Big Bear

So I know we post a lot about Big Bear and Disneyland, but these are places we enjoy going and get cute pictures of the kids!--Just deal with it!

Cliff had a 3 day weekend, so we drove up to Big Bear (in our new minivan--yes I've graduated to the mom-mobile). Grandpa Clinton has been very busy landscaping the backyard. His current big project is a pond with a waterfall feature. Here's a pic of the girls enjoying his work in progress. Don't they look like they're panning for gold? The girls were out there for at least an hour. We decided it was time to come in when Anjali crawled into the water.
Our weekend included:
Feeding the turtles (and Anjali says "turtle" quite well now!)

Going to the zoo--this little owl is named Yoda.

Swimming in the hot tub.

Going for a walk--Here's Lacy stepping on Grandpa Clinton's shadow's head
Going for a walk--Lacy petting a colt that Grandpa says has never come out to the fence to be friendly with before.

Magic Johnson and Cookie...I mean Candy Apple

This year is Cliff's 'Magic Johnson Birthday'--he turned 32. For those of you that know Cliff, he's big on sports trivia and I must credit him with coming up with that on his own. (What a nerd, but I love ya!) Also, a quick sidenote, on one of our first dates in Westwood, we saw Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie--at Baja Fresh. I don't know if Cliff was more excited about dating me or that he got to see Magic Johnson that night.

On Cliff's birthday, my parents came up to watch the kids so Cliff and I could go on a date to celebrate. Cliff isn't big on celebrating his birthday, so he always jokes that when its his birthday, it really means he has to take me out to dinner...

We went to Macaroni Grill for dinner and saw the movie Leatherheads. We stopped at Rocky Mountain to get some candy apples in lieu of birthday cake. (Cliff is also not a
big fan of cake.) I stuck a candle in the underside of the apple and we all sang. Its so fun to watch the girls get excited at birthdays--they always think its about them.

I've been wanting to plan something fun for Cliff's birthday for the last 2 years, but it just hasn't worked out. But, I finally did it this year. I let Cliff in on the plan, because he once told me he would be livid if I threw him a surprise party. Also, I needed his input, because the two of us have very different ideas of what would be fun. I decided on Laser Tag. I reserved a dozen spots at a place in Fullerton for a Saturday night. I told Cliff what I did, and he took over the rest. He called his friends and arranged the time and where to meet to carpool over. He even brought snacks (girl scout cookies and water bottles) for after the game for everybody. I'm glad that he had fun. It's difficult for me to find things to do for Cliff to show my appreciation for him, because he really is so selfless. So I'm really happy that I could do this for him. I love you Cliff. Happy Birthday!

Easter Fun 2008

The girls were excited this morning to see what the Easter bunny had left in their baskets.



After church, we packed up and drove to my parents house for a yummy dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Initially we had heard that my cousins were going to be there. So I filled 77 eggs for the hunt. We found out when we got there that they did a quick road trip instead--and only my girls would participate in the egg hunt. We ended up hiding about 50 eggs. Lacy ran around like mad picking up eggs. It was very exciting for her.


Anjali, though, didn't understand the concept of using the basket to collect her eggs. So she grabbed one egg in each hand and when she saw more eggs, she'd walk over, but could not fathom putting down the other eggs in her hand to pick up another egg. By the end, she did manage to hold 3 eggs at once.


I made carrot cake for dessert, but it was undercooked in the middle :( the outside pieces were yummy though--and I've found my perfect cream cheese frosting recipe. Anjali and Lacy had lots of candy. Anjali has inherited my sweet tooth, so she yelled at everyone whenever she saw someone eat a piece of candy and not think to give her a bite of it.

Aquarium of the Pacific

One of the things Cliff wanted to do his week off was go to the Long Beach Aquarium. I think the whole idea sparked after my friend had mentioned that she had this awesome coupon for $10/person to the Aquarium--and Cliff can never turn down a bargain like that!

We all had fun. It was a special treat that Uncle Noah could join us, who was also home for spring break. Anjali's favorite was the jelly fish.

Lacy's favorites were whatever ones she could associate with a movie she's seen.
Here are a few examples:

Dori from Finding Nemo


Nemo


Mr. Crabby from SpongeBob


Puffin from the Swan Princess


Speed from the Swan Princess or Crush from Nemo


Here are a bunch of other cute pictures at the aquarium.


After the aquarium, we stopped by my granny's house to visit and have some good ol' Appetizer Pizza for dinner. One of the new toys Anjali discovered there was this toy saxophone which instead of blowing into, she walked around playing it like a kazoo. She's too cute, it made me laugh.

the new Disney Playhouse show...

We took the kids to see the new Playhouse Disney show. The kids loved it--both kids participated in the show and danced along to the music. After the show, the park was a little too crowded for our tastes so we decided to go to Goofy's Kitchen for brunch. Our passes are going to expire soon, and so we thought we'd use our discount for one last hurrah.

Anjali now can say Cinderella. It sounds like Lella--and she uses it for all princesses and all pretty toys. This was kind of Anjali's first time where it was exciting to see all the characters. So it was fun to watch her have so much fun and of course, she thoroughly enjoyed the all you can eat goodies.




Here they are posing in the car outside the restaurant.