Belated Thanksgiving post

For Thanksgiving we had Dan's brother Mikey, his wife Rachel and their two kids Nevaeh and McKenzie stay with us. Our friend Gabe also stayed with us for part of the week and we all had so much fun hanging out. The kids love seeing each other and they have a blast together. We went to the beach, hit up Sea World and of course had Thanksgiving dinner.

Sea World's Christmas Tree

Lights around the Sky Tower
So tired
The girls
Nevaeh and Denton
Riley, Neveah and Denton
the girls in snow world
McKenzie
Denton
Best buds

Smiling for Santa
All tuckered out from Thanksgiving dinner
Coloring time
Rachel and Me
Me and Gabe
Rachel and Dan
All the kids and the beach (it was warm!)

Slumber party!!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Dan had his National UA Convention in Las Vegas this year. He was elected along with a select group of other delegates from his local union to represent Local 230 at the convention. Now of course I can never turn down a trip to Vegas, so I tagged along for the weekend before the convention started. We had such a blast hanging out with the other local delegates and their wives and also the tens of thousand of delegates from across the country. Here are some pics from the trip!

Minus 5 Ice Bar at Mandalay Bay

out to dinner the first night

The most interesting man in the world, and a cardboard cutout ;)

At the Cosmopolitan Hotel
At the UA Convention welcome dinner

Cosmopolitan again

Weekend Get-Away

This Father's Day Weekend we went back to Rancho Las Palmas in Palm Desert for a little get-away. We loved it so much last year we couldn't wait to go back. This year we went with another family and had a blast. We had a great time swimming, sunning, eating, drinking and playing. Already looking forward to next year!


The kiddos on our balcony
The guys before dinner

The ladies

Little buddies

Denton was always looking for attention

me and Shannon

Family photo op

Their turn
getting in a little lifting, ha
Nap time for D and beer time for Mom
The kids just loved these inflatables

April and May

Nothing too exciting for us to share recently. Denton turned 2 last week. I can't believe he is already 2, time flies by so fast and your baby is not your baby anymore. He is so stinking cute, the way he talks and plays and smiles, oh those dimples. He loves his sister and is always saying to her "Willlleey watch diiiiiiis" and he will do a little trick for her. Or he will grab her hand and say "Willeeey, come" and will take her and show her something. Of course Riley is a great big sister and is always looking out for her little guy. She is so caring with him. The other night we were trying to get Denton to stay in his bed and ended up taking away toy after toy each time he got out. He was down to 1 or 2 (he sleeps with a TON of toys) and we heard Riley telling him not to get out of bed again because Daddy will take another toy and he will be too sad. She kept saying, "Denton, it's ok just go to sleep, stop crying. here you can have one of my toys ok". Such sweetness.

We didn't have a party for Denton this year, so we just did cupcakes and presents at home which was all he really needs anyway.

Below are a few pics from the past 2 months. I really need to start taking more pics!!

Denton and his favorite Buzz Lightyear
Denton with all of his new Toy Story Toys,

Mr. Suave after getting his haircut at daycare

Riley in her Spring Sing performance at school

The kids after hunting for Easter Eggs at the park

Riley's 5th Birthday

Let me preface this by saying that exactly one week before Riley's 5th birthday she lost her first tooth. Dad pulled it out old school style with the floss tied to the doorknob. He was so nervous that it wouldn't come out and would hurt her, but it flew right out and she didn't feel a thing!! So for her birthday we decided to go to Disneyland and forgo a birthday party. We have annual passes so we figured this was the way to go. We drove up Tuesday evening after work and checked into our hotel around 8pm. Then walked over to Disney. We went right to Riley and Denton’s favorite ride, Buzz Lightyear. Then we went and watched the fireworks, they were pretty cool. I can’t say I have ever done that before, usually we are gone by then. Then we went on some more rides, the place was not crowded at all which was awesome. We walked on every ride we wanted to go on. We stayed until around 11pm then went back to our room and crashed out. Since the kids were up so late we figured they would sleep in the next morning, nope! We got up and sang Happy Birthday to the Birthday girl and she opened her presents. We grabbed some breakfast from the hotel (they offer free continental style breakfast), took our time getting ready and then headed over to CA Adventures when they opened at 10. We walked around for a bit and went on one ride before our 11:30 reservation for lunch at Ariel’s Grotto. Riley got pictures with all of the princesses and she was in complete heaven! They all came by our table one by one and took pics with her and wished her happy birthday, she loved it. Then we went on more rides and Riley had some bday money from my parents so she bought this hair piece that is like a hair tie but with a long curly ponytail. I put it in her hair and she kept swinging her hair around and checking her reflection in windows etc. She thought it looked totally real, lol. CA Adventures serves beer and margaritas so we had a few of those and took turns going on the adult rides as well. They have this thing called child swap where one adult goes on and the other stays out with the kids, then when it is the second adult’s turn they get to go in the fast pass line. So it was super quick to switch like that and the kids didn’t get antsy and we got to have our fun too. We left around 4 or so and grabbed some dinner and headed home. I have to say that this was probably my most favorite and most fun vist to Disneyland that I can remember. Maybe it was the fact that is was Riley's birthday, but whatever it was was awesome!!