This year, we spent a total of 2 weeks down south with the rest of Grace’s family (8 adults and 4 kids all under the same roof).
Some highlights from the trip include:

Spending time with cousins

Nicholas and Wesley had such a great time with their almost 3-year old cousin… it’s like they’ve got a posse of their own now. My niece just adores Nicholas because he took really good care of her. She also played well with Wesley though on occasions they’d still have their moments of conflict… over toys and other personal possessions.

LeapFrog L-Max

The funniest thing is that my niece took such a liking to the L-Max toy we brought down that she’d carry it with her around the house. Our boys didn’t mind much because they are not allowed to play with it indoors anyway but it did take a bit of coersing to get my niece to relinquish the toy each time we needed to part ways. I guess we know what to get her for her upcoming 3rd birthday.

Celebrating Mom’s Birthday

For my mom’s birthday, we surprised her with a cake after dinner. We were trying to videotape her entry into the dining area for the surprise but no one could get her to come over because she thought we were tricking her out of the kitchen to take over dish washing duties…. so that “struggle” went on for what seemed like 5 minutes while the candles were melting away on the cake. Finally she got dragged in and then she saw the surprise. We got the entire episode on camera for her to remember it by.

Buzz’s Astro-Blaster/Soaring Over California

As most of you might’ve guessed, a trip down to Southern California for me just isn’t the same without a visit to the Magic Kingdom. We spent several days visiting both parks and the Buzz Lightyear ride was hands-down the favorite repeat ride of the trip for our boys. The Monsters Inc. dark ride came in at a close second, but the coolest experience is Wesley’s discovery of Soaring Over California. Wesley went with Alex on that ride several times before Alex talked me and Nicholas into doing it too. I refrained initially because I figured I’d get sick watching the IMAX screen (this happened to me previously so I’ve been avoiding these rides). All I have to say is that the ride was pretty darn cool, but yes it did make me queasy despite its fun. My remedy–candy canes, yup the mintiness really helps … nowadays my favorite ice cream flavor outside of Chocolate is Peppermint which seems bountiful at Xmas time!

Dino Dig

We met up with the Cheung family at the Discovery Science Museum in Santa Ana one day and both the kids and adults had a fun time exploring the museum. We spent most of our time outdoors in their interactive Dino Dig exhibit (you rent these Harry Potter-ish wands which activate various animatronics, hidden shells, and fossil finds with a wave of the wand when something is found), and while the kids were on their “missions”, Loanne and I had some joyful chats while gustfuls of wind tried with might to blow us down. It was pretty cold and windy that day. But once the outside area closed, we moved indoors and did some more exploring around the place. Alex and Wayne were competing in all sort of scientific feats it was hard to tell whether it was the dads or kids having more fun. Kimberly was dressed up in the cutest cowgirl outfit with long pretty pigtails too, and Auntie Loanne made the kids the yummiest rice krispies treats which we continued to enjoy the following day. Later, we had dinner then dessert in Irvine before everyone headed home. Thank you Cheung Family for hanging with us on that cold blustery day

All good things must come to an end

After all the hearty meals, visit with family/friends, New Years Eve at Disneyland/California Adventure, Christmas, New Years among other exciting adventures, it was finally time to head back home. The car seemed twice as full on the way back and I’m constantly amazed at how much Alex manages to cram into that car of ours. It was certainly a trip to remember, I’m already looking forward to next years get together again.

Happy New Year!