Blog Book for 2011

It's finally done!

My Blog Book for last year!

I am so glad I take the time to do this blog and then the time to make up these books.

They will be pretty interesting reads in the future!

Happy Birthday Kennedy!

This past Sunday we celebrated Kennedy's birthday!

We headed down to Jon's house for our traditional family dinner celebration. This year Kennedy picked to have marinated chicken, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, and pasta salad for her dinner. Yum!

After we had finished our fabulous dinner, we moved on to Kennedy's game of choice:

Apples to Apples

After we finished up with the game, it was time for dessert!

Kennedy chose for Andy to make her a cheesecake with cherry topping. (We were ALL excited about that choice.)

Kennedy and her cheesecake:

Silly dance while we sang to her:

Blowing out the candles:

Doesn't that look delicious!?!

Of course there were a couple of presents to open as well:

The party was a good one! I love these little get-togethers we have as a family.

Birthdays are fun!

Dinner with Dad

Last night Andy and I hosted my dad and his wife, and my sister Jessi and her family for dinner.

I had decided that since my dad is getting on in years, and since he is already having memory issues, I need to spend more time with him. Dinner is always a good excuse to bring people together.

Andy being the wonderful cook that he has become was gracious enough to prepare most of our meal.

He made us a fabulous lasagna and a loaf of multigrain focaccia.

Jessi provided a great Caesar salad and some bottled grape juice.

The spread:

For dessert Andy made us a nice batch of "orangies". Yum!

All of the food was FABULOUS and we all ate more than we probably should have. It seemed like everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

After all the food was devoured, we spent time just sitting around the table and talking while the kids ran amok and demanded everyone's attention.

The kids really seemed to take to my dad and Verona, and had a good time playing with them and showing them things. It was a really good atmosphere. We were worried that it would turn out a little awkward since we don't visit with my dad very often and the kids rarely see him. But everything seem to work out just fine.

We enjoyed quite a few laughs, and got caught up on the goings on of each family.

I was surprised with how upset the kids seemed to get when it was time for my dad to go.

Here is Claire giving her grandpa a big hug goodbye:

Allie even started crying when my dad left. That was just so funny because I think she had only seen him maybe once previously and you would think she was too young to know who he was.

I think the whole night was a good one for my dad. It was good for him to be around his family and to get out of his house. And it was good for us to see him as well. I realize that I have not spent time wisely with my dad. There have been personal reasons, along with life just taking up your time and all of a sudden it has been 6 months and I haven't visited.

I know my time with him is limited. I know I need to see him more often so that I don't come to regret the time wasted once he is gone. And I know that knowing and doing are two very different things. So this is something I will have to work hard at.

Andy and I plan to try to do these dinners on a more regular basis. We figure a few times a year having everyone over for dinner won't hurt anyone.

(And it gives Andy a great excuse to use his cooking skills.)

Sometimes family takes some work, but in the end it is always worth it.

Club 33

While Andy and I were in Disneyland this past weekend, we were able to have lunch at the exclusive Club 33 inside the park.

"Located within Disneyland, discreetly above the Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square is perhaps one of Orange County's finest five star restaurants. With a limited membership of only 487, Club 33 is not open to the public. Members may however arrange for their friends and associates to experience the club."

Luckily, I found out that the owner of the company I work for has a membership to the club, and so I worked up the nerve to ask him if he would arrange a reservation for us.

He happily agreed!

So here we stand in front of the inconspicuously marked door to the club:

Pushing the "secret" button for entrance:

Once inside, we were greeted by a cast member who called upstairs to let them know we had arrived. When our table was ready, we were asked if we would like to take the stairs or the "French Lift".

The French Lift:

Of course we chose the lift!

Here is Andy on our way up:

We were then led to the Main Dining Room and given our menus. Inside the front cover of the menu is a write-up about the club.

Here is a picture if you can read it:

The lunch menu:

The waitress then came and took our orders and invited us to visit the appetizer and dessert buffets as much as we would like. Our entrees were to be prepared fresh for us and could take a little while.

Here I am just after placing my order and gearing up to hit the buffets. Look at that table setting!

The appetizer buffet:

More appetizer buffet:

Bread and soup station:

The dessert buffet:

Here is the plate I arranged from the appetizer and bread buffets. We were also given a complimentary glass of Champagne.

After eating my appetizers, I took some time to wander around the club and look at the decorations. The club was very elegant, but still had a bit of a laid back feel to it.

Here is an antique piano:

And in my wanderings I just had to check out the bathroom.

The best part was the toilet! I got such a kick out of it!

(yes, that is the toilet)

Some of the artwork:

Then our entrees arrived!

I ordered the Organic Chicken with Truffled Macaroni and Cheese:

Andy ordered the Lamb Chops with Root Vegetable Risotto:

Both entrees were divine! We enjoyed everything about them!

We were then surprised with a visit from some special guests!

Of course, I think I was most excited to hit up the dessert buffet.

Here is my first round:

And my second:

(Hey! You have to try a little of everything don't you? And trust me, this was not everything either.)

After dessert (or maybe it was in between platefuls of it) I wandered around a bit more.

Costume concept art:

Mary Poppins concept art:

Near the end of our visit, Andy and I decided to head out onto the balcony for a look around.

Look at all of those people down there who are oblivious to the fact that we are watching them from above:

Sitting on the balcony:

Of course to finish off the visit we had to buy something from their merchandise cabinet to prove we were there. I had wanted to get a pin, but they were all out. So, we settled on a pair of Club 33 Mickey Ears!

Getting to go enjoy this club was a wonderful experience! I can't believe we were able to pull it off! I know of so many people who are dying to get in there. All I can say is that even though we dropped a load of $$ on that meal, it was well worth it! Especially now that Andy and I are probably considered "foodies".

This was just a perfect way to make this latest Disneyland trip even more memorable!

Disneyland 2012

This past weekend Andy and I headed to "The Happiest Place on Earth"!

DISNEYLAND!

It is absolutely one of my favorite places to visit! I love the atmosphere of the whole park!

Our first day there we discovered a new little eatery call the Jolly Holiday Cafe.

It has a Mary Poppins theme and Andy and I liked it so much that we visited it every day we were in the park. Once for dinner and twice for breakfast.

Speaking of food, I had to get started on my obsession with Churros soon after we were in the park.

Churro #1:

(There ended up being 3 in total. One per day!)

Andy and I went on quite a few rides that first night. We got in Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, and Andy's very favorite: Splash Mountain

Even though it was dark and cold out, we saw that there was only a 5 minute wait and couldn't help ourselves. We had to take advantage of the non-existent wait.

Afterwards we figured out why there was no wait. Only a few of us were dumb enough to ride something that gets you soaking wet when it is dark and cold.....

Traci post Splash Mountain:

That first night was great even with the chill we dealt upon ourselves.

The next day dawned partly cloudy and cool. (Yes, we just can't seem to find a real break with the weather on our trips...)

We headed straight for Disneyland, ate a yummy breakfast and then hit the rides again!

Traci waiting for Big Thunder Mountain:

We were both really excited to go on the new Star Tours! And we weren't disappointed!

Andy in his Star Tours 3-D glasses:

After a few rides it was time for one of the main events of our trip. Eating at the exclusive Club 33.

(A special post on our experience there will follow later.)

After gorging ourselves at lunch, we decided to head over to the California Adventure park!

I was super excited to go on the new Little Mermaid ride:

(Which turned out to be alright, but nothing too exciting...)

Also on this trip we consumed some of our favorite cookies there. We had a cookie a day.

(So much for the diet, but we're on vacation right?!?)

There aren't as many rides in California Adventure that I like as there are in Disneyland. But the few I DO like I make sure to hit.

I especially like The Tower of Terror:

Andy was such a trooper and went on this ride with me even though he doesn't particularly like it.

I also went on California Screamin'. Which Andy definitely did NOT want to go on. Oh well, at least that meant he could get a picture of me when it took off.

We also took a little time to go on Soarin' Over California and Monsters, Inc.

Another food item we had to get while we were there was the corn dogs:

Have I ever mentioned that my vacations usually revolve around food?

That night Andy and I made sure to attend the World of Color show.

It was pretty dang cool!

Forest scene projected on water:

I was really impressed with the grandeur of the World of Color! If I get the chance I would love to see it again!

Our final day there dawned cloudy and chilly. (Again, so much for "sunny southern California")

We made sure to hit a bunch of our favorite rides again since it was our last day there.

Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters:

Here we are enjoying the little sunshine that came out that day. It had actually rained pretty hard just a little while before this. We were in line for the Peter Pan ride when it broke down. We were luckily far enough up in the line that we were under the awning when the rain started. We waited out the ride until it was fixed, and by the time we made our way through it the rain had mostly quit. So the ride breaking down was most fortuitous for us!

Space Mountain:

Tower of Terror (again):

We made sure to hit most of the rides multiple times on this trip. I'm pretty sure I got my fill of them for the time being.

We finished the night up with this lovely creation:

And a quick pick in front of the train station:

Again, I absolutely LOVE going to Disneyland. Especially when I get to share everything there with my very favorite person it the whole world.

I don't know if we will make it back there anytime soon, but you never know......