All In One - A ScrapTiffany Challenge & a 2 Page Layout!

It’s Friday… I have a 4 day weekend…

And I am off to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Mesa for the next 2 days!

We are staying overnight at the convention hotel .  So what could be better….

A girls weekend filled with…

…all things scrapbooking …girl talk …no kids (I’ll though I will miss them terribly) …lots of classes …and LOTS OF SHOPPING.

I call that…nirvana.

Before I head off, I am sharing today’s ScrapTiffany challenge on stamping. I have been dabbling a bit with embossing powders again, American Crafts Zing to be exact. I also have been on a roll scrapping our vacation from last October.

Here is my take on this week’s challenge…

I have been doing a few more two pagers lately and using lots of my favorite photos from our vacation. It’s fun to switch it up a bit.

Nicholas was impressed with the heat gun for embossing. He kept telling me to do it again. I love that one of my boys is already hanging out with me in my craft room. His future wife will sure appreciate me (may she be a scrapbooker or crafter). LOL!

Have a great weekend!

I’ll be back on Sunday to post the winner from the ScrapTiffany Blog Hop!

Vacation Part Deux

We did make it back to the hotel safely, exhausted with aching tired feet, but safe.  The boys went down easy and Mike got us a drink from the bar, which neither one of us finished before falling asleep ourselves. Anyway, on to Day 3...

We had 7:40 am reservations for the Surf's Up Character Breakfast at Paradise Pier Hotel.  That was early after our long day. But we made it just in time, thanks of course to valet parking (which is free by the way if you are going to the character breakfast).

Nicholas loved the characters and it wasn't that busy that morning, so he got lot's of attention from the characters.

Here he is smooching with Minnie Mouse

Even though he didn't know who Stitch was, they sure spent a lot of time hanging out. I think Stitch was at our table for at least 5 minutes on 2 different occasions.

Then he needed to discuss the comfort of Daisy's shoes and hair bow.

Jackson on the other hand was not really sure if he was liking all this talk with big furry things...

We ditched the walking from the hotel thing and parked at Disneyland this day and made it to the once again busy park about 9:30.

We headed to Buzz Lightyear first and Nicholas had fun shooting and Jackson tried to chew on the gun.  We headed over to the Tiki Birds next. Jackson wasn’t to crazy about it so Mike took him outside and I watched with Nicholas. He seemed to enjoy it. Next we took a Jungle Cruise. Nicholas liked picking out the animals and Jackson was smiling the whole time.

We rode Pirates next. We weren't sure if that was going to be good or bad, but they were fine.

I am sure they needed naps....

We decided to get out of the park for lunch so we headed over to Downtown Disney and ate lunch at ESPN Zone. Mike and I could enjoy a beer with our lunch and Nicholas loved all the TV’s and numbers on the scoreboards so he was entertained. Mike had Sliders for lunch and I had a club sandwich.  I thought we would be going back to the hotel for an afternoon rest, but everyone seemed rejuvenated after the break so we headed back to the park. We rode the train around the park which we thought Nicholas would like, but after a couple of stops he was over it.  Jackson did fall asleep so I took Nicholas on Winnie the Pooh. We rode the cars again, which he loved “driving”.  We took the Monorail around its loop once and Nicholas loved that.  Then we rode the submarines.  Mike and I hadn’t been on that since it was re-opened as Nemo. It was cute for the kids. It was much longer than I remembered.

When we got off the submarines, we had to race back to the front to avoid the parade and get out to Downtown Disney for our dinner reservations at Rainforest Café. It was another nice break from the park. And even though it was crowded because we had reservations we were seated right away.  The kids liked their hot dogs. It was probably the most Nicholas had eaten since we had been at Disneyland. 

This is the face I get from Jackson when he sees the camera.  One of his few words is "cheese".

After dinner we headed over to California Adventure and rode the Monster’s ride again right before it closed then walked over to Bug’s Land and rode the little train. By the time we were finished it was almost time for fireworks so we walked back to Disneyland to watch them from Main Street. 

We got a good spot and tried to keep the boys awake to watch.  Jackson dozed on my shoulder, but Nicholas woke up when they started. 

We liked the new show.  After it was over we headed to the tram and back to the hotel. It was much better than the long walk we had last night.

We got the boys down to sleep and then we flipped around the channels ending up watching Showbiz tonight. Mike pays no attention to celeberty “news” and gossip. So I ended up having to give him a running commentary on who some of these people were and why anyone would care about whatever they were talking about. Since I don’t pay a lot of attention to that either it was pretty funny. I do somehow seem to know who most of these people are and why they are famous.  

Day 4

We had to pack up this morning to check out of the hotel. We were spending the first half of the day at Disney and then heading down to San Diego for the rest of our vacation. Before checking out we headed down to the very crowded buffet and had breakfast. We got our bags from the room and left them at the bell desk and drove over to Disney.

It turned out that the $15 a day to park was worth it. It was so hot during our days there that I wouldn’t have wanted to walk down Harbor Boulevard after spending hours at Disney.

Our timing was great just as we were walking down Main Street there was Mickey and Friends coming down Main Street in a mini parade.

I loved all the Fall decorations in the park, even if my kiddos wouldn't let me stop and get many pictures of them. But I did manage a few.

We headed to Fantasyland and rode Dumbo and the Carousel and then Casey Jr.’s Train.

Gotta love this kid.

We stopped for a popcorn snack. Jackson loves popcorn like his mommy and as long as we kept the box in front of him he was happy. Nicholas decided he wanted to try soda and liked it. Hopefully he will forget about it at home, because he won’t be getting it again anytime soon.

We went on It’s a Small World one more time. Nicholas was singing the song and waving at the people in the boats. A little boy about 10 stuck his tongue out at him. Not nice but Nicholas didn’t even care.  The next boat came with nice people waving back and telling him to have fun on his ride.  The boys were wide eyed through the ride and Nicholas was signing along.  

We decided it was probably a good time to start heading out. We stopped by the candy store and got some treats and then headed to Downtown Disney for a quick lunch at the Jazz Kitchen take out location. Mike had Gumbo Ya Ya and I had a cheeseburger, both were pretty good and it was actually cheaper than eating average park food.

Then it was back to the tram and to the hotel to get our bags.

Goodbye Disneyland....

It was time to head to San Diego for the second half of the vacation. It was a little cooler at Disneyland that day, but it cooled off quite a bit as we headed down the coast. It was a nice drive and only took about 1 ½ hours.

We were staying at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay. We paid with both hotel stays with points, so we splurged on suites. We were so glad we did. It let us stay up after the boys and we had lots of room to spread out

We got checked in pretty quickly and the bell hop took us to the room with our huge pile of stuff. I had read a lot of mixed review on this hotel but we had very few complaints. Our room was nice, a little dated for a “ recently renovated” hotel. But it was still nice enough.

My biggest complaint was no TV channels for the kids to watch. To get TV for the kids you had to do pay per view. They had a Disney Channel or PBS kids option for $10 a day. Add that to the $10/day for wi-fi and the $20/day for self parking and I can see why people feel they are nickled and dimed at the hotel.

There was an Einstiens and a full service restaurant as well as a bar in the pool area. They were all pricey, but I expect that at any hotel.

Our room was on the first floor overlooking the marina. We could hear the sea lions barking from our room. Too bad it was overcast the whole time we were there, but it was still quite nice.

After getting unpacked and changed for dinner we headed out. We were going to try Phil’s BBQ, as it had been recommended by a friend but it was packed. It was late so we decided to head out somewhere else.  We drove north to La Jolla and ate at Karl Strauss Brewery. The kids liked their pizza, I had BBQ ribs and Mike had pork chops. We tried their Oktoberfest beer which was very good (and I don’t usually like Oktoberfest beers).

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. To get the boys to fall asleep Nicholas wants me to lay down with him, he is usually out in a couple of minutes. I watched some TV and had a glass of wine while Mike got Jackson to sleep. Mike ended up falling asleep on the couch watching TV after I went to bed.

Last 3 days coming soon....

Happy Birthday Mom and Back from Vacation and Catching Up

I haven't made it here in a while.  We were on vacation last week at Disneyland and in San Diego, and the week before I got busy wrapping up at work and getting ready to go out of town.  So lots to share today! First my Mom's birthday was on Saturday. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

In honor of my Mom, who has been battling cancer since 1998, I signed up for the Arizona 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk that will be held in November 2011.  More on that in a future post. But I am excited to do this!

I did my ScrapTiffany assignments early since I was going to be gone. But never got my posts scheduled while I was away. So I am sharing my projects from the past 2 weeks.

Last week the challenge was to Scenery Photos.  I choose one of my favorite photos taken when we camped at Pismo Beach a few years ago.  I had this one blown up and framed in our hallway. But I realized I had never scrapbooked it.

This week at ScrapTiffany is all about Banners and Pennants.  I made this to decorate for Fall. The pumpkins and frames were  sprayed with Maya Mist. I have it hanging on my patio door but it is on glass and doesn't photograph very well, so finding a way to photograph the whole thing was a bit of a challenge in itself.

Now onto our vacation...

Last Friday night we were deep in packing mode to leave early Saturday morning. The boys stuff was piled on the dining room table by Mike for inspection by me before it was packed up. I look forward to the day that we don't have to pack diapers. I packed each day's outfits and each nights PJ's in zip-lock bags which made it quick for getting dressed each day. I brought them all home and left them in our suitcases for the next trip.

This is Nicholas "helping" me pack Mike and my clothes.

After only 4 hours of sleep, we were up at 4:00 a.m. to get on the road by 6:00, which turned into 7:00 by the time the car was loaded. The kids were buckled in their seats and I was getting ready to pull the car out of the garage so Mike could put his car back in....I turn the key....and "click, click, click".  Yep, the car wouldn't start. So we called AAA and hoped and prayed that it was not the alternator.

I had to get the boys out of the car and spent about 20 minutes with Nicholas having a melt down because he thought we weren't taking him to Disneyland. I finally got the boys settled down watching TV while we waited.

It turned out that it was just the battery and once we had a new one we were on the road. The boys are good travelers and we made it to California in pretty good time.  We checked in to the Embassy Suites by Disneyland and headed to Zubie's in Huntington Beach for my Dad's 65th birthday party.

Sunday morning we were up early and had the brilliant idea to walk the 1.5 miles to Disney from our hotel. The walk in the morning wasn't too bad, and we were soon on our way into the park.  The first thing we saw after entering the gates was a train pulling in to the station, making Nicholas one happy little boy.

We were quickly down Main Street, since Nicholas was directing traffic "This Way Daddy! This Way!" with pointing to emphasize. Stopping was not an option nor was getting any pictures.

First ride was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nicholas let us know he did not like waiting in lines. As crowded as it was during our trip, he was going to have to get used to that real quickly.

The merry-go-round was on Nicholas's request list, so we obliged. We also flew with Peter Pan and rode with Pinocchio.

After a popcorn break we headed to It's A Small World. Both boys loved it.

Nicholas thought he would make a call to Mickey Mouse with his new phone (the one we bought him so he would be entertained in line). Isn't that like talking on the phone in the movie theater? Good thing no one could hear him, since we were in the front of the boat and it is pretty loud in there.

Mike's brother's, Scott and Jon, live in Southern California and have annual passes to Disneyland so they came down to the park with their families. The boys loved hanging out with their cousins at Disneyland. This was very nice when we were almost at the front of the Winnie the Pooh line and it broke down. The little ones entertained each other the whole time and didn't seem to notice how much longer the wait was.

There were all kinds of Fall touches throughout the park. It looked like a pumpkin patch or something was in the Big Thunder BBQ area, but we never did make it in there to find out.

All the little one's fell asleep about the same time. I went on Pirates of the Caribbean with Scott, Lorie, Kaitlyn and Kylie, while Mike and Jon stayed with the kiddos. After the ride they needed to call it a day, since they had work and school the next day. But I did get a nice picture of Scott, Lorie and the girls before they left.

Right after they left, the boys woke up. Mike and I decided to head to California Adventure to grab a glass of wine at the winery. We were also just in time for the parade, which you can catch a pretty good view of from the elevated level of the winery.

The parade featuring many of the Pixar movie characters made one little boy very happy. Nicholas knew most of the characters, since they are the stars of the movies he loves.

Jackson enjoyed the show too...

Every time Nicholas sees this picture now that we are home he tells me it's Jessie and Woody from Toy Story.  :)

Wow was Nicholas excited when he saw his hero Lightening McQueen and his best friend Mater.

After the parade we headed to Taste Pilot's Grill for dinner, but not before stopping at the train for a photo-op. This is one of the few pictures where everyone in the picture is looking at the camera and one of them isn't making a really weird face at me for taking the picture. I love my boys....

After dinner we went back to Disneyland and took the train to Fantasyland to ride It's A Small World again, then we drove the cars at Autopia.  We finished our ride just before the fireworks show. We found a spot near the Matterhorn and watched from there. It was a great show, but you couldn't hear the soundtrack with it. But we all enjoyed it anyway.

It was about 9:00 when the show ended, well past the boys normal bed time. So we headed back to the hotel. Remember I said we walked?  Well now we had to walk back, so that great idea wasn't so great at this point. Especially since we were slightly past the walking range most people would do. So once we passed a certain point, there weren't many people out and it was less than ideal.

To be continued.....