Thanksgiving

Can't believe it's the end of Thanksgiving weekend already. Seriously this is getting beyond life going quickly and on to some kind of crazy time-lapse photography existence where everything seems to blurr past. I find I need to just get comfortable with the idea that I'm always behind and quit trying to really catch up. Instead I am now focused on survival.

Anyway enough complaining. I should be showing the wonderful things we have to be thankful for. Of course top on the list this weekend should be the wonderful dinner we had with family on thursday. Not only was this my turn to cook (first time in something like five years as I've been pushing off my turn for reasons named Ashton and Jacqueline). Well maybe its old-timers setting in but I really do believe that this was the most beautiful turkey I have ever done. It tasted pretty good too. Sadly in the rush to get everything on the table I didn't take a photo myself. Suzie did though and if I get a copy I'll post it so you can see for yourself. I did take a photo of the table though.



We started out the weekend with the Thanksgiving dessert at Pre-school. Jacqueline was thrilled as she got to go to "school" for the party. The rest of the weekend involved Suzie and the girls coming over on wednesday night to help with the preparations, a wonderful feast on Thursday, a bike ride on Friday, a trip to the movies for Mom & Ashton on Sat (The Bee Movie -- Bob and Jaq went to the gym) and a christmas card photo shoot for the girls on Sunday.


We didn't get the tree this weekend but we did put up some lights and decorations out front. Next weekend we'll have to finish that up. Guess that means we have another pre-christmas post or two coming. I also ordered the Christmas photos and decided to use the blog for the holiday letter. This will at least keep me from being quite so late getting the cards out since stuffing envelopes is a lot quicker without a letter.

Disney Princess Extravaganza

I know I know -- its taken me a very long time to write up this trip summary. I apologize and I'm sure I have a good reason but somehow I can't remember what it is. Something about kids being sick and us being busy I'm sure.

Anyway I do appreciate your patience so here it is our report of the Bear's Vacation at Wally World, oops Disney.

The trip was really just a long weekend, arriving on Sat and flying home on Tuesday. The girls were wonderful ages for the park and Suzie and Cuong were there to help with the adult-to-kid ratio (I would consider 1.5:1 the minimum requirement for a Disney trip). Otherwise the lack of naps would require serious upper body strength to survive. Thankfully, Baby decided to nap on Auntie Suzie for a bit ;-)



We started out with the idea that we would have matching tinker bell outfits on Saturday but Jacqueline didn't make it out of the hotel, seems that two is a much more practical age preferring comfort to style.



Ashton, on the other hand, made it most of the day in her Tinkerbell costume. She was especially happy when Crush talked to her in his show calling her "the girl with the shiny shell". He called her "Awesome Ashton" when she introduced herself. He called on her since she had her hand up to ask him a question (How did you learn how to swim?). When Crush asked her what she had on her noggin (sunglasses) she didn't understand him and she said "My Tinkerbell costume". Then Crush put some sunglasses on and said "look at my Tinkerbell costume" to the delight of the whole audience. It was very cute.



Throughout the trip the girls were beside themselves with glee. Especially Ashton, who seriously could have been an advertisement for the place with the total joy she was oozing out of her very pores.

The highlight of the trip was the princess lunch which got several photo-ops with each of the princess characters who came by the table to see the kids. It was a big hit.



Both the girls loved all the rides. Even baby who was pretty tired the whole trip refusing to nap (and as we found out later coming down with something). Turns out we were there at the same time as the SoCal wildfires and the winds at the park were really strong making air quality pretty poor.

On day three Bob, Meg and Jacqueline got a real-life e-ticket ride via an ambulence to the ER to get Jacqueline a "Breathing treatment" (we also got her a shot of antibiotic, some tylenol, some additional medication to help her breathing). Not exactly the trip end we were expecting, but the Disney help was great, they even picked us up from the ER and took us back to the hotel and got us a humidifier for the tough night.

Luckily, Ashton got to stay at the park with Auntie Suzie so at least one of the Bear's had a fun last day.



Thankfully baby bounced back a bit for the flight home which was a relief and in a few days was back to normal. Mom and Dad however, were very tired and ready for a relaxing trip back to work.