The Long Drive to New Mexico

Mary, Katie and I drove up to New Mexico to visit Desiree and her kids for 2 days. Katie and I get car sick, so we were not lookimg forward to the 14 hour drive, but we took some medicine and were fine! I did fall asleep for two hours though, lol. Katie slept and played her new video game I bought her, the whole wy up.  Mary would probably kill me if I posted any of the pictures I took of her driving, so I'll just post a few from the scenery on the drive up to New Mexico.

I don't know why everything is all Indian stuff on the drive up...lol.

 Mary kept wanting to stop and eat here, in honor of her maiden name, and we never remembered in time =/

 At the end of the night, this is what the road started looking like to Mary. She is a scary driver at night!!! She was tired and I wasn't old enough to drive a rental =/

We finally got to Desiree's house around 1am, we were so tired by then, it was nice to knock out!

Happy 16th Birthday Blake!

For Blake's 16th birthday, my family decided to go to their favorite Mexican restuaramt-- Don Cuco's in Acton. It was my family and a few of Blake's friends. Poor Mary, she tried to order a boy-ish cake for Blake and they gave her one with pink flowers, haha.

It was a fun night with everyone, Katie loves when she gets the chance to see her cousins!

Paint-An-Ice Cream

Katie has been asking me to take her to Paint-A-Dream for a long time now, so I finally took her. I was happy to find out Paint-A-Dream gives a military discount =) It knocks off the $6 painting fee for your family. Good deal. Katie picked an ice cream cone and had a fun time painting it! She wants to go back soon!

A Sweet Day

I found out about a promotional event a candy store in Sherman Oaks was having and decided to take Katie. The flier said that a Cinderella Coach would be there to give the kids free rides. So I put Katie's Cinderella dress on her and she waited for her coach to pick her up.

 It was a pretty coach and Katie was so excited to ride it! She felt like a real Princess, I was happy for her :)

 It took us around the block and dropped us off at the candy store :)

 The candy store, Sweetharts, had a boon bounce with a slide for the kids to play on, lollipop decorating, a station to make candy necklaces, and story time. Katie had such a fun time on the bouncer!

 They also had a free face painting table! Katie picked a blue heart.

This was a music session, where the kids were encouraged to take the colorful material and dance with it while the band played children's songs.

 A lady trying to promote her kid's hair salon was there giving kids free colorful hair spray. Katie chose pink!

 The shop belongs to Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) so she was there to promote her business and we got a picture ;)

One of my friends from high school saw my post about this event on Facebook and she ended up taking her daughter also. We saw them there and Katie played with Kaylee for a little bit.

 My precious girl had a fun day! She was tired and slept during the drive home :)

It turned out to be really fun, I'm glad I was able to take Katie. The best part was everything was free! =)

Katie's 40 Inches!

Katie and I went to Disneyland to spend the day together. We saw they had a new sign when we got there.

 After waiting 20 mins in the Peter Pan line, the ride broke down! We had to wait another 20 for them to fix it and to get to the front. A little worth it, I love Peter Pan :)

 We found the Fairy Godmother, Katie was able to add a new signature to her Autograph book :)

 The famous White Rabbit she always wants to pose with! Haha.

 Katie's 1st new ride at Disneyland. Now that she's 40 inches she can go on the Runaway Train! This was an exciting day for her!

 She was so brave on the "fast ride" as long as I held her tight :) I'm so proud of her!

 Next up, Soaring Over California! Katie really liked this one, it was fun and slow! Haha. And it had really pretty scenery pictures for her to look at :)

 She needs a few more inches to get on the Rapid's, but she liked the big bear and wanted a picture.

 Katie's favorite new ride that she was able to get on today because of her new height, has to be the Jumping Jellyfish ride. She liked it a LOT and can't wait to go on again. It took us up high and we saw a pretty view and then went slowly back down. I was too big to go on with her though. Gotta be a kid!

 This was her second favorite ride, The Silly Symphony Swings. She was big enough to ride, but not big enough to ride alone. We sat in the "buddy" seats and she asked to go on again after it was over.

 Our last ride of the night was the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Katie wanted to go on it because the building was blue and purple. I told her it was fast, I warned her. She said she was 40 inches and she's big enough. It started out slow, taking us up the many stories, and then when the doors opened to show us the view at the top, Katie reached up to see the prettiness, and then..........her eyes got really big and she was lifting up in her seat! And my camera was flying out of my lap! Haha. Poor kid. She didn't cry one time, but after it was over, she told me she didn't want to go on it ever again. I love my brave girl. I promised she didn't have to go n ever again until she was big enough to like fast rides.

 Before leaving we bought my Mom her favorite snack- Tigger Tails! With Crazy Straw sticks :)

Super fun day today, I'm so glad Katie was big enough to go on more rides, it made our day so much better! I love my big girl!

Bye Desiree, David, & Sam :(

Desiree is moving to New Mexico with her kids, and she asked me to go with her to get the U-Haul and get it weighed. It was a funny trip, we had to drive to Mojave twice. It was so big that it was hard for her to park, and she was scared turning in it, haha. I'm glad I went with her, I'm gonna miss her and the kids a lot. I'm used to seeing them at least twice a week at my Grandma's house. It's going to be weird going there and not seeing them anymore.

I hope you guys have a safe trip, I can't wait to go visit you! Make sure Sam remembers me!

Errands & Fun

Desiree asked me to go on an errand with her in LA, so we got Sam and Katie in the car and off we went!

 I watched the kids in the waiting room. Sam was walking all over the place and Katie was pretending she could read magazines, haha.

 Afterwards we had lunch at The Hat, a nice big order of Chili Cheese Fries! Then we hung out at my Grandma's house while the kids were playing in the sandbox in the backyard.

 Poor Sam didn't realize, every scoop of sand he tried to throw, went right on his head...haha. He is so cute!

It was a fun day, I'm glad I got to spend time with Desiree and the kids before they have to move!