had left at 6am so that we could get to Disneyland when the doors opened, so the kids had both been woken up quite early!

Our little princess napping. Do you see her beautiful dress? There will be better pictures of it later, but this is the princess dress that Dad and Debbie had gotten for her! She looked completely stunning in it, and after she put it on, I felt like I was walking alongside a movie star as I walked beside her, because she got SO many stares and comments like, "What a beautiful little girl! She is so lovely. etc etc." Putting that dress on transformed her into quite the little head-turner.

Waking up from her nap

Us sitting and resting our tired feet! Disneyland is actually quite big, and we walked back and forth and around it many times as we went from ride to ride.

December watching the parade, which is VERY well done! Another highlight for December...seeing all of the characters dance around and sing.

Us on the Dumbo ride. All of the Dumbos varied by the color of their hats, and we let December choose which Dumbo she wanted ...yup.

Here's a better view of December's dress. It was cute to see all of the little girls walking around Disneyland, because many of them were wearing the different Disney princess dresses, so we saw lots of Snow Whites, Sleeping Beauties, Belles, etc. December's dress is a Cinderella dress.

Minnie's house! December LOVED it in here. You could touch everything and sit on anything and explore to your heart's content. And she did.

In Minnie's bedroom

On Minnie's bed

Thinking of what to write on the letter

This picture perfectly sums up her expression as she toured Minnie's house -- very intense. She was completely absorbed in her exploration and couldn't be distracted away from it. She also went into Donald Duck's house, Goofy's house, and Mickey's house, but Minnie's house was definitely where it was at, for December. We left Disneyland not too long after this. We got there when it opened and left after the evening fireworks, fourteen hours later. It was a full, exciting, and fun day!

The next morning, the first thing December asked me was if she could put her princess dress on again. And of course, she could.