New Year 2011!!

 So our New Year began in California.  We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's there.  I don't know that I would recommend it again anytime soon, but we had a wonderful time.  It was a good get away from the stress and snow.  Though it was cooler there than I thought it would be, it beats 12 degrees anyday!

Here we were at Sea World.  The Christmas tree looked a little out of place, but it was decorated with sea shells and such and was fun!

 This was a cool fish that Hannah and I saw at the acquarium there.  They had so many neat fish to look at.  The one really looked delicate because of the flowy fins.  It almost looked like a beautiful dress all filmy and flowy!

 These guys were really loving the sun!  We did okay when we were in the sun too, but when you got into the shade things really cooled down.
I always think of Nemo when I see sea turtles.

They are always so relaxed.  I'd like to learn to take it easy like they do.

Our day at Disneyland.  It was so crowded that they closed the park by 10 am.  Luckily we made it on most of the rides we wanted.  We had fun going down the Mattahorn.  It is always one of my favorite rides.  I remember as a girl that Disney would have climbers climbing on the outside of the ride.  I thought it was so cool.

 The line for this ride was only an hour long.  We felt lucky for that.  It gave us a lot of talk time with our kids.

We'd heard about this ride from a friend.  It was in the California Adventure side of Disneyland.  It was the Toy Story Midway.  So fun.  It's like a shooting arcade on wheels.  We waited for 1.5 hours for this ride, but was really fun!

I liked looking for the smiles in this the Happiest place on earth.  I'm a people watcher and there were a lot of smiles, but there were also some really grumpy people. 

One really cool thing that I found out about Disneyland and California; there are alot of places to get gluten-free food.  It was so great not having to worry about that while we were there.

We saw a few shows toward's the end of the second day there.  It was fun and the crowd really seemed to get into it.  It was funny seeing Mickey try to bust a move.  It was all in good fun.

We rode the Monsters Inc. ride.  I love Mike!  He's my favorite monster of all time!  So when I saw this poster, I let Sam take a picture, which is unusual.  I don't like having my picture taken, but I couldn't resist this one!

Our last day there, New Year's Eve we spent walking on the piers and beaches.  It was a cool day, but we totally enjoyed ourselves.  There is nothing better than being with family. 

I did miss being with our other children on that night and can't wait to spend more time with them.  We're planning on a get together soon and I can't wait for that. 

It was a fun trip, and I'm glad to be home.  I didn't realize what a home body I've become, but that's not such a bad thing.  I feel blessed to have such a great family and being able to be with them!  I look forward to the New Year and all that come with it.  We will have our first grandbaby and I plan on being a grandma in every sense of the word! 

I hope our family continues to grow and prosper in this our New Year!