A Very Lego Birthday

We haven’t had a birthday theme around here for a long time. But Will’s birthday this year most definitely had a theme. And that theme was LEGOS!!!

Will’s choice of birthday outings this year was a trip to the Lego store at Washington Square where he picked up their very last Imperial Flagship. Will has been saving up for this set for almost 3 years and it is now finally his!!!

Before going home we had a very yummy dinner at Red Robin complete with Mile High Mud Pie and birthday sundae with candles and singing!

Construction began as soon as the boys walked into the house…

    The greatest thing about this set is the attention to detail!

The day of Will’s birthday, I had to report for jury duty so we hurriedly opened gifts before I had to leave. You’ll never guess what he got???

If Will needs a clock, he gets a Darth Vader Lego clock. Of course!!!

         

Just what you needed! Another set to build…

We always have a snack before bed and tonight it was Will’s birthday choice: Extreme Moosetracks ice cream (with candles)!

Happy 14th Birthday William! You are growing up to be a stellar young man and we love you and are so very proud of you! Have a super terrific year!!!  

A Day In Japan

Ok, I really didn’t go to Japan… But my sister, her friend Trina and I went to Seattle for Theresa’s birthday on Friday. Our mission, Uwajimaya and Daiso.

After a bit of driving around and enjoying some of the scenery in Seattle (ok, I got us a bit lost), we hit Uwajimaya. We probably should have eaten first… It’s never good to grocery shop when you’re hungry. And they had TONS of yummy, cool, freaky, exotic things to eat!!! I stuck to my budget (for the most part) and got all kinds of fun stuff!

So many fun things to try! Which one first???

I can’t believe I forgot to take pictures while we were there… Arrr!!!!

Uwajimaya not only has a huge Asian grocery but also a food court with so many delicious choices. After wandering up a down and perusing all the menus, we decided on Korean BBQ. The guy at the counter promised us he would make it worth our wait and I wanted to try their homemade Kimchi. He was right! I had bulgogi (beef), spicy pork, brown rice, kimchi and bean sprouts. Delicious!!! Then we had Beard Papa’s cream puffs for dessert. Yum! On the way out the door, Theresa also bought a bag of hot roasted chestnuts. Not bad… :o)  Yeah, we like food!!!

We also wandered through the bookstore. It is a HUGE Japanese language bookstore with all kinds of books, magazines, stationary and gifts! If only I knew Japanese…

Next we hit Westlake Center mall and Daiso, the largest 100 yen store in Japan. It’s a really cool Japanese dollar store! If I thought it was hard to have restraint at Uwajimaya, Daiso was WAY worse! There were cool things everywhere I turned… “Girl wearing red hood” stationary, gummy mango candies, bento supplies, rice bowls, tea cups... I had to put quite a few things back that I knew I didn’t really NEED.

My things-I-need pile (disposable pastry bags, new spray bottle nozzles and bubble tea straws)

 

My crafty-things pile (decorative masking tape, silicon muffin liners, and embroidery thread)

My things-I-want-to-try pile (hard boiled egg molds and popsicle molds)

My bento pile

My things-I-just-liked pile (mug, glass bottle, wrapping paper and tin foil with giraffes on it)

If you ever get a chance, go! Thanks for inviting me Theresa! I had a fantastic day!!!

Mementos & Memories

While at Disneyland, we all bought a few souvenirs to remember our trip by. We tried to buy things that weren’t too spendy or were practical. For the most part, we did good… But some things were just too cute not to buy! :o)

  We actually only bought ONE of these pins!

Andy bought a Space Mountain shirt

I was so proud of myself for riding the Tower of Terror and actually enjoying it, that I bought the shirt! :o)

Chris and I started a tradition of getting a new ears every year we go. This would have been an even better idea if we had actually done it the first three times we went… :o)

 

Some things I just HAD to buy because they were so cute and retro! And that glass looks perfect on the bar in the family room!

  

These little beauties we picked up at a 99 cent store in CA!

It’s fun to have something to remember the trip by!

Goodbye Disney

If I said we were glad to be going home, I would be lying… The weather was gorgeous and we all LOVED Disneyland and California Adventure!!! Not to mention, the weather back at home was miserable…

We all slept in, packing was not nearly as speedy or enthusiastic as unpacking when we arrived, and we got stuck in LA traffic for 2 HOURS on the way north! Ugh!

Thankfully the weather was better on the way home. At least for the most part. Just as we were about to head up the Grapevine, we hit this wall of cloud. It was so thick and sudden that we thought it was smoke! After about 5 minutes the temperature dropped from 71 to 51 degrees and the clouds didn’t clear again until Sacramento… It was bizarre!

We could see it in the distance…

Good Bye sunny blue skies! We’ll miss you!!!

The sunset was spectacular!

But we were so tired that Chris decided to spend the night when we stopped for supper in Redding. Yay!!!

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty motel breakfast (much better than most), we hit the road and arrived in Portland to pick up Betsy. Mom and Dad fed us supper and we got home around 10pm!

We had an amazing time! We are thankful for the time together and great memories that were made! And we’re already planning our next trip to see all the new stuff coming to California Adventure… :o)

Last Day At The Happiest Place on Earth

Our last day at Disneyland was probably the busiest day at the park. Lots of people had the day off for MLK Day and they all decided to head to Disney! (I know it wasn’t that busy but I CANNOT imagine being there when it really is busy.)

We spent the whole day doing things that we hadn’t done yet or things that we really wanted to do again before we left, as long as there wasn’t a long line…

We loved these Yoda backpacks but not enough to pay $50! (maybe if it could walk and carry the stuff on its own…)

The boys thought it was VERY funny that the message popped up just as I took the picture!

After it disappeared, I took another one…

Will died on King Triton’s carousel

We took a tour of the “home of tomorrow” in the Innovations building in Tomorrow Land.

 I actually really like the coffee table with the screen on it to show a photo slideshow!

Even Chris can play the piano in the home of the future! :o)

Learning what our ideal home of the future would be.

The home of the future even has Lego Rock Band.

Doing video puzzles in the game room.

The kitchen wasn’t as cool as I thought it would be. I’d still have to do the dishes! LOL

You can even play video games at Disneyland!

We then took a step back in time and explored Tom Sawyer’s Island…

Looking at Disneyland from the island

 

The treehouse (not as fancy as the Robinsons’)

It was such a beautiful day that they had the canoes out!!! (We got to ride after we got back to the “mainland”!)

Waiting to ride (or should I say, paddle) a canoe…

We also found a treasure!!! (This should really come in handy to help pay for this trip LOL)

The boys need a skull and bones jungle gym at home to play on! :o)

The moon was gorgeous!

We missed the earlier Aladdin show because we got separated but we caught the next one… It was a really well done production! Even the boys enjoyed it!!!

Ewwww!!! They’re kissing!

For a extra treat on our last day at the park, Chris bought us both lunch and dinner at California Adventure! It wasn’t too horribly expensive and the food was pretty good!

To top off the trip, we all stopped for ice cream sundaes on Main Street! Yum!!!

Goodbye Disney! We’re gonna miss you! Hope to see you again soon!!!