December Vacation Day 2

We left Anaheim the day after Christmas and headed for Santa Maria. Unfortunately we landed right in the middle of traffic on the freeway and it ended up taking a lot longer than expected. On our way, we stopped at the Ronald Reagan Library/Museum and had a blast looking at everything and touring the retired Air Force One! I absolutely love history and so this place was definately a wonderful place in my opinion.
Don't even try to answer the question in the picture below...you might just get overwhelmed with "irritating" thoughts, lol: This was a helicoptor that was used to provide protection for President's flying on Air Force One:

The Air Force One:

I have no idea why Robert made this pose for the picture below...kinda reminds me of some penguin strutting...lol:

Rachel was trying to hold President Reagan's hand:

A full scale replica of the oval office:

My sister was giving a speech...poor thing managed to enjoy herself even though she had just had surgery on her shoulder the previous week:

In traffic...

The Library sits on top of a hill above Simi Valley. The coastal views were amazing and the sunset over Reagans memorial site was beautiful...of course I caught none of it on camera because of running out of time. We were at the Library for over a hour and a half and were unable to finish the whole tour. There was just so much to see, including a piece of the Berlin Wall! I'd have to say that the most interesting quote that I read while there was when Reagan said "I have not left the Democratic Party, they have left me". I find it so interesting that when someone wants to stick to their conservative standard, others try to say that they are "leaving them" or "isolating themselves" when in reality that is usually not the case. Thank God for those who actually stand for what they believe.

We reached our destination late that night after leaving the library and checked into a quite hotel. More about our adventure later!

December Vacation Day 1

Ok, first of all I found out the hard way that it is very tiresome to be a nursing mother at Disneyland on Christmas day! Almost all of the lines are at least an hour long and when your little one nurses every two hours...well, let's just say that multi-tasking comes in handy. Standing in line and nursing is not the greatest thing in the world, but it is better than a screaming baby on every ride, or sitting the entire day=)

When we arrived Rachel was in a sort of "awe" moment. We went to Toon Town first and of course stopped at the Castle to take a pic with Papa and Nana!

Rachel loved Toon Town! She especially liked Goofy and he gave special attention to her since she ran to him before he even reached his destination. After visiting all of the Characters in their homes, I and Robert rode the little roller coaster with Rachel and she wanted to go again but, alas, the line was just too long to stand in again.

As the day got later, it became soooo busy that it was hard to move around the park! We finally stopped and were able to take a picture of the four of us:

We went to ride the Pirates of the Carribean while most of the crowd was enjoying one of the parades on main street. Our wait was only 20 minutes! This is what Josiah did while in line for the ride:

This is what Rachel did while in line for the ride:

This was Rachel after the first drop...she loved this ride! She was so upset when we left and didn't go on it again. Josiah slept through the entire ride! I thought for sure he would wake up screaming as soon as there was gunfire, but nope, he just stirred a little and went back to sleep.

End of the day, Rachel was exhausted, Josiah was hungry...we all were hungry and tired! Getting out of the park was fun, or NOT =)

Did I mention that Main Street was beautiful? :

All in all, it was a very fun Christmas Day and I look forward to going to Disneyland again. Thankfully this time "It's a Small World" had a 3 hour line so we didn't go...not too thrilled with that ride =) Rachel would love it though, so next time!

After leaving the park we ate at a restaurant near our hotel and checked in for the night...the next day had another adventure waiting to happen!

Josiah's accomplishment...

Okay, so I know that I owe pictures from our vacation last week BUT I have some news first! While we were in Fresno, CA visiting family last Wednesday, Josiah FINALLY rolled over!!! I must tell you that we were so excited to be the first ones to share in this milestone. Here's how it happened: Our hotel room had a little vanity area around the corner from the bedroom area. I was in that vanity area taking my hair down while Robert, Rachel, and Josiah were sitting on one of the beds just talking (well, Josiah was babbling at least). Suddenly Robert was yelling "honey! hurry! I think he's going to turn over........quick!" So, I dropped what I was doing and came around the corner just in time to see him turn over onto his stomach, then he giggled as he rolled back onto his back. Now almost a week later, he is quite the pro and is scooting everywhere once on his stomach. Goodness, they grow so fast but it's so much fun to watch them grow!

Never!.....yeah right

I just got through telling a good friend of mine last week that I NEVER rearrange my furniture.......and guess what I went and did last night? That's right, I did what I NEVER do, LOL! It wasn't really my idea though. Me and Robert were just sitting and talking in the living room last night while Rachel played and Josiah slept in the swing. Suddenly, Robert said "ya' know, I think that the sofa would look better over there, loveseat over here, piano there" etc. So I said "let's move it all". We jumped up and got busy moving furniture. Poor Rachel was so confused! She kept saying "why" or "what are you doing". Of course, she was very helpful when it came time to move the Christmas presents! =) Needless to say, after 3 years of the same living room arrangement, it now looks different. I guess I've been reminded again to never say never!

Ok, one more post for today =) Usually around this time of year we do something special for the Sunday School bus my husband captain's. This year money has been so tight that we didn't know what we were going to do. Between my husbands 20% paycut and trying to brace ourselves for him being off of work (without pay) for 9 days next month, we really didn't know what we were going to do for the kids. Robert always says that our family comes first no matter what, but we still feel sorry for not being able to bless others like we'd like to. Well, Saturday on outreach a man asked Robert if there are kids on the bus who will not get any Christmas presents. Robert told him yes and then the man said that he had asked for a donation from a local store and had received one with a bunch of toys and would like to give them all to the bus! Needless to say, we ended up with a huge bag of toys to wrap and give to the kids! We were so excited. So Saturday night while Robert made chocolate dipped apple slices for the kids, I wrapped all of the gifts. We were up until midnight and were exhausted on Sunday, but it was so worth it. God is so good!

Chunky monkey =)

Josiah is 4 months old and quite the chunkers nowadays! He is tipping the scale at 18.4 lbs! The Dr. said he is in the 90 percentile for weight and 80 percentile for height......just a big boy! I haven't given him any rice cereal yet but probably will within the next month or so. I am wondering just how "fatty" my milk must be though, my goodness, I'd always heard that breastfed babies are "lean", yeah right! He still has a problem with scratching his face, as you can see. It happens in the middle of the night usually when he gets hungry. He doesn't cry, he just starts moving around and scratching his face, it's the most annoying thing! He somehow gets the socks off of his hands and even though his nails are not long at all (I'm constantly clipping and filing them) he still finds a way to scratch. He is so much fun though, always has a smile readily available =)

"I love Jesus"

Late Friday evening after getting home from helping the Hamiltons move, and puting the kids to bed, I put out a few more decorations in the living room, including a nativity on the coffee table along with a "Noel" sign and some scented pine cones in my flower vase. Saturday morning Rachel woke up and headed for the kitchen where she always demands "I want cereal!" but she didn't quite make it. Instead, she noticed the nativity on the coffee table and ran over to kneel and look at it. Then she exclaimed "it's baby Jesus!" and I said "yes, it is, and Mary and Joseph", next thing I knew she leaned forward and kissed the little "baby Jesus" and said "mama, I love baby Jesus". Now, I must tell you that I had tears in my eyes by this point as I said "yes, I do too" and then I knelt down next to her and told her the story of baby Jesus and how He's not a baby anymore and that He can live in our hearts when we recieve the Holy Ghost. Oh, what a wonderful Saturday morning! I cannot explain the joy I had at just that small little glimmer of understanding that radiated from Rachel as she listened to the story and said "I love Jesus" after I was done telling it. Of course it was right then and there I was reminded of how simple a child's faith is. Oh how I love Jesus!