California and the Great Pumpkin

No... that's not the next installment of Charlie Brown... it's what we've been up to lately! Sorry it's taken a while to post... after we got back from california i caught a nasty cold and i've been running around the plex trying to put together my halloween costume... pictures will be up next week of that... right now, sit back, grab a cup of joe and enjoy the stories and slideshows- which have to be separate posts, thank you blogger(grrr)!

*disclaimer* the following is a play-by-play of our trip to california... you won't hurt my feelings if you decide to skip the wordage and view the slideshow... but you're gonna miss out! (not really... humor me)

10.18.08 - We wake up and finish packing (of course it wasn't even started until the night before... do you people know me?) and head over to my mom's house to drop off the dog... we head up to Lewisville to drop off my car that's making funny noises and then head to the airport. Everything with check in goes smoothly... including the new baggage fee that United implemented AFTER we booked our ticket... until we get to security. Shawn's backpack needs to be searched... hmmm... it's the toothpaste that's the culprit. The odd security man says, "do you have someone waiting on the other side of security that I can hand this to?" And we're like, "no, it's ok, just throw it away." and he's like, "Are you sure, because it would be no trouble to just hand it through?" and we're like, "No, really, it's no big deal, we'll just buy some more." and he's like, "Are you sure?" and we're like, "Yes!"

Whew... so glad that's over. Onto McDonald's for brunch and to the gate to wait. We find a fancy, hi-tech tv stand that shawn helped design at one of this many jobs from the past 3 years... and sit for a bit... until shawn goes upstairs and finds the sky-link train. Woohoo... something to do for a while! We're hoping it doesn't take more than 45 minutes to make the circuit... turns out... only 15. So if you need to kill some time, there ya go.

11:45 PM - Board our first plane together as a family! It's tiny! Only 17 rows... and the center aisle dead ends at the lavatory. Little claustrophobic but not too bad because there are only two seats on each side... so we didn't have to fight over any armrests. Kai does really well... even gets a few compliments on not crying. Way to go Kai!

1:30 PM - Arrive in the land of sunshine... get our rental... head to In-N-Out... so yummy and right by LAX so we got to watch lots of planes landing as we enjoyed our burgers.

4:00 PM - Meet friends Michelle and Laura at Santa Monica Pier... we had a great time catching up, looking at pictures and enjoying the cool California evening. Michelle has a baby girl that's 4 months older than Kai. I'm so excited for them to grow up together!

11:00 PM - After a LONG drive to our hotel in Anaheim with a couple of pit-stops along the way... check-in and crash! By the way, we stayed at Hotel Peppertree... and it was a diamond in the rough! Check them out if you're visiting the area any time soon!

10.19.08 - Wake up in California! Decide to go ahead and visit the only Sonic in So Cal for my caffeine and head up to Hollywood. Shawn can't help but notice how dirty LA is and how many homeless people there are. I am like, if you were homeless wouldn't you want to live here?

Hollywood BLVD was touristy and crowded but we got a few good pics and even got to see the Tinkerbell Premiere from across the street. We left in quite a hurry because I had left my wallet in the car (but hadn't remembered doing so - does the pregnancy fog ever go away?).

We stopped at Pinks Hot Dog stand, but the line was an hour long and it was hot... so we decided to continue to Venice.

12ish - Arrive at Venice! Ah sweet Venice! Walked around, took Kai to the water - well not the water, water... took some pics of her tasty the sand... ate pizza... laughed with the crazies... fun times had by all. My favorite was a guy sitting on top of a trash can with a cardboard sign that said "Why lie? I need weed."

3ish - Arrive back at hotel after a drive down the coast and rest!

7 - Dinner with Chrissy at Claim Jumper! I ordered a piece of cake to go and ate it every other day we were there. Yummy!

10.20.08 - DISNEYLAND! Shawn's favorite day... and mine too! We were so fortunate to be able to meet up with Beth and her family. She was a roomate in college and has two boys and a little girl on the way! She was so kind to sit with Kai while we road some of the bigger rides like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Also, Shawn had been the lucky recipient of some Dream Fastpasses that basically allow you to cut in front of at least half of the line!

We also met up with my friend Jill and her family. It was great because I hadn't gotten to meet her daughter either! They had been at Disney all weekend and were pooped so we had a low key dinner (well as low key as a dinner with 6 adults and 4 kids under the age of 4 can be).

The park was only open till 8 and we felt pretty rushed and will definitley have to go back (no arguments here)... but the last thing we did was visit toon town and went pretty quickly through mickey's house to his "movie barn." Turns out he was still back there doing pics... so we got some great pics with mickey - Kai was not scared at all! she kept petting his face... it was fun.

After we left Disneyland, we walked to the Lego Store and took some fun photos... Shawn is a huge lego fan... and we would have gone to Legoland on Tuesday, but we were pretty exhausted!

10.21.08 - A pretty low key day... we drove up to check out how much Biola had changed since i graduated almost 8 years ago! got pedicures... so cheap compared to dallas! and went to huntington beach to meet up with leland for fish tacos at wahoo's. there was a street fair going on (on a tuesday night, so awesome) so we walked around for a bit and of course watched the surfers for a while.

10.22.08 - Took a drive up through Beverly Hills and Brentwood on the way to the airport... no luck with the celebrity sightings!

It was a great trip... you all know i love me some cali!


Tonight we went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch and got some great pictures as well. It was beautiful weather and i can't wait to go at Christmas time to see the trees!

All is well in the land of Kai... her two bottom teeth are sticking out of her cute little gums and she is a pro-crawler now. She loves to pull up on anything and everything... has let go and held her balance a few times... and even stood up in the high-chair TWICE at area restaurants... crazy girl! We love her!